He is Risen!
As they entered the tomb, they saw
a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were
alarmed.
“Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the
Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here.
See the place where they laid him.
Mark 16:5-6
Let me ask you a question: How long do you think it will be before Jews
completely lose their memories of the holocaust?
A hundred years? Of course not!
Five hundred years? No, I suspect every Jewish boy and girl will
be schooled in the holocaust of the twentieth century even five hundred years
from now.
How about a thousand years, if we should survive so long?
No, in a thousand years, the holocaust of WW2 will still be taught.
But the question that may be more relevant is, "but how many will believe
it?" I suspect most will believe it, but I have no doubt there will be a significant
body of work pointing out how this never really happened--labelling it a
myth of a bygone era.
Maybe there will be a movie called "The Auschwitz Code" in which Adolf
Hitler is portrayed as an incorrigible story teller, but otherwise innocent
party.
An odd question you might say.
But an important one; because even now when there are first hand witnesses,
there are individuals and groups whose avowed purpose is to throw doubt on
the truth of those events.
But we know that memory is implanted in us especially by powerful emotional
clues.
Who here cannot remember where you were when you heard of the assassination
of John Kennedy?
I recently saw a made for TV documentary on the history of the exodus.
It might have been on NOVA for that matter.
The document makers examined the non Biblical sources for the exodus and
concluded that there might have been five or six people who left Egypt and
enroute to Caanan, met with this group or that from where they picked up some
of their ideas about God.
The thought that immediately occurred to me was to say, "look at the living
documents in front of you."
And look at the written documents of the Jewish people.
Of course they are not allowed to do that because those are Biblical and
cannot be considered.
But even a cursory examination will tell you that no matter how far you
go back in the written records, there is absolutely no time frame when the
memory of an exodus was not burned into their consciousness.
So you have to ask, "where did that come from?"
Powerful emotional events produce indelible memories on a people.
A thousand years from now Jewish parents will teach their children about
an evil man named Hitler and about the holocaust.
They will never forget.
But will they always believe it?
Of course we have the advantage of photography and movies.
Some people still believe the Apollo landings on the moon were faked somewhere
in the Mojave desert.
So what does this have to do with Jesus resurrection?
The same principle is true.
Powerful emotional events leave powerful fingerprints.
We read both Mark's and John's testimony about the resurrection.
They differ in minor details, and so do Luke and Matthew.
But what there is no differentiating is that the entire first century Christian
community had a powerful experience that burned the resurrection of Jesus
into their souls and into their minds.
People who would have known differently if Jesus had not been raised went
to very violent deaths without a single one of them recanting what they had
seen.
It is one thing to go to your death for what you just believe.
But Philip, Stephen, John, Peter, Andrew and the rest were all martyred
for what they knew, not just what they believed.
If they knew Jesus had not risen, not one of them said anything differently
when confronted with gruesome deaths.
And they would have known. But they had no doubts. Not even Thomas after
he saw the risen Lord.
Powerful events create powerful memories.
Something and someone turned Saul of Tarsus from back to front to the point
of enduring countless hardships and ultimately death.
You probably do not remember the name Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin.
During his day he was as powerful a man as there was on earth. A Russian Communist
leader he took part in the Bolshevik Revolution 1917, was editor of the Soviet
newspaper Pravda (which by the way means truth), and was a full member of
the Politburo. His works on economics and political science are still read
today. There is a story told about a journey he took from Moscow to Kiev
in 1930 to address a huge assembly on the subject of atheism.
Addressing the crowd he aimed his heavy artillery at Christianity hurling
insult, argument, and proof against it.
An hour later he was finished. He looked out at what seemed to be the smoldering
ashes of men's faith. "Are there any questions?" Bukharin demanded. Deafening
silence filled the auditorium but then one man approached the platform and
mounted the lectern standing near the communist leader. He surveyed the crowd
first to the left then to the right. Finally he shouted the ancient greeting
known well in the Russian Orthodox Church: "CHRIST IS RISEN!" En masse the
crowd arose as one man and the response came crashing like the sound of thunder:
"HE IS RISEN INDEED!"1.
But the best proof of the pudding is still in the eating.
For two millennia, men and women of every nation and tribe have found that
putting their faith in Jesus of Nazareth leads to the kind of hope and peace
that nothing else on this earth can bring.
Faith in God does not disappoint.
The risen Jesus still makes appointments with those who come to him in
faith and humility.
Your own experience with the risen Lord is still the most compelling evidence.
I believe in the resurrection.
There is enough evidence for me, but I am doubly convinced because of my
own experience with the risen Lord in day to day life.
I know Him and He knows me and that is enough for me to trust my life with
Him, which I do.
I highly commend you meet Him, if you have not already.
How do you do that?
It has to be on His terms, not yours.
You confess your need of His forgiveness and gift of eternal life and ask
Him to come into your life.
Then you commit yourself to following Him as your Lord.
As you do this, God will give you the confirmation you need as you need it.
But one thing is certain:
He is risen!
Preached April 12, 2009
Dr. Harold McNabb
West Shore Presbyterian Church
Victoria, British Columbia
Notes
1 Brett Blair, Why I Believe in the Resurrection, clergy.net
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