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Published: 04 August 2016

My “work” of researching the resurrection of Jesus Christ has been a delight these past few weeks.  I’ve consulted over 20 books, read hundreds of pages, collected notations and quotes that cover 20 handwritten pages.  I’ll end up with three or four sermons out of all that but more confident than ever of the reality of the resurrection.  If you are reading this, you are probably not struggling with the historical and factual nature of Jesus rising from the dead.  If you are struggling, you join hundreds of thousands—even millions that had to get some questions answered before they could believe.  Keep digging, you’ll see.   For those who say they believe there is another problem.  Do we really believe this?  Do we believe it like we believe that a hamburger will fill us up…by eating it?  Do we believe it like we believe that turning on the A/C will cool the house…by flipping the switch?  Do we believe it like we believe going for a walk will clear our head and burn some calories…by going out the door?  What I mean is, has our belief in the resurrection gone beyond mere mental assent to some type of demonstrable action?  Mark Jones (not our deacon ) has written a book titled “Knowing Christ.”  In the chapter on resurrection he states, “The forecasts of Jesus of resurrection are so clear, they leave us wondering why the disciples were not waiting outside the tomb on Sunday morning to greet their Triumphant Savior.”  That haunts me a little.  Why?  Because there are related questions for us.  Here we are over 1900 years later with Bibles in hand, the church at large, archeology confirming and transformed lives testifying to the power of the resurrection.  Is the event that rocked the underworld and shocked the devil still awe-producing to us?  Do we find any joy in resurrection power?  Does the gospel make us want to dance (even if we can’t or don’t )?  Are we leaning into God’s purposes for us with some anticipation of success?  Are we finding the present benefits of the resurrection of Jesus to be life-giving?  Are we reading His living Word?  Are we embracing the living hope?  Are we walking with the Risen Savior seeking the Kingdom and His righteousness?  The evidence for Jesus’ resurrection is so clear, it leaves me wondering why more modern day disciples are not up and at it for our Triumphant Savior.  Do we believe this?  Would there be enough evidence for a conviction?

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Published: 28 July 2016

33 A.D.  “In addition to all the hullaballoo of those Jews and their Passover, we had the additional tension of a capital punishment.  I’m not sure why the chief priests didn’t like him, he seemed like an okay guy to me.  All the people from up north liked him, better than they like the Pharisees for sure.  I thought it was excessive to scourge and crucify him but we were just following orders.   I justified it by saying to myself…”just another Jew, everybody dies, it’s just a question of where and when.” I felt relieved with that thought until Sunday morning.  I wasn’t assigned to the crucifixion crew so I spent some time in the bars, slept and waited for my next assignment.  On Saturday, their “Sabbath,” Pilate assigned me to guard the grave of the dead Nazarene.  I thought, “Am I being punished or trusted?”  “Why guard the grave of a dead man?”  Well, it turns out that the chief priests heard the dead guy say he would rise from the dead on the third day.  They were afraid his followers would steal his body and make up stories about him to rally people to their cause.  We only had to stay put through Sunday and then our job was done.  Saturday passed without incident.  Whatever else I don’t like about the Jewish religion, I like Sabbath!  Easy peasey as they say.  The night passed by quickly but then at first light the ground shook and a soldier like I have never seen came down from the sky.  That 800 pound stone was tossed to the side and the being from the sky sat on the stone!  Needless to say me and the boys fell over like school kids.  My body remained motionless but suddenly my mind was racing.  There had been darkness on Friday from noon to 3.  There was an earthquake when he spoke his last words.  The Nazarene even died before his legs were broken.  Many of the rumors I heard about him started coming back to my mind.  People said he had raised a dead guy from Bethany back to life.  One of the guys who arrested him on Thursday night had his ear chopped off AND put back on.  Who does that!?  I laid there playing dead and when the light soldiers went into the tomb, we all bolted.  We were no match for those guys who looked as bright as lightening.  Two of us were so overcome we couldn’t do anything but hide.  The other two went to the chief priests to tell them what happened.  The priests gave them money to say that his followers had stolen his body.  What a scam.  There’s no way.  There’s no dead body.  I was there and I’m telling you, though I am not sure what it all means, HE IS RISEN AS HE SAID.”