The truth about Easter lies not in knowing what happened to Jesus’ body, but in the transformed lives of his disciples, and in the transformation of our own lives today
As Christians go to church at Easter they celebrate one of the major events of the religious calendar. But what Easter is all about is all too often a matter of debate. At the core lie differences as to what constitutes evidence of Jesus’ resurrection.
The four Gospel accounts are in agreement that the tomb in which Jesus’ body was laid was found empty two days later, but give no clue as to what happened to the body. When on that first Easter morning Mary came early to the tomb and found it empty, she did not rejoice that Jesus was risen from the dead: instead she was confused and distressed as to what had happened to the body. It was only as she turned and encountered Jesus in risen form that she came to believe.
The four Gospel records vary somewhat as to the exact nature of Jesus’ appearances. In some (for example, to Mary at the tomb, or the disciples on the road to Emmaus), Jesus is not at first recognised; in others, recognition is immediate. In one encounter he comes to the disciples through locked doors, suggesting a non-bodily form. In another he has body enough to ask for food.
Given that the first Gospel account (St Mark) was written some 30 years after Jesus’ death (c65AD), and that the Gospels of Matthew, Luke and John appeared over the following 40 years, such variance in detail is unsurprising. But the Gospel writers speak with one voice of the transformation that took place in his followers as Jesus appeared to them successively over several days.
St Paul suggests that Jesus’ risen appearances may be likened to the link between a seed and a plant: the plant that grows from a seed is inseparably connected to it, yet is quite different in appearance. There is both continuity yet an essential difference. Jesus’ appearances and risen life are not dependent upon the physical continuity of his earthly body, just as the outer case of a seed remains in the ground after having given birth to the new plant.
Along with many scholars, I believe it is not possible to determine what happened to Jesus’ body, or in what form Jesus appeared to his followers. But the Gospels are clear that faith in the resurrection does not depend on knowing what happened to Jesus’ body, but rather on what happened to his disciples.
Those disciples, over the three years of Jesus’ ministry, had come to perceive him as the Son of God. It was a title which Peter attributed to Jesus as a result of finding in his words and actions a revelation of what is ultimately true about human existence – that at the heart of life there is a spiritual source which we know as God, the source of all life, whose nature is seen in such qualities as truth, compassion, self-giving, community, justice and peace.
That divine nature was expressed fully in the life of Jesus. Attracted by that life, his disciples had entered into a new relationship with God, with each other, and with the world around them. Life with God in Christ was a transformed reality, described by John as “eternal life” – “eternal” meaning in the Greek not going on for ever and ever but rather life in a new era, life of a different nature, life in Christ.
The purpose and direction which flowed from this were a source of great joy and conviction to the disciples. To the religious and political establishments of the day, however, Jesus’ new teachings were a threat, and they conspired to put him to death on the cross. That death totally crushed Jesus’ followers, who felt that all he stood for had been overcome by the powers of evil and death. They were dejected and without hope until the various resurrection appearances totally turned them around. They came to see in the person of the risen Christ that death was not the end, and that the life and love of God had triumphed over the forces of evil and hypocrisy. Strong in this renewed faith they went out to proclaim the truth of their risen Lord. Small groups of Christians began to form in many places, such groups being the beginnings of the early Church.
But while Easter faith arises out of those events of 2000 years ago, it is crucial that we experience its relevance in contemporary living and the world today. The things that took place in Jesus’ time highlight fundamental realities of human existence that are true in all times. The reality of the resurrection can be discerned through study of the biblical witness, but that reality only comes alive as people in every age experience in their own life and community the same life-changing power that Jesus’ disciples knew through their relationship with him. To live the resurrection life is to live in relationship with God, and to be committed to the same truth, justice and compassion that the first disciples knew in Jesus Christ.
The reality of evil in today’s world surrounds us. At the personal level, we are aware of the devastation to both sufferer and family of the news of a terminal illness, and the pain of grief which follows. There are times when we feel overwhelmed by senseless murders and violence, by poverty and war, by unjust treatment and rejection, by breakdowns in relationships, or through the hopelessness engendered by unemployment. The extent of the despair can be measured by the suicide rate in our community, by the numbers who seek help through counselling and in psychiatric wards, or escape through alcohol or drugs.
Such experiences of desolation can be compared with the numbness which the disciples knew following Jesus’ death: theirs too was a despair brought on by a feeling that evil and death had overwhelmed all that was good. It would be facile in the extreme to suggest that resurrection faith can change such situations over night. Extensive counselling, friendship, social support, and a commitment to the long haul are essential components of the path to recovery. But along with that our faith plays a significant part by putting us in touch with the spiritual resources which bring strength and hope, and hold out the possibilities of new life on the other side of pain or evil.
I saw this pastorally in the case of a man facing a terminal illness. In his early 60s, and recently married after years of being alone, he had found a new joy and purpose in living which news of his illness had tragically interrupted. He was angry at the unfairness of it all, and was grieving over the prospective loss of his new life and love. Over the weeks leading up to his death we discussed the meaning of life and death, and explored his anger and grief. While his feelings of suffering and loss remained, at the same time he developed a sense of peace, acceptance and trust. In the midst of illness and death he discovered a source of life that gave him the ability to transcend the tragedy of his situation. Such transcendence of evil is an essential part of the experience of resurrection.
At the societal level, resurrection is seen in situations where entrenched systems of evil are overthrown by the forces of justice and truth. A profound example of this can be seen in the collapse of apartheid in South Africa. Few could have imagined that such a seemingly impregnable bastion of oppression would ever fall, yet consistent pressure both from within South Africa as well as from the outside world brought about the collapse. The hope and faith of Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela, and thousands of others were proved to be not in vain. The road to freedom, justice and peace in South Africa is a continuing one, but the resurrection experience that in the end justice conquers injustice has sustained many who worked and sacrificed to see this change.
The place of suffering and death in the struggle for justice has parallels in Jesus’ crucifixion. Those who answer the call to fight poverty, injustice and hypocrisy are a threat to the established powers in exactly the same way that Jesus was, and know the likely cost of this discipleship. The assassination of Martin Luther King as a consequence of his fight against racism, or the execution of Dietrich Bonhoeffer for his opposition to the Nazi regime, likewise illustrate the reality that those who follow Jesus’ path risk suffering and death.
Such suffering has the capacity to change the lives of others, to break down the structures of oppression, and in consequence to bring new hope and life to those whose lives are marked by poverty and despair. Out of the ashes of evil and death, the new resurrection life is born.
The link between resurrection and our understanding of life after death is also an important one to explore. Life after death was not a long-standing belief of the Jewish community into which Jesus was born. The Jewish religious tradition had generally held the view that those who were faithful to God would be blessed with home, family and all the marks of a peaceful community.
History, however, had shown that simple connection to be untrue. The Jewish people had often been vanquished in battle, taken into captivity, or otherwise oppressed. Faithfulness and blessing did not always go hand in hand.
In the period leading up to Jesus’ birth the belief had emerged that the reward for faithful living must belong to an after-life. One Jewish sect in Jesus’ time, the Pharisees, was of this view. Another, the Sadducees, held to the traditional view. In Christian circles Jesus’ resurrection was the new foundation on which belief in an after-life was built.
Such belief is clearly a perception of faith rather than knowledge. What lies outside the boundaries of life on earth lies also beyond human knowledge. Faith, however, does not depend on detailed predictions about an after-life, but rather in discerning a permanent quality in our relationship with God which is not interrupted by death.
If the ultimate reality of existence is characterised by our life with God in Christ, then faith is the conviction that that reality can be trusted also in death, and in what may lie thereafter. The resurrection tells us that beyond death there is always new life, the details of which are a mystery, but in the face of which we can have total trust in God.
Such hope has about it a vibrancy and an assurance that are more than just a pious wish.
The truth of the resurrection, then, should not be sought in detailed debate about what happened to the body of Jesus. Rather, attention should be paid to the great cosmic battle between the divine forces of life, truth and love on the one hand, and the powerful opposing forces of darkness and death on the other.
Those forces are played out in every age in the lives of individuals and institutions. Evil often has the upper hand, as the reality of Good Friday testifies, but the truth of Easter is that the love of God, as seen in the resurrected Christ, has the ultimate victory. Those who allow their lives to be filled with that spirit of divine truth and love will not only know a joy akin to that of the disciples, but will also become God’s agents for building a world where justice, love and peace are the abiding hallmarks.
To Discuss
- What for you is the evidence that Jesus is risen from the dead?
- What does Jesus’ resurrection mean for you in terms of your own personal life and faith, as well as in the world today?
