MY EASTER QUESTION: WHY GALILEE? – Part 2 of 3

One might have thought that the first day of His resurrected life, the risen Christ might have made straight for the palace, the seat of Roman power, appear there and say, "Pilate, you made a big mistake.  Now, it's payback time!"

One might have thought that Jesus would do something effective.  If you want to have maximum results, don't waste your time talking to the first person whom you meet on the street, figure out a way to get to the movers and the shakers, the influential and the newsmakers, those who have some power and prestige.  If you really want to promote change, go to the top. 

But Jesus?  He didn't go up to the palace, the White House, the Kremlin, or Downing Street.   (Jesus never got on well with politicians.)  Jesus went outback, back to Galilee. 

Why Galilee?   Nobody special lived in Galilee, nobody except the followers of Jesus.  Us.

The resurrected Christ comes back to, appears before the very same rag-tag group of failures who so disappointed Him, misunderstood Him, forsook Him and fled into the darkness.  He returns to His betrayers.  He returns to us. 

It would have been news enough that Christ had died, but the good news was that He died for us.  As Paul said elsewhere, one of us might be willing to die for a really good person but Christ shows that He is not one of us by His willingness to die for sinners like us.  His response to our sinful antics was not to punish or judge us.  Rather, He came back to us, flooding our flat world not with the wrath that we deserved but with His vivid presence that we did not deserve.   

It would have been news enough that Christ rose from the dead, but the good news was that he rose for us.

-- Adapted from a sermon entitled “He Came Back… To Us!” by William Willimon

IN SPIRIT AND IN TRUTH

"To them Jesus presented Himself alive after His passion by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days, and speaking of the kingdom of God."  (Acts 1:3)

When people say, "I'll be there in spirit" what they really mean is "I won't be there."   When modern people say of Jesus Christ, "The true meaning of the myth of the resurrection is that Jesus lives on in our hearts and thoughts" what they really mean is "Jesus is dead as a doornail."  The New Testament has no patience with such sentimental claptrap.   It bluntly denies that Jesus of Nazareth "lives on in our memories" in that watery, sentimental… way of speaking.   It asserts rather that Jesus of Nazareth rose in a glorified body that could eat fish, be touched, and break bread.   This seems terribly crass, crude, and physical to a world that wants to reduce all "spirituality" to odorless, colorless, platonic ideas.   But then the world tends to do this because it fears the biggest and dirtiest secret of all: death, which is a crass, crude and physical thing.   Jesus came to be with us in spirit and in truth.   And so, when He rose on Easter, He did not rise merely "in spirit" but in truth as well.   God defeated the stink, rot, and worms of death, not just the "idea" of it. And He proved it by saying, "See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; handle Me, and see; for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see that I have" (Luke 24:39).   And because He really did rise bodily, we shall too, if we remain in Him. 

-- Mark Shea and Jeff Cavins 

#5582

CHRIST’S RESURRECTION IS THE BREAKTHROUGH

"If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that He raised Christ from the dead. But He did not raise Him if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep."  (1 Corinthians 15:14-20 NIV)

Without the resurrection there is no gospel... The issue for Paul [in 1 Corinthians] cut to the center of the gospel: Quit preaching the forgiveness of sins if Christ was destroyed. Quit offering hope for a new life if Jesus is dead. Quit believing in eternal joy with God if Jesus was martyred and sent to sleep forever in the mists of Sheol. But, Paul proclaims, Jesus not only bled and died for sinners; He also rose again in victory and power. His offering of forgiveness carries divine authority. And of ultimate significance to us, His resurrection is the breakthrough, the pioneer work that leads the way. The same power that raised Jesus will raise us from the dead. If Christ is alive, as we believe, we too shall live... with our Savior.

-- U.M. Bishop Richard Wilke in “DISCIPLE: Becoming Disciples Through Bible Study” 

#5578

GOD VISITED THE EARTH

“For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in [Christ], and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through His blood, shed on the cross.”  (Colossians 1:19-20 NIV)

The Gospel has a once-and-for-all quality. It is unique. There is nothing like it in history or in any other world religion…  God visited the earth.

That says it all! God visited the earth in Jesus Christ who lived and died and rose again for our salvation, who ascended to heaven and sent the Holy Spirit to work in the hearts and community of Christian believers. That is the Gospel, the Christ-event, the foundation of our faith. It happened once and need not happen again. All that we Christians believe is based on it.

-- Rev. Dr. A. Leonard Griffith in a sermon entitled "The Faith Entrusted to Us" 


#4574