St Jude's In The Mountains
Anglican Church - Tehachapi CA
Anglican Church - Tehachapi CA
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He is Risen! This month we celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord, the key event of our faith which validates all that Christians hold dear. In today's culture the Easter holiday is looked upon as just another nice sentimental time. More and more movies regarding Easter today sell the notion that it's just another Spring holiday, like St. Patrick's Day or Mother's Day. In popular culture it's about bunnies and chocolate eggs. In our generation Easter has been about going to church, but more and more modern preachers relegate the Resurrection of Jesus to mere mythology or sentiment. Thus, we are immersed in a culture where Jesus' Resurrection is either regarded as meaningless or thought of as something that really never happened. So many hurting souls, with such an empty view of Easter, are left in their pain and unaware of the hope they can know in Jesus Christ, our living Savior. In our faithfulness, the Church must stand ready to help.
We can offer help because of the reality of all that we believe, proven in the Empty Tomb. The Apostle Paul declared the importance of Jesus' Resurrection in his First Letter to the Corinthians, "If Christ has not been raised, we remain dead in our sins…" (1 Corinthians 15: 9). Why would this be so? The Resurrection of Jesus proves three things. First, it proves that Jesus is in fact God, just as He declared and demonstrated in the Gospels. Second, having proven His divinity, we know that Jesus lives and lives to intercede for us. Third, we have proof that Jesus' promise of our resurrection is real, because He had risen. Skeptics for centuries have tried to deny this event, yet no argument has managed to confound defenders of our faith who have been able to show with confidence reliable reasons to know Jesus is risen!
Most skeptical theories fall into the categories of "wrong Jesus", "wrong tomb", or "swoon". The "wrong Jesus" theories either suggest a substitute was hung on the cross, or that the entire crucifixion account was fabricated. The problem with these theories is the fact that Jesus was well known and that his death was recorded not only by the evangelists but by independent accounts as well. The "wrong tomb" theories suggest that either Joseph of Arimathea's family tomb (described by the evangelists as the tomb donated for Jesus), was at a different site than the one that was found empty, or that Jesus' body was stolen and buried elsewhere. This includes a recent theory by John Crossan of the infamous "Jesus Seminar", suggesting that all crucified victims were buried in a mass grave. Not only is Crossan refuted by the First Century historian Josephus, but also by a 1968 archaeological find of a crucified body in a tomb (different from the description of Jesus body, though). Further, if the body was elsewhere, it would have been produced by the authorities, or if stolen, the guards would have been executed, but there is no record that they were. The "swoon" theories, popularized in the 1960's, suggest that Jesus survived his crucifixion, but archeological and historical records show that a crucifixion is inherently fatal, with immediate, disabling wounds. Thus we are left with either a hoax that no one can adequately explain, to that Jesus is Risen!
What this means for us is that our faith is based on reality, that it is deeper than mere sentiment, and that the life-changing redemption paid for us at the Cross is real as well. This year as we partake of Holy Week and celebrate Easter, consider the Truth we embrace, and reach out to others in the Love of Christ, that they may know the same joy that Jesus gives us.
We can offer help because of the reality of all that we believe, proven in the Empty Tomb. The Apostle Paul declared the importance of Jesus' Resurrection in his First Letter to the Corinthians, "If Christ has not been raised, we remain dead in our sins…" (1 Corinthians 15: 9). Why would this be so? The Resurrection of Jesus proves three things. First, it proves that Jesus is in fact God, just as He declared and demonstrated in the Gospels. Second, having proven His divinity, we know that Jesus lives and lives to intercede for us. Third, we have proof that Jesus' promise of our resurrection is real, because He had risen. Skeptics for centuries have tried to deny this event, yet no argument has managed to confound defenders of our faith who have been able to show with confidence reliable reasons to know Jesus is risen!
Most skeptical theories fall into the categories of "wrong Jesus", "wrong tomb", or "swoon". The "wrong Jesus" theories either suggest a substitute was hung on the cross, or that the entire crucifixion account was fabricated. The problem with these theories is the fact that Jesus was well known and that his death was recorded not only by the evangelists but by independent accounts as well. The "wrong tomb" theories suggest that either Joseph of Arimathea's family tomb (described by the evangelists as the tomb donated for Jesus), was at a different site than the one that was found empty, or that Jesus' body was stolen and buried elsewhere. This includes a recent theory by John Crossan of the infamous "Jesus Seminar", suggesting that all crucified victims were buried in a mass grave. Not only is Crossan refuted by the First Century historian Josephus, but also by a 1968 archaeological find of a crucified body in a tomb (different from the description of Jesus body, though). Further, if the body was elsewhere, it would have been produced by the authorities, or if stolen, the guards would have been executed, but there is no record that they were. The "swoon" theories, popularized in the 1960's, suggest that Jesus survived his crucifixion, but archeological and historical records show that a crucifixion is inherently fatal, with immediate, disabling wounds. Thus we are left with either a hoax that no one can adequately explain, to that Jesus is Risen!
What this means for us is that our faith is based on reality, that it is deeper than mere sentiment, and that the life-changing redemption paid for us at the Cross is real as well. This year as we partake of Holy Week and celebrate Easter, consider the Truth we embrace, and reach out to others in the Love of Christ, that they may know the same joy that Jesus gives us.
