He has risen! He is not here.
One Sunday night, in a little church in Georgia, the services were interrupted when a man in overalls rushed into the building right in the middle of the sermon. He was trembling with fear and excitement. After a moment to catch his breath, he frantically shouted, “Martians are attacking the earth in spaceships! Some of ‘em have already landed in New Jersey!” The congregation sat dumbfounded. The man continued, “I s-s-swear. I h-h-heard it on the radio.”
What the excited farmer had heard, as you probably have already guessed, was the Orson Welles’ now infamous Mercury Theater radio production War of the Worlds. But no one in the church could possibly have known that then, and shock coupled with terror filled the tiny congregation on a clear night in 1938 Georgia.
I suppose feelings not all that unlike the parishioners in Georgia filled the hearts of the disciples when Mary Magdalene, on that first Easter Sunday, ran hurriedly from the empty tomb to tell them that she had seen the Lord—confused, maybe even fearful, but perhaps most of all just plain stunned, not knowing what to think.
On this Easter Sunday morning, 2,000 years after the first telling of Jesus’ resurrection, I wonder what kind of emotions are triggered within us as we read the Gospel’s words, “He has risen! He is not here” (Mk. 16:6)? Even though a long time has passed and a lot of history written, I rather imagine many of us find ourselves struggling with some of the same emotions as the early disciples.
“Do you really believe that Jesus rose from the dead?” a businessman once asked me. He had a MBA from a prestigious university and his question was not meant to trap me or lure me into some theological debate. He was sincerely wanting to know what I believed.
“Yes,” I told him. “I believe.”
The word “believe” is an interesting word in the Greek language, a word that is most frequently used in the writings of the Apostle John. For John the word “believe” is a synonym for “to come,” “to follow,” “to enter,” “to drink,” or “to love.” From these various definitions it is easy to see that “believe” can be used in a variety of ways but in every usage the word “believe” is a verb. In other words, “believing” is something a person does, not merely something a person thinks. To “believe” in Jesus implies action, a decision that involves far more than just passive acceptance.
Jesus knew, even in his day, that intellectual belief in a person rising from the dead would strain credulity. So, instead of asking people to throw away their powers of reason, he invited people to believe in him, that is, “follow him,” practice his way of life. It was as if Jesus were saying, “Look, I know all this rising from the dead talk is fantastic, really hard to intellectually grasp. You’re not sure. I understand that, and that’s okay. Why not just step in my shoes for a while, spend time with me and see whether in my presence you feel the presence of God?”
I can well imagine the last thing Jesus wanted was for people to sit around and debate whether he arose from the grave—“He said, she said” arguments about the resurrection seldom solve anything. The early Christians understood that. In the Book of Acts the disciples did not waste time trying to intellectually prove that Jesus rose from the grave. Instead, they lived lives in such a way that people saw the resurrected Jesus in them.
Sometimes well-meaning people claim they need proof that the resurrection story is true before they will believe, but I wonder if their lack of belief is really an intellectual problem. People are Muslim and yet no one suggests that Mohammed rose from the grave. People are Jewish and no one tries to prove that Abraham rose from the grave. People even profess atheism and yet they can’t show beyond doubt that there is no God.
Maybe some people just use the intellectual argument as an excuse because they know that to commit to the Jesus way would change their way of life. The atheist Alduous Huxley once said that if he were to believe in Jesus, he would have to radically alter his lifestyle.
Still, I know people want evidence of the resurrection. So, what evidence, if any, is there? I could cite as evidence the transformation of the disciples’ lives after Easter Sunday, or I could tell you about the remarkable early history of the church and how people were drawn to the Christ way of life, or I could show you how the biblical record has a “ring of truth” that gives credence to the resurrection. But all of that may not be enough to convince you.
A survey taken some years ago listed the number one reason why people feel attracted to the Christian community. The survey revealed that non-Christians are drawn to Jesus when people of faith have a “collective effervescence” that pervades everything they do.
What is “collective effervescence?”
It’s not an easy phrase to define, but you may experience it in a hospital waiting room where people of faith are gathered together with an anxious family waiting for word from the surgeon. You may experience it on the faces of teenagers when they realize that the Jesus way has far more to offer than the world’s way.
I have experienced it when a group of Muslims asked me and twelve other men why we would fly half way around the world to build a school for their children. I have seen it on the face of a dear friend who was slipping from this world to the next. I have heard it when congregations sing the great hymns of faith. This marvelous “collective effervescence” is everywhere around us; it is even within us—if we follow in his steps.
You want evidence? The first century did, too. So accept Jesus’ invitation. Follow him, practice his ways, align your life with his, see the world through his eyes and the resurrected Jesus will live in you—and that will be all the evidence you need.
