Lesson 1: Let’s Get Biblical About Resurrection

Recently, my son, and my beloved brother in Christ with whom I shared 35 years of ministry, died within days of one another. Needless to say, I have been pondering resurrection.

One thing has become glaringly clear. Although ”God raised Jesus from death” is the central proclamation of the Christian faith, we pretty much avoid the subject. At least we seldom talk about what the Bible actually says about resurrection. We speak about Jesus being brought back to life after he was executed and our meeting loved ones after death. However, neither comes very close to what the Bible says.

While preparing for a Bible study with wonderful Lutheran students at Syracuse University, it occurred to me that some of this results from so many taking a vacation from church after Easter Sunday. We participate in the shout, “He s is risen. He is risen indeed!” at the empty tomb but never return the following Sundays when the scriptures explain what that meant in the first century. And these are the passages that help us understand what it means for us today.

When you read the accounts of the resurrection in the four gospels, you are struck by the differences. All four are pretty consistent about what happened in the Passion, but then they present quite different versions of events on and after Easter. I think understanding resurrection begins with asking what these apparent contradictions mean rather than pretending they do not exist.

For instance, what is going on when the four gospels disagree about those who were at the empty tomb and what they saw. All four gospels list different people who went to the tomb: Mary Magdalen, other women, one apostle, and two apostles. All four differ in what they saw in the tomb: one man, two men, an angel, and nobody at all. And all four report that those present responded in different ways: told no one, told the apostles who did not believe them, told Peter who ran to the tomb, and told Peter and John who ran.

The differences go beyond the empty tomb. How are we to understand that two say the appearances took place in Galilee and two in Jerusalem? What are we to make of many insisting these were bodily appearances, but Paul reports his was a voice out of a great light? And what are we to make of Paul writing about his resurrection appearance three times with significant variations? Why do some reports say there is difficulty recognizing him and others do not? Or for that matter, what are they trying to say when they describe what appears to be a very clear appearance but still acknowledge that some participants doubted? Again, in what form does he appear to 500 at once? And why does the official list of witnesses in I Corinthians 15 include his brother James but the Gospels skip this altogether?

Perhaps even more important is asking where is Jesus after Easter. Some passages claim he ascended to the right hand of the Father where he will remain until he returns to judge in the last days but others promise he is with us always or at least when two or three gather in his name.

I wonder if we can really understand resurrection until we address these questions. I shall attempt to do that in this series.

Tags: Questions about the Biblical Account of the Resurrection, Resurrection, Resurrection in the Bible