For some Easter Sunday was the first time that they had attended church. For others, they may come to church like clockwork two times every year; Christmas Eve and Easter Sunday. They come to church on Christmas and Easter because it is something that they are just supposed to do, isn’t it? There is something significant and special about Christmas and Easter that provokes something within us that we otherwise ignore or dismiss the remaining 51 weeks a year to come to church. And for others, while Easter is seen as a special and significant day, attending church is also a part of their regular routine. Sure, someone may try to convince them to dress up because it is Easter; but at the end of the day it is another Sunday that people spend time together at church.
But what makes Easter Sunday significant? What makes Easter Sunday so significant that we feel the desire to dress differently? What makes Easter Sunday so significant that many of us will change our normal Sunday morning routines to attend church? What makes Easter Sunday so significant that many people will relentlessly pursue and ask those who do not normally go to church to attend church?
You see, regardless of what you believe about the claims of Christ and the teachings and message of the Bible, we can all tend to misunderstand the significance of Easter Sunday. Maybe you do not buy the whole Bible, Jesus, or church thing. Or maybe you would describe your spiritual journey in terms of all the bad experiences that you have had with Christians and churches. Or maybe you would say that you feel like you do not know and do not feel that you can ever know about whether or not the Bible or church is real or relevant.
If you fit in one of those categories, I want to let you know that I have some good news for you that is often missed or misunderstood when it comes to the significance of Easter. And that good news is this: What makes Easter significant and special has absolutely nothing to do with what we believe in terms of theology. In other words, what separates Easter and makes it so significant in the lives of Christians is not about what we believe about God. What separates Easter and makes it so significant in the lives of Christians has everything to do with something that happened in history.
You see, for those of us who are Christians, what often makes those who are far from God or skeptical about God so hesitant to engage Christians is that Christians seem to want to spend their time arguing about what we should believe about God. And while what we believe about God is important as Christians, the reason why Christianity exploded in the first century and has had such an impact throughout history is because Christianity, at its core, is all about something that happened in history.
We see this reality revealed for us in a letter in our Bibles called 1 Corinthians. And it is in a section of this letter that was written by a man named Paul to an early church that we see that the core message of the gospel, which literally means “good news’ is not about theology; it is all about something that happened in history. So let’s look at this section of this letter beginning in 1 Corinthians 15:1:
Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.Paul begins this section of his letter to a first century church that was located in Corinth Greece by reminding them of the message of the gospel that he had previously proclaimed to them. Paul explains that the members of this church had responded to the message of the gospel by agreeing and accepting the message in a way that resulted in them entering into the relationship with God that they were created for. Their acceptance of the message of the gospel by faith in what God had done to rescue them from their selfishness and sin was based on their firm adherence to the message that Paul had proclaimed to them. When Paul uses the phrase unless you believed in vain, he is explaining to this early church and to us today that the only way that the message of the gospel does not result in salvation from our selfishness and sin is if we respond to the message without careful thought.
Paul’s point is that believing, trusting, and following Jesus is more than an emotional response. Salvation revolves around a person recognizing and responding to their selfishness and sin by embracing the facts that surround the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel by placing their complete confidence in those facts by believing, trusting, and following Jesus as Lord and Leader. Paul here is explaining that the message of the gospel that results in salvation is rational in nature and is rooted in history. Paul then reminds this church, and us here today, what the core message of the gospel revolves around. And it is in this good news which we call the gospel that we discover what makes Easter Sunday so significant. So let’s look at this core message together, beginning in 1 Corinthians 15:3:
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,In these verses we see Paul remind this first century church, and us here this morning of the essence of the Christian faith. What is of first importance; what is the closed handed and non-negotiable center of the Christian faith is that Jesus Christ, who is God in an bod, entered into humanity and allowed Himself to be treated as though He lived our selfish and sinful lives so that God the Father could treat us as though we lived Jesus perfect life. Jesus Christ died after being crucified.
Now crucifixion was the most humiliating form of punishment ever devised. Death on the cross was usually reserved for condemned slaves, who were considered the lowest form of humanity. This was a death that was reserved for the worst criminals and for enemies of the Roman Empire. Crucifixion was designed for maximum humiliation and maximum suffering. As a matter of fact, crucifixion was so abhorred by society that it was not even depicted in early Christian art. Historians have discovered that the first depictions of crucifixion only occurred after all those who had ever seen a live crucifixion had died. Early Christians did not need a picture of a cross because the image of a cross and what it meant was an all too present reality in their lives.
Paul then states that not only that Christ died for our sins; Paul also states that He was buried. Now the reason that Christ was buried was because He was dead. Jesus did not pass out; He was not in a coma; He was buried because He was dead. Jesus was crucified by professional executioners and these men knew a dead person when they saw one. When Paul uses the phrase according to the Scriptures, he is reminding us that Jesus life and death was predicted and proclaimed throughout the Old Testament. Throughout the Old Testament, we read of God promising a rescuer, a deliverer to save us from our selfishness and sin and to bring us into the relationship with God we were created for.
But not only was Jesus life and death proclaimed throughout the Old Testament, Paul also explains that Jesus burial and resurrection was predicted and proclaimed in the Old Testament. When Paul talks about resurrection here, he is referring to a literal, physical, bodily resurrection. Jesus died on the cross, was buried in a tomb dead as a door nail, and was brought back to life as a result of God’s transforming activity.
You see the core message of the gospel; the essence of Christianity is not about theology. The core message of the gospel and the essence of Christianity revolves around an event that occurred in history. What makes the Bible so compelling and different than other religious literature is that Christianity is rooted in history. These are real events that occurred in real time and at real places that you can visit today. What we believe about God, or our theology, flows from events that occurred in history.
Now at about this point, a natural question that arises is “well Dave how do we know that the resurrection is a historical reality and not just mythology or fiction? And how can we trust the truthfulness of what is contained in this letter?” If those questions are running through your mind, I just want to let you know that those are great questions to be asking. And as Paul continues his letter to this early church, we see the answers to these questions revealed for us by the response of those who were witnesses to the resurrection. Tomorrow, we will look at the response of those who were witnesses to the resurrection.
So how do you view Christianity? As a philosophical worldview? Mythology? Fiction? Or history?
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