legacy-resurrection
This has been a most difficult year for my cousin Mary. For months she had taken so much time off from her job as a resource teacher in the Naples Public Schools to take her mother to doctor’s appointments. When Aunt Martha’s condition required hospice, she spent many days on that transition. Once her mom was gone Martha’s apartment had to be cleaned out and vacated in 30 days, which Mary did, all while teaching school and planning for her only daughter Kelsey’s wedding a month and a half later (the one bright moment in an annus horribilus). Today I awoke to the news that Mary’s brother, my cousin John is in ICU and it doesn’t look good. Mary is headed to his bedside in Atlanta right now.
I went to Kelsey’s wedding in Jacksonville on St. Patrick’s Day and offered to come to Naples for a few days after the wedding to go through all of Aunt Martha’s genealogical research and photographs. There were five large cardboard and file boxes, and five more smaller boxes that we pulled out of storage. We threw a lot away, and I consolidated many of her papers and photos into one large box which I sent home to myself, to go through at a more leisurely pace.
Right before Holy Week, I pulled out two composition notebooks with handwritten essays. I didn’t immediately recognize the handwriting. But after looking at the topics and comparing them I realized that I was holding words that had been written by my paternal grandmother. One of the unfinished essays was entitled “Resurrection”. Here is an excerpt:
“The resurrection of Jesus is undoubtedly the best-known event in the life of Jesus and the least understood. It is assumed that every Christian accepts the fact of the resurrection; whereas… many Christians accept it only with reservations and sometimes only in sheer blind faith. It is often treated as if it were a doctrinal belief about Jesus, but nothing could be further from the New Testament attitude toward the event…Few things are needed more in Christendom than clarification of this unique event which in a very real way authenticates the entire life and ministry of Jesus. There are at least six primary documentary sources for the resurrection event. It should be emphasized here at the beginning that every source treats it as an event and not as a belief or doctrine.”
It seemed like such a God-sighting to be holding these words in my hand as Holy Week approached…words that showed just how connected I was to both my Nana and aunt in the sure knowledge that only Jesus could go to Hell and back for us…this FACT of the resurrection event that gives me such confidence to know that I will see them again. And now as I pray for John, I know that his redeemer lives as well.
The Lord is risen! Lord, have mercy!
Love, Liz
Resurrection
by Mary Blacklidge Wagner
The mood of the disciples on the eve of the resurrection was one of shocked disbelief and bitter disappointment. They felt that God had let them down. They had given up everything, family, homes, and work to follow Jesus who had spoken so confidently of God’s loving concern for them. He urged them to become reconciled to God and live a new life of love while they awaited his coming. They had followed him faithfully and hopefully, even to Jerusalem, where they knew how dangerous that would be. And now the end had come, tragically unexpectedly, irrevocably. God had abandoned them.
Then an utterly unbelievable thing happened. Early in the morning on the first day of the week they discovered the empty tomb and before the day was over, they knew Jesus was alive. They refused to trust their own senses at first. Peter and John ran to the tomb to see for themselves. Thomas would not believe until he had touched Jesus. But before long they all knew that it was incredibly true. Their Lord had risen from the dead.
The resurrection of Jesus is undoubtedly the best-known event in the life of Jesus and the least understood. It is assumed that every Christian accepts the fact of the resurrection; whereas, as a matter of fact, many Christians accept it only with reservations and sometimes only in sheer blind faith. It is often treated as if it were a doctrinal belief about Jesus, but nothing could be further from the New Testament attitude toward the event, as we shall see. Few things are needed more in Christendom than clarification of this unique event which in a very real way authenticates the entire life and ministry of Jesus.
There are at least six primary documentary sources for the resurrection event. It should be emphasized here at the beginning that every source treats it as an event and not as a belief or doctrine. It happened to the disciples, unexpectedly breaking in upon their disappointment and despair. We do not begin to understand the resurrection until we see it in that light.
The earliest documentary evidence is furnished by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:3-8. Writing about AD 55 Paul reminds the Corinthians of the tradition that he had received, presumably after his own conversion. This record coming from the first decade after the crucifixion, is the earliest narration of the event. Sometimes called “the oldest Christian document we possess,” it lists six appearances of the risen Lord.
Paul delivered as of first importance what he had received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance to the scriptures. He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve, then to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom “are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.” He appeared to James, then all the apostles. “Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared to me.”
Mark’s gospel (Chapter 16:1-8) describes how the women found the empty tomb, how a young man told them of the risen Jesus and they were filled with fear. The majority of scholars agree that the original ending of this gospel has been lost. Undoubtedly in its unmutilated form it contained an appearance of the risen Lord, for it predicted such an appearance five times in the earlier part of the gospel.
