By Ivan T. Blazen
A Commentary on the Sabbath School Lesson for February 19–25, 2005
Why study the resurrection of Jesus when the cross of Jesus is the subject of the quarterly? Because the cross, a symbol of suffering, shame, and defeat, would have faded from memory without the resurrection. If Jesus had not risen, we undoubtedly would have said as did the Emmaus travelers, "We had hoped he was the one to redeem Israel" (Luke 24:21).
In other words, if a dead Jesus on a Roman cross is the ultimate reality, then all hope is gone and violence is victor rather than Jesus. But if through resurrection God crowned him Lord and Christ (Acts 2:36), thus vindicating him, it must also be that his death, rather than being a tragic negative, had superlative significance. As the Spirit guided the disciples into all truth (John 16:13–14) the view developed that he died not only because sinful people had killed him, but he died for sinful people to give them life (2 Cor. 5:14–15; 1 Cor. 15:3; Gal. 1:4). The resurrection was a creative event that made the cross an object of faith rather than an occasion for sorrow. It is sometimes said that the Jewish doctrine of the eschatological resurrection of mankind is what made it possible to speak of the resurrection of Jesus. That is true in part. When Jesus’ disciples saw him alive again, they were able to claim that Jesus was risen, even though no one had seen it happen. However, there was not only continuity with past thought but discontinuity as well. An examination of Old Testament and Intertestamental texts in which the resurrection is mentioned reveals that it referred to a corporate resurrection at the end of time (for example, Isa. 26:19; Dan. 12:2), whereas Jesus’ resurrection was the rising of a single individual in the midst of time. This was something totally new and surprising. The apostle Paul called Jesus’ resurrection, along with his death, a matter of "first" importance, that is, the primary datum of Christian faith (1 Cor. 15:3). Faith stands or falls here as is evident from the negative consequences that follow if Christ be not risen: the apostolic proclamation is an empty misrepresentation of God, the faith of those who accepted it is futile, believers are still in their sins, those who died as Christ’s followers have perished forever, and Christians are the most pitiable people on earth (1 Cor. 15:14–19).
The resurrection of Jesus is at the heart of the earliest Christian confession we possess, which Paul says was transmitted to him and passed on to his converts. It is a confession that scholars believe goes back to just a few years after Jesus’ death. As found in 1 Corinthians 15:3–4 (see also 1 Thess. 4:14) it reads as follows:
Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures, and was buried
He rose the third day, according to the Scriptures, and appeared.
The appearances of Jesus were decisive for the disciples’ conclusion that he had risen. The empty tomb, capable of other interpretations, could not of itself substantiate this, but it did correlate with the appearances. The appearances tell us how to interpret the empty tomb. The appearances of Jesus, from which his disciples justly concluded that he was risen, occurred over a span of time to various individuals and groups both in Galilee and Jerusalem. He first appeared to Mary Magdalene and other women (Mark 16:9; John 20:11–18; Matt. 28:1–10), then to Peter (1 Cor. 15:5; Luke 24:34), to the disciples of Jesus (1 Cor. 15:5–6; Matt. 28:16–20; Luke 24:36–49; John 20:19–23; 21:1–14; Acts 1:3–9), to Thomas (John 20:24–29), to the Emmaus travelers (Luke 24:13–31), to five hundred people at one time (1 Cor. 15:6), and last of all to Paul (1 Cor. 9:1; 15:8; Gal. 1:12,15). Unless one jettisons these appearance stories as legend rather than memory and history, the number and variety of the appearances is impressive. It is clear that the followers of Jesus had experiences that gave them the conviction that the crucified and buried Jesus was alive, not merely his memory, example, influence, or cause, as is sometimes asserted. The appearances came only to disciples, but it was not because they already had faith that Jesus would rise. Rather, Jesus appeared to those who needed faith and made it possible for them to believe. In other words, faith did not create the appearances; the appearances created faith. As Acts 1:3 puts it, "After his suffering Jesus presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs.…" For certain theologians, the most that can be said about the resurrection is that something happened, though we cannot be certain just what. The New Testament writers would not have agreed to such an emaciated conception. Although not able to explain the mechanics of what took place in the divinely orchestrated transition from death to life, they nevertheless proclaimed that Jesus "presented himself alive." John, in his Gospel, challenges his readers, who had not seen any appearances, to believe the apostolic gospel and witness in place of sight. He says: "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe" (John 20:29). Christ’s resurrection would not have reached its goal if it did not have practical implications for our lives. The New Testament traces out these implications in a number of directions. When it comes to the question of the loss of loves ones, assurance is given that the dead will rise as Jesus did (1 Thess. 4:13–18). He is the first fruits of them that sleep (1 Cor. 15:20). If the issue is whether believers are to lead a moral life, we are reminded that we were baptized into Christ and his death so that just as he came forth by the glory of the Father, we too are to walk in newness of life (Rom. 6:3–4). Through belonging to him who was raised from the dead we are to bear fruit for God (Rom. 7:4). And when we go through various kinds of suffering, which are the forms Jesus’ death takes in us, we will not be crushed, driven to despair, forsaken, or destroyed, which are the forms Jesus’ resurrection life takes in us (2 Cor. 4:8–10). To all who, like Mary Magdalene, stand at Jesus’ tomb and sincerely wonder what really happened, the risen Jesus will come in the Spirit and, as with Mary, will speak our name and call us to recognize in faith that he is alive (John 20:16–18).
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