Easter Sunday 2022

Christ the Lord is ris’n today, Allelujah… — Charles Wesley

This is Resurrection Sunday. It is the day remember the resurrection of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. What happened is the crux of all Christianity. If Christ did not rise from the dead, we are the most pitiful.

Paul testifies: “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also 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 with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me” (1 Cor. 15:3-8, ESV).

What Paul is doing is putting into practice an ancient Rabbinic custom called traditioning. This is signified by the formulaic statement: “I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received.” The apostle is being the Jewish teacher who passes on his teachings to his students, who in turn will pass it on to their students. In this case, he is passing on the gospel message to the Corinthians. The Corinthians were to do the same for the next generation of Christians.

Now the contents of the gospel that Paul passed actually traces back to the first Easter. Within less than three to eight years, nay just months, Christians drew up a creed stating: Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. This new movement within first century Judaism had become convinced that Jesus had risen from the dead. The origin of this belief traces back to the Sunday after the crucifixion on Friday and the rest on Saturday rest — the first day of the week.

The death of Jesus upon the cross is indisputable. Hanging in agony, He gave up His spirit. The Roman spear thrust into the side through the heart pouring forth blood and plasma (water) precludes any notion of the Lord naturally recovering after a bit of rest in a quite tomb.

Burial in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea tells us that the corpse was placed in a known location. Nobody just threw the remains in a pauper’s grave for wild dogs to eat.

The empty tomb on Sunday is significant. Guards placed at the burial site would have kept grave robbers at bay.

Eyewitnesses to the risen Lord give credence to the miracle. Resurrection really forms the best explanation for their changed hearts and changed lives. First century Jewish people would never just pass on a less-than-truthful-report or finesse the facts just for their cause, especially when they were also the kind of folks that really believed in a final judgment and eternal punishment in hell (Dan. 12:2). They would never risk damnation for advancing a social movement.

Neither would pious first century Jewish people ever have given up key social identity markers for a novel idea no matter how nice life had become in the company of Jesus. What changed?

1. They gave up circumcising males (Acts 15:1-35; Gal. 6:11-16; cf. Gen. 17:9-14; Lev. 12:1-5).
2. They gave up dietary restrictions, albeit without necessarily permitting participation in pagan food rituals (Mk. 7:14-22; Rom. 14:1-23; 1 Cor. 8:1-11:1; cf. Lev. 7:22-27; Deut. 14:1-21).
3. They gave up making animal sacrifices in the Jerusalem temple, they believed that Christ was a better high priest who made a once-for-all sacrifice with His own body, and they strongly warned Jewish members of the Christian movement against returning to the way which had become obsolete on account of Christ (Heb. 4-10).
4. They moved their holy day of worship from Saturday (i.e., the Sabbath) to Sunday (Acts 20:7; Col. 2:16-17).
5. They moved from monotheism into monotheistic Trinitarianism The learning and recitation of the Shema — “Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one…” — served as a distinguishing feature of ancient Jewish family life, but early Christians taught that God is one essence (substance or ousia) and three persons (hypostases) — Father, Son and Holy Spirit. They recognized the divinity of the Father. They recognized the divinity of the Son. They recognized the divinity of the Spirit Yet, they made subject-object distinctions between the three persons. The Son prays the Father. The Father sends the Holy Spirit. The Spirit in the form of a dove descends upon the Son. But they believed only in one God not three. This belief in the Trinity is well-attested throughout the New Testament (Matt. 3:13-17; 28:19-20; John 14-17; Acts 2:22-41; Eph. 1:3-14, 4:1-16; 2 Cor. 13:14; Rev. 4-5).

All these radical changes that characterized the first century Christian movement need an explanation? Something significant needed to have occurred in order for first century Jewish folks from places around Galilee and Jerusalem in Palestine to give up long standing traditions like circumcision, dietary laws, and temple sacrifices, change the day of worship from Saturday to Sunday, and modify their strict monotheism to Trinitarianism. What else could account for these changes besides witnessing Jesus resurrected from the dead?

Would anyone risk life and limb in the Christians persecutions that came shortly after the first Easter if they were never truly convinced in the movement’s core belief that Jesus had risen from the dead? Who would die for a lie?

Today, we stand with all Christians everywhere both living and dead, past and present, shoulder to shoulder, hand in hand, declaring Christ is Lord, He has risen from the dead, and every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess, that Jesus Christ is Lord.

— WGN