TLDR: I believe in the empty cross of Christ and the empty tomb because death could not contain the Son of God. Without the belief in the resurrection of Christ, the Church has nothing of value to offer the world.
Alleluia, Christ is Risen. The Lord is Risen, Indeed! Alleluia! This has been the Easter acclamation for over two thousand years, and it was the knowledge of the resurrection that gave the earliest disciples the courage to preach the Gospel of Jesus to the ends of the world. This knowledge was accumulated from dozens of witnesses who saw the resurrected Christ, and experienced him in person after his passion in Jerusalem. Those who claim there is no proof of the resurrection, must ask themselves several questions: Why would well-weathered disciples with families and village commitments give everything up and risk death for a myth, a legend, or a report from a third party? Why would Saul of Tarsus, an up-and-coming Temple official, who had been trained by the best of the rabbis, and who was a wealthy Roman citizen, throw everything away for a myth? What phenomenon, other than an encounter with the risen Christ, could cause an enemy of the Church to become a pariah to his own people? Why would old and young alike chose gruesome deaths rather than deny their Lord Jesus?
In the New Testament, Jesus appeared first to Mary Magdalene (John 20:14-16,) to Mary the mother of James, Salome, and Joanna (Matthew 28:9,) to Peter (Luke 24:34,) to two disciples on their way to the village of Emmaus (Luke 24:13-16,) to the disciples on an occasion when Thomas was absent (John 20: 19-24,) to all of the disciples when Thomas is present (John 20:26-28,) to seven disciples at the Sea of Galilee (John 21:1-2,) to the eleven disciples in Galilee (Matthew 28:16-17,) to over five hundred people (1 Corinthians 15:6,) to James, his own brother (1 Corinthians 15:7,) to Saul of Tarsus (Acts 9:3-5,) and to others not named (Acts 1:3.) Nonbiblical sources, such as various popes in the Roman Catholic Church, claim that Jesus appeared to his mother first, before any other appearance, “Mary’s role in the Resurrection of Christ, was the completion of her mission at the Annunciation in Nazareth,” (John Paul, II.) The lack of evidence of this in the Gospels is explained as a choice made by the evangelists not to document the event, but not proof that it didn’t happen. This belief is plausible because we know that the New Testament only documented a few of the apparitions, but not all of them.
In addition to these apparitions in the New Testament, the history of the Church is filled with stories of visions and apparitions of Jesus and Mary to many believers. “In recent centuries, people reporting visions of Jesus and Mary have been of diverse backgrounds: laity and clergy, young and old, Catholics and Protestants, the devout and the previously non-believing.” (Wiebe, Phillip H. Visions of Jesus, 1998, Oxford University Press, vii.) Although many of these apparitions have been debunked, there are reports of apparitions that remain important to many pious Christians around the globe, such as the famous apparitions at Lourdes and Fatima.
The belief in the resurrection of Christ is the very center of the Christian faith. Without the resurrection, Jesus cannot be seen as the divine Son of God, but another failed would-be messiah. C. S. Lewis makes this point clearly in his Mere Christianity. When we say, “I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God,” we step away from Christian faith and we fall into humanistic nonsense. “A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic… or he would be the Devil of Hell.” It is our belief in Jesus’ divinity, and our unwavering belief in his resurrection, that makes Jesus the Lord of Lords and King of Kings, the very center of the Church’s proclamation. Any belief in Jesus as a purely moral teacher is “patronizing nonsense.” Either he is God’s Son, risen and alive among us, or he ceases to be of any relevance for us today. And if this is what some believe, it is time to start closing Christian temples and schools, because without the Risen Christ we have nothing of value to offer the world.
I believe in the empty cross of Christ, and I believe in the empty tomb, precisely because I believe that death could not contain the Son of God. The resurrection of the Son of God gives me the energy to get up every morning, ready to build a kingdom worthy of the Suffering Servant who died for us. The resurrection is the clearest testament that God is control of our lives, and that nothing can stand on the way of God’s mission for the world. The resurrection fuels my hope that one day Christ will right all the wrongs of this world. It is proof of the durability of love, the redeeming value of suffering, the ultimate vindication of those who fall under the weight of tyranny, and the abundant life that awaits all of us in the new creation.
May the Risen Christ lead you into new life this Easter Season. Remember that you are loved!
Blessings to all,
Fr. Roman+
