As we have continued our weekly Bible Study and our Soup, Song, and Sacrament, one thing has become clear to me: the resurrection of Jesus was the foundation of the Christian movement.
I know that sounds silly, or even trite, but I have begun to wonder at how blithely I've treated that. Think about it--Holy Communion is a sharing in Christ's body, alive--and it is also a celebration of his resurrection. Our Baptism unites us with Christ's death and with his resurrected life--the high point of our year is devoted to remembering that singular event that solidified the faith of the apostles and united their voice as they began to speak to the world.
We don't talk much about resurrection these days: we talk about heaven, sure, and passing on, and all kinds of other things. But what does it mean for us to know that Jesus rose from the dead? What does it mean for us that he rose for us?
I think the resurrection shakes everything to its foundations. Our minds elide it, evade it, explain it away, search for a way beyond it. Our minds do everything, in fact, that Jesus does not do. Jesus accepts his death. He is scared to die. He goes to the cross--he is buried, a dead man. And yet, he lives. Bodily, he lives, and he lives with us. Can we believe it? If it is true, what can it mean for our lives?
