Notice, gentle reader, that in the above title I said “Resurrection,” not The Resurrection. Mincing words you might say. When I was a child, I had been in Sunday School and had just heard the story told of Jonah and the whale (great fish, if you’re mincing words), and I asked my mother when we got home if that story really happened… “Did Jonah really get swallowed by a great fish, and then live to tell about it?,” I asked. My mother thought for a moment and then she answered… “Well it is at least that true!” Through the years of grappling with scripture, particularly where there are accounts of miracles and the so-called deeds of power performed by the likes of Moses, and Elijah, and not least of all, Jesus; I have always remembered her presumption: That these stories point to a more profound truth, a deep wisdom as to the way of things, and our intimate contingency to the way of things; that the truth of these stories are so resonant, that whether they are literal or not becomes quite beside the point.
Very much aware of the many contradictions in the Bible, and the discrepancies due to varying translations, we modern, progressive Christians don’t have much of a problem with not being literal with scripture… except when it comes to The Resurrection. Many laypersons and clergy alike draw the line there. Some say that to be a true believer one must believe that Jesus literally came back from the dead. I want to say that it is at least that true! that the narrative accounts of Jesus’ resurrection point to a great mystery, a greater mystery than words, or even our history can contain. Something profound, something earth shaking happened in Jerusalem. But we can’t help but notice that the several accounts of The Resurrection vary from Gospel to Gospel. There were no eye witnesses at least as far as the gospel writers are concerned. The Gospels were written a generation after Jesus’ life and ministry. The Gospel of Mark doesn’t even contain a resurrection appearance. In most accounts of the risen Christ the disciples don’t recognize Jesus at first. Strange. And Jesus, according to scripture. is not the only one raised from the dead. There is Lazarus; Jairus’ daughter… and even in Hebrew scripture we are told that Elijah raised the dead. As a matter of fact the death and resurrection motif is ubiquitous in the ancient Near East… in Egyptian lore, in Phoenician mythology. So, in our sacred scripture we are not reading history. We are not reading facts of the matter. We are reading, for lack of a better way of saying it, theological mythology. We are reading about the truth of who God is, and who we are in the presence of God in the language of the imagination; what Coleridge called the language of the Holy Spirit.
And yet, we are people of the Resurrection. The celebration of it is our principal feast. It is our raison d’etre. So what shall we believe? I am Resurrection and I am life says the Lord, according to John’s Gospel. In the same Gospel Jesus says that he is the way to eternal life. Resurrection then is a way of life. Remember, for John, Jesus is the archetype of the people who follow him. So, as people of the way, we too are resurrection and we are life. We too are the way as followers of the way of Jesus. Resurrection life is the Love we bear to the world. In the Greek, the word for resurrection literally means to stand with dignity. Resurrection life has everything to do with enabling the shamed and the lost to stand with dignity. Resurrection has to do with welcome and invitation, and inclusion. It is no literary accident that Jesus’ resurrection appearances occur in the context of a meal. The profound truth to me about resurrection is that it is not just a once upon a time thing… It didn’t just happen once in Jerusalem. It is happening as we speak. It is a force, a present reality that stands against the forces of evil that would undo us. And Love is at the heart of it. It is Love that rolls the stone of the tomb away from the dead and buried of our world. It is Love that raises the shamed to a life of dignity. It is Love that brings justice to those broken by prejudice and self-interested power. We say Jesus was raised bodily because it is in our very bodies, we, the church, being the body of Christ, through which Love is carried to our world. And there is nothing more profound, nothing more earth shaking; no metaphor can adequately speak of it. And I believe.
So when asked if we believe Jesus really was raised from the dead. My answer is that it is at least that true!
