What are we supposed to think about the Resurrection?

What exactly is the Resurrection of Jesus about?

We begin with the fact that Jesus was dead.  Completely dead.  Everyone said he was dead.  Then he was laid in a tomb - which if you have never witnessed my Easter morning children's sermon means he was placed in a cave and a large stone was rolled over the entrance to keep the wild animals and grave robbers out.

He Qi's Women at the Tomb

Then, early in the morning, on the first day of the week.....which in Jewish counting would be Sunday.....the women took spices to the tomb to anoint the body.  They wondered aloud how they would roll the stone away from the entrance to get in.  They found the stone rolled back, and according to different accounts, an angel there to tell them that Jesus was not there.  He was risen.

I don't want to argue whether this happened or not.  I want to wonder about what we are to take away from this incredible, singular experience.  Here are some possibilities

Jesus was really God.

Jesus was now a zombie. [in deference to popular culture]

Death is just temporary.....for Jesus .....or maybe even for all of us.  The tomb wasn't really a tomb, it was a tunnel that Jesus skimmed through to another life.  Like getting on and off a bus at different stops.

There really is a heaven.  That heaven is where Jesus lives.  Possibly we could live in that heaven too after we die.

Notice that some of the possibilities only apply to Jesus.  The big question for us is whether this extraordinary thing could happen to us as well.  Let's try to think about this on a higher plane.


1. The resurrection of Jesus shows us that evil will not triumph.....in the long run.

2. The appearance of the resurrected Jesus suggests that the God we always thought was 'way far away' could be right next to our elbow right this minute.

3. The resurrection is about new life for all of creation and not just for Jesus.

4. Or we could say it is about transformation: that which was without breath was made a new creation.  Therefore we could talk about new beginnings arising out of apparent endings.

5. The world we think we understand is totally beyond our comprehension.

If the resurrection of Jesus is only good news for Jesus, then that is nice but not particularly important to me or you.  But if the resurrection of Jesus is the sign of God's intervention in this world: through the incarnation first, and then through the raising of Jesus....well, that is something different entirely.

So, don't just use the words someone else has used to describe what was going on that Easter morning.  What do you think the resurrection means?  That is probably where our faith begins.