Easter Matins
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
Atheists and agnostics commonly launch a wide array of criticisms in the direction of the Christian religion, disparaging Christianity as the source of all evil in human history.
An exception, however, was Antony Flew, a British philosopher and student of science. He started out as a committed atheist, and wrote several books defending atheism and rejecting a belief in God.
But then he changed his mind, on the basis of his studies in science. In 2004 he said that this change of mind came about
“almost entirely because of the DNA investigations. What I think the DNA material has done, is that it has shown – by the almost unbelievable complexity of the arrangements which are needed to produce (life) – that intelligence must have been involved in getting these extraordinarily diverse elements to work together.”
So, before he died in 2010, the former atheist Antony Flew had come to believe in a divine creator and designer of the universe.
He never confessed himself to be a Christian, but he also didn’t describe Christianity as the source of all evil. Instead, he took an honest look at the actual teachings of Jesus and the apostles, and at the many positive effects Christianity has had in the real history of the human race. Flew said:
“I think that the Christian religion is the one religion that most clearly deserves to be honoured and respected, whether or not its claim to be a divine revelation is true. There is nothing like the combination of a charismatic figure like Jesus and a first-class intellectual like St. Paul. … If you’re wanting Omnipotence to set up a religion, this is the one to beat.”
How interesting, yet how sad. There was a part of Antony Flew that wanted the Christian faith to be true.
But Flew’s rationalism – which was dented and weakened by the evidence for intelligent design that he saw in nature – was never fully penetrated by a supernatural encounter with the risen Christ.
Sometimes, when my faith has been weakened through trials and temptations, I can relate to Antony Flew’s struggles. I always want the Christian faith to be true.
What the Bible teaches about humanity’s fall, and about humanity’s inborn alienation from God and hostility toward God, is clearly confirmed when I see and experience the sin that exists in the world, and in my own heart.
The moral code that Jesus and his apostles teach makes a lot of sense. If everyone followed this code, the human race would thrive and prosper in stable and harmonious families, and in stable and safe societies.
I have also seen the healing power of forgiveness, in the restoration of human relationships that had been damaged by pride and selfishness. The faith that inspires such things would clearly seem to be a good and valid faith.
And I have seen the harm that occurs when people do not live as Jesus and the apostles teach, when they do not love their neighbors as themselves, and when they do not restrain their destructive impulses. I have also seen the enduring pain that marks fractured human relationships that have never been healed and restored in a Christian manner.
So, what I see when people embrace the Christian faith and live by its principles, and what I see when people reject the Christian faith and live in ways that contradict its principles, all work together to recommend Christianity to me as a religion that should be true, and that I want to be true.
I want to believe that the forces of good are more powerful than the forces of evil, and that good will eventually triumph over evil. I want to believe that forgiveness and new beginnings are real, and that everyone gets a second chance.
I always want to believe this. But do I always believe this? Sometimes it might seem too good to be true. Sometimes I might be distracted by the comforts and ambitions of this life, and might stop thinking about the life to come.
Sometimes – in fact, quite often – I might be tempted to live for myself and not for others. And sometimes the world, the flesh, and the devil attack and weaken my faith, so that for no particular reason I begin to doubt that the Christian faith is real, that St. Paul and his intellect are real, or that Jesus and his charismatic character are real.
I don’t think any of us are completely free of such occasional doubts. And in some cases these doubts can be very severe.
But today, on this day of our Lord’s resurrection, we are reminded most vividly of what actually stands behind and within the Christian faith, to make it true and powerful all the time – including those dark and weak times when it may not feel true.
Without equivocation, St. Paul writes in his First Epistle to the Corinthians:
“In fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also, in Christ, shall all be made alive.”
How can Paul be so sure that Jesus rose bodily from the grave, thereby to establish the unquestionable truth of the gospel that he preached, and of the Christian faith on which he staked everything in his life? Well, there are three reasons.
First, Paul believed in the resurrection of Jesus because Paul had an extraordinary personal encounter with the risen Jesus, on the road to Damascus – at a time in his life when he was still known by the name Saul.
And Paul knew that this was not a hallucination, because the people who were with him also experienced something extraordinary when this happened.
In the Book of Acts, Paul’s Damascus Road experience is recounted three different times. So, it was clearly important to him. In one of those descriptions, Paul said:
“As I was on my way and drew near to Damascus, about noon a great light from heaven suddenly shone around me. And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ And I answered, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And he said to me, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.’ Now those who were with me saw the light but did not understand the voice of the one who was speaking to me. And I said, ‘What shall I do, Lord?’ And the Lord said to me, ‘Rise, and go into Damascus, and there you will be told all that is appointed for you to do.’”
Second, Paul knew that the resurrection of Jesus was real, and that the faith which this resurrection established was true, because others had also seen, touched, and heard Jesus in his living and glorified state, after he had been killed and buried.
A basic standard of evidence in the Book of Deuteronomy, is that “A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.”
This is why Jesus brought three disciples along for private events – such as the raising of Jairus’s daughter or the transfiguration – which he nevertheless wanted to be recorded and believed by the later church. And this is why the many witnesses to the risen Christ – identified by name – confirm the truthfulness of the resurrection.
Paul knew these witnesses – far more than two or three! – and he had personally heard their testimony. Elsewhere in First Corinthians, he wrote:
“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” – that is, Peter – “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.”
One of the Lord’s appearances also involved Thomas the apostle. Next Sunday’s Gospel will unfold the details of that event for us, but for now I would like to quote these words which the risen Savior spoke to Thomas on that occasion:
“Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
The Evangelist John then immediately adds this comment, which represents also the third reason why Paul believed in the resurrection:
“And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.”
We who are removed in time from these bodily appearances of the risen Christ are still able to know that Jesus is alive, because of the consistency and reliability of the testimony of these people regarding what they had seen, heard, and touched.
And we are able to know – and do most certainly know – that the resurrection of Jesus is true, also because of the supernatural testimony of God’s Word and Spirit, through the message of the inspired Scriptures.
The witness of Paul and the apostles leads us, according to objective standards of historical evidence, to conclude that what they experienced really happened. But the added witness of the Holy Spirit in our hearts takes this certainty to an even higher level, and allows us to know that what we have rationally concluded to be true beyond a reasonable doubt, is in fact absolutely true.
The Word of the gospel – regarding the resurrection of Christ, and regarding everything else that God wants us to know and believe – is full of divine life and power. Not only does the gospel persuade us that Jesus rose from the dead in real history, but it also instills within us a resurrection hope for ourselves, and bestows upon us a new life of faith that is birthed and shaped by the resurrection of our Savior.
In his Epistle to the Romans, Paul writes that
“The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. …faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”
The assurance and certainty of faith is not a product of human psychology. Instead, the assurance and certainty of faith is produced by the unwavering validity of what we believe, when we are in fact believing in something that is, on its own terms, most certainly true.
The resurrection of Jesus is objectively true and real in itself, apart from anyone’s faith in it.
Your faith does not create the resurrection, or make it to be so – even as unbelief does not cause the resurrection not to be so. But the resurrection, as the Holy Spirit impresses the truth of it on the mind and conscience of those who hear the gospel, does create faith.
Jesus did rise from the dead, and is alive forevermore. He is alive as God and man, in soul and body. And as a living Savior, he is personally accessible to those who yearn for his touch and protection.
In his divine power and omnipresence, Christ, after he rose from the grave, “ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things,” as St. Paul writes to the Ephesians. Because he fills all things, and can be wherever he wants to be, we can be confident that he is where he has promised to be for us, whenever we need him.
Jesus is both far away, and very close. He is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, interceding for his church and governing all things for the benefit of his church. And, he is speaking and working in his Word and sacraments.
Jesus lives in the universe. Jesus lives in his church. And Jesus lives in the hearts of all who cling to him and trust in him for forgiveness, life, and salvation.
The Christian faith – filled as it is with such goodness and hope – should be true. The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead announces that the Christian faith is in fact true.
And because you are able to know with certainty that Jesus is risen, you therefore can know – in life and in death, for this world and for the next – that the Christian faith is true; that your sins are forgiven; and that eternal life is yours through faith in Jesus Christ, our living Lord.
In the resurrection of Christ, good has triumphed over evil. In the resurrection of Christ, God has given to you – and to all the world – a second chance.
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Amen.