Christians, Fools Who Believe In The Resurrection

Yesterday we Christians began our 50-day celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. To call oneself a Christian usually means you believe Jesus to be God's Son who was crucified, died and raised on the third day. Of all the world's religions, Christians are by far the largest with some 2.18 billion Christians of all ages around the world. The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life published a lengthy report a couple years ago indicating that Christians make up nearly a third of the world's population of an estimated 6.9 billion. The Roman Catholic Church claims half of the Christians. Brazil has the world's largest number of Catholics (134 million).

Last week I read a piece about the art historian Thomas de Wesselow who is convinced that the Shroud of Turin is real and did indeed touch Christ's body. But he also insists that the image on the cloth fooled the Apostles and others into believing Christ had come back to life, and the Resurrection was in fact an optical illusion. In his 2012 book (The Sign) he says that St. Paul himself wrote in his first letter to the Corinthians that the "resurrection is not about flesh and blood."

I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. - 1 Cor 15:50 ESV

Of course there have been and always will be those who claim that our belief in the resurrection of the body is an illusion. So the billions of us who believe in the risen Christ are all fooling ourselves. As Paul wrote, we are a pitiful bunch if it is true that the dead are not really raised. There is nothing beyond this life. Grab what pleasure you can in the here and now for tomorrow you die.

But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. - 1 Cor 15:13-19 ESV 

This week I invite you to join me as I continue to look at what it means to see Jesus. We'll begin with taking another look at the Apostles' response to the claim that Jesus did not rise from the dead and therefore there is no hope beyond this life. Tomorrow I start with a detailed look at what Paul wrote in his letter to the Corinthians.