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Christ is risen
‘Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary
Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been
removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon
Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said,
“They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know
where they have put him!” So Peter and the other disciple
started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple
outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and
looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in.
Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into
the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the
burial cloth that had been around Jesus’ head. The cloth was
folded up by itself, separate from the linen. Finally the other
disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He
saw and believed.’
(John 20:1–8)
One thing is certain: if Jesus had not risen from the dead, we would
never have heard of him. The attitude of the women was that they
had come to pay their last tribute to a dead man. The attitude of
the disciples was that everything had finished in tragedy. By far
the best proof of the resurrection is the existence of the Christian
church. Nothing else could have changed sad and despairing men
and women into people radiant with joy and flaming with courage.
The resurrection is the central fact of the whole Christian faith.
The resurrection makes Christianity unique
The religious leaders wanted Jesus executed because of who
he claimed to be – the Son of God (John 3:16–18). They rightly
understood that this claim to be the Son of God meant equality
with God. Jesus was claiming to be God (John 5:16–19; 10:29–36).
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