The Resurrection

April 4, 2021

It’s interesting that no one is really upset by the cross. In a strange way, the cross makes sense to us. Death makes sense to us. It’s normal and natural. Most any portrayal of Jesus in our culture is fine with the cross, albeit, a cross devoid of meaning. 

The trouble arises when we talk about the resurrection (and the cross in light of the resurrection). We just don’t know what to do with the idea that Jesus died and came back. Often it’s tacked on as a sort of happy ending—Jesus died for our sins so you can go to heaven, but you don’t have to be sad about him dying because he didn’t stay dead. 

But the resurrection is not merely an interesting epilogue to the story that really ended at the cross. If anything, the cross is a challenging plot point that set the stage for the climax of the story. Then, looking back at the story through the lens of the overall plot, we are able to understand the true power of the cross.

For Paul, it is the resurrection, not the cross, that is at the center of our faith. The resurrection is where the promises of God are brought to their fruition. For the Jews, the idea of resurrection is not overly challenging. They expected the resurrection, and even expected it to be related to the reign of the Messiah. The Messiah comes, institutes a just and righteous rule, God judges the ungodly and destroys the wicked, he destroys death, and “the earth will give birth to those long dead.” (Isa 25-26, especially vs. 19). 

The problem, then, isn’t resurrection, but the idea of a crucified and resurrected Messiah, without everyone else also getting resurrected. That’s not how things were supposed to work. Even so, when Jesus walks along with the disciples on the road to Emmaus, he turns to the Jewish Scriptures and shows them in the Law and the prophets that the Messiah was always supposed to suffer and then “enter into his glory” (namely, the resurrection and ascension).

The problem, then, isn’t with the Scriptures, the crucified and resurrected Messiah, or the promises of God. It’s not really a problem at all, simply an issue we need to be aware of—we don’t understand what God is going to do. The early Jewish Christians looked back at the promises of God and saw how God fulfilled them in Jesus in unexpected and wonderful ways, more wonderful than they had even anticipated! We, one day, will probably look back at the promises of God in light of the second coming and see how God fulfills them in unexpected and wonderful ways.

But until then, we get to live in this strange new reality brought about by the resurrection. The Messianic age is here. The resurrection has begun. The renewing and reconciling work of God is in process, and we get to be a part of it, even as we wait eagerly for the fullness of it!

—John Coffey