Did Jesus rise from the dead? Hey, let's "hope" so!

Some guy once wrote—and I quote:

Now if Christ is preached as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.

And the Catholic Church, following the lead of St. Paul and the other Apostles, declares:

Given all these testimonies, Christ's Resurrection cannot be interpreted as something outside the physical order, and it is impossible not to acknowledge it as an historical fact. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 643)

Well, hey, what do they know? Not as much as Barbara Nixon—at least if you believe Nixon—who is pastor of United Methodist Church in Junction City, Oregon, and author of this, um, hopeful column in today's edition of The Register-Guard. A friend read it and sent me the following examination, using one of my favorite exegetical methods: perturbed commonsensical sarcasm. His comments in plain type; Nixon's in italics:

Did you read the "guest column" on the religion page in today's R-G?

Easter Sunday, with its church celebrations, family dinners, egg hunts, bunnies and baskets, has passed. As a pastor, I am well aware that people who celebrate the holiday enjoy it many different ways. More importantly, they celebrate many different perspectives on the meaning of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.

Some Christians see this quite literally as the culminating miracle from God, following Jesus’ great sacrifice to put things right between God and humanity. At the other end of the spectrum are those who understand it as a grand metaphor for the rebirth that can happen in anyone — this, also a miracle from God. Between the totally literal and the highly metaphorical lie all the variations of belief about what happened and what is believed about it.

Darn those Gospels!  They're so cryptic! Why don't they just tell us what the resurrection means? And even St. Paul doesn't shed any light on this event!

Christians do not speak in one voice about the Resurrection.

But more particularly so if you're a "Christian" who is a Methodist pastor.

Personally, my understanding of the meaning of Jesus’ death and resurrection rises from the story itself.

Aha! Very clever of her.  Without her personal understanding, we'd be bereft.

Jesus was clearly an extraordinary teacher and healer.

Some, who are not Methodists, even call Him "Son of God."  Which doesn't seem to take away anything from His teaching and healing.

His words and actions attracted people who were oppressed, disabled, discouraged, outcast and demonized. Life was hard. Times were tough. He did what he could to fill hungry bellies and heal broken bodies.

Yeah, and too bad He couldn't do more. But He not only helped the "demonized", He actually

cast out demons, and even brought the dead back to life.

He preached about “the kingdom of God.” He brought encouragement and hope.

Preach it, pastor! He also forgave sins, and said that those who believe in Him, even if they die, shall live forever.  Oh, sorry; that's probably not appropriate to bring up about Easter.

Now, the people who followed Jesus, I imagine, were a bit like me.

True.  They weren't 100% Christians until they received the gift of the Holy Spirit.  That's when they began to preach about Jesus.  I bet she going to do the same, one of these days.

When I am hopeful, I begin to picture the future as I would like it to be. So for many, “the kingdom of God” meant that Jesus would overthrow the Roman government and reign as a prince of peace, ending their oppression. They considered him to be a revolutionary.

Others had no idea what to expect but they pinned all their hopes for a better life on him. He had many followers who simply knew that things just had to get better with him around!

Matthew, Mark, Luke and John; she's hot on the Gospel message now!  Things go better with Jesus!

So when Jesus was arrested and executed by Rome, I can appreciate how horrified they must have been. Not only were they grieved and frightened, but they had truly lost all hope. It was hope that died on the cross.

I thought it was Jesus Who died on the cross.  But I'm not Methodist, so perhaps there's a difference with those people.

I can imagine this because of difficult moments in my own life when my hopes — my visions for the future — have been dashed by the unexpected. The deaths of my husband and my sister in a short season not only grieved me, it left me with full responsibility for my aging parents and my young adult children.

She too has been crucified.

I felt paralyzed with hopelessness. And it is in that place where I didn’t have a clue how to move forward, that God surprised me — not with what I had pictured for my life, not with an easy road by any means, but with a journey that has been beautiful in ways I never imagined.

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that whoever believes in Him, can have a beautiful journey."

So, if the death of Jesus was the death of hope (literally, metaphorically or something in between), then the resurrection of Jesus is God’s promise of unimaginable possibilities in the midst of our lives, no matter what.

I think it's wise that she allows for many options here. The early Church was kind of backwards in not doing the same.  They probably would have attracted more members more quickly, if they had only told people that they didn't really know for sure what the death of Christ meant, but nevertheless, if you're willing to suffer martyrdom for His sake, your life will be full of unimaginable possibilities....as long as you're still alive, that is.

Barbara Nixon is pastor of United Methodist Church in Junction City, a congregation of followers of Jesus who respect and uphold all spiritual paths that lead to living in the love of God.

Well, at least there is truth in advertising here.  She doesn't claim to be pastor of a real Christian church.  You can't hold this congregation down to those limiting and antiquated "I am the way, and the truth and the life" words of Christ, Who was so busy attracting people to believe in hope.

For more about why the "grand metaphor for the rebirth" doesn't hold up to intelligent scrutiny, check out the DVD, "Did Jesus Really Rise From the Dead?" Those who would like to learn much less about the Resurrection can go here.

• Benedict reflects on the "certainty and joy of Christ's resurrection" | March 26, 2008

Comments

[walter]

makes me wonder what they are United? Not Christianity it seems.

[Jeremy]

Jesus seems to be a tricky stumbling block for the United Methodist Church. Thanks for a pithy blog that doesn't tolerate bunny rabbit theology.

[Jeremy]

Jesus seems to be a tricky stumbling block for the United Methodist Church. Thanks for a pithy blog that doesn't tolerate bunny rabbit theology.

[Gail]

Ha ha ha!!!

I was married by a Methodist minister (before my husband and I returned to the Catholic church) because I used to attend that church with a college roommate who was a very devout Methodist. I can't imagine that minister saying ANY of this silly stuff.

[Ed Peters]

Carl's having too much fun again.

[Nick Milne]

I think "highly metaphorical lies" is a good way to describe the way in which many Christians view accounts of miracles in scripture.

Not, of course, that this is how she was even using the phrase at all, but there it is.