ONE DAY AS A YOUNG PASTOR
I was invited to debate a witch in a room full of religiously skeptical high school students. The debate was friendly and continued for some time, but I sensed I was losing the audience. Finally, I pointed out that in the Christian faith, we believe Jesus rose from the dead three days after his crucifixion. The witch abruptly launched into a silly tale, altogether avoiding any discussion of the resurrection. Suddenly, I realized the ‘Achilles heel’ of the man in black. It’s the resurrection, stupid!
And it will always be the resurrection!
IN THE ESSAY
“A Jewish Theology of Resurrection,” Mark Gottlieb notes that the medieval halakhist and philosopher Moses Maimonides (1135-1204) recognized that “the place of Jesus and the Christian faith within the divine economy must be considered providential.” Rabbi Emden (1697-1776) argued that “the spread of Christianity helped convert pagans into followers of the Mosaic tradition.” More recently, orthodox Israeli scholar Pinchas Lapide (1922-1997) claimed that “the empty tomb was both factually true and a historical factor in Christianity and the conversion of pagans throughout the world.” “Perhaps the most distinctly Jewish characteristic of the Nazarene is his immortal, powerful hope, which reached its pinnacle, beyond the cross and tomb, in the faith of his resurrection—a faith that, through the unsearchable ways of God for salvation, led to the birth of Christianity. For what occurred on the ‘3rd day’ in Jerusalem (i.e., the resurrection) is ultimately an experience of God that falls into the category of things that cannot be proven, just as God himself is unprovable; it can be understood only through faith. A faith that is lived can neither be refuted nor confirmed; it can only be experienced with empathy.” According to Gottlieb, Rabbi Lapide makes three related claims. 1. Hope in the reality of resurrection is authentically Jewish (2 Kings 4:18-21,32-37; 13:20-21; 17:17-24). 2. The reality of resurrection and belief in it made possible the birth of a new–old religion in the world, for without the resurrection, there is no Christianity. 3. Belief in the resurrection is ultimately a matter of faith.In Lapide’’s opinion, “the resurrection belongs to the category of the truly real, and effective occurrences, for without fact of history, there is no act of true faith…In other words, without the Sinai experience—no Judaism; without the Easter experience—no Christianity. Both were Jewish faith experiences whose radiating power, in different ways, was meant for the world of nations. For inscrutable reasons, the resurrection faith of Golgotha was necessary to carry the message of Sinai into the world.
“SINCE THIS CHRISTIANIZING
is based irrevocably on the resurrection of Jesus, the Easter faith has to be recognized as a part of divine Providence. All these matters that referred to Jesus, Maimonides said have to include his resurrection also, for without it ‘the messianic hope, the Torah, and the Commandments’ would never ‘have become a worldwide heritage of faith.’” Gottlieb says, “For this reason Jews, while certainly not ascribing to Christian dogma, have good reason to offer real but qualified support for Christian belief in the resurrection…Not only does the historicity of the resurrection account for the rapid rise of Christianity, but it also preserves the salvational story still being written by Jews and Gentiles alike.” He then summarizes by saying, “for Lapide, the ancient Palestinian Jew, who was miraculously raised from the dead, instead of being a snare and stumbling block for Jews, and Christians, can be a bridge and a shared legacy of theological coherence, fraternity, and mutual care.”
THE MEANINGFULNESS
of this core belief, reemphasized here by ancient rabbinical sources and Mark Gottlieb’s scholarly work, came to me on a long-ago day like a bolt of lightning in a room full of high school students. It’s the resurrection, stupid!
May Jesus always keep us close.
[1] A Jewish Theology of Resurrection by Mark Gottlieb. For the quotes of Maimonides and Lapide and a complete reading of this excellent essay, visit the November 2023 First Things, published by the Institute on Religion and Public Life.
=======John 11:25
Jesus said to Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.
Do you believe this?”
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ON A PERSONAL NOTE
I have been settling into my new residence in Wenatchee, Washington (State, not D.C.) My son-in-law and daughter purchased a home in this community last year, and invited GAGE the wonder dog and me to come live with them. The house is located on a multi-level lot set against a mountain overlooking the valley. It is quiet here with more than adequate space indoors and out to read and pray, live and work. A high desert motif surrounds the home and, by contrast, a large fruit orchard is across the street.
As the Psalmist says, “The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places, surely I have a delightful inheritance (Ps 16:6). This is now the place where the Lord has planted me to be ‘fruitful.’ As GAGE and I walk through the orchard across the way, I am reminded that you, dear reader, and others the Lord has privileged me to serve along life’s way are the fruit of my lifetime thus far. I pray you will remember that you have been “planted in the house of the Lord, [to] flourish in the courts of our God. [You] will still bear fruit in old age, [you] will stay fresh and green, proclaiming, “The Lord is upright; he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him” (Ps 92:13-15).
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AND I HOPE YOU WILL PURCHASE IN EITHER SOFT COVER OR AN E-BOOK—-AND SOON TO BE AN AUDIOBOOK
SEPTEMBER STRIKE: A CAIN FAMILY THRILLER
In the time it takes a bullet to fly, terror strikes every aspect of John Cain’s life. This nearly burnt-out Baytown, California, pastor—along with his family and congregation, the people of Boston, Massachusetts, and the nation of Israel, are about to experience a Sunday like no other.
IT IS A STORY YOU WON’T PUT DOWN!!
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