Sitting at the center of Christianity is the story of Jesus’ resurrection told in the New Testament. It’s a mystery that has tangled many in knots throughout the years. Some take it entirely as truth; others dismiss the whole of it as made up in imagination; and many, even those among us who fall on the side of favoring its truth, continue to have unanswered and intellectually honest questions (which faith either dismisses or is dismissed by).
But setting that debate aside for now, I want to take us back to 1st-century Judea and make the case that the story of Christ told on Easter is worth contemplation by both Christian and non-Christian alike.
The year is 33 A.D. Rome was the dominant power in the world. Appearing out of obscurity, a Jewish philosopher named Jesus started delivering sermons and performing the occasional miracle around the Mediterranean. As his fame increased, so did the threat he posed to the established Roman authorities, who eventually had him arrested. Brought before the Roman prefect of Judea, Pontius Pilate, on charges of blasphemy, Jesus was sentenced to death by crucifixion for (among other things) claiming to be King of the Jews.
In those days, putting someone to death for undermining the powers that be was not uncommon. Socrates. Seneca. Paul. Each shared the same death sentence for their so-called “dangerous” views. (Though a few things make Christ unique among these martyrs—one being the suffering that he had to endure on the way to his execution and the other, obviously, being what came after his death.)
Which brings us to the resurrection, where the Christian story of Christ diverges from other non-Christian references to his life (like that of the great Roman historian Tacitus).1
As told in the New Testament, after Pilate’s execution order, Christ is handed over to Roman soldiers who whip and torment Jesus before forcing him to carry the cross that will kill him to the spot where he’s nailed to it. Hanging between two convicted thieves, Jesus slumps for something like six hours under a sign that reads “INRI” or “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.” There, he utters one of his most famous statements, extending amazing grace to those who persecuted him: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing.”2 Shortly after this statement and a few other whispers, his spirit slips his flesh and life leaves his body.
Taking him down from the cross, Jesus’ body was placed in a tomb with a massive boulder blocking its entrance. Three days later, a group of women discover the stone rolled away and the tomb empty—Christ, it is revealed to them, had risen from the dead.
No specifics about the resurrection are given in the New Testament; just several accounts of an empty tomb and post-resurrection appearances by Jesus. In these appearances, Jesus announces to his disciples the effect of his actions. He has conquered Death as prophesied and “in His name repentance and forgiveness will be proclaimed to all nations…”3 In other words, by his blood, the bridge to Heaven broken by Adam's sins was rebuilt. Because he suffered for their sins, salvation has been reclaimed. Hope has been restored to humanity. Life itself has been renewed.
For Christians, this moment means everything. Today, pastors across the country delivered their Easter Sunday sermons surrounding the story of Christ’s resurrection to their congregations. It is the story upon which the whole faith hinges.4 C.S. Lewis summarized its significance this way:
The New Testament writers speak as if Christ’s achievement in rising from the dead was the first event of its kind in the whole history of the universe. He is the ‘first fruits’, the ‘pioneer of life’. He has forced open a door that has been locked since the death of the first man. He has met, fought, and beaten the King of Death. Everything is different because He has done so. This is the beginning of the New Creation: a new chapter in cosmic history has opened.5
But for as fundamental as the story of the resurrection is for Christians, one can have questions about its truth (or, indeed, doubt it entirely) and still find valuable insights in its message. Because what we see with the resurrection, ultimately, is a story of a man who willingly and selflessly embraced death in the ultimate act of love so that humanity might be redeemed.
At its core, the resurrection tells of a man who, like the mythical Phoenix—the creature that must burst into flames in order to retain vitality—dies to save. Perhaps it’s no coincidence that the Latin initials of the words carved into cross, INRI, can become either “Iesus Nazarenus, Rex Iudaeorum” (“Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews”) or Igne Natura Renovatur Integra (“In fire, all things renewed.”)6
Irrespective of what one thinks about the story’s literal truth, the command of Christ and Christianity in the resurrection story reveal a roadmap for our psychological development as individuals. To progress, we, like Christ, must be willing to sacrifice ourselves (or at least pieces of ourselves) inhibiting our ascension. We must release things that, and often people who, prevent us from reaching the heights we’re capable of. We must remain ready to deliver our worn-out ways to the flames, despite how wounding it will be or how much it will hurt.
Because that is how we arise renewed. And that, by renewing ourselves, is how we renew the world. Such is the message that the spirit of Easter brings for both believer and unbeliever alike. Such is the message that we all would do well to meditate on more often.
Consider the beauty of rebirth and redemption. Bring the story of the resurrection to the center of your thought and allow its eternal perspective to rearrange your life. Dwell on how, regardless of what we’ve done in the past, renewal remains open and available to each of us, at any moment.
But only if we’re willing to pay the cost. Only if we’re willing to let ourselves die so that we might be made new. Only if we follow in the footsteps of the One who defeated death.
Only if we’re willing to endure burning can we continue to give light.
Writing in The Annals ( 116 A.D.), Tacitus describes the persecution of the Christians by Nero and points out Pilate’s execution order in 15:44:
Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus.
Luke 23:34.
Luke 24:44.
See Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 15:14: “And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.”
C.S. Lewis, Miracles.
There is some speculation that this translation was used in certain occult circles to symbolize spiritual regeneration by the sacred fire of truth and love (which Jesus might be said to have embodied).