The Resurrection of Jesus Christ

One of the challenges when hearing the gospel story is the demands it puts on the listener.   When we read through Christ’s life we are confronted with a number of miracles which are hard to believe.  Miracles like Jesus giving sight to the blind and healing the lame and leper. Miracles like when Jesus walked on water, calmed a raging sea, and fed 5000 from five loaves and two fish.    And of course let us not forget the outrageous claim that Jesus was born of a virgin and claimed to be God who became man.

And yet as fantastic as all that is, I think if you pause to think about it, Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, after 3 days in a tomb is perhaps the most challenging part of the story.  Dead things don’t come back to life.  And just in case we may be tempted here to believe that it was not Jesus’ own power at work on resurrection Sunday, just days before His crucifixion and death, Jesus raised Lazarus who was four days in a tomb (John 11).

Now because these things are in the distant past, about 2000 years ago, the temptation for all of us is to fail to see the relevance of the resurrection story to our lives today.  What difference does it make to our lives that a man claiming to be God did a lot of miracles and was raised from the dead?   How does this story affect the choices I make in life or the problems I face each day?

In Philippians 3:7-11, we have the Apostle Paul revealing to us how Jesus and the resurrection changed his own life.  “Whatever gain I had, I count as loss for the sake of Christ… I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus… for His sake I count them as rubbish (which can also be translated as dung or manure)… that I may gain Christ and be found in Him…”

When weighing the differences between having Jesus and what the world could offer, Paul chose Jesus.  Why?  “…that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection… becoming like Him in His death that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.”   You see Paul understood here that the issue at hand was one of life and death and one that had to do with his eternal destiny.  And on the scales of what is truly valuable, life is more valuable than death and eternity more important than this life.  That is reason why Jesus tips the balance so much in His direction, because He alone holds the key to death and life and our future resurrection.