Resurrection

[Ernie]

Its amazing to me that the New York Times can still publish an article like this.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/09/opin ... =url-share

[Bootstrap]

Its amazing to me that the New York Times can still publish an article like this.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/09/opin ... =url-share

Nice article. I generally like NT Wright. I especially liked this part of the article:

How did the Resurrection change the disciples’ lives? And is that instructive for how it would change Christians’ lives today?

It’s hugely instructive because even Jesus’ most loyal disciples clearly had not expected him to be raised from the dead. They were flattened by his death. But then his Resurrection, plus what happened afterward, which was Jesus doing this very strange thing of somehow bequeathing them his own personal presence, which they came to call the Spirit, or the Holy Spirit. This absolutely revolutionized them. And it’s not just that they were fearful before and completely emboldened and ready to go to the ends of the earth afterward. It’s that the agenda changed.

When Jesus was arrested, one of his closest followers had a sword and was prepared to do battle. But as soon as the Resurrection happens, we find that everything has changed and they are embodying Jesus’ agenda, which is to love your enemies and pray for your persecutors. So that when the first Christian martyr is killed, Stephen, in Acts Chapter 7, as he’s dying, he says, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”

The deep spirit of Jesus’ way of going about doing God’s kingdom has changed within them because the Resurrection has shown them that the way to victory is not by fighting, is not by force of arms, but is by the Way of the Cross and the Resurrection which follows. And that is as radical today as ever it was.