The Practicing Progressive

Issue 18
April 16, 2007

He shook his head, smiled, and dismissed a whole religion with, “And to think they believe Mohammed rode up to heaven on a horse!”

And to think we believe that a man actually rose from the dead.

Another poor Richard once reminded us that people in glass houses should be careful about what they say about other religions.

I’ve always liked the Sundays after Easter when we gain a little distance from the mythology and move a little closer to the truth. During Holy Week, a friend of mine signed his e-mail to me: “Christ is risen! (Existentially, of course.)

Several years ago, while hosting a seminar with Bishop John Spong, I received a letter from a fellow Lutheran pastor who chastised me for inviting someone “who doesn’t believe in the historical resurrection of Jesus.” I marveled at the gall of my correspondent, who, I suppose, isn’t interested in theological perspectives different than his own. I also wondered just what his theological perspective might be. I assumed he clung to the conviction that Jesus did, in fact and in body, walk out of the tomb that long ago Sunday.

As we seek to construct a Christianity for the modern mind, it is fair to ask whether literalistic declarations regarding the resurrection are either instructive or helpful. Must we have this particular form of divine authentication for Jesus’ teachings to be true? We need a physical resurrection only to validate Christianity’s thesis of atonement. Paul’s bold declaration that our faith is in vain without Jesus rising from the dead holds no power for many of us. Our commitment to the teachings of Jesus is not voided by our rejection of his physical resurrection.

A number of years ago, several members of my parish passed a book onto me that had captured their imaginations. The novel’s central theme was the discovery of the bones of Jesus in an ancient tomb outside of Jerusalem. The realization that Jesus hadn’t actually risen from the dead sent the entire world into turmoil, hurtling us toward an apocalyptic end. Thankfully, at the last minute, the bones were proven to be not those of Jesus and the world was saved from extinction. Whew! I found it, to say the least, a bit overwrought. This was pre-The Da Vinci Code or the recent claim to have found the ossuary of Jesus but it still shook up my congregants. What if the resurrection isn’t a fact of history? Would Christianity (let alone the world as we know it) come to a screeching halt? Not for me and, I suspect, not for millions of others who have found the teachings of Jesus to be a guide to discovering a life of meaning, purpose and, yes, even hope…with or without the bodily resurrection.

Ironically, there is no more powerful symbol of authentic Christianity for me than that of death and resurrection. The reality that life is a series of dyings and risings proclaims a truth that resonates deep within. “The only constant is change” someone who must have understood the metaphor of resurrection once said. All of us, sometimes very reluctantly, know that is true.

Curiously, Christianity has too often demanded acceptance of Jesus’ physical rising while missing the power of the metaphor. No institution is more resistant to the little deaths and resurrections that comprise a healthy understanding of life than the church. It is a sad paradox that insisting on a literalistic understanding of the resurrection of Jesus prevents many inquisitive Christians from experiencing the true power of the resurrection.