The Resurrection's Revolution: Heaven and Earth Reunited

But when heaven and earth are reunited, Jesus shows us something entirely different is possible. The excluded are embraced and welcomed. They become part of the community. The blind have their eyes open, and they can see. The hungry are fed to fullness, and there are baskets of scrap left over. And the dead, the dead do not stay dead. Instead, we say, death, where is your victory? Where is your sting? You have been defeated. Heaven and earth are put back together again. [00:51:19] (46 seconds)  #HeavenMeetsEarth

And this is actually a huge, huge problem for the Roman authorities and for the Jewish authorities. In other words, everybody else has a vested interest in silencing these rumors of a resurrection. They would love to squash this new start up religion that's threatening to undermine their power and their stability. And if they wanted to do that and everybody knew where this Jesus was buried, all they would have to do is go to the tomb and produce a corpse. And Christianity itself would be DOA. [00:38:29] (41 seconds)  #PowerUnderThreat

Legends are told about once upon a time in a galaxy far, far away. Time and geography and identity are vague and difficult impossible to nail down. It's like nailing Jell O to a wall. You can't do it. You can't verify it, but you can't disprove it either. But the resurrection stories in all of the gospels are different. They have a different texture to them. They're fixed in a time, in a place with characters who are still alive at their telling, and names are named. [00:36:22] (39 seconds)  #ResurrectionIsHistorical

Scholars who study myths and legends tell us that there are certain telltale signs that show up in the myths and the legends that accrue over time and signal us in that the creator of the myth understands it's a myth. And the gospels bear no such marks. The claim of the resurrection is circulating already during the lifetime of the characters in the story. The characters who are living the events are hearing the stories about the events. And myths don't work that way. Legends don't begin that way. [00:35:38] (43 seconds)  #GospelsNotMyths

But he says, turn that suspicion the other direction. Doubt the doubters. Question the cover up. Explore the conspiracy. And ask yourself, as shocking and as unbelievable as it may be, if the resurrection happened, if it is true, then who would have the most vested interest in disproving it in order to maintain the status quo by saying it didn't happen. Certainly, the first century Jewish power establishment had an agenda, and they didn't want that agenda disturbed or disrupted. And so therefore, there's this bribery and cover up of this problematic empty tomb. [00:42:19] (54 seconds)  #QuestionTheCoverUp

No wonder such a worldview wants to resist the news of Jesus' resurrection. No wonder even in our day, it continues to bribe people in all kinds of subtle subtle ways to tell ourselves and to tell other people stories in which Jesus didn't really rise up from the dead. It tries to make Christianity out to be just the the wild haired invention of a few cunning individuals out to feather their own nests. The resurrection means that the social systems and the power structures that are based on fear and scarcity and class distinctions and divisions evaporate like a snowflake on a warm spring sidewalk. [00:47:15] (47 seconds)  #ResurrectionAgainstSystems

Did it happen? The tomb is empty. Unlikely witnesses, women testify to that event. There's a conspiracy and a cover up to turn our gaze in another direction, And those who were a part of the story are still a part are still alive at the time of the telling of the story, though. Gospels don't present as a myth or a legend. They present as a part of history. What does it mean? It means that heaven and earth have been reunited, and God's intention for God's creation is unfolding. A revolution has begun. [00:53:27] (48 seconds)  #EmptyTombRevolution

The Christian thus agrees with the scientists, both ancient and modern, and says, that's right. Dead people don't get up from their grave. But in the case of Jesus, the facts of history, the record of history tells us that it happened. The resurrection took place. Not just a metaphor, but in reality. And if we believe that, if we say the tomb was really empty, not because the disciples stole the body, but because Jesus rose from the dead, then we ask the question, so what? What difference does it make? [00:41:21] (49 seconds)  #ResurrectionAsFact