Start from the beginning

Introduction

(Perform the sketch "Start from the beginning")

Today I would like to reflect with you on what it is like to start from scratch, when it makes sense and whether it is even possible.

Some people may wonder what this has to do with Easter, because when you think of Easter, you probably think of "Every year again":

a long weekend every year
a sermon on the resurrection every year
and every year, if you have children, the egg hunt

It's the same every year and this year will also be about the resurrection, because the fact of the resurrection is very important.

But what does the resurrection have to do with us?

The resurrection in our lives

I would first like to look with you at John 11:17-25 (New Testament):

17 When Jesus came to Bethany, he learnt that Lazarus had been buried four days earlier. 18 Bethany was only about three kilometres from Jerusalem, 19 and many Jews 'from the city' had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in their grief. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was on his way to them, she went to meet him, but Mary stayed at home. 21 "Lord," Martha said to Jesus, "if you had been here, my brother would not have died! 22 But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, he will give you." - 23 "Your brother will rise again," Jesus answered her. 24 "I know that he will rise again," Martha replied. "This will happen on that last day, at the resurrection of the dead." 25 Then Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies. 26 And whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" -

Many of us know this story.

A man named Lazarus, who was a friend of Jesus, has died and the passage after this text describes how Jesus raises him from the dead.

Jesus says something very interesting about himself here:

I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will live, even if he dies. And whoever lives and believes in me will never die.

First of all, of course, this refers to life after death. Here on earth, we are of course subject to earthly circumstances:

We age and our natural body will eventually die and decay.

But this bodily death is only a transition into the world where Jesus Christ is, if you believe in him. So life goes on and you will not really die.

If you are ill yourself or suffer from old age, such a statement may seem a little unworldly, but it is nevertheless true if you believe Jesus.

But this statement does not only refer to life after death.

I am sure that this resurrection can already make a difference in our lives.

What is it like in our relationships with our fellow human beings?

There is the saying "he died for me" or, more rarely, "I died for him".

When it comes to relationships with friends or colleagues, the problem is usually solved by turning to new friends or - if possible - changing jobs.

It's not so easy with relatives.

How do you deal with it then?

Was the sketch realistic? Do you also have relationships in your life that are limited to Christmas or that you have broken off completely?

And why not? Surely there are cases where breaking off a relationship is the right thing to do, but the other is just stupid and unbearable.

It's just stupid that in some cases you know exactly that breaking off the relationship is not right, that you know exactly that it's not right the way it is now.

Can anything be done about it?

In such cases, it's very easy to say: Yes, it's only the other person's fault, just like it was in the sketch, but that might be making things a bit too easy for yourself.

What does all this have to do with the resurrection?

Jesus said in the verse mentioned earlier:

Whoever believes in me will live, even if he dies.

If this applies not only to earthly death, but also to our lives right now, then change is also possible, then your and my relational death can be overcome just like the physical death of Lazarus.

Jesus is the resurrection and the life, and if this is true, then it also applies to our everyday lives.

For this comparison - our dead relationships and Lazarus' death - it is very important, by the way, that Lazarus was really raised from the dead.

Unfortunately, there are quite a few people who call themselves Christians, and perhaps even are Christians, who do not believe in the historical reality of Jesus' miracles.

They consider these to be invented stories that were spread with the good intention of emphasising Jesus' divinity, or some argue that this was just a fake death

But then you immediately realise the logical problem that arises:

If Jesus could not raise a real dead person, can he help us at all?

If this is just fiction, then perhaps we only have a placebo god.

You know placebos - medicines whose effect is based on imagination - and how well they sometimes work.

Is God just an imaginary friend, like my friend Harvey in an old film?

Or does God exist, but he only works in such a way that he only tweaks our thinking a little?

Many people simply cannot imagine that God can also influence physics and biology.

I would like to read out what King David said in 2 Samuel 22:29-32 (ELB):

29 Yes, you are my light, O LORD, and the LORD enlightens my darkness. 30 For with you I will scale a wall; with my God I will leap over a wall. 31 God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is pure; he is a shield to all who take refuge in him. 32 For who is God but the LORD? And who is a rock but our God?

"With my God, I jump over a wall."

Can you do that with an imaginary God?

Is the power within us and we only need our imaginary God to unleash it and then we can jump over any wall?

I was at a communication seminar recently and this phrase came up several times that the power is within me.

I believe that there is a lot of strength in us and that you and I can do and achieve a lot.

But let's compare ourselves with children.

Some children believe that they can do everything and some believe that they can do nothing.

One of the tasks of parents/guardians is to ensure that children discover and test their own abilities and at some point learn to recognise their limits.

I'm not talking about disciplinary limits, but rather the limits of their abilities, which they unfortunately have to face at some point, as we all do.

They have to discover these boundaries for themselves and as an adult you can also try to cross such a boundary from time to time by simply trying something completely new.

And what if the wall is too high for the child to get over, but it has to get over?

Then the parents lift it over and no invisible friend.

It is the same with God. With a placebo God we naturally reach the limits where we realise that this placebo God is actually just imagination.

Can a placebo god be a rock you can rely on?

Here, too, it is clear that such a placebo structure will collapse at some point.

Jesus said: I am the resurrection and the life and so we leave the placebo God and come to the really existing God and that is Jesus Christ.

People who live with Jesus will surely have realised that God does not tear down all the walls in our lives so that our lives become a comfortable walk.

There are also some things we will not understand, why God does not tear down a certain wall and why we are somewhat helpless in some situations in life.

But we have the certainty that God really is our rock and Jesus really is risen, and can and often does revitalise our lives and relationships.

Resurrection as a fact

In these considerations we come again and again to the conclusion that it is important that the resurrection is a historical fact.

There is also a whole chapter in the Bible, the 15th chapter of 1 Corinthians, which deals intensively with the truth of the resurrection.

Other miracles, on the other hand, are simply described, but nowhere are reasons given for the truth of these reports.

I now read 1 Corinthians 15:12-19; New Testament, where it is described that apparently some doubted the possibility of a resurrection in general, a very modern text:

12 Christ is thus proclaimed as the one whom God raised from the dead. How can some of you claim: "There is no resurrection of the dead!"? 13 Suppose there really is no resurrection of the dead: then Christ has not risen either. 14 And if Christ is not risen, it is useless for us to preach the gospel and useless for you to believe it. 15 And not only that: we then stand as false witnesses, because we have testified to something about God that is not true. We have testified that he raised Christ, but if it is true that the dead are not raised, then he did not do so. 16 To repeat, if the dead do not rise, then Christ has not risen either. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is an illusion; the guilt you have incurred through your sins is still on you. 18 And even those who have died in faith in Christ are then lost. 19 If the hope that Christ has given us does not extend beyond life in this world, we are more pitiable than all other people.

This text is very clear. If the resurrection didn't really happen historically, then we can all go home and close the church.

There are quite a few people who call themselves Christians but still do not believe in the historical authenticity of Jesus' resurrection.

Such people - and I take this quite objectively from the Bible text without arrogance - are deplorable, they do not know the truth and only have a placebo God.

The text emphasises in a few key points why it is important that the resurrection of Christ is a historical fact.

If Christ has not risen, then the gospel is meaningless.

A core message of the gospel is that we will be with Jesus after our death.

Jesus says this, for example, to the one criminal on the cross (Luke 23, 40-43).

Furthermore, we will eventually be resurrected (Luke 20:37,38), in a similar way to Jesus, which is hinted at in 1 Corinthians 15:20 (New Testament):

Christ has risen from the dead! He is the first whom God raised from the dead, and his resurrection gives us the guarantee that those who have died in faith in him will also rise from the dead.

If there was and is no resurrection, that will not happen, and then we could live as Paul says so metaphorically in 1 Corinthians 15:32b:

If the dead do not rise, 'we can do like those who say: "Come, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we are dead!"'

If Christ has not risen, then we stand as false witnesses.

I've often heard that it doesn't matter what you believe, the main thing is that you believe something.

I was once interested in what statements can be found about the resurrection and did a bit of searching on the Internet.

There are many publications that attempt to justify the resurrection as truth, and these publications come largely from the free-church corner.

Catholic and Protestant publications also use this argument.

Then I found an interesting statement in an interview with an evangelical professor about the resurrection:

"The North Elbian Bishop Hans Christian Knuth, for example, warned against trying to explain the Easter event with evidence. Easter does not tell the story of the resuscitation of a dead body."

That made me prick up my ears and I tried to find the original source for this statement, but I couldn't find it and so I don't really know what this bishop meant. I tried to call him but couldn't get through to him on Saturday.

Apart from a few names from the past, such as Bultmann, I have hardly found an active pastor, bishop or professor of theology who doubts the historicity of the resurrection.

The historical authenticity of Jesus' miracles is questioned by many church people, especially in the Protestant church (such as the resurrection of Lazarus), but most people don't seem to have the courage to tackle the resurrection.

Perhaps verse 15 from 1 Corinthians 15 is taken seriously by many after all (NGÜ):

We then stand as false witnesses because we have testified to something about God that is not true. We have testified that he raised Christ; but if it is true that the dead are not raised, then he did not do so.

In that case, we would be liars and none of us want to be.

If Christ has not risen, then our guilt is still on us.

This is what it says in v. 17 (New Testament):

And if Christ has not risen, your faith is an illusion; the guilt that you have brought upon yourselves through your sins is then still upon you.

In the Lord's Supper we again remembered that Jesus took our guilt away from us and that too would only be a dead, useless ritual if Jesus had not really risen from the dead.

He is truly risen

But Jesus really did rise from the dead, it's true.

Of course we have to face up to the difficulties again - also next week - and if we have dead relationships that need to be revitalised, then we can turn to the Risen One.

This hope of ours extends beyond this life and all the walls and difficulties in this life may also pale a little in comparison to this hope.

This hope, this certainty is the foundation of every Christian life, because - I repeat v. 20 (New Testament):

Christ has risen from the dead! He is the first whom God raised from the dead, and his resurrection gives us the guarantee that those who have died in faith in him will also rise from the dead.

AMEN