Altar
Call – Opelika-Auburn News
Walter
Albritton
April
24, 2011
The resurrection of Jesus the
greatest event in history
No even in history has had a greater impact upon the world
than the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Every Easter the Church declares on
every continent the greatest of all good news: Christ is risen!
Those three words constitute the most important declaration ever uttered
because it gives us hope that the grave is not the end of life.
Since I was a child Easter has been for me the most significant
day of the year. Even Christmas comes in second to Easter. I guess you could
say my parents were fanatics. Every Easter morning they got us up at 4 o’clock
and drove us from Elmore County to Crampton Bowl in Montgomery. Hurrying into
the stadium, we spread blankets on those concrete seats and waited for the
excitement to begin.
Across the football field, on the
western side, there was a replica of the sealed tomb, with men dressed as Roman
guards marching back and forth in front of it. Soon we saw three women walking
slowly from the south toward the tomb. It was so quiet you could hear a pin
drop.
Suddenly there was an explosion that startled everyone.
Smoke filled the air. You could hear a rumbling sound, like the beating of
drums, designed to simulate an earthquake. As the smoke drifted away we
observed an angel, in dazzling white, at the tomb. With one hand the angel
rolled the stone away. The frightened guards fell to the ground as though they
had died.
The women resumed walking toward the
tomb but appeared amazed when the angel spoke to them. It was obvious they
could hardly believe what was happening. Over the speaker system we heard the
shocking words of the Bible:
“Do
not be afraid; I know why you are here,” the angel said. “You are seeking Jesus
who was crucified, but he is not here. He is risen, as he said. Come and see
the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has
risen from the dead, and he will meet them in Galilee.”
We watched the women take a quick look
inside the empty tomb and leave in a hurry. According to the biblical story,
the women were afraid but filled with joy to know that Jesus was alive. But as
they ran from the tomb Jesus suddenly appeared! Shocked once again, they fell
down before him in wonder and awe.
Now the women had more than the word
of the angel that Jesus was alive; there he was in person before them! He
repeated the message of the angel, first calming their fear, then sending them
on their way to share the news with the disciples and tell them that he would
meet them in Galilee.
This was the message of the Easter
drama in Crampton Bowl. Though the resurrection seemed incredible to me as a
child, I believed it. I had no reason to doubt it. Years later I began to
question. Is it really true? Perhaps, as some say, the resurrection story is a
myth. I wondered and struggled with the issue for awhile.
Finally I concluded that it is
impossible to explain the Christian movement unless Jesus was actually raised
from the dead. Could a lie about the resurrection be perpetuated for two
thousand years? Could the early disciples have stolen his body from the tomb,
while the guards were sleeping, and then convinced hundreds of people that
Jesus was alive? Saying that it was so surely would not convince anyone.
If Jesus had not been resurrected it
is obvious we would never have heard of his apostles. But we did hear about
them; they were so convinced that Jesus was alive they were willing to suffer
and die for this new faith. The evidence
is overwhelming that the early Christians were willing to be martyred rather
than renounce their belief in the resurrection of Jesus. Would anyone be
willing to die in defense of a lie?
The more I pondered, the more clearly I realized that I had
no faith to proclaim unless the resurrection was true. That Christ was raised
from the dead by the power of God is the lynchpin of Christianity. So I chose to believe the resurrection with
all my heart. The resurrection is the great deed of God in history, the most
important even in history. If Jesus could conquer fear, death, and hell, then
his followers can have this victory. I claimed it for myself and have never
looked back.
If one does not believe in the
resurrection there is little else in Christian faith that makes sense. If Jesus
had not been raised from the dead, then Peter’s letters would be a pack of
lies. Had Jesus not been resurrected, we would have never heard of the Apostle
Paul, who wrote a great portion of the New Testament. We would not even have a
New Testament had not the early disciples believed God had raised Jesus from
the dead.
Some say it does not matter whether
Jesus was resurrected or not. His great moral teachings are what matter; his
spirit lives on, like that of Abraham Lincoln. But this is so much hogwash!
Jesus believed that by dying on the cross as the Passover Lamb of God all
people could receive forgiveness of sins and the gift of eternal life. Can one
value anything else he taught if this teaching is a grand hoax? Surely not!
This morning, the good Lord willing, I
will get up at 5 a.m. and go with my wife to hear our son Tim preach in a
sunrise service in his church, Mulder Memorial United Methodist near Wetumpka.
Then I will hurry to Saint James United Methodist in Montgomery where I will
preach in two marvelous Easter services. I will tremble as the service begins
with the choir singing Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus.” I will be blessed as Grace
Jenkins sings “Worthy is the Lamb,” and rejoice as Nathan Hamilton sings “He’s
Alive!” I will join the congregation in
singing, “Up from the grave He arose.” What a day of rejoicing it will be!
Hallelujah! Easter – The greatest
celebration of the year! Glory! + + +