Easter - 1939

The Resurrection of Christ is the most challenging fact of history. It is a miracle of such tremendous quality that all other miracles of the Gospel Story become insignificant when compared to this. Many arguments may be brought forward for the truth of the Resurrection, but I will refer only to one argument, which is enough to convince us of the truth. We know that a very remarkable and wonderful change came over the disciples after the death of Christ. Something happened after the death of Christ that transformed the whole outlook and character of the disciples. There can be no doubt about this. The disciples were filled with a new enthusiasm, a new joy, and a new power in their lives. We cannot account for this change except by way of a miracle – the miracle of the Risen Christ. It was that vision which changed their defeat into victory But there is not so much need today to argue for the Resurrection. The outlook of thinking men has widened. Scientific men used to argue against it. They used to close up the Universe against the possibility of God, and deny any value to spiritual experience outside their own explanation. They have given up this line of argument today. Life is too wonderful a thing for any man to reduce it to a system, and give no place to faith. What we ought to be concerned about most of all, then, is not the truth of the Resurrection fact, but the meaning of it. What does the fact of Resurrection reveal to the world? The Resurrection was a creative act of God. It was a new revelation of the living power of the living God. It tells us that the God whom we worship is a God of Power. We had learned that God is a God of righteousness, of purity, of truth, and of love. But the Resurrection showed that God is a God of power – power to overcome death, and power to overcome the forces of evil. When the powers of the world had put Jesus to death and laid his body in the tomb, the Spirit of God laid hold of that broken body and became triumphant and glorious in the Risen Christ. “Whom, therefore, they slew and hanged on a tree, Him God raised from the dead and exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour.” (Acts 5:30) In the early church when the disciples referred to the fact of resurrection before their hearers they wanted to emphasize the infinite power of the God, whom they were worshipping. The Resurrection made a deep impression on their own lives. They saw the possibility of a new life, here and now, a risen life, a new quality of being. They saw how the Spirit of God had come forth into this broken body and had changed it, and made of it somehow a vehicle of his Spirit. And they said to themselves: If this is the God with whom we have to do, this new creating God, who lives in the Risen Christ, what manner of men is it not possible for us to live; and what

manner of things is it not possible for us to do. They realized the various possibilities that were within their reach. The fact of Resurrection gives us the assurance of power that may be ours in and through Jesus Christ. It ought to give rise in our hearts to new hopes. First of all, there is new hope for the individual. It is the hope of resurrection to a new quality of life. As the Spirit of God came into the broken and wounded body of Christ, cannot the Spirit of God come into our lives? Our lives too are marred and broken – perhaps they are dead. But can’t the Spirit of God raise them to a new quality of being and make of them a new creation. Michelangelo once found a block of marble in a scrap heap into which it had been thrown by a man who had spoilt and disfigured the marble. He was such a great sculptor that he turned the marble into a masterpiece, working the very disfigurement into his design. If the genius of Michelangelo can do this, will the genius of God do less than that for men? Can he not take this nature of ours with all its faults and blemishes and evil tendencies and make of it the medium of a finer life – a life radiant with power and peace? Secondly, Christ’s Resurrection brings a message of hope for the society in which we live. The people of the world, especially those in Europe, are in a state of despair today. People have been praying for peace, but there seems to be no prospect of it in the near future. ‘Where is Thy reign of peace And purity and love? When shall all hatred cease As in the realms above? When comes the promised time That war shall be no more And lust, oppression, crime Shall flee Thy face before? We sing these verses nowadays almost in despair. But there is really no reason for despair. When we look back through history we see how the Spirit of God always sees some means of expression, and how he chooses man to work his purpose out. The Hebrew people were at one time a race of slaves. We see how God took that race and nursed them into freedom and independence that they might reveal his mind and will to the world. Again we see God coming into the world in Christ revealing himself and His Glory in that life and death. We see Him coming into the world again at Pentecost and giving new life and power to the church. He has been coming again and again to the world, when the world was in dire need of Him, through various movements. It is reasonable for us therefore to hope for his coming into our social order today, in order that society may become a body for the Spirit of God.

What does the Resurrection say to us looking at such a world as this? It says that there is power – power of infinite love and grace – able to enter this world and make it beautiful. There is power of love and goodwill, power of truth and brotherhood, by which society may be lifted out of its hatreds and conflicts into the ways of righteousness and peace. The world has tried everything it can to restore order and peace. It has failed miserably and it has come to the end of its resources. Let us pray that the leaders of the nations may turn to God, that the power which showed itself in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ may give a new life and a new outlook to the world in which we live.