It is widely understood that Christ's resurrection is central to the Christian faith. Stated somewhat starkly, the general idea is that if you don't believe in the resurrection you aren't a Christian. Like most bald, simple statements this one is filled with difficulties beginning with the meaning of "resurrection" itself. As numerous scholars point out, there were no witnesses to the resurrection only witnesses to its aftermath when Jesus suddenly started appearing to his disciples. When the disciples reported that Jesus was risen, what did they mean by "risen"? The gospels insist that there was a bodily resurrection, but they were written some two generations after the resurrection. Paul said he saw the risen Lord just like the other apostles, but he saw Jesus only in a vision. So, was there an actual bodily resurrection or was the resurrection perhaps more of a mass vision of some kind?When we talk about believing in the resurrection, questions like these can become huge obstacles because we are focused on a historical event and whether or not it really, actually happened. By and large, about all we can really say for sure regarding the resurrection is that Something Happened, otherwise we can't make sense of subsequent events. But what that "something" was is all but impossible to determine. Or, rather, we determine what we think happened based on our own theological perspective not on the meager historical data as such.
The historical and theological issues of the resurrection are important, but maybe not that important for our daily Christian walk. The more important issue for our faith is whether or not we put our trust in the Risen Lord, trusting that his resurrection is real in a deeper sense. If we put our faith (trust) in the message of the resurrection, we are convinced that tyranny, religiosity, power politics, cynicism, and fear do not have the last word. Death is not lord. If we have faith in the Risen Lord, we are able to see the pattern of his life in our own lives. Darkness does not lead to defeat but to resurrection, which is defeat transformed into hope, possibility, and new purpose.
At the end of the day, the most important thing is to remember always that faith is not belief, it is trust.
