Two Martian tourists walked into a bar …
They had just finished a tour of cathedrals and churches in the supposed “ground zero” of religious fervor in Rome.
One said, “I don’t get it. Everywhere we go, there is the same statue of a dead guy nailed to crossed boards up front.”
The other chimed in, “Yeah, who would want to follow Him?” He added, “… looks like He lost.”
Both aliens shook their heads and concluded, “Earthlings are nuts!”
Christianity begins with the Resurrection.
The trouble is our visiting aliens hadn’t read the whole story. Because so many churches leave Jesus on the cross, bleeding and dying, they had nothing else to go on and missed the whole point.
The crucifix (while HIGHLY significant) was selected as the universal symbol of Christianity.
But the empty tomb (with the stone rolled away) is more appropriate because it stands as an unmistakable symbol of Christ’s resurrection.
Someone has said Christianity begins with the Resurrection. Without it, Pentecost would never have been possible, leaving the Church stranded with no way home.
The Rest of the Story
The Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 4:3-4:
“And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world (Satan) has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they will not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”
Bible commentator Bill MacDonald wrote, “The Gospel has to do with Christ in glory. It is not the Carpenter of Nazareth who is presented to the believer’s view. It is not simply Christ outstretched on the cross of shame. But it is the Lord Jesus Christ who has died, been buried, who has risen again, and who is even now at the right hand of God in Heaven. He is the Object of the believer’s faith — the glorified Son of God in Heaven.”
Christ is NOT a forever-dead savior nailed eternally to his own execution gibbet. Nor is He a religious artifact of history.
He is GOD, He is ALIVE, He RULES, He is NOW! He is FOREVER! The end game of the Gospel is not physical death, but everlasting life.
His death was the God-ordained means to His resurrection and ascension to the right hand of God. Christians worship a living Savior, not a long-dead historical artifact.
The Hinge on Which Christianity Turns
In the earliest years of what became known as “Christianity,” a pitched battle ensued over whether Christ had truly risen from the dead.
Realizing the existential threat such a notion posed to their fledgling faith, Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:13-19:
“… if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, your faith also is in vain … if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If we have hoped in Christ only in this life, we are of all people most to be pitied.”
If there is no resurrection of Christ, you might as well sleep in on Sundays, because there would be no hope of eternal life for anyone, however religiously devoted.
Yes, the cross was mission critical to God’s redemption plan.
Now don’t get me wrong. Christ’s death on the cross was mission critical to His redemption plan for mankind.
Someone had to pay the bill that mankind had run up through sin. Someone had to break Satan’s power over God’s precious imagers and defeat God’s enemies in the invisible realms of the universe.
And that Someone had to be a perfect Lamb, sinless, blameless and willing to be our Substitute, offering His life before the Divine Judgment Seat of the Cosmos as a living sacrifice.
Just remember to read on in the gospel story in 1 Corinthians 15:3-6, “… Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas (Peter), then to the twelve …”
So what? What does this have to do with me?
Here’s what, in Romans 8:1-4:
“Therefore, there is now no condemnation at all for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh …”
Capeesh?