Death or Resurrection?

(Editor’s Note: Before 9am PST on February 26, this article was credited to Elizabeth Zabel. In reality, “Death or Resurrection?” was written by Michael Radcliffe. We apologize for this egregious error.)

Recently, it has been a struggle for me to place my hope in the resurrection of Jesus. I see his crucifixion and resurrection as making two fundamental claims about the nature of reality/life/the world: one is that this world is a cruel, dark place ruled by Nietzchean principles (“will to power,” supremacy of self-interest), and the only choice a righteous person really has is to die at their hands in the pursuit of justice and truth. This is not a very difficult thing to admit to for me. What is more difficult to believe is that God will resurrect the righteous, conquering this cruel world with his power, bringing justice through mercy and never by force of arms.

“In this world you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world!” ~ John 16:33

It is easy to affirm this doctrinally - the Gospels are clear. But it is something completely different to face the world, and step out in faith, believing that the path of relentless selflessness unto death and resurrection is really a viable one. And this is the position I have found myself in for some time, looking out at the world, wondering what career might suit me, wandering how I might follow Jesus, and discovering that the best path - the only really desirable path - is also the most costly and dangerous. And so at times I have despaired.

But after a couple of good conversations and times in prayer with close friends, I realized that there was something I could do. I have been doing most of my Bible reading in Luke these past couple of months, as before I moved to Tallahassee, I never paid intentionally close attention to the Gospels. But my sense of this world’s cruelty continually left me with the impression that all that I was reading merely led up to a very awesome individual’s murder at the hands of the empire. True, the gospels have the resurrection narratives, but I was longing to see people living their lives out post-resurrection to see how they emulated Jesus after his death, how what following him might look like in light of his proclaimed victory over hell and death. I realized that for me, for this moment, I was reading in the wrong place. So I turned to the book of Acts.

“So when they had come together, they asked him, ‘Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?’ He replied, ‘It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” ~ Acts 1:6-8

I used to look down on the disciples here. I thought they were really missing it because they hadn’t caught on that Jesus hadn’t come back to king of Israel and overthrow the Romans. But listening to N.T. Wright (shameless plug: everyone should be exposed to him) has given me a much deeper appreciation for the messianic expectation of first century Jews: they longed not simply to have a kingdom, but justice, deliverance, and peace. Now this question, “Is this time?,” gives me a connection with them, because I know that they longed for justice and peace just as I do. I know that, as an occupied people, impoverished by imperial taxation, they longed for just much more deeply than I do. And so now their question makes me sad.

“I began to weep bitterly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it.” ~ Revelation 5:4

Surely, Jesus’ response was maddening: “It is not for you to know…” What!? We won’t be participating in overthrowing the Roman oppressors? We won’t be taking up arms against the pagan villains? Jesus did not offer them deliverance from the cruelty and pain of the world, nor even the hope that that cruelty would come to an end: “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you…” Jesus offered them and offers us an empowerment - courage, strength, and patience to stand against the evil empire that is the economics and politics of this world, and a spiritual efficacy in proclamation, healing, and acts of service that demonstrated the qualitatively real nature of this crucified messiah these men and women proclaimed.

So these past two weeks I have been steeped in the first few chapters of Acts, where healing, proclamation, and conversion are rampant, yet the apostles and believers remain weak before a powerful authoritarian system, only standing against it because the saving power of the Holy Spirit in winning converts, encouraging their hearts, and strange miraculous events such as shaking buildings and inexplicable jail breaks. The challenge I feel issued is this: where and when are you proclaiming the good news that Jesus is lord and Caesar is not? Where and when are you healing the sick? Working to deliver the oppressed? Meeting the simple needs of those around you? These challenges have dovetailed with exemplary life and actions illustrated and recounted by Shane Claiborne in his book The Irresistible Revolution, which I have on loan from my sister and have been devouring during my downtime at work.

Posted on February 25, 2008 12:00 AM