Mark's thoughts: The resurrection and the origin of Christianity

 

“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons” (Galatians 4:4-5). St Paul wrote these words to the Galatians around 50 A.D. We have heard them quoted so many times in describing what happened at Christmas that it is easy to miss the remarkable claim that they make.

 

Paul is talking about Jesus Christ. In these verses he states that Jesus is the Son of God who existed with God, and was then sent into the world as he became man. The reference to “redeem” describes what happened when Jesus died on the cross. This is, of course, not an isolated claim. In Philippians Paul says that Jesus is God and even ascribes to him the name Yahweh – the name by which God revealed himself in the Old Testament (Philippians 2:5-11).

 

Judaism which existed during the time of the Second Temple (fifth century B.C. to first century A.D.) was adamantly committed to the fact that Yahweh is the only God.  No one could be allowed to impinge on this claim. Certainly, no human being could ever be affirmed to have divine status.

 

Yet Christians said this about Jesus, a man who had lived less than twenty years earlier. He was someone that people had known personally. Though Paul was not one of his disciples, he had met men who had been such as Peter and John. He had met Jesus’ brother James who was now a leader in the Church (Galatians 1:18-2:10). All of these men were Jews. Paul himself was a very committed and faithful Jew (Galatians 2:13-14). Yet he too was now saying that Jesus is God, and was calling him by the Greek translation of the name Yahweh (“Lord”) as he applied to Jesus Old Testament passages that spoke of Yahweh (Romans 10:9-11).

 

This is something that never should have happened in the Judaism of this period. What is more, Jesus’ followers openly declared that he had died by crucifixion (Galatians 3:13; Philippians 2:8). He had died as a criminal in the most humiliating and shameful manner of death in the Greco-Roman world.

 

Jesus had gathered followers during his ministry. Then the Romans killed him. That should have been the end of his movement.  Jesus had claimed to be the Messiah – the Christ (Matthew 16:13-17). But anyone whom the Romans killed was clearly a false Messiah.

 

However, the death of Jesus was not the end. Instead, it was the beginning of more people becoming believers in ever wider circles. Jesus’ brothers who had not believed in Jesus during his life (John 7:5) became missionaries who proclaimed Christ (1 Corinthians 9:5). James became a leader of the Jerusalem church.

 

The followers of Jesus provided one explanation for this: God had raised Jesus from the dead. Peter declared on Pentecost, “God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it” (Acts 2:24). Paul stated that he had encountered the risen and ascended Jesus (Galatians 1:15-16).

 

Apart from the resurrection of Jesus, the appearance and spread of Christianity is a historical conundrum that defies explanation. It should not have happened.  Jews should not have believed what they believed about Jesus. But the resurrection of Christ demonstrated that he was more than anyone expected. He was indeed true God and true man, and was the individual through whom God had worked to bring forgiveness and salvation to all. This is what we celebrate at Easter. Easter reminds and assures us that our faith is based on what really happened.  It is grounded in what God really has done.