For: The Institute of Contemporary And Emerging Worship Studies, St. Stephen's University, Essentials Blue Online Worship Theology Course with Dan Wilt

I recently read about Yuri Gagarin, the Soviet cosmonaut who on April 12, 1961 was the first human in space and the first to orbit the earth. After landing, apparently Gagarin claimed that he didn’t see any signs of God and therefore had disproved God’s existence. Quite a claim!

As N.T. Wright shares in his book Simply Christian, “Some Christians pointed out that Gagarin had seen plenty of signs of God, if only the cosmonaut had known how to interpret them. The difficulty is that speaking of God in anything like the Christian sense is like staring into the sun. It’s dazzling. It’s easier, actually, to look away from the sun itself and enjoy the fact that once it’s well and truly risen, you can see everything else clearly.” 1

The Jews in Jesus’ day believed in God, but had a hard time believing that Jesus could possibly be God’s only son, born of a virgin and sent to earth to walk among them. Even harder to grasp was that Jesus was actually God himself, come in the flesh. There was no concept at that time of the Trinity as we know it, where Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are three in One.

In John 14, when Philip said to Jesus, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us," Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me?”

Even though the early Christians believed that Jesus was the Messiah, they never imagined a Messiah would be truly divine. They expected the Messiah to be their next political King, but there was "no thought of such a king being the very embodiment, or incarnation, of Israel's God himself." 2

I don't think I ever fully considered the implications of the Jews of Jesus' day expecting the arrival of the Messiah - and the coming Kingdom of God - to be political in nature versus divine. In light of that, most people simply saw Jesus as a failed political rebel who was put to death for his rebellion against Rome.

As for Jesus’ resurrection, there was absolutely no grid for creating the idea in their minds or reason to believe it was true even if someone tried to tell them they witnessed it themselves. "Nobody was expecting anyone, least of all a Messiah, to rise from the dead. A crucified Messiah was a failed Messiah." 3

However, those who saw Jesus in person after He rose from the dead on the third day were convinced beyond the shadow of a doubt that He was resurrected indeed. They witnessed plenty of evidence in the miracle of His body that “had many of the same properties as an ordinary body (it could talk, eat and drink, be touched, and so on), but it also had others, too. It could appear and disappear, and passed through locked doors.” 4

One of my favorite stories in the Bible involves "doubting Thomas" (John 20:24-29):

“Now Thomas, one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, ‘We have seen the Lord!’ But he said to them, ‘Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.’

“A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you!’ Then he said to Thomas, ’Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.’”

“Thomas said to him, ‘My Lord and my God!’”

“Then Jesus told him, ‘Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.’" (John 20:24-29)

Many who witnessed Jesus’ resurrected body (or believed though they had not seen it) were put to death for proclaiming their new-found faith in Jesus Christ of Nazareth, pledging their allegiance to this new King of Kings. Apparently, something they found in Jesus gave them the kind of courage it took to put their commitment to follow Him BEFORE their national allegiances. 5

To those who didn’t witness or believe in the Resurrection, it must have seemed utterly absurd to watch so many place their lives on the line for such a belief, but it is obvious to me that those early Christians must have found all the evidence they needed through the Risen Son on Easter morning.

Though trying to understand the mystery of God often feels like staring into the sun, I am incredibly thankful for what we have been so graciously given through the gift of Jesus. Truly risen from the grave, Jesus is the Light that shines like the noon-day sun in our world!

May that Light continue to help us all see God more and more clearly through the evidence on this earth of His immeasurable love, beauty, justice, mercy, and grace.

---------------------
(1) N.T. Wright, Simply Christian, Why Christianity Makes Sense (New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 2006), p. 56.
(2) Ibid, p.116-117.
(3) Ibid, p. 112.
(4) Ibid, p. 113.
(5) Dan Wilt, Essentials In Worship Theology: The Nature Of God (www.theworshipartisan.com), p. 13.