The Centrality of the Resurrection
Pelikan,
who was a Yale historian of Christian doctrine, notes that Luke, the author of
both the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles, ties together his Gospel
and the Acts “preeminently by the resonances of the Easter narrative.” Luke 24
ends with the women, and then Peter and John, at the empty tomb; with Jesus
meeting up with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, followed by His
appearance to the apostles, and ending with His ascension. Acts, then, begins
with Jesus’ “presenting Himself alive” “by many proofs,” followed by a more
detailed account of His ascension. Luke is writing both as a historian and a
theologian, and repeats over and over again throughout Acts the fact of the
resurrection of Christ from the dead.
In Jaroslav
Pelikan, Ph.D.’s book, Acts, part of the Brazos Theological Commentary on the
Bible series, he pulls together all the numerous references to the resurrection
of Christ throughout the Biblical book of the “Acts of the Apostles," and
makes several general observations, as follows.
Pelikan also refers to Joseph’s words, after being sold as a slave to Egypt by his jealous
brother, and then after saving his family from starvation, saying, “You took
counsel against me for evil, but God took counsel on my behalf for good” (Gen
50:20). Pelikan sees this as a type of what took place with Jesus, and he
points to the numerous testimonies in Act stated in two parts: “you crucified
and killed” but “God raised Him up” (2:23, 24). “You killed the Author of life,
whom God raised from the dead” (3:15). “Whom you crucified, whom God raised
from the dead” (4:10). “The God of our fathers raised Jesus whom you killed by
hanging Him on a tree” (5:30). “They put him to death ...but God raised Him”
(10:39-40). “They asked Pilate to have Him executed ... But God raised Him from
the dead” (13: 28, 30). The testimonies throughout Acts are both of God’s
raising Christ from the dead, and of the human responsibility for Jesus’ death
– the human intention for evil, but God’s act for good.
Peter’s
Pentecost sermon at 2:27 quotes Psalm 16:10, “For you will not abandon my soul
to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption,” which Peter uses as
illustrative of the power of the living God in the resurrection of Christ.
Pelikan says, “In the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, His conflict with
the powers of sin, death, and the devil (13:8-11) ... reaches its climax when
‘God raised Him up, having loosed the pangs of death, because it was not
possible for Him to be held by it’ (2:24).” He then quotes the 20th Century
Masai Creed [African] which says, “He lay buried in the grave, but the hyenas
did not touch Him, and on the third day, He rose from the grave.”
Pelican's final observations that the
crucifixion and resurrection also “supremely documented the fulfillment of
prophecy.” Peter’s entire Pentecost message was a collection of passages from
the prophets and Psalms. Then when
Peter says, “This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses” (2:32),
Peter seems to be using both the sense of a “witness” as an eyewitness and as
someone who bears witness or gives testimony. So the Apostles’ testimony to the
resurrection was with “great power” (4:33) as eyewitnesses, but also the power
of the testimony which has continued in the Church long after the death of the
last Apostle.
So the
resurrection of Christ, His victory over death and making possible resurrected
life for all who believe and obey Him, is central to the Christian Faith, and
central to the Christian testimony. As St. Paul says, “If for this life only we
have hoped in Christ, we are of all men most to be pitied. But in fact Christ
has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen
asleep,” i.e., have died. “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all
be made alive.” (1 Cor 15:19-22.)
So the Church continues to celebrate the Easter season
precisely because the fact of Christ’s resurrection from the dead, God’s proof,
is so central to everything.
Dibby Green
Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church is located in California City, CA. Visit our website at ollcalcity.org.