Thinking About the Resurrection

My phone rang and I immediately could see the name of an old friend calling.  That’s the advantage of technology that identifies many of those who call us.  It makes me smile about the old days when the phone would ring and picking up to answer was always like greeting a mystery.  You never knew until the other voice said, “Hello.”  In this case I knew who was calling.  I have known the guy for a long time.  However, it has been many years since we have talked.  

I knew about his cancer diagnosis and knew things were not going well.  Of course, that is a general statement.  When someone says that things are not going well, you don’t know whether that is a temporary setback and whether it is life-threatening.  Even after the phone call, I don’t know for sure.  But I do know it is not a temporary setback.  I know that my friend is a person of faith.  That said, I had no clue why he was calling.

When I answered, it became clear that he is dealing with some serious issues.  He is undergoing some treatments and I know when folks are taking drugs for health reasons, we can still be affected.  I was glad to hear from him and try to be present as I could.  I have done enough ministry to know there is always a need for sensitivity, for listening, for caring and things like that.  We can even do that with strangers, so offering this to my friend was not difficult.  It is not difficult to have compassion in the face of human suffering.  We all may well be there at some point---maybe multiple points in our lives.

My friend told me this ordeal was making him even stronger in his faith.  I affirmed this as a good thing.  Sometimes suffering challenges our faith.  When we hurt or despair, it is easy to doubt.  My friend is quite bright, so I could imagine he has thought a great deal about what’s going on.  He has always been curious, and I know he has read extensively in religion, spirituality, and the like.  He has thought about life long enough to know clearly how he understands it all.  

And so it was that I was caught a little off-guard when he asked me, “Do you believe in the resurrection?”  It is probably good we were not FaceTiming because I am not sure what my face looked like!  I am not sure what I was expecting, but it surely was not that question.  The question precipitated some quick scrambling in my mind.  Given our context and how little I knew about his own situation, this was not the time for a lecture.  He and I both know I have taught New Testament, that I am familiar with the stories in the gospels about the resurrection.  I can tell you the words in Greek and what they mean.  But I am sure he was not looking for a learned theological answer.

I responded in this way.  I told him I did believe in the resurrection.  So basically my answer to his question was, “Yes, I believe in the resurrection.”  Perhaps this is all he wanted?  I waited a brief moment and there was silence.  I “read” the silence as a desire for a little more from me.  I added that I did believe in the resurrection and that we both knew there were many ways of talking about that.  Evangelicals will focus on one way of understanding the concept use New Testament texts to demonstrate their truth.  Liberals probably will focus on a different way and perhaps even use those same text, but in a quite different fashion.  I assumed this was not what his silence beckoned from me.

I added a simple explanation of resurrection.  I said the resurrection meant two things to me.  It is a promise.  It is God’s promise that life is precious, and that death is not the final chapter to life.  And I said that the resurrection is a gift.  It is God’s gift to us.  We don’t earn it, merit it or deserve it.  It is gift.  For me gift is always grace.  We can only say thank you.  Gratitude is our expression in the face of gift.  

And then I said that the rest of the details about the resurrection I leave to God.  I am grateful for the promise and the gift.  The details will be what they are.  I don’t need to know how it takes place, when it happens, etc.  It will be good and so I am good with it.  It is part of my faith.  Obviously, I cannot prove it.  I trust it.  That is what faith is anyway---trust.  Faith is trust.  I can create theology to explain my faith and I enjoy that.   But finally, faith is trust.

I was not really interested in whether my friend thought my answer was right or even a good answer.  It was the best I could do in the moment, and it is authentic from me.  I had responded to him and been true to myself.  I think that is what effective ministry is: responsive and authentic.  I have had time to reflect on my answer and I am still good with it.  I hope he can bounce back and maybe someday, we can have coffee and a robust discussion of the resurrection.  We can dive into the texts, do word studies and read literature.  That will be fun.

In the meantime, that is my thinking about the resurrection.