Last blog entry, I explained and offered for your 'viewing pleasure' our previous video project, "The Question". I also mentioned that we were beginning work on the 'sequel', "The Answer" based on the Resurrection. Current plans are such that we are including similar introduction and ending sequences, with Aaron working on and narrating the former, and myself narrating the latter. All consistent...
Anyway, being busy beavers we have already written our pieces, ready to be edited and worked on and developed, obviously, but ready nevertheless.
With this in mind, I offer this 'sneak preview' of the ending exposition.
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In His mother tongue, Jesus shouted “Eloi, Eloi, Lama Sabacthani?!” – “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?!” The Gospels are not scared to record and mention such challenging details- what did Jesus mean? Why did He say what He did?
Whatever the reason for this exclamation, we are left with this so-called Saviour, this excuse of a King, head-dropped and screaming in agony. This is Christianity- we speak nothing of an abstract God, of obscure philosophies and conspiracies of conversion. No, all of these things are secondary if not subordinate to this pathetic image of a man, this ugly apparition of human weakness, no longer preaching but pitiful, and certainly not the Jesus of stained glass windows and Christian songs. You may have heard of the saying ‘I’ve found Jesus’ – well I’m forcing us to find the man from Galilee on two stakes crossed against one another- nailed through the median nerves, pain pulsating through His arms like fire, He would have felt His arms shiver with excruciating suffering that would make the strongest man beg for deathly stillness. His flesh torn to shreds, in vain the ‘Lord God’ asks for a drink – His enemies give Him vinegar.
Jesus’ suffering didn’t end in physical anguish. Deserted by His friends, condemned by political powers, rejected by influential religious leaders, we hear insults thrown without reticence and charges levelled without basis – this man of hymn and prose was subject to shame and disgrace, so potent and powerful that very few can fully comprehend its horror.
Socially, Jesus was disposable. Culturally, Jesus was despicable. Mentally, Jesus was defunct. Physically, Jesus was disgusting.
This is Christianity, the faith of history, of philosophy and theology, vulnerable and irrationally brutalised, beaten till bloody. Nihilistic claims of God being dead are found to be true – for Christianity finds its home in the uncomfortable presence of its pathetically, pointlessly, dying leader, like no other faith before or after it.
And then- silence, preceded by an exclamation of finality – “It is finished!” The beaten, broken, bloody man ceases to breathe. And Christianity ceases to be. His movement stops, His philosophy stifled and suffocated of vitality. His followers flee, run through with fear and immobilised with despair. The image He left behind begins to fade into yet another failed Messiah – for there were many Jews who had tried but had failed, they were expecting a Saviour, an anointed one, a liberator, and many had tried to answer the call but had failed, the Romans who occupied their land with an otherwise-iron fist crushed every movement as it came.
Jesus was certainly not the first would-be Messiah, and He was certainly not the first to be crucified for such a cause.
Do you believe in Heaven? By that I don’t mean a Heaven of harps, of abstract spiritual bliss, but rather, liberation – do you believe that one day, all the crap that we have to face, all the abnormal suffering we are pinned to observe, the injustice- the grandmother who is raped and then killed, the children who are blown up for a cause they didn’t sign up to, the searing loss of a loved one, the painful limitations of our own bodies, the abuser who never sees the inside of a jail cell or the hangman’s noose, the terrorist who happily committed suicide, and brought many mothers, sons brothers and sisters with him, believing in an other-worldly reward – do you believe that one day we will be liberated from this? Do you believe that this is ‘not right’? Do you believe that something should be done? Have you experienced grief, or the fear of grief, so real and so painful that it questions your very reality? Do you believe that this is normal, a biologically predictable reaction to an otherwise advantageous natural act?
For two days there was silence. His lifeless body, laid in another man’s tomb, was silent. His followers were silent. His philosophy, unable to answer the challenge of a decomposing leader, was silent. His promises, seemingly empty, were silent.
And then, out of the injustice and grief for a liberation that once seemed impossible, a ROAR; reality itself cracks and the greatest mystery folds under the pressure of awesome power; death pays honour to the LIBERATOR. Angels, the workers of liberation ROAR at the source of LIBERATION, heaven, a war cry blind to constraint and deaf to fear.
The stone that held Him entombed, moved; the guards posted to keep grave robbers at bay, vanished; and the burial cloth that once wrapped His corpse was left empty.
Jesus walked again. He spoke again, He ate again. His heart stopped. Now it was beating. Again.
Let’s not establish false pretences – this presentation is not without bias. Clearly, we have our beliefs. Clearly, we want you to believe the way we believe. And clearly, we wouldn’t be fooling anyone by saying otherwise. But this issue transcends differences in ideology, it transcends ‘religion’, and it certainly transcends our brief journeys, trials and tribulations.
Let us reiterate – if the Resurrection is true, if Jesus ceased to be but now is alive, however crazy that sounds, then we have been given an amazing right to affirmation.
We are able to affirm that Jesus is who He said He was- He was no madman, He was no liar, He was no mere prophet or ‘great moral teacher’. We are able, as a culture and as honest individuals, to develop a back bone and take Jesus’ claims to be this chosen one, God Himself, the one way, the one truth and the one life, seriously. The Resurrection gives us the balls to assert Jesus’ full message as opposed to watering it down in the name of political correctness.
We are able to affirm God’s presence in suffering – we grieve, we undergo pain and horrendous treatment in the name of ‘living’. Life isn’t easy. In Jesus, however, we see glimpses of ‘the source’ being intimately familiar with the tribulations of life – Jesus died, painfully, alone, demeaned and brutalised by thugs, mocked by those who society held most high. God, however, may be intimately familiar with suffering, but in the Resurrection He offers us hope, a defiant message to persecution and injustice, and a bold proclamation of presence, “I am with you, I know you, I died for you, I live for you”.
We are able to affirm hope for those who die, for Christ’s Resurrection is an example of life after death- Christianity’s afterlife isn’t ‘pie in the sky’, it isn’t comfort food. It is intimately familiar with the here and now, this physical existence. Let there be no bones about it, the Resurrection is the hope of death. One of the earliest Christian leaders, Paul, reflecting on the risen Christ, remarked “O Death, where is your victory? O Grave, where is your sting?” Death may be the ‘endless sleep’, but in the Resurrection, we are given the alarm clock.
And finally, we are able to affirm Christianity as the only falsifiable faith – you show us the bones of Christ, and Christianity crumbles into a shadow of its former self, if not into the grave itself. But equally, if the Resurrection were shown to be true or at the very least, plausible, then suddenly Jesus may not be the stained glass portrait, nor is He the property of movies, of Mel Gibson or the Jerry Springer Opera. No, Jesus would be a lot, lot more.
But if Jesus is alive, where do we find Him? It’s interesting that Jesus left a legacy in His followers, those who ‘bear His name’, Christians. One doesn’t have to look too hard to see how diverse this ‘Church’, this collection of believers, actually is. And whilst it may appear that there is no ‘diversity’, only division, most Christians are actually bonded by one core message- Jesus died to liberate us from our mess, Jesus has risen, and Jesus will come again. This message may be articulated badly, softly, loudly, with relevance or no relevance, sometimes it may not be spoken at all but rather is implicit in how a certain denomination behaves, believes or organises themselves. Nevertheless, the message remains the same. Christ’s message was dynamic, powerful, relevant and potent, and it still is. This power naturally leads to diversity, it doesn’t stifle it, and it doesn’t stifle you, your differences, and importantly, your intelligence.
Jesus said, “Come to me, all who are weary, and I will give you rest, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light”
Faith was not meant to be difficult. The Resurrection shows us why, it gives us hope, the ability to assert God’s existence in a doubting world.
The case is now yours to judge. The presentation is yours to accept, or reject.
But ultimately, you are forced to answer Jesus’ eternal question. Challenging, difficult, absurd and cavalier, it stands tall in an unsure and tumultuous existence – “Who do you say that I am?”
“I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he die, yet will he live… do you believe this?” John 11:25-26
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Comments and constructive criticism welcome, as always.
Nathan P.
Myself and a couple of mates, without any funding, decided to make a video presentation using a semi-professional camera, professional editing suite and a sort-of professional editor, all about Christmas, in the winter of 2005. It was called 'The Question', as the core focal point was (a) questioning on the street, and (b) Jesus' question, "Who do you say that I am?"We asked people what their meanings of Christmas were, if Jesus had any part in that. We began with an introduction (by my friend, Aaron) that spelled out our foundational approach and philosophy, and ended with a piece by myself which drew everything together and explained the essential message of Christianity in a relatively original way. In between? Well you can see. Keep reading...What resulted was a presentation that was initially shown in front of 300 people in Chester CU's carol service, and has since been played in Churches, youth groups etc around the country. It was largely supported by Chester's Churches and by our home Churches and was really liked by those non-Christians who came to the aforementioned carol sing-a-long. We're planning on making a new video, "The Answer", due to be ready by March 2007. We're basing it on apologetics concerning the Resurrection, asking atheist and theist scholars alike for their opinion. What's more, we're intending on going to Israel to film 'on location'. We're looking for funding, so we sent "The Question" off as a sort of 'CV' to 15 different Christian Churches, ministries and media producers. We just tonight got it up on the net as a streaming video, and although it isn't perfect (neither the video nor the stream, that is), we like it so far.So see what you think, you can find it here.Also, we're about to put on a new video, the 'prequel' to "The Question", entitled "The Name". It's nowhere near as good as the former but it offers context. I also did a new introduction and ending for it yesterday. So keep looking out for that one.
Nathan :-)
A whole month- a month! That is way too long to not post anything, at all, on Teen Apologetics. I do apologise. But I have been incredibly busy, so much so that it has prohibited me writing anything at all!
And that, as they say, is that. I'm now back at home, in 'sunny' Stockton-on-Tees, and I have absolutely nothing to do. If I can get myself out of my bed (5 weeks of university-based sleep deprivation hits like a brick when you get home), I'll use my time wisely and getting writing some stuff for this blog. And on that note, I'll finish. God bless people.
Nathan. L. P.
