It’s been almost 2000 years since the Roman Empire executed Jesus. This year millions of self-proclaimed Christians attended worship services in the midst of a pandemic, confident God will protect them or, worst case scenario, they die and go to heaven.
For the overwhelming majority of Christians, there is no Christianity without the resurrection. The promise of everlasting life is what keeps them coming back to the pews, week after week, century after century.
There are 64,766 words in the four books of the Gospel, almost 9000 words shorter than The Catcher In The Rye, and more than 12,000 words shorter than Harry Potter And The Sorcerer’s Stone. Each book of the Gospel tells the same story from a different author ranging from Mark, just the facts, to John, who adds song and dance numbers. Mark ends his book with a cliffhanger (Jesus’ tomb is opened and his body is missing), while Matthew, Luke and John highlight Jesus’ resurrection 3 days after his death and teaching from beyond the grave.
Was Christ’s intent to have us report to a building once a week, worship a statue of his tortured body and fork over money to men who guilt trip us about sex? I’m no theologian but I doubt that was the goal. Same goes for free market economics, colonialism and racism.
Christ’s only two commandments are straightforward: love God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself. If mankind took those commandments as a starting point we’d solve most of our problems. If a person is hungry, share your food, If someone is sick, care for them. If someone is blind, help them see. If someone sins against you, forgive them.
But for most people, the sole attraction to Christianity is eternal life. Some think all that matters is they believe in God, even in their last minutes, say the magic words and, poof, they’re in heaven chilling on a cloud eating their favorite food in between fucking supermodels. There’s another group that approach life as if it’s a checklist for what they need to do and not do in order to get into heaven where they hang out on a cloud with a mob of all their favorite relatives and their dog that died in fifth grade. The dangerous group are the ones close to political power in the United States that believe they are “chosen” and can therefore behave like selfish beasts who will either get to skip death through “rapture” or survive the Second Coming – they are wrong on all counts.
Churches throughout history have served the interests of the powerful as they fleeced their flock with promises of an afterlife. Caesar himself couldn’t have come up with a better method of societal control than the crucifix behind every altar: look what happened to the Son of God when he tried to bring justice to the world and crossed the powerful, better to just sit in your pew and wait for the afterlife.
Jesus without the resurrection is generous, honest, forgiving, fearless and righteous. He sacrificed himself to save us in this world, not the next.
What would happen if we followed Jesus in life instead of death? We’d get more Martin Luther Kings and less Jerry Falwells for starters. We could fulfill Jesus’ intent for us to build a more just, equitable and loving life.
If you truly believe in the resurrection, what have you got to lose?
Be brave. Be kind. Be just.
Wes Clark Jr. 