The Last Week - Chapter 8

• Without Easter we wouldn't know about Jesus.  He would just be another dead Jew killed by the Roman Empire.  EASTER IS UTTERLY CENTRAL!
• We have "pre understandings" about Easter.  Typically they merge the stories into one.  Often it focuses on the historical factuality of the event.  
• The Hard Form sees every detail as a historical, literal fact.
• The Soft Form is OK with the minor differences in the stories but there is an underlying, basic reliability to the story.
• There is not a problem with how we see the story EXCEPT if the only question we ever ask is, "how did this event happen?"
• The factuality question actually is a stumbling block for some.  The question needs to change from "Did this happen or not?" to "What does this mean?"
• Arguing over whether the event could have been filmed, for example, is something that will only divide.  The goal is to set that aside and ask the next question in the line-up… What does this mean?
• The "What does this mean?" question asks us to consider the stories as parables.  Whether they happened that way or not, there is deep truth in them so let's get to that truth!
• "Believe whatever you want about whether the stories happened this way - now, let's talk about what the mean."  
• Mark's Easter story is only 8 verses long!  Mark 16:1-8
• Mark does not have an appearance story of the risen Jesus.
• Mark's Easter ends abruptly.
• The women go to the tomb wondering who will roll the stone away.  They see the stone is already rolled away.  The women enter the tomb, see a young man and are afraid.  He tells them not to be afraid, that Jesus who was crucified has been raised and is not here.  The women are told to go and tell that he is going to Galilee.  They left and told no one!  
• So, what does it all mean?  Jesus was sealed in a tomb.  The tomb couldn't hold him.  Jesus is not among the dead but among the living.  Jesus has been raised which means the authority's "no" has been turned into God's "YES".  His followers are promised they will see him.  
• Go back to Galilee could mean go back to the beginning and start the whole mission over again, walking the Jesus WAY and bringing in the Kingdom of God.  
• Matthew has two appearance stories.  The women see him on their way back to tell the disciples and they all see him in Galilee.  
• What does Matthew's stuff mean?
• Jesus is given the authority.  The powers don't have authority!
• Jesus's followers are to make disciples.  A disciple isn't a "believer" but one who follows the Jesus WAY of living.  
• They are to teach people to OBEY not BELIEVE.  DOING is key.
• I am with you always reminds us God is with us.  God is in control.
• Luke has two appearance stories too.  The Emmaus Road and when the Emmaus guys get back and Jesus appears to the disciples.  Here too there is an emphasis on the "physicality" of Jesus being with us, a commissioning and promise to go to the nations and they go to Bethany where he ascends.  
• John has four appearances.  Mary Magdalene at the tomb.  The appearance in the locked room.  The appearance with Thomas.  (There is no condemnation of Thomas.  He desires a first hand experience like the rest of the disciples had.  The "rebuke" is really just an affirmation that whether you "see" Jesus or not, those who believe are also blessed.  The last appearance is Jesus on the beach cooking fish and Peter being told to tend the sheep.  
• Together the message is JESUS LIVES.  In a radically new way but that doesn't matter.  He is a figure of the PRESENT not just the past.  Some still experience Jesus as a living reality.  
• Easter is God's "yes" to Jesus against the powers who killed him.