Resurrection; It Just Makes You Think a Whole New Way

[HKHaugan]

Resurrection; It Just Makes You Think a Whole New Way

Recently I discovered a lapel button someone had given me to wear. It read, “Made in America with 100% Norwegian parts.” Actually, that was true. My family on both sides go way back in Norway. When I was very young my mother and father mentioned their past old country connections rarely. But having ‘Norwegian blood’ appeared to be even more important than family ties. What they did talk about set in motion a lot of images of the land and people I expected to encounter when I went to Norway for the first time. My father had his family experience and my mother hers. But Norwegian was rarely spoken and was heard only when my mother’s friends would come over or I would go with her when she visited them. The reason was that I was born here and needed to be totally Americanized especially at school. My knowledge of the language, the people and their history really came after I was there, visited family and studied in a Summer School session at Oslo University. Most of my foreknowledge was based on myths, family stories and a bit of what they had to do to fit in here in the States. Sparse to say the least.

At any rate my impressions of Norway were shaped by reading Viking history, early exposure at a few Sons of Norway meetings, some family artifacts like a painting and flag memorabilia, my mother’s emotional attachment to that ethnic past and relatives briefly reminiscing about the old country. It influenced my sense of personal identity because of its importance to personal meaning and defensive posture in the midst of relational judgment that surrounded me. I could always fall back on my ethnic identity if necessary. Ethnic roots and their accompanying pride seemed to dominate most families’ social outlook. But what I found when I went to Norway was quite different. The tourist agenda filled with Viking lore and trips through gorgeous mountains is one thing. What is really there is not the romanticized past but the present human condition dressed in national culture and tradition with citizens suffering the same spiritual, relational and emotional issues we all face. Because of the language it just sounds different. For people ensnared by ethnicity as their focus there is a new message through which our focus can become eternal as opposed to temporary. There are no eternal Norwegians, Germans, Chinese, Americans, white, black, masculine or feminine categories. They die when the body dies.

My awakening came in 1969 when I accepted Jesus as my Savior and Lord. Everything began to change; the way I thought about life and the priorities that needed changing. It was a spiritual, moral, personal and relational confrontation that didn’t change over night. It has been gradual on some fronts and momentary on others. No one gets it right while they are here in this world. What starts us becoming more right is the Word. I came to the realization that the Bible I had studied in seminary took on a whole new light. I mean ‘light.’ It was like when you get a knock on the door in the night and slowly open it to see who’s there. As you open the door a bit at a time, the more it opens, the more light comes in and then you can recognize who was knocking. Let me just say this, I’m still opening that door and more light keeps coming in. And the person of Jesus is becoming more recognizable all the time. So when I was perusing the Resurrection passages, I got stuck on the Matthew one. It starts out in a very special way (Mt.28:1). It was those first few words that the Spirit popped thoughts into my head about them. Bear with me if you will.

Significant were the words starting the chapter, “After the Sabbath,” “at the dawn,” “of the first day of the week.” If we see the Resurrection as the key point in thinking a new way, ‘After the Sabbath’ means that the past authority of the Law, its worship and way to live, were centered on the Sabbath, the holiest experience as the God-centered day of worship, rest, reflection and personal awareness. That is past. It summarized the Law, Judaism, its rituals and dietary requirements. The Sabbath was the one day to be ‘holy’ by legal standards. Observance of the Sabbath was the physical centerpiece of commitment to God, complete concentration on the Lord God the last day of the week (We call it Saturday). It was the heart of ethnic purity God’s people strove to attain. It was written in the Scripture. It was the Covenant but a new covenant had come. ‘After the Sabbath’ makes it clear that something new had happened. Perhaps expanding the idea of there being something more beyond the Law and its Sabbath day? I’ll say! Let’s look at that.

“At the dawn,” it was the beginning, not the end, of a new day, ’dawn.’ This was not just a change in the way of thinking. This was a revolution about how we see all of reality. It changed the meaning of reality. Neither was this an evolution in thought, a kind of advanced way the human mind had progressed. This was the revelation and physical action of a reality that could only have come from God, far beyond any man’s ability to conceive reality. Of course people had already thought about life after death, talked about the possibility of some kind of afterlife and speculated what it might be like. But it was limited to man’s imperfect intellect and usually ended in perfecting what was imperfect by human standards.

What Jesus did was to define perfection and live that perfection in a human body. He was true reality in the flesh. He made it real. But the Resurrection of Jesus is far more than perfecting what man thinks is imperfect. The perfection of Jesus opens us to individually experience newness in every moment, the embracing of the unknown with faith in His presence, not fearing what might happen, but looking forward to how He will use that moment to grow us into His life. That’s why He prays to the Father for us, “I in them and you in me (Jn.17:23).” Jesus is the source of God for us in the dawn of every next moment. That means He is there awaiting us to call on His love, His grace, His truth, His way to live, His faith, His compassion; the Holy Spirit bringing to us all of who He is in every next moment.

The Sabbath had completed its purpose of placing God first, but now something new had taken place. It was an awakening, a spiritual awakening, an awakening to a new life, Jesus’ eternal life. Here in Jesus was the Sabbath experience spiritually, personally and relationally alive making every next moment a ‘Sabbath’ experience, the experience of Jesus the risen Lord. The Sabbath was no longer a ritual but a reality, the personal presence of the living God. “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath (Mt.12:8).” Is it any wonder that a new kind of worship would take place, worship that started with the dawn of each new day, each new hour, each new moment?

If there was to be a ritual remembrance it would follow the pattern of the Passover and be experienced by faith as each believer participated in the Lord’s Supper. The old Passover looked backward. The new Passover, the Lord’s Supper, by looking back at Jesus’ sacrifice, really got them to look forward to what he was going to do after they took the bread and wine. This is how Jesus fulfilled the Law. He lived looking forward to every next encounter in faith. The Law pointed to all the things that would teach us about the living God and His Son’s Resurrection gave all existence its meaning through Him who created it all. Just as in Creation God was looking forward to its future so He built in us the need to live in faith looking forward. And that meaning is real in every single piece of what we call time. Actually, the Resurrection of Jesus canceled time, space and all the limitations that a fallen world bestowed on its inhabitants. He rose above it all and gave us a new way to think and act with Him directing the traffic in our new everyday experience.

“Of the first day (not the last day) of the week.” This was not the end of an old past week but the beginning of a brand new week. The usual first day of the week was the beginning of the mundane routine of legal survival from one day to the next. But Jesus makes everyday a ‘first’ day. This is no longer the beginning of the experience of a past week but the looking forward way of seeing life in a new week, a new perspective, Jesus’ presence opening up a whole new way of dealing with what is unknown, the new possibilities going to occur. It is met with joy not fear. Jesus invaded the world’s depressing desperation, make sense out of the everyday routine everyone finds themselves in. Every day has something new to expect and react to. In the secular world it’s a ‘work-or-die’ existence, a “Live fast, die young and have a good looking corpse” gang mentality, a “Get what you can while you can” commitment and a “Do unto others before they do unto you” outlook. All that kind of thinking carries with it the smell of death and ends in death. But this is the ‘first day’ of every day. The ‘first’ moment is every next moment.

The Resurrection of Jesus smacks lonely self-justification square in the face. There is a new kind of life, real life, spiritual life, true reality. Jesus is the center of that life and He makes it available in a relationship with Him. As the risen Lord He showed there is no limitation in time, space or thought, to block His presence anywhere, everywhere at all times and in all places. Just as He transcended every physical barrier, His Resurrection becomes our resurrection by the same means He did, faith. Faith in Jesus is what makes His life real for each of us so that when we accept Him and follow His Word we are already living the ascended life, the risen life, the eternal life He restored for us. Following Him and His Word in faith guarantees we have the new life and are living that life in every next moment.

I am still amazed that a few words from the Bible can become a volume when the Spirit is allowed to use your mind. So, “After the Sabbath at the dawn of the first day of the week...” opens us to a new life; thinking with a new mind, discerning and loving with a new heart and motivated to act with a new spirit by the work of the Holy Spirit. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old life is gone, the new life has begun (2Cor.5:17)!”