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From “Surprised By Hope”, page 60
Many have suggested that the early disciples were so overwhelmed with grief at Jesus’ death that they picked up the idea of resurrection from their surrounding culture and clung on to it, persuading themselves that Jesus had been raised from the dead though of course they knew he hadn’t been. Some have suggested that the earliest Christians believed that Jesus, after his death, had been exalted to heaven, or that they had a strange sense that his mission, to bring God’s kingdom was now going ahead in a new way; and that this kind of belief led them to say he’d been raised from the dead.
But would this make any sense? We can test it out with a little thought experiment. In AD 70, the Romans conquered Jerusalem, and they led thousands of Jews captive back to Rome; including the man they regarded as the leader of the Jewish revolt, “the king of the Jews; a man called Simon bar Gioara. He was led into Rome at the back of the triumphal procession, and the end of the spectacle was Simon being flogged then killed.
Now: suppose we imagine a few Jewish revolutionaries three days or three weeks later. The first one says, “You know, I think Simon really was the Messiah – and he still is!”
The others would be puzzled. Of course he isn’t’: the Romans got him, as they always do. If you want a Messiah you’d better find another one.
“Ah,” says the first, “But I believe he’s been raised from the dead.”
“What d’you mean?” his friends ask, “He’s dead and buried.”
“Oh no” replies the first, “I believe he’s been exalted to heaven.”
The others look puzzled. All the righteous martyrs are with God, everybody knows that; their souls are in God’s hand; that doesn’t mean they’ve already been raised from the dead. Anyway, the resurrection will happen to us all at the end of time, not to one person in the middle of continuing history [here Tom’s style loses a little of its believability]
“No” replies the first, “you don’t understand. I’ve had a strong sense of God’s love surrounding me. I have felt God forgiving me – forgiving us all. I’ve had my heart strangely warmed. What’s more, last night, I saw Simon; he was there with me…”
The others interrupt, now angry. We can all have visions. Plenty of people dream about recently dead friends. Sometimes its very vivid. That doesn’t mean they’ve been raised from the dead. It certainly doesn’t mean that one of them is the Messiah. And if your heart has been warmed, then sing a psalm, don’t make wild claims about Simon.
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