My Easter reflections are coming a couple of weeks late, but better late than never. One of the things I find fascinating about the Gospels is that they do not actually describe how Jesus rose from the dead. There are no descriptions of him removing the burial wrappings, the stone being rolled away as Jesus emerges, or an angelic choir singing while he rises from the grave in power. Instead, all we have, at least in the canonical Gospels, are appearances after the fact. The women find the tomb empty and speak with angels. The disciples are behind locked doors, and Jesus appears among them. Then there are the two disciples who meet Jesus on the road to Emmaus.
In one sense, all we can do is speculate about why there is no account of the resurrection process itself. It could be because no one was there to see it. Maybe God did not think that was something we needed to know. I do not have any special insight here, just thoughts. One of the debates between conservative and liberal Christians concerns the nature of the resurrection: was it a literal bodily resurrection, or was it spiritual or metaphorical? I like that the Bible does not really resolve that question for us. As with many things, I think focusing too much on that may miss the point.
The disciples experienced something profound, something that had a massive impact on them. It was enough to turn what should have been a small messianic Jewish movement, one that might have faded away like other failed messianic movements, into a religion that spread through the Roman Empire in a remarkably short time. Whatever form the resurrection took, the more important question is what it means if Jesus did indeed rise from the dead. It means, for one thing, that death does not have the last word. Empire does not have the last word. Sin, violence, and evil do not have the last word. If what Jesus experienced is the first fruits of what we all will experience, then God will have the last word. And if Scripture is right, and God is love, then love will have the last word.
My stepson recently took a trip to Greece with his school. While he was there, they visited a monastery with a painting of the resurrection that has stayed with me. In it, Jesus is grasping Adam and Eve by the wrists as he raises them up, Adam and Eve standing in for all humanity. The image suggests that Jesus’ resurrection is not just a one-off miracle in which he rises and that is the end of it. His victory over death is a victory meant for all. For me, that points toward what has often been called universal reconciliation, the hope that in the end God will save all. That hope had important advocates in the early church, even if it lost influence over time. To me, the ultimate victory of God is that all are saved.