Out Our Way: Who do you say that I am?

Out our way, “the proof is in the pudding” is a common phrase. As I shared some time ago, there are folks who dress like cow hands but are not. But out on the round up, especially when you have some pretty rangey cattle to collect — there is no mistaking the real deal.

Now, I am an amateur cowhand. I can generally stay on board Doc at the gallop — unless he manages to trip over his own four feet as he has done now and then — but I have gotten to work with the real deal and there is no mistaking them for who and what they are. You watch a guy take off at full tilt across the hills and arroyos of the Tiger Ridge and rope a calf — that guy is for real. You see a guy’s horse spooked and crow hopping and he calmly rides it down — that is the real deal. You see a team of guys throw 30 calves in a row, hog tie them, brand, notch and so  forth without breaking a sweat — well, they are the real deal. It’s not what they say they are that matters, it is the fact of who they are as shown by what they do that counts.

Now, Easter is more than cute bunnies, colored eggs,  or a celebration of spring. Nothing wrong with those trimmings — but, sadly, for far too many, that’s all it is. There have been many religious leaders who claimed to be the voice of God. Some were indeed prophets and some were not. The Bible says the “proof is in the pudding.” God has warned that false prophets will arise and claims to speak for the Lord, but if that which he prophecies does not take place, he is a false prophet (Deut. 18: 21-22).

Jesus asked His disciples “Who do you say that I am?”  He continues to ask that question again today. It is true that historically, a great many men and women have claimed to speak for God, but only One has come Who claimed to speak as God. In modern times, many have sought to ignore that fact and try to convince themselves and others that Jesus was merely  a great moral teacher, humanitarian, and theologian, and even a great founder and leader of a powerful religious cult. But all that nonsense  collapses when one comes up to Who Jesus Himself claimed to be. C.S. Lewis noted that the central claim of Jesus to be the Son of God, the incarnation, Emmanuel — “God with us” —  leaves us with only two choices: to accept the claim or dismiss Him as the world’s greatest humbug or lunatic “on the level with the man who claims to be a potato.” As Lewis notes, “Jesus does not give us … any other options — for He never meant to.”

And that brings us back to Easter. Jesus made claims and taught a form of Judaism that was pure and free from the corruption of the Sadducees and the Pharisees. More, He even claimed that Gentiles — non-Jews — were part of  God’s plan to restore all humanity to Himself. Well, again, anyone can say anything; anyone can claim anything. The religious leaders used the pagan government to crucify Jesus as a rebel, while they mocked Him as a heretic. When all were assured He was truly dead, He was taken down and placed in a tomb. The tomb was sealed and guards mounted, for one of Jesus’ other claims that on the third day He would rise from the dead. Ridiculous — but the religious leaders and Romans were taking no chances.

But despite all precautions, on the third day Jesus did rise from the dead — the first Easter. He appeared to Mary Magdalene, then to the 12, and then to many others. Much later, He even appeared to His greatest persecutor, Saul, on the road to Damascus and transformed him into Paul, His greatest evangelist. Most of these eyewitnesses were eventually killed for their claim that Christ had indeed risen. No hallucination — as Thomas the doubter famously believed until he too met the Risen Christ. History tells us not one witness to the resurrection ever recanted of their testimony despite torture, crucifixion, decapitation and even-worse deaths.

Some have tried to wiggle out of that historical fact by  claiming Jesus escaped and someone else was crucified in His place, or that the Romans took him down before He was dead and He merely recovered and rolled away the rock that covered the tomb. But as comforting as that may be to atheists and lazy agnostics, those theories simply can’t be upheld in light of what we know of the Romans and crucifixion. The first fact is that few Roman soldiers were actually Romans or citizens. They were conscripted from conquered nations, and as non-citizens, they were subject to crucifixion as well. By Roman law, if any condemned person did not die on the cross, the soldiers who were the execution squad would take the prisoner’s place on the cross. Thus, if someone switched places with Christ while under guard, the guards would have been crucified. Highly unlikely the guards would accept that risk. Recall that the enemies of Christ as well as his family were there — they would have noticed the switch. The second fact, based on the first, is that Jesus would not be taken down from the cross until dead for the same reason. Had He survived the crucifixion, the guards would not. Thus, because it was sundown and the Sabbath — Friday night — was about to begin, Jewish law demanded the crucified be buried beforehand. As crucifixion often lasted for days, to speed things up, the guards broken the legs of the criminals so they would die of shock and strangulation, being no longer able to stand and allow the air to flow into their lungs. But when they came to Jesus, they did not break His legs as He was already dead, and to make sure, they thrust a lance into his lungs and heart. Trained soldiers knew the kill zone — and there was no question in anyone’s minds the wound would have been fatal if the man on the cross were still alive. He was not and they took Him down. Professional killers and executioners, there was no doubt He was dead.

As for the lame excuse people hallucinated or lied about Jesus rising from the dead, the experience of Mary Magdalene and the 12 might be conjectured as such, but the men on the Emmaus road, the 500, to James, the brother of Jesus who eventually became head of the Church, and then to Paul himself — Corinthians 15:3-8 — how many eye-witnesses do we need?

So here we are faced with the dilemma of Easter. Keep it to chocolate bunnies, colored eggs and Easter lilies and there is no problem. The sales end on Sunday and the stores mark all the “Easter” gimmicks at half price and eliminate them from the inventory. Many people — even those who attend Easter services at Church — do the same. Jesus, Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny are all tossed aside and forgotten until next year. Except Jesus refuses to go away. The resurrection will not allow it.

But though Santa and Peter Rabbit may go away, Jesus will not. He still demands of us “Who do you say that I am?”  In light of the reality of the Resurrection — what do you answer?

Brother John Bruington