Trucking right along through the Nicene Creed, we come to the 5th Article of Faith.
Article 5:
Current Text:
On the third day he rose again in fulfillment of the Scriptures
Beginning Advent 2011:
…and rose again on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.
If Jesus had not risen from the dead, there would probably be no such thing as Christianity today. See, at the time, the Jewish people were waiting for someone to be sent by God to deliver them. They got this notion straight from the Scriptures. In the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, Chapter 9, verses 6-7, we read: “For a child is born to us, a son is given us; upon his shoulder dominion rests. They name him Wonder-Counselor, God-Hero, Father-Forever, Prince of Peace. His dominion is vast and forever peaceful, From David's throne, and over his kingdom, which he confirms and sustains by judgment and justice, both now and forever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this!” These verses, along with others such as Deuteronomy 18:15-16, which says:
”A prophet like me will the LORD, your God, raise up for you from among your own kinsmen; to him you shall listen. This is exactly what you requested of the LORD, your God, at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, 'Let us not again hear the voice of the LORD, our God, nor see this great fire any more, lest we die’”
point to the Jewish concept of the Messiah, or literally translated: “anointed.”
Jesus was believed by his followers to be the Messiah. This was probably aided by such verses as John 4:25-26, which says: “The woman said to him, ‘I know that the Messiah is coming, the one called the Anointed; when he comes, he will tell us everything.’ Jesus said to her, ‘I am he, the one who is speaking with you.’” At the time of Jesus, though, the Messiah, though, the Jewish leaders believed that the Messiah spoken of in the Scriptures would come as a political leader who would raise the Jews above the rule of Rome that controlled their existence at the time. When the son of a poor carpenter from Nazareth came along and people started spreading word that HE was the Messiah, you can imagine that the Jewish leaders had a pretty difficult time believing it. They felt Jesus was preaching against their authority and that he sought to destroy their hierarchy. So they decided that he needed to die, and they had him killed…kinda like an ancient mafia, I guess.
Had Jesus died and stayed that way, that probably would’ve been the end of Jesus’ story. He may have been remembered as a really great dude who did a whole bunch of great things for people who were in need, and who had great insight to the scriptures and moral behavior, but that would’ve been about it. HOWEVER, he DID rise from the dead after being publicly crucified (nailed to a wooden cross) and buried in a stone tomb. Hosea 6:2, Joel 2:32 and other Old Testament passages point to the idea that Jesus was meant to die and then rise again. And so he did.
As you read the New Testament, the idea of dying and resurrecting is EVERYWHERE. The disciples who were fortunate enough to see Jesus after his resurrection were the ones who were charged with carrying the message of Jesus’ triumph over death to the rest of the world. Throughout the history of Christianity, people have asked why Jesus didn’t show himself to more people so that those people would also KNOW that he had risen. The reason is quite simple. Jesus wanted us to have FAITH. Beginning with Abraham in the Book of Genesis, Chapter 22, the Bible is chock full of stories illustrating the importance of faith and God’s desire for us to have it. There’s an old saying that goes, “Seeing is believing.” Well, when you really think about it, that statement’s not literally true. Seeing is knowing. NOT seeing is REALLY believing. If you see something, you KNOW it’s there, and you have absolutely no need for faith. God could’ve revealed himself to the world any number of times…he STILL can any time he wants to. But for the most part, he’s decided to ask us to just have faith and believe. The Catechism of the Catholic Church distinguishes faith from believing in the following two passages:
CCC 179: Faith is a supernatural gift from God. In order to believe, man needs the interior helps of the Holy Spirit.
CCC 180: “Believing is a human act, conscious and free, corresponding to the dignity of the human person.
See, when God decided to give us free will (meaning that we have the ability to freely make our own choices in life without God FORCING us to choose right or wrong), he gave us the ability to choose whether or not we will believe in him. Faith is a gift from God. When we accept that gift and consciously choose to put it to use, we are able to believe.
I know we ended up a little off-topic, but it just wouldn’t be MY blog if I didn’t get off-topic every once in a while. Plus it was relevant, so I’m not going to lose any sleep over it. Till next time, peace!
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