Tower and Town, April 2020 (view the full edition)Clergy LetterThe Christian faith is rooted in real and actual events that occurred in history. Jesus, God made man, was born a baby in the town of Bethlehem. He ministered in Galilee and Jerusalem. He died on a cross at Calvary and rose again on the third day. All of these events are historically verified by reliable witnesses: the birth and the ministry of Jesus by the historians Josephus and Pliny the Younger, and the Resurrection by the disciples. In about AD56 Paul wrote "I delivered to you as of first importance what I received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve" (1Corinthians 15:3-5). Paul is referring to what we can call the living tradition today. However, the primary evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead is a sign and a confusing one at that: the sign of the empty tomb. None of the Evangelists witnessed the actual event, they described only the aftermath, if you like. Why is this? Of course like many things in relation to faith, in order to understand we need first to believe, faith comes before understanding. In accepting and believing that Jesus of Nazareth rose from the dead, we then enter into the mystery. We open wide our eyes of faith and let that light of Easter radiate and illuminate our lives. "Alleluia, Jesus Christ is risen!" Fr John Blacker |