He is Risen!

1 Corinthians 15 English Standard Version (ESV)

The Resurrection of Christ
15 Now I would remind you, brothers,[a] of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. 11 Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.


More here.

Today is HIS day.

He is Risen!

He is Risen!

Luke 24 New International Version (NIV)

Jesus Has Risen
1 On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. 5 In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6 He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 7 ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” 8 Then they remembered his words.

9 When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. 10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. 11 But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. 12 Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.

He is Risen

He was resurrected. He came back. And many people saw him.

Jesus appeared 12 times to different group sizes ranging from just one person to 500 people.

1) Mary Magdalene (Mark 16.9-11; John 20.11-18), Peter in Jerusalem (Luke 24.34; 1 Cor. 15.5), Jesus' brother (insider skeptic) James (1 Cor. 15.7). "And they went out quickly, and fled from the sepulchre; for they trembled and were amazed: neither said they any thing to any [man]; for they were afraid" (Mark 16.8). Some of the New Testament authors explicitly claimed to be eyewitnesses to Jesus' resurrection (and transfiguration). Peter said, "We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty" (2 Pet. 2.16). John also said, "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched...we proclaim to you what we have seen and heard" (1 John 1.1,3).

2) The other women at the tomb (Matthew 28.8-10).

3) The two travelers on the road (Mark 16.12,13; Luke 24.13-34).

4) Ten disciples behind closed doors (Mark 16.14; Luke 24.35-43; John 20.19-25).

5) All the disciples, with Thomas, excluding Judas Iscariot (John 20.26-31; 1 Cor. 15.5).

6) Seven disciples while fishing (John 21.1-14).

7) Eleven disciples on the mountain (Matthew 28.16-20).

8) A crowd of 500 "most of whom are still alive" at the time of Paul writing (1 Cor. 15.6). This may have been the same group as in Matt. 28.16: the rendezvous was to "to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them." Unlike the other accounts which were unexpected and by surprise, and to gather such a large number of people, this meeting was held outdoors. The women were told to tell the disciples to meet Jesus in Galilee as well. "And when they saw him, they worshiped him: but some doubted" (Matt. 28.17) may be a reference to many present, both believers and non-believers. Paul had firsthand contact with them. So it was not a legend. He knew some of the people had died in the interim, but most were still alive. He is saying in effect they are still around to be questioned. You can talk to some of the witnesses. He never could have made this challenge if this event had not occurred.

9) "Then to all the apostles" (1 Cor. 15.7) which includes the Twelve plus all the other apostles.

10) Jesus appeared to the disciples in Jerusalem (Luke 24.44-49).

11) Those who watched Jesus ascend to heaven (Mark 16.19,20; Luke 24.50-53; Acts 1.3-8).

12) Least of all Paul (outsider skeptic) with others present and as though he was not living in the proper time (1 Cor. 15.8-9; Gal. 1.13-16; Acts 9.1-8, 22.9, read all of chapters 22 and 26; 13.30-37; 1 Cor. 15.10-20; Gal. 2.1-10).

And equally noteworthy is the fact that many who saw him were subsequently imprisoned and/or tortured to death, but NOT ONE OF THEM ever renounced their claims to having seen Jesus back among the living. If YOU were facing a gruesome torture death, would you die for a lie? Fact is, too many people saw Jesus again for there to be any doubt as to his resurrection. He came back. And on this day we celebrate his return, and his promise to return again.

Easter.

He is Risen

Paul himself said so, in 1 Corinthians 15.

4He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said. 5He was seen by Peter and then by the Twelve. 6After that, he was seen by more than five hundred of his followers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. 7Then he was seen by James and later by all the apostles. 8Last of all, as though I had been born at the wrong time, I also saw him.


“Something happened on Easter Day which made Christ more alive on the streets of Jerusalem forty days after his crucifixion than on the day of His Triumphant Entry. A false report might last forty days but the church which was founded on a Risen Christ has lasted for nineteen centuries, producing generations of the race’s finest characters.” Ralph W. Sockman

"Twenty centuries now. And stronger than ever."
Me.

Easter morning

He's Alive. True then, true today.

More Jesus Christ, Superstar

While looking for more decent original videos not long ago, I happened upon this theater group from Holland known as the Vollendam Superstars. These people aren't professionals--they're amateurs and many reportedly don't even speak English other than the lines and songs that they learned for this production. If you listen to their performance, many of them replicate the lines of the original 1973 players right down to accents and inflections. But the result is fantastic, and they deserve a lot of credit.

Most notable though is Jan Dulles, the singer/actor who plays Judas, reprising Carl Anderson's role in the original. Dulles actually has some experience, and he's really, really good. I'm impressed, and I suspect that Carl Anderson would be, too.




Still, I have to give it to the original. Ted Neeley played Jesus well and contrasted perfectly with Anderson's Judas.




Barry Dennan was hard to top as Pontius Pilate, too.



Great productions like this don't come along often, and thirty-five years later, it's still great. Get a copy and watch the whole thing this week-end. You'll enjoy it, and if nothing else, it'll help you remember what Easter's supposed to be about--very real events that took place 2,000 years ago that make all the difference for us today.

Easter Week-end

It's Good Friday today--the day set aside to remember the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ. I thought about what to post this week-end. I debated putting up the images of Lagniappe looking at the flat and very dead easter bunny again, but then even though it's funny, I've done that at least twice already.

So setting politics and guns aside for a bit, this year I think I'll post a few videos from my favorite Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, Jesus Christ, Superstar. I'll begin with the opening to the original 1973 film version in which the late Carl Anderson just nails the part of Judas, Jesus' disillusioned and traitorous disciple.

I really like this one, both because Anderson is so good, but also because, in late 2003, I began an e-mail correspondence with Carl Anderson after I (finally) saw this film for the first time and sent him a short e-mail to tell him how impressed I was. We exchanged several e-mails and he told me that he was still touring and promised to arrange a back stage pass to let me meet him during his then-pending show that was going to be near where I was at the time. I was still looking forward to that meeting when I was saddened to read of his death from Leukemia just a few months later. Damn shame. He had real talent and seemed like a nice guy.
So here he is, as Judas, in 1973.