The word "Lent" comes to us from the Anglo-Saxon "lang" meaning "long." A derivative of
"lang" is "lengten" meaning Spring. Spring is the season of the year when, in the cold
countries, ice and snow begin to melt, trees start to bud, birds return from warmer climates and
people stroll through parks accompanied by family and friends.
"Lent" commences on Ash Wednesday and culminates on Palm Sunday. It is the season when
Christendom fasts and prays, meditates and mends. It is a time for reflection and renewal,
when the Christian Creed is reviewed, the cause of Christ is re-examined and new
commitments of conduct are made.
During Holy Week we focus our attention on the events taking Jesus to the cross. We review
the circumstances of Jesus birth, life, death and resurrection. And we meditate on his
mediating between the human and de divine. Lent prepares our minds to have a better
understanding of Holy Week. The cause of Christ plays out during Holy Week in the drama of
life, the life of Jesus of Nazareth, invested by God to be the Christ, the savior of the world,
which in turn influences the lives of his followers.
A re-examination of these happenings puts us face-to-face with what we belief and practice. It
is fitting that we look at this occurrence with the help of holy scripture. Here is a passage that
cuts to the heart of the matter. Paul is speaking. He reminds us that we have embraced a
creed that propels us to partake in the cause of Christ:
I delivered to you as of first importance what I also 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.
Then he appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom are still
alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.
Last of all as to one untimely born, he appeared to me (I Cor. 15:1-8.
The passage we are considering is an expression of an early Christian Creed. It deals with
basic questions of relationship between attitude and behavior, commitment and compliance,
saying and doing. The Creed contains four simple belief statements, as follows: Christ 1) died
for our sins; 2) he was buried; 3) he was raised; 4) he appeared. Let us briefly consider each.
CHRIST DIED FOR OUR SINS
Basic to this belief system is the acceptance that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah announced
by the prophets and long awaited by Israel. He is a Messiah transcending all expectations. For
Israel waited for One who would return the glorious economical and political days of the reigns
of David and Solomon. Messiah would return the people to democratic living and economic
prosperity.
Indeed, Jesus as the Messiah fulfilled Israel's expectations, though Jews do not accept his
Messiahship. The Christ changed those who believed him and followed his teachings. And two
thousand years later, the ideology put forth has given rise to the thriving great democratic
forms of government and booming economies of the Western world.
According to Christian theology, Jesus as the Christ has done much more. He has made
possible for believers to have direct access to God by offering himself as a sacrifice to satisfy
God's perceived demands from humanity. Mark quotes Jesus expressing the purpose of his
life: "To serve and to give his life as ransom for many" (Mark 10:45). Here is how this plays out.
The history of our religion begins in the early days when primitive humanity sacrificed young
women and children to calm the wrath of the impersonal, natural forces they perceived causing
calamities such as draught, floods, storms, decease and death. Abram, the man the Creator
called and ordained to be "father of multitudes" (Gen. 17:5), lived amidst those people. Yet,
later he underwent radical change, as God tested his loyalty demanding the sacrifice of his
only son from whom a new people was to emerge. Just at the moment when Abram was about
to execute Isaac, the Almighty provided an animal as a substitute for the boy (Gen. 22). The
animal sacrifice Abram made marked the beginning of a long tradition of animal sacrifice,
which Israel observed through history to the time of Jesus, as offerings to God for expiation
(washing away) of the sins of the penitents. Save in few difficult days when Israel was
corrupted by the influence of apostate kings and pagan neighbors, these people were loyal to
the Most High.
During a Passover celebration, toward the end of his ministry, Jesus took of the bread he and
his disciples were eating, broke it and said, "This is my body which is for you" (I Cor. 11:24).
Then, he took the cup and said, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood" (11:24). A few
hours later, Jesus was apprehended, tried and executed. He came to be, "The Lamb of God
who takes away the sin of the world" to which John the Baptizer had made reference much
earlier (John 1:29). Here there is a return to human sacrifices. But now it is God offering a
sacrifice unto self to expiate, or wipe out, the sins of humanity. From then on, there is no need
of further animal sacrifices. This is what the author of Hebrews says concerning this issue:
Every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can
never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all times a single sacrifice for sins,
he sat down at the right hand of God (10:12).
Thus, in Jesus as the Christ, the covenant existing between Abraham and God and God and
Israel is renewed and maintained perpetually. Christ died for our sins.
CHRIST WAS BURIED
Jesus was a human being; and as all humans, he was born, lived and died. Genesis 3 explains
why humans must die. There, in an insightful poetic form, the writer declares how humans
damaged their excellent relations with the divine. The Creator declared:
Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of
which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy
sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life... till thou return unto the ground;
for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return (Gen. 3:17-19).
So, Jesus died. But he did not stay in the grave too long. God returned Jesus to life after the
Sabbath. Christian theology affirms that Jesus, as the Christ, met all divine expectations. John
states in his first universal letter that Jesus was the atonement sacrifice for the sins of the
believers (I John 2:2). Having declared, "It is finished" (John 19:30). Jesus died at 3:00 p.m.
on a Friday, the time for the second sacrifice of the day, about three hours prior to dusk, the
beginning of the Sabbath, the Day of Rest. And he was buried by Joseph of Arimathea, an
important member of the Jewish council (John 19:38) before the beginning of the Sabbath.
HE WAS RAISED
The initial account of the resurrection of Christ reads as follows:
When the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and
Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him. And very early
in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the
sun. And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of
the sepulchre? And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was
very great. And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side,
clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted. And he saith unto them, Be not
affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here:
behold the place where they laid him. (Mark 16:1-6).
The New Testament affirms that God raised Jesus from death first thing after the Sabbath, a
stamp of divine approval that the life and death of Jesus as the Christ fulfilled God's
expectations. Through his resurrection, Jesus was confirmed as the Christ, and human
redemption was affirmed. This divine action validates the church Creed, our preaching and our
hope. Paul explains it as follows:
Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept. For since
by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all
die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the
first fruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming (1 Cor 15:20-23).
The resurrection of the dead is the great hope of Israel and the church. Because, the Christ
was raised from the dead, his followers also will be raised from the dead. As we celebrate the
resurrection of Christ on Easter Sunday, we celebrate our own resurrection in anticipation of
that great and glorious day.
HE APPEARED
John continues the narrative of the resurrection with an initial account of the first appearance
of Jesus to his disciples:
Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and
looked into the sepulchre, And seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head,
and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. And they say unto her,
Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my
Lord, and I know not where they have laid him. And when she had thus said, she turned
herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus saith
unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to
be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou
hast laid him, and I will take him away. Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself,
and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master (John 20:11-16).
Instructed by Jesus to do so, the women reported the appearance to the other disciples. John
reports the events of that evening:
The same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut
where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in
the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. And when he had so said, he
showed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they
saw the Lord. Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath
sent me, even so send I You and when he had said this, he breathed on them, and
saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: Whose soever sins ye remit, they are
remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained(20:19-23).
Luke explains the appearance of Jesus to two disciples going that day to Emmaus, a village
near Jerusalem. As the two men talked about the events passed, Jesus joined them and
started a conversation with these disciples, who could not recognize Jesus, telling them what
scripture said about the fate of the Messiah. As the disciples approached the village, they
invited Jesus to stay with them. At table, while Jesus broke bread and offered thanksgiving, the
disciples recognized the stranger. But Jesus vanished from their presence (24:13-31).
Immediately, the two returned to Jerusalem to share their findings with the other believers. At
the house where the disciples gathered, Jesus appeared to all and expressed disapproval for
their unbelief. Because the disciples thought the apparition to have been a spirit, Jesus asked
them to look at him and feel him. He also asked for food to eat in their presence. Then, Jesus
took the disciples to Bethany, from where he was "carried up to heaven" (24:33-49).
John also reports another appearance a week later at the same place, where Jesus addressed
Thomas, the disciple who was not present the week before and could not accept the report of
the others. Here is what John describes:
After eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came
Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.
Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach
hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. And
Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. Jesus saith unto him,
Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have
not seen, and yet have believed (20:26-29).
John writes of a third appearance. The disciples had spent an entire night fishing. Tired and
disillusioned, they were anchored 100 yards off shore. A stranger from the beach asked
whether they had caught anything. They answered "no." Then, the stranger told them to cast
the net on "the right side of the boat." They did, and the catch was plentiful. Then, Jesus
prepared breakfast for them of the catch of the day. Afterward, Jesus sustained a
conversation with Simon Peter concerning the disciples' future labor for the Lord.
Finally, Paul says that Christ appeared to him. A representative of the Jewish council, Paul was
on his way to Damascus authorized by the High Priest to exterminate the followers of the
Christ. While on the way, the Lord appeared to Paul. The following is Luke's account of what
took place on the road:
Saul, yet breathing out threatening and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord,
went unto the high priest, And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues,
that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them
bound unto Jerusalem. And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly
there shined round about him a light from heaven: And he fell to the earth, and heard a
voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou,
Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick
against the pricks. And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me
to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee
what thou must do(Acts 9:1-6).
Saul became Paul, the great apostle to the Gentiles. He established Christian congregations
throughout Asia Minor and wrote several letters to these churches about the Christian creed
and conduct. His letters are contained in the New Testament. He suffered much for the cause
of Christ; and finally, he was put to death in Rome by the Caesar.
THE LESSON
Well, painted with big strokes, here are the historical facts concerning the resurrection of our
Lord Jesus Christ. The account was amazing to the simple folks of the primitive society where
the events took place, and it is to us, sophisticated people living at the dawn of the twenty-first
century. And it will continue to be the story for all times for the generations to come. But if this
account is treated as historical fact only, upon which great literary works have been built, we
deprive ourselves of the great riches and purpose for which this passage was intended. Let us
allow John to state the purpose of this unique narrative. John states:
Many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written
in this book: But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the
Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name (20:30-31).
Who is John's audience? The universality of this letter answers this question. Your response
and mine are expected for us to seize all opportunities to share this extraordinary story.
POSTSCRIPT
Obviously, not all that can be said about this simple creed has been said. My intention has not
been exhaustive but motivating. The interested reader may want to explore the passage in
more detail, as time permits. As Paul prayed for the believers of his days for them to have
insight to discern God's expectations further, so do I for you as you diligently seek to
understand more the divine Will for your life and partake in the cause of Christ.
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A CAUSE AND A CREED
J.C.Cordova,D.Min., LCSW
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