If Jesus Had an Instagram

If Jesus had an Instagram, He would not be obsessed with the number of his “followers” (nor would he have this number memorized). In fact, many of Jesus’s followers turned away and left him when his preaching of God’s truth became too tough to stomach.

If Jesus had an Instagram, He would not allow the number of “likes” on one of his “selfies” to determine his worth. Jesus’s identity was not wrapped up in his appearance, but was rooted and grounded in his Father’s undying love for him.

If Jesus had an Instagram, He would not view or post inappropriate or erotic pictures. To Jesus, people were not objects to be gawked at but precious beings created in his Father’s image.

If Jesus had an Instagram, He would not post an excessive number of “selfies”. Instead, his pictures would capture how God’s presence can bring joy and new life into this sad, old world. He would post a picture of the smiling children who often gathered around him. He would post a picture of Lazarus, wrapped in burial cloths and walking out of death’s tomb alive. He would post pictures of the stillness of that sea right after He calmed it and the peacefulness of that mountaintop as He prayed on it. He would post fewer pictures of himself, and more of the beauty of others and the world around him.

And finally, if Jesus had an Instagram, He would not allow it to dominate a significant amount of his time. He had only a short time to bring God’s Kingdom to earth, and so do we. There are people to teach and encourage, mouths to be fed, and love to be spread. Jesus would know there was simply too much work to be done to have his nose buried in a glowing, rectangular screen all the time.

*In addition to my own experience, this post is also inspired by two excellent articles on Instagram which you can read here and here.

The Resurrection is a Really, Really Big Deal (Part 4)

In my first post of this series, I said that while we have selected the cross as the symbol of Christianity, I think the earliest Christians would have selected the empty tomb. Now don't get me wrong. The cross is a really, really big deal too. One of the core beliefs of Christianity is that at the cross, our sins are forgiven. In other words, Christ's death on the cross is the once-and-for-all sacrifice that removes our sin. The apostle Peter says that Christ himself "bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed" (1 Peter 2:24). By his death, our sins are forgiven!

But listen to what Paul says. He tells another group of early Christians that "if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins" (1 Corinthians 15:17). So let me get this straight. Christ's death on the cross is what provides forgiveness of sins, but according to Paul, if Christ had not been raised, then that forgiveness would never have gone into effect. This is a bit confusing so let me explain it this way.

A few days ago, I planted some grass seed in some bare spots in my yard. To state the obvious, the grass seed is what causes the grass to grow. Grass simply would not grow without seed. However, the seed never fulfills this purpose without a very special ingredient: water. The bag of seed declared, "The key to success is the initial watering." Water is what activates the seed. Now, make the leap with me. As the seed makes the grass grow, the cross of Christ is what causes our sins to be forgiven. However, the cross never fulfills that purpose without the Resurrection. The Resurrection is the water. Without it, the Cross can't do its job. The victory of Jesus over death is what activates the power of the Cross to forgive sins!

And so, yet another reason the Resurrection is a really, really big deal is that it gives us assurance that we can have forgiveness from our sins. The Cross is what produces it; the Resurrection is what activates it. So praise God that the reverse of Paul's scenario is the true statement: since Christ has been raised, your faith is worthwhile and you have forgiveness of sins!

The Resurrection is a Really, Really Big Deal (Part 3)

The purpose of this series is not simply to declare that the bodily Resurrection of Jesus is vital to our faith, but to explain why it is so. Yesterday, I wrote that the Resurrection is a really, really big deal because it proves that Jesus truly was the Son of God. Today, here's another reason why Jesus's emergence from that grave is so important: it tells the world that God's Kingdom is ruled by a living leader.

Are you up for a brief history lesson? N.T. Wright reminds us that there were several other Jewish movements--some were messianic movements and others, prophetic movements--during the one or two centuries on either side of Jesus's ministry. Most of them ended with the violent death of the central figure. And members of the movement (assuming they lived through it) then faced a choice: either abandon the struggle or find a new Messiah. Now, to an outside observer, the Jesus story looks a lot like these accounts. Along with these other leaders, Jesus was killed. But there's one notable exception: Jesus didn't stay dead. And therefore, his disciples neither had to abandon the cause nor find a new Messiah. Theirs was still alive! This is why Christianity has far outlasted these other long-forgotten movements--its leader rose from the dead and appeared to hundreds of his disciples (1 Corinthians 15:6), verifying that He was alive and well. The fact that the Christian faith is still around is a testament to the Resurrection of Jesus.

Every other "spiritual leader" in history has died: Buddha, Confucius, Muhammad, Joseph Smith, leaders of various cults, and the list could go on. Their bones lie dormant in their graves. But the One who kick-started the movement to bring God's Kingdom to earth is alive. Paul says, "Christ Jesus is the one who died--more than that, who was raised--who is at the right hand of God" (Romans 8:34). The gospel is this: Jesus died; Jesus conquered death; and Jesus is alive, this very moment, sitting at God's right hand.

Let us hear, and believe, the words that King Jesus spoke to the apostle John. (And keep in mind, this was during an appearance around 60 years after his death and resurrection.) "Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore" (Revelation 1:17-18). May the whole world know that the Resurrection gives assurance that the Leader of God's Kingdom is alive!

*N.T. Wright material comes from Surprised By Hope (New York: HarperOne, 2008), 48.

The Resurrection is a Really, Really Big Deal (Part 2)

Most Christians know deep down that the Resurrection is important. They feel in their gut that the moment Jesus came back to life is a pivotal scene in human history. But many have a hard time articulating why the Resurrection is a really, really big deal. That's why I'm writing this series.

Let's begin with this: the Resurrection is so vitally important because it proves that Jesus truly was the Son of God. 

During his life and ministry, Jesus is billed as God's Son. On two occasions, at his baptism and on the mountain of Transfiguration, the voice of the Father boomed down from heaven declaring Jesus to be his Son: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matthew 3:17; 17:5). In the middle of Matthew's gospel, Peter makes the famous confession that Jesus is "the Christ, the Son of the living God" (16:16). And significantly, Jesus tells Peter that this confession was not just something he conjured up in his head, but that it was revealed to him by the Father in heaven. The idea that Jesus is God's Son does not arise from man's mind, but comes down from God. And finally, as Jesus is standing on trial before his death, Caiaphas the high priest asks him point-blank, "Are you the Christ, the Son of God?" Jesus does not waver in his affirmation: "You have said so" (Matthew 26:63-64).

Jesus is unequivocally declared to be the Son of God during his ministry. But then came the Cross. Then came that infamous Friday. When Jesus died, these claims no longer held much water for Jesus's followers. When Mary Magdalene and the other women rush to the disciples to tell about the empty tomb, their story is dismissed as worthless. "These words seemed to them an idle tale" (Luke 24:11). The disciples reject the story of the empty tomb because the death of Jesus had caused them to doubt the power of his deity.

But once the evidence started adding up that Jesus truly did come back to life, it changed everything. The doubt that sprang from his death completely evaporated because the Resurrection verified Jesus's claim to be God's Son. It proved, and proves, that Jesus was who He said He was all along.

All throughout the holiday classic Miracle on 34th Street, the man Kris Kringle claims to be Santa Claus. But it's not until the end of the movie that his identity is verified. It's only on Christmas morning when little Susan gets everything she had asked for from Kris that she comes to believe, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Kris is who he claimed to be: Santa Claus! Jesus never made his status as God's Son a secret; it was a title He embraced, and his followers knew it. But it was only after his Resurrection that this identity was proven beyond a shadow of a doubt. As Paul says, Jesus "was declared to be the Son of God in power...by his resurrection from the dead" (Romans 1:4). That scene at the tomb when Jesus Christ rises from the grave shouts at us, "Jesus really is God's Son!"

The Resurrection is a Really, Really Big Deal (Part 1)

The sun had not yet risen. The sky was dark. As Mary Magdalene journeyed on foot to the garden tomb, the world was quiet and the mood of humanity seemed distraught, as if a heavy blanket had been laid over the earth. It was Sunday, and Jesus had died on Friday. The one who calmed seas and cleansed lepers had been crucified. His lifeless body had been taken down from that cruel tree, wrapped in linen cloths, and placed in the ground to join the dead. 

But as Mary drew closer to the tomb on that first day of a new week, she noticed something peculiar. The enormous stone put in place by the soldiers to seal the grave’s entrance had been removed. The tomb was open, and what’s more, the body of Jesus was no longer inside. And scarcely had Mary made this discovery when two men appeared before her in dazzling clothes. “Why do you seek the living among the dead?” they asked. “He is not here, but has risen.”

The sky was still dark when Mary arrived at the tomb early that Sunday. The sun had not yet risen, but the Savior had. The stone was rolled away, and Jesus had come back to life.

In our time, we have selected the cross as the symbol of Christianity. We wear crosses around our necks and hang them on our walls and mount them on our church buildings. But I have a hunch that the earliest Christians would have selected the empty tomb. Take Paul for instance. When Paul is reminding the Christians in Corinth about what is "of first importance," he places a heavy emphasis on the Resurrection. He spends a little time on Jesus's death, a little time on his burial, and a lot of time on his Resurrection and the appearances He made after coming back to life (1 Corinthians 15:3-8).

While the cross represents the death of Jesus, the empty tomb declares Jesus’s victory over death. The empty tomb proclaims that death is not the end of the story. To be clear, I am not trying to diminish the cross, and what God accomplished there. I am simply saying that to the early Christians, the Resurrection authenticated what happened at the Crucifixion. So let’s talk about how. Let’s talk about why the Resurrection was and is a really, really big deal. (To be continued...)

*The reasons (and many of the passages of scripture) that I will discuss in the following posts come from a fantastic lesson on the Resurrection that my friend Brad Costello wrote for our summer camp last year.