{"id":144594,"date":"2026-04-16T08:43:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T12:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=144594"},"modified":"2026-04-16T18:55:56","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T22:55:56","slug":"tom-wright-the-church-must-stop-trivialising-easter-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=144594","title":{"rendered":"Tom Wright\u2013The Church must stop trivialising Easter"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Jesus of Nazareth was certainly dead by the Friday evening; Roman soldiers were professional killers and wouldn\u2019t have allowed a not-quite-dead rebel leader to stay that way for long. When the first Christians told the story of what happened next, they were not saying: \u201cI think he\u2019s still with us in a spiritual sense\u201d or \u201cI think he\u2019s gone to heaven\u201d. All these have been suggested by people who have lost their historical and theological nerve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The historian must explain why Christianity got going in the first place, why it hailed Jesus as Messiah despite His execution (He hadn\u2019t defeated the pagans, or rebuilt the Temple, or brought justice and peace to the world, all of which a Messiah should have done), and why the early Christian movement took the shape that it did. The only explanation that will fit the evidence is the one the early Christians insisted upon \u2013 He really had been raised from the dead. His body was not just reanimated. It was transformed, so that it was no longer subject to sickness and death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s be clear: the stories are not about someone coming back into the present mode of life. They are about someone going on into a new sort of existence, still emphatically bodily, if anything, more so. When St Paul speaks of a \u201cspiritual\u201d resurrection body, he doesn\u2019t mean \u201cnon-material\u201d, like a ghost. \u201cSpiritual\u201d is the sort of Greek word that tells you,not what something is made of, but what is animating it. The risen Jesus had a physical body animated by God\u2019s life-giving Spirit. Yes, says St Paul, that same Spirit is at work in us, and will have the same effect \u2013 and in the whole world.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Read it all<\/a>.<\/p>

Today is Easter Saturday, the end of the first week of Easter. The Supper at Emmaus, by Douglas Strachan, 1934 in King's College Chapel, Aberdeen. In the triumph of Easter it's easy to forget this has been a week of uncertainties, of wonderings, half-recognitions, doubts and\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/vaRhawAVLN<\/a><\/p>— Simon Knott (@SimoninSuffolk) April 11, 2026<\/a><\/blockquote>