The Easter Story: Fantasy, Facts & Faith

From the Catholic Liturgy for Easter Sunday, April 16, 2017. John 20:1-9. The more I ponder them, the more I have come to see that the Gospel stories of the eyewitnesses to the Risen Lord, contains within them the fundamental responses people can have to the Resurrection of Jesus.   I call these the “3 Fs of the Easter Story”: Fantasy, Facts, and Faith, which are not in opposition to one another but seem, instead, to lay out before us the progression of a spiritual journey to a real meaningful personal faith in the Risen Lord Jesus.

Fantasy. The first reaction many people typically have when they first hear the story of the Resurrection is that it is fantasy, fable, fiction – designating it aa a fairy tale story along with Aladdin, King Arthur, Cinderella and the Easter Bunny. They have no clue whatsoever about the second F, which refers to the solid Facts of what happened in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago.

Facts. When I share with people that our Christian belief in the Resurrection rests upon solid eyewitness experience and evidence, backed up by intensive investigation by experts in history, archaeology, literature and forensic science, many of these people seemly genuinely amazed. They have never really considered the fact that we have the personal witness and testimony of 500 of Jesus’ disciples, who experienced him up close and personal after his death and resurrection.

Faith.  As entertaining as the fantasy might be, and as impressive as the facts truly are, It is the gift of faith that has convinced us more than anything else that Jesus Christ, crucified and buried, has risen from the dead. Faith is trust in the God whom we have come to know and experience as Risen from the dead, as Alive, Real, Active and Ever-present to us.  Faith is loyalty to our Risen Savior, Jesus, who has touched our hearts to the very core and transformed us from the inside out.

Our Easter Faith rests upon our firm conviction – rooted in the facts -  that Jesus is Lord and it empowers us to face even death with the confidence of a champion, as we proclaim that death no longer has the last word over us, we can laugh at it in the face, because Christ has risen! Alleluia!