It is with sadness that I noticed that some in our culture claim that there is a great discrepancy between what they call the historical Jesus and the Jesus of faith. Their thought is that while the man Jesus really did exist, they doubt whether hereally suffered, died and rose from the dead. Some claim that the historical Jesus was some sort of Che Guevera who managed to get caught by the authorities and executed. They go on to say that his band of followers concocted a bunch of stories about him to make him into a god. In their way of thinking, the birth and resurrection narratives are simply made up to make the story good. Miracles that Jesus performed were made up to give people hope.
While most biblical scholars report that the first Gospels were written many years after the resurrection, many people today have the notion that those in between years gave a lot of time to create “fish stories” about Jesus. They think that as the reports about Jesus were shared, more and grander details were manufactured and added to the point that no one really knows what really happened. How can we know? After all, people’s memories aren’t really that good.
Just how good are memories? I must admit that my memories of many of the fishing trips that I’ve been on are a little hazy. The size of fish we caught and the numbers may be a little exaggerated. But as they say, “It is my story and I’m sticking to it!” However, I will say that my memory of the assignation of John Kennedy is pretty accurate. I don’t think I will ever forget that day. Who doesn’t remember the great sigh of relief when Apollo 13 splashed down? Who doesn’t remember the planes flying into the twin towers? I would dare say that our memories of these happenings are pretty darn good. Sure, we remember different details because we are all different and focus on different things about the happenings. Yet no one denies they happened!
If our memories of these events are excellent, how much better would our memories of Jesus’s miracles have been. I would dare to say that I would always remember someone being healed of blindness, or hearing loss, or being handicapped. Everyone would remember raising someone from the dead, or the multiplication of loaves and fishes. Everyone in the whole world would have a pretty good memory of someone being crucified and then rising from the dead. We don’t forget those things, and they are too bizarre to be made up.
These are life-changing events. I suspect that those who don’t believe these events really happened and want to make up their own stories, just don’t want to believe it. To believe that they really happened would require a long hard look at their lives and make serious changes in their thoughts, feelings and behaviors. For some it is just easier not to take Jesus seriously. Why are people still talking about something that happened two thousand years ago? Huh?
“May the Lord bless and keep you. May He let his face shine upon you, be gracious to you and give you his peace.”
