 The foundational event of Christianity is the resurrection. Without it, we’d have just one more Jew executed by the Roman occupiers of the 1st century C.E., albeit a Jew with an interesting history of healings and manifestations -- but dead, nonetheless. Without the resurrection, it’s not a very remarkable story to inspire a group of disheartened followers to take up the cause and carry forward his teachings.
Regardless of the lack of corroborating, extra-canonical accounts and regardless of the lack of agreement of the accounts offered in the Christian scripture, we can be reasonably certain that something happened! The transformation of that group of fearful disciples into the cadre of passionate and apparently fearless apostles required some significant event to occur.
But what do we know about the resurrection, other than the accounts written by the passionate followers some 20-70 years after the crucifixion? There are no extra-canonical contemporary accounts; even the accounts of the resurrection found in the Bible do not agree; I’ll not attempt in this limited space to compare those discrepancies. Did Jesus’ body rejuvenate after two days of death? Did he physically appear to the various witnesses? Did he actually walk among the populace prior to his “rising to heaven”? Apart from the Biblical narrative, we cannot know – but there is another explanation.
My wife Linda’s niece, Lisa, made her transition in August, 1987, at the age of 33. She was a vigorous, seemingly healthy young woman until her malady became apparent two years prior. Only 41 people had ever been diagnosed with the disease she encountered – all of them, to that point, had died. But we were certain that Lisa would be the exception; she was too vital, alive with such a positive outlook on life to let a little thing like that disease cut her down. The evening following her death, the family was gathered in our living room, each of us dealing the best we could with the shock of her untimely demise. We were gathered in groups of two or three, recounting how Lisa had touched each of us in so many ways.
Linda was talking with Lisa’s brother, Chuck. The exact conversation Linda cannot remember because what was soon to happen would make it completely irrelevant. While Chuck was speaking, Linda became aware of a Presence in the room. It was as if the din of the various conversations was subdued by a blanket descending upon them; the Presence expressed itself gently and briefly, “Don’t worry about me; I’m fine.” When the experience was over, Linda became aware again of the conversation and Chuck was still talking – it could not have taken more than a few seconds. But an extraordinary few seconds it was!
There was no question in Linda’s mind who was speaking to her. Lisa had come to the one person with whom she most identified and who was most open to “hear” her. The effect on Linda was that her grieving of Lisa’s death was substantially eased. The grieving process still took its course but the pain wasn’t nearly as piercing.
Linda’s recounting of the experience to the family helped many of us deal with Lisa’s passing more effectively. Yes, there were skeptics in the family that dismissed the event as just an imaginary voice or a “wished for” hallucination (it’s likely the skeptics’ grieving process was all the more difficult). I was present in the room at the time and was not aware of anything unusual. But Linda’s recounting of the experience had a profound effect on my view of death and my view of life.
Was it real to Linda? Absolutely! Was it real to me? Yes, even though it was not a ‘personal’ experience! Could this have been the experience of the disciples’ visitation by Jesus and what was described in the Bible as the resurrection?
When we seriously consider the proposition that we are all part of a greater consciousness, a Universal Consciousness, if you will, then wouldn’t it be reasonable to expect that highly evolved individuals would be able to pierce the veil of illusion that we hold of our separateness – without physically appearing to us? Couldn’t we be aware of a Presence just as Linda was able to do it with Lisa? Why wouldn’t Jesus be able to do it with all of those with whom he had interacted? It appears from Paul’s account that that was what happened to him. That was why Paul insisted on being considered an Apostle along with the other disciples.
I have used this account of Linda’s experience many times as I have related to our congregation my view of the resurrection. Many people have come to me after the talks to say something like, “That happened to me when my Dad died (or some other person close to the ‘witness’).”
Did the resurrection occur? While the “facts” of the Biblical accounts differ, my view is that the “truth” of the resurrection is expressed by all of them. Yes, the resurrection occurred – but not just 2,000 years ago with one enlightened man, it occurs now with many people experiencing it!
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