Sneering & the Resurrection

In the religious world, new ideas are not welcome. Religion relies heavily on tradition. Religion also needs power. New ideas challenge the accepted tradition, and they undermine existing power structures. Jesus challenged the religion of his people, he confronted many of their traditions and he subverted their power structures. Paul challenged the religion of many pagans, and he threatened their power structures. Jesus did this through reinterpreting Torah through this command: Love God and Love Your Neighbor as yourself. Paul did this through preaching about the resurrection of Jesus.

Paul shows up in Athens one day, a religious Greek city chock full of idols to their many, many, many gods and goddesses. This is too much for Paul. As he wanders around, his heart fills up with righteous anger and deep compassion. Idolatry is a form of slavery. Somebody, somewhere is benefitting from the masses devotion to deities that don't exist. Idolatry dulls your mind and heart to the truth, it provides false explanations for why the world is the way it is. Idolatry focuses on religious fear and submission and fate and chance and despair.

And Paul can see through the deception. As a Jew, he grew up with a fierce devotion to YHWH, and thus a strong belief in monotheism - there are no other gods but the LORD. As a Christian, Paul had come to terms with the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah of Israel. In light of these beliefs and events, Paul couldn't stay quiet about all the alters to Zeus and Hermes and Apollo and Poseidon and Artemis and Aphrodite and on and on and on.

Luke presents a summary version of what Paul actually said there in Athens, in the marketplace. Paul confronted their religions, he confronted their beliefs about the gods and goddesses, and he presented a compelling vision of the God of Israel, the one True God. As smart as Paul was, his response was still mixed - some believed, some wanted to hear more before making a decision, and others sneered. Here's what interesting: the sneering started when Paul got to the resurrection. Why?

Hardly anybody believed in resurrection. When you die, you die. Maybe there's reincarnation, but once your body quits, that's it. Maybe your soul will live on in some shady underworld, or wander the dark places of the earth in exile, but there is no bodily resurrection. Or is there?

When Paul presents the idea of resurrection, insisting that Jesus of Nazareth had plenty of eyewitnesses to give account of the event, people snort and sneer. Incredulous!

But what if there is a bodily resurrection? What then? And what if Jesus really was resurrected, what then? We don't know all that Paul said in his address to the Athenians, but we know they were startled by the idea of resurrection. They were probably rattled by everything Paul said, since his challenge to them went to the core of everything they believed. Paul presented to them a new way of seeing the world, another set of lens through which to perceive reality.

Below is a list of the different ideas/beliefs that came up in Paul's sermon. Read through them and make a note of what your position would be on each one of them. Get a sense of what you believe, how strongly you believe it, and consider the "so what" factor. From Paul's point of view, what you believe shapes how you live. For him, the "so what" factor was huge. As you work your way through the list, consider how strong the connection is between what you currently believe about God and how you live in everyday life.


God’s Existence Can Be Proven Beyond Doubt
****Proven With Some Doubt
****Unprovable

I am Convinced of God’s Existence
****Kind of Convinced
****Completely Unconvinced

I Am Convinced that the Invisible God Can be Known
****Kind of Convinced
****Completely Unconvinced

I Am Convinced that the Untouchable God Wants to be Found
****Kind of Convinced
****Completely Unconvinced

I Am Convinced that God Is Always Near to Everyone Everywhere
****Kind of Convinced
****Completely Unconvinced

I Currently Feel Very Close to God
***Feel Somewhat Close
***Feel Somewhat Distant
***Feel Distant
***Feel Far Away
***No Feeling

I Am Convinced that God Created the Universe and Set it in Motion
****Kind of Convinced
****Completely Unconvinced

I Am Convinced that God Wants Us to Always Do What is Good and Right
****Kind of Convinced
****Completely Unconvinced

I Am Convinced that God Will Always Help Us Always Do What is Good and Right
****Kind of Convinced
****Completely Unconvinced

I Am Convinced that God Will Someday Set Everything Right
****Kind of Convinced
****Completely Unconvinced

I Am Convinced that God Resurrected Jesus From the Dead
****Kind of Convinced
****Completely Unconvinced

I Am Convinced that Jesus’ Resurrection Began God’s Setting Everything Right
****Kind of Convinced
****Completely Unconvinced

I Am Convinced that God Works through Jesus-ians to Set Things Right
****Kind of Convinced
****Completely Unconvinced

I Am Convinced that Someday God Will Resurrect Me From the Dead
****Kind of Convinced
****Completely Unconvinced

I Am Convinced that Jesus Will Someday Judge Us According to All Our Deeds
****Kind of Convinced

****Completely Unconvinced