March 31: The Resurrection of Christ
♫ Music:
WEEK EIGHT––BRIGHT WEEK
TITLE: THE DOCTRINE OF THE RESURRECTION & ETERNAL LIFE
March 31 - April 06
As we discovered in Week 6, Paul’s preaching of the cross was central to his Christology. Yet what happened to the suffering Christ on the cross would have remained a tragedy of profound magnitude had not God raised him from the dead on the third day. It is the resurrection in tandem with the crucifixion that together created the compelling, life-changing new religion that set Christianity apart from man-made philosophies. On the cross Christ took upon himself the sins of the world and through the resurrection Christ conquered death and the forces of darkness forever! The glorified Jesus, who was humiliated, mangled, and died a criminal’s death on the cross, after he rose from the dead, told his disciples, “And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth” (Matthew 28:18, NKJV).
Paul insists that the resurrection is a fundamental, essential component of the faith that renders it meaningless, even absurd, if it were proven to be a false claim. “If Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable” (1 Corinthians 15:17–19). Contained in the apostle’s writings are some of the most powerful arguments for the resurrection in all of Scripture. This week we will be examining these teachings.
The ancient Nicene Creed that Christians have recited for centuries states in part, “I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God….who was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; he suffered and was buried; and the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of the Father; and he shall come again, with glory, to judge both the quick and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end.” Paul tells us that at Christ’s second coming, our corrupt bodies will be raised and made new like Christ’s glorious, resurrected body. “For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies” (1 Corinthians 15:53).
We conclude our Lenten journey with St. Paul by meditating on the cherished doctrine of eternal life with Christ, where we will praise and worship the Lord Jesus with the hosts of heaven, forever! “Crown him the Lord of life, who triumphed o'er the grave, and rose victorious in the strife for those he came to save; his glories now we sing who died and rose on high, who died eternal life to bring, and lives that death may die.”
Day 47 - Sunday, March 31
EASTER SUNDAY
Title: THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST
Scripture: Acts 13:26-37 (NKJV)
“Men and brethren, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, to you the word of this salvation has been sent. For those who dwell in Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they did not know Him, nor even the voices of the Prophets which are read every Sabbath, have fulfilled them in condemning Him. And though they found no cause for death in Him, they asked Pilate that He should be put to death. Now when they had fulfilled all that was written concerning Him, they took Him down from the tree and laid Him in a tomb. But God raised Him from the dead. He was seen for many days by those who came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are His witnesses to the people. And we declare to you glad tidings—that promise which was made to the fathers. God has fulfilled this for us their children, in that He has raised up Jesus. As it is also written in the second Psalm: ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You.’ And that He raised Him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, He has spoken thus: ‘I will give you the sure mercies of David.’ Therefore He also says in another Psalm: ‘You will not allow Your Holy One to see corruption.’ For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell asleep, was buried with his fathers, and saw corruption; but He whom God raised up saw no corruption.”
Poetry & Poet:
“On Belief in the Physical Resurrection of Jesus”
by Denise Levertov
It is for all
'literalists of the imagination,'
poets or not,
that miracle
is possible and essential.
Are some intricate minds
nourished on concept,
as epiphytes flourish
high in the canopy?
Can they
subsist on the light,
on the half
of metaphor that's not
grounded in dust, grit,
heavy
carnal clay?
Do signs contain and utter,
for them
all the reality
that they need? Resurrection, for them,
an internal power, but not
a matter of flesh?
For the others,
of whom I am one,
miracles (ultimate need, bread
of life,) are miracles just because
people so tuned
to the humdrum laws:
gravity, mortality-
can't open
to symbol's power
unless convinced of its ground,
its roots
in bone and blood.
We must feel
the pulse in the wound
to believe
that 'with God
all things
are possible,'
taste
bread at Emmaus
that warm hands
broke and blessed.
THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST
When I hear “Thine be the Glory” I have a visceral memory of singing the hymn in the pews of Wollaston Baptist Church, in Northamptonshire, England, where my Dad was the pastor. Likely this is an Easter Sunday memory. Little me, in the late seventies or early eighties, singing my little socks off while standing next to my Grandad. He had brushed my and my twin brother’s hair and polished our shoes. I loved holding his hand. He would accompany the opening and closing of hymns with sotto voce ‘pom-pom-poms’ (long before I ever knew the term sotto voce). It is over twenty years since he died. I was living in Portugal at the time. I was at a small ministry team retreat at the home of Suzanne and David Smith in Lobazes, just outside of Coimbra. I remember my tears. I can feel them again as I type.
“But God…” writes Luke in reporting Paul’s testimony, ‘But God…’ ‘death has lost its sting’ ‘…raised Him from the dead.’ What glory to know that my Grandad, while dead to us physically, is alive in Christ, participating in the life he gives in defeating death, awaiting, as do all who hope in Christ, resurrection. On the basis of this fantastic-true reality of already granted resurrection! The Apostle Paul proclaims the fulfilment of Scripture, of God’s promised deliverance, in Jesus’ cross and raising up.
I learned my Christianity alongside my Grandad, as he, no doubt, had among many others. (Grandchildren aren’t that focused on lives lived outside their own timespan of experience!). We are, together, witnesses to the life transforming power of the risen Lord Jesus. Today’s artist, Moroni, presents the resurrected Christ as already in ascension reign, with heavenly glow and standard of victory. Grandad and I sang together, to the tune of Handel’s bombastic march, of our hope, ‘Endless is the victory, Thou o’er death hast won!’ I did not know, until composing this devotional, that since my childhood I’d been singing a tune by George Frideric Handel. I’d have said that my encounter with Handel only came later when I tried to acquire some culture by attending a performance of his Messiah while an undergraduate.
Facing the realities of death, and all creaturely limitations of knowledge and wisdom, Jesus’ resurrection allows, in faith, a joyful and tender space for not having all the answers. As Denise Levertov explores in her poem, the visceral is what we need, at times, to quell doubt. ‘We must feel the pulse in the wound to believe.’ This blessed materiality comes in bread and wine at communion, and it comes in the holy kiss of fellowship, the handhold of love, even the memory of the embrace of saints so dear and yet departed.
Wollaston Baptist Church as I knew it, is no longer. The building I sat in with my Grandad has been demolished. The wooden pews are gone. The old green hardback Baptist Hymnbooks from which we sang, superseded. A newer, more functional, and welcoming building has taken its place. I haven’t sung ‘Thine be the glory’ for many years. New church, new songs. Things change, people move on, or are removed from us and we feel loss, disorientation, but still, this Easter ‘no more we doubt thee, glorious Prince of Life.’
The church, as a body, of whom Christ is ‘risen, conquering’ head, endures generations of change, of loss, of joy and hope based on, and in the light of, the reality of resurrection. This Easter day, as you reflect on the assurance of God’s salvation in Christ amid the vulnerability, the uncertainty, the hope, the anticipation, and the joy and loss of persevering through time––allow yourself to be drawn into Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus! Turn the volume up, dance, glide, tap your feet, or ‘pom-pom-pom’ along to the glad tidings that ‘God raised up Jesus.’
Prayer
Lord God, grant us the joy of our salvation this Easter Sunday! Enable us to join in song with your church, in person or in spirit, declaring victory over the death of crucifixion in the raising again of your Son for our justification. We join with the body of Christ across space and time in singing your praise and rejoicing in the favor we have found in your grace, by your Spirit, in your Son,
Amen
Dr. Andy Draycott
Associate Professor of Theology
Talbot School of Theology
Biola University
For more information about the artwork, music, and poetry selected for this day, we have provided resources under the “About” tab located next to the “Devotional” tab
About the Artwork:
Resurrection of Christ
Giovanni Battista Moroni
ca. 1545–1548
Oil on canvas
40.6 x 54 cm
Recently discovered, this exceptional canvas depicting the Resurrection of Christ is one of artist Giovanni Battista Moroni's earliest known works. Dating to circa 1545–1548, it provides a rare glimpse into Moroni's youthful development as an artist. What is visible even at this young age is the artist's proclivity for rendering naturalistic scenes with an intense attention to detail and a palpable visual impact—characteristics that would later secure him as one of the most sought-after Lombard portrait painters of the sixteenth century.
https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2019/master-paintings-evening-sale/giovanni-battista-moroni-the-resurrection-of
About the Artist:
Giovanni Battista Moroni (c. 1521-1578) was an Italian painter of Mannerism. He is best-known for his elegantly realistic portraits of the local nobility and clergy. Famed for his gift for capturing the exact likeness of his sitters, he created portraits that are as penetrating and powerful now as they were more than four hundred years ago. Moroni’s portraits depict the people of the world and time in which he lived, from elegant men and women of high society shown in glittering dress to members of the middle class engaged in their trades.
https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibition/giovanni-battista-moroni
About the Music #1:
“Thine Be the Glory Risen Conquering Son!” from the album Christ Triumphant
The music for this piece was taken from Judas Maccabeus, an oratorio in three acts composed in 1746 by George Frederic Handel based on a libretto written by Thomas Morell. The oratorio was composed as a celebraton for the victorious Prince William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, upon his return from the Battle of Culloden.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judas_Maccabaeus_(Handel)
Lyrics #1:
Thine be the glory,
Risen, conqu’ring son
Endless is the victory,
Thou o’er death hast won
Angels in bright raiment
Rolled the stone away
Kept the folded grave clothes
Where Thy body lay,
Thine be the glory,
Risen, conqu’ring son
Endless is the victory,
Thou o’er death hast won.
Lo! Jesus meets us,
Risen from the tomb;
Lovingly He greets us,
Scatters fear and gloom.
Let the church with gladness,
Hymns of triumph sing;
For her Lord now liveth,
Death hath lost its sting.
Thine be the glory
Risen Conquering Son,
Endless is the victory
Thou o’ver death hast won.
No more we doubt Thee,
Glorious Prince of life;
Life is naught without Thee;
Aid us in our strife.
Make us more than conquerors,
Through Thy deathless love;
Bring us safe through Jordan
To Thy home above .
Thine is the glory
Risen conquering Son.
Endless is the victory
Thou o’er death hast won.
Alleluia!
About the Composer #1 & #2:
George Frederic Handel (1685–1759) was a German baroque composer who spent the bulk of his career in London and became well-known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, and organ concertos. He was strongly influenced by the great composers of the Italian Baroque and the middle-German polyphonic choral tradition. Musicologist Winton Dean writes that his operas show that "Handel was not only a great composer; he was a dramatic genius of the first order.” Handel’s Messiah was first performed in Dublin, Ireland, in April 1742 and received its London premiere nearly a year later. After an initially modest public reception, the oratorio gained in popularity, eventually becoming one of the best-known and most frequently performed choral works in western music. Handel's Messiah has been described by the early-music scholar Richard Luckett as "a commentary on Jesus Christ's Nativity, Passion, Resurrection, and Ascension," beginning with God's promises as spoken by the prophets and ending with Christ's glorification in heaven. The music for the Messiah was completed in only twenty-four days and Handel wrote the letters SDG—”Soli Deo Gloria, “To God Alone the Glory”—at the end of the manuscript.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messiah_(Handel)
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/the-glorious-history-of-handels-messiah-148168540/
About the Librettist #1:
Thomas Morell (1703–1784) was an English librettist, classical scholar, and printer. He was educated at Eton College and King's College, Cambridge (B.A., 1726, M.A., 1730, and D.D., 1743). Morell wrote the longest and most detailed surviving account of collaboration with Handel.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Morell
About the Performers #1:
Saint Michael's Singers is one of the UK's leading choral groups. The choir, based at Coventry Cathedral in the UK, was formed in 1963 and celebrated its fiftieth anniversary in 2013. The choir numbers around ninety auditioned members from all ages and walks of life.
Note: they have recently changed their name to the Coventry Cathedral Singers.
https://www.coventrycathedralchorus.com/
About the Music #2:
“Hallelujah Chorus for the Messiah” from the album The Messiah (Platinum Edition)
In many parts of the world, it is accepted practice for the audience to stand when the “Hallelujah Chorus” is performed. The tradition is said to have originated with the first London performance of the Messiah, which was attended by King George II. As the first notes of the triumphant “Hallelujah Chorus” rang out, the King was so moved that he rose to his feet and remained standing until the end of the chorus, initiating a tradition that has lasted well over two centuries. Indeed, the “Hallelujah Chorus” is one of the most awe-inspiring pieces of music ever written.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/the-glorious-history-of-handels-messiah-148168540/
Lyrics #2:
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah,
Hallelujah, Hallelujah ,Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah.
For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah.
For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah.
King of kings and Lord of lords.
King of kings and Lord of lords.
And He shall reign forever and ever.
Forever and ever.
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah,
Hallelujah, Messiah
About the Performers #2:
London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) and the London Philharmonic Choir
The London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) is one of the world's finest symphony orchestras, balancing a long and distinguished history with a reputation as one of the UK's most forward-looking orchestras. The orchestra was founded by Sir Thomas Beecham in 1932, and since then has been headed by many of the great names in the conducting world, including Sir Adrian Boult, Bernard Haitink, Sir Georg Solti, Klaus Tennstedt, and Kurt Masur. The orchestra's current principal conductor is Vladimir Jurowski, who was appointed in 2007. The London Philharmonic Orchestra has been performing at Southbank Centre's Royal Festival Hall in London since it opened in 1951. Having long been embraced by the recording, broadcast, and film industries, the London Philharmonic Orchestra broadcasts regularly on television and radio. They also work with the Hollywood and UK film industries, and have been recording film soundtracks for over half a century.
https://www.lpo.org.uk/
London Philharmonic Choir was founded in 1947 as the chorus for the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Working under conductors such as Boulez, Gardner, Gatti, Jurowski, Masur, Norrington, Rattle, Solti, Tennsted, and Welser-Möst, the choir has performed regularly with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and other world-class orchestras at major venues and festivals throughout the years. From time to time the choir tours abroad—recently to Budapest, Paris, Lucerne, Rome, Greece, Spain, Germany, Poland, and further afield to Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, and Perth. They have also built up an impressive discography throughout their history and continue to participate in recording for CD, radio, and television.
https://lpc.org.uk/about-the-choir/
About the Librettist #2:
Charles Jennens (1700–1773) was a wealthy, reclusive English landowner and patron of the arts. Jennens attended Oxford University, where he formed his lifelong interest in music and literature and became a devout Anglican. As a friend of Handel, he helped author the libretti of several of his oratorios, most notably Messiah. Jennens' deep knowledge of the Bible and wide literary interest led him to prepare or contribute to libretti for Handel including Saul, L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato, Messiah, Belshazzar, and possibly Israel in Egypt. It is also clear that, on occasion, Handel accepted Jennens' suggestions and improvements to his compositions. Their most famous collaboration is Jennens' libretto for Messiah, drawn entirely from the Bible. Musicologist Watkins Shaw describes it as "a meditation of our Lord as Messiah in Christian thought and belief” that "amounts to little short of a work of genius.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Jennens
About the Poetry and Poet:
Denise Levertov (1923–1997) was educated entirely at home and claimed to have decided to become a writer at the age of five. When she was twelve, she sent some of her poetry to T. S. Eliot, who responded by encouraging her to continue writing. At age seventeen, she had her first poem published in Poetry Quarterly. Her poems of the 1950s won her widespread recognition and her book With Eyes at the Back of Our Heads (1959) established her as one of the great American poets. Levertov went on to publish more than twenty volumes of poetry and was also the author of four books of prose. Levertov’s conversion to Christianity in 1984 was the impetus for her religious poetry. In 1997, she brought together thirty-eight poems from seven of her earlier volumes in The Stream & the Sapphire, a collection intended, as Levertov explains in the foreword to the collection, to "trace my slow movement from agnosticism to Christian faith, a movement incorporating much doubt and questioning as well as affirmation."
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/denise-levertov
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denise_Levertov
About the Devotion Writer:
Dr. Andy Draycott
Associate Professor of Theology
Talbot School of Theology
Biola University
Andy Draycott is Associate Professor of Theology at Talbot School of Theology, Biola University. His scholarly research and teaching focuses around John Bunyan’s spiritual classic The Pilgrim’s Progress, its theology, and its varied reception since publication in 1678. You can get a taste of his work from his sporadically updated website:
www.ProfessorPilgrimsProgress.com