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Link to share: https://hanglberger-manfred.de/en-easter.htm |
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Why I believe in the resurrection of Jesus?
Are the Easter reports in the Gospels correct? Are they true? Was the grave really empty? Such questions are discussed every year at Easter. >>> But the decisive question for me is: How could the apostles and friends of Jesus, find their way back to self-confidence, to courage and faith, out of fear and shame, out of disgrace and disappointment, even to an enthusiasm that enabled them to appear in the temple as simple fishermen from the Sea of Galilee in the capital Jerusalem? - Filled with a conviction and enthusiasm that made them ready to hurl the reproach at the high priest and the high council: "You have killed the messenger of God!"
>>> How is it possible that this man, executed on the cross, survived spiritually and mentally? Everything spoke against him! Didn't he contradict too many things? Didn't he mess with too many authorities and value traditions? Did he not act too much against the public sense of honor? Who else did he have on his side?
A few women, perhaps, whose words and opinions were of no interest to any man in the male-dominated society and religion of that time. Everything spoke against him! But it was his fault: He had contradicted too much everyone who had rank and name in authority at that time! Did he not seem too presumptuous to many? Did he not have too little respect for the leaders of the religion?
>>> He has violated an ancient, sacred system of laws and legal norms! Because of healings on the Sabbath he was accused as a transgressor of the law. And then he invokes God with his behavior - is it surprising if he is accused as a blasphemer? How many conscientious believers he has unsettled and confused with his new stories of God and has questioned traditional beliefs.
Already at his first sermon in Nazareth he presented a former enemy of the people, an Assyrian general, as more believing than the Jews. For some this was an impudent provocation - for which they wanted to kill him already at that time, for others it was the extension of religious thinking: to show how God can move humans to trust and humanity in all peoples - regardless of established religiosity.
>>> He has fiercely attacked the moral and theological authority of religious leaders: He placed a religiously despised Samaritan above a priest and a levite. The leaders of the religion tried to make him harmless by declaring him insane, but even this could not neutralize him. What have they publicly accused him of? How many times have they tried to lure him into a trap. It was often a dangerous game of cat and mouse for Jesus. But with all their tricks they did not succeed in bringing him down mentally. But their hatred against this critic grew more and more. Can you mess with so many authorities - without having to reckon with total exclusion and incomprehension?
>>> He also criticized the pious: who fasted twice a week, donated a tenth of their income to the church - we would say today - to the Jewish temple. - and he devalued such people because they despised a sinner, a tax collector and an enemy of the people who collected taxes for the Romans.
>>> He drastically violated the social values: He let anoint and kiss his feet by a city-known sinner! He has protected a convicted adulteress and humiliated her accusers!
>>> And then he dies an indescribably shameful death!!! In the capital - publicly displayed! And how many were there who had screamed, "Crucify him!" No execution behind closed doors.
His most bitter opponents mocking him and watch with relish, how he suffocates miserably on the cross, naked and in front of all eyes. is people were convinced: Cursed by God is who hangs on the cross by the will of the religious leaders. It was the particularly pious, the law-abiding, the religiously conscientious, who had demanded his condemnation - and for whom now with his execution everything seemed to be alright again!
>>> How can such a person survive mentally and spiritually? How can his life, how can his words and deeds survive in the memory of the people? That his intimidated, fled and guilt-ridden friends will soon begin, to build the foundations of the world's greatest religion.., is the most fantastic miracle you can imagine.
Therefore, once again to the question: Are the resurrection reports in the Gospels true? There is much written and discussed about this in the media. You can research and study about it for years. But it will not bring us any closer to the truth. We come closer to the truth only when we meet the resurrected one, when we talk to him, when we pray to him, when we seek to understand his words and deeds, to empathize with his thoughts and feelings. . Then we will discover that a power emanates from him, a power of affirmation of life and of appreciation for human beings and for all creation, a power of comprehensive love and deep willingness to take responsibility. Then we will feel that he is alive, even today after 2000 years. |
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Manfred Hanglberger (www.hanglberger-manfred.de) |
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Link to share: https://hanglberger-manfred.de/en-easter.htm
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