Jesus Who?
Substitute teaching is one of the things I do to support my church habit. It’s been, if you’ll pardon the pun, quite an education.
Take today, for example. I write these words on Maundy Thursday, the evening Jesus shared the Last Supper with his disciples. In a minor nod to the fading influence of Christianity in America, it’s also the end of a four-day school week for students.
I’m subbing for a high school science teacher. While students casually attempt their worksheet on flatworms (we both know it’s just busy work), I pick up on an interesting conversation at the back of the room.
“What do bunnies and eggs have to do with Easter?” a guy says.
A girl in the next row replies, “They’ve got nothing to do with it. Easter is about the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.”
“I don’t believe that story,” another girl volunteers. “I think they just made it up. Didn’t they find his bones somewhere?”
I couldn’t resist. “No, they didn’t. It’s one of the reasons people are convinced it was true.” (I didn’t dare say more, for after all, we wouldn’t want a preacher corrupting the minds of our impressionable youth.)
“Well, I don’t know why it matters, anyway,” she said. “All religions are the same.”
Another strapping young man came to the rescue. “What do you mean, it doesn’t matter? Without the resurrection, there is no Christianity!”
“Did you know the church owns more property than any other organization in the world?” a different girl piped in. No doubt parroting something her parents have said, I’m not sure it had any relevance to the conversation; but then again, what does logic have to do with religious belief (or in this case, disbelief)?
“So what?” our young man retorted, his baseball hat askew and his shorts seeking his ankles. “The resurrection proved he was the Son of God. All religions believe that.”
“Actually, they don’t,” I ventured.
Another guy jumped in. “That’s right. Muslims believe that Jesus was a Prophet, but not the Son of God. There is only one God.”
It was a fascinating interchange. Christian, Muslim, Skeptic – all engaged in animated, yet respectful conversation about matters of religious belief. No pressure to convert. No belittling of faith. No nuclear war.
As I listened, I was reminded of the question Jesus asked his disciples only weeks before his death: “Who do you say that I am?”
First the disciples gave the conventional wisdom: “Some say you are a prophet, others say you are Elijah.” When Jesus pressed them, Peter gave the classic Christian answer, the one to which I subscribe: “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God” (Matthew 16:16).
During a pause in their conversation, I thought, “Are the stories about Jesus' resurrection the result of overzealous followers and religious primitives, as the skeptic suggests? Is he a prophet, rescued by God from the cross, appalled to hear people calling him divine, as Muslims believe? Or is he, as Christians contend, the Son of God, who gave his life as a sacrifice for sin and was miraculously raised from the dead?”
It was telling to me to reflect that two thousand years after he walked this earth, twenty-first century teenagers were still discussing the implications of Jesus’ life and death.
My muse was interrupted when the kid who started the discussion jumped back in, saying, “Wait a minute! I just thought of something. Bunnies don’t even lay eggs, do they?”
Take today, for example. I write these words on Maundy Thursday, the evening Jesus shared the Last Supper with his disciples. In a minor nod to the fading influence of Christianity in America, it’s also the end of a four-day school week for students.
I’m subbing for a high school science teacher. While students casually attempt their worksheet on flatworms (we both know it’s just busy work), I pick up on an interesting conversation at the back of the room.
“What do bunnies and eggs have to do with Easter?” a guy says.
A girl in the next row replies, “They’ve got nothing to do with it. Easter is about the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.”
“I don’t believe that story,” another girl volunteers. “I think they just made it up. Didn’t they find his bones somewhere?”
I couldn’t resist. “No, they didn’t. It’s one of the reasons people are convinced it was true.” (I didn’t dare say more, for after all, we wouldn’t want a preacher corrupting the minds of our impressionable youth.)
“Well, I don’t know why it matters, anyway,” she said. “All religions are the same.”
Another strapping young man came to the rescue. “What do you mean, it doesn’t matter? Without the resurrection, there is no Christianity!”
“Did you know the church owns more property than any other organization in the world?” a different girl piped in. No doubt parroting something her parents have said, I’m not sure it had any relevance to the conversation; but then again, what does logic have to do with religious belief (or in this case, disbelief)?
“So what?” our young man retorted, his baseball hat askew and his shorts seeking his ankles. “The resurrection proved he was the Son of God. All religions believe that.”
“Actually, they don’t,” I ventured.
Another guy jumped in. “That’s right. Muslims believe that Jesus was a Prophet, but not the Son of God. There is only one God.”
It was a fascinating interchange. Christian, Muslim, Skeptic – all engaged in animated, yet respectful conversation about matters of religious belief. No pressure to convert. No belittling of faith. No nuclear war.
As I listened, I was reminded of the question Jesus asked his disciples only weeks before his death: “Who do you say that I am?”
First the disciples gave the conventional wisdom: “Some say you are a prophet, others say you are Elijah.” When Jesus pressed them, Peter gave the classic Christian answer, the one to which I subscribe: “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God” (Matthew 16:16).
During a pause in their conversation, I thought, “Are the stories about Jesus' resurrection the result of overzealous followers and religious primitives, as the skeptic suggests? Is he a prophet, rescued by God from the cross, appalled to hear people calling him divine, as Muslims believe? Or is he, as Christians contend, the Son of God, who gave his life as a sacrifice for sin and was miraculously raised from the dead?”
It was telling to me to reflect that two thousand years after he walked this earth, twenty-first century teenagers were still discussing the implications of Jesus’ life and death.
My muse was interrupted when the kid who started the discussion jumped back in, saying, “Wait a minute! I just thought of something. Bunnies don’t even lay eggs, do they?”