The most important question in world history
It was October 15, 2011 – my 51st birthday. My family and I were on a study trip through Israel. And somewhere in the Holy Land, I snapped the sunbeams above with my simple camera. They flooded the foliage in an almost surreal way. The resurrection of Christ is often depicted in Hollywood films with special lighting effects. But what actually happened back then? Does the empty tomb of Christ only represent our mystical hope for an eternal dawn? How could we make sense of an existence without meaning and purpose, without justice and without confidence of a continuation of life on the other side?
The Diospi Suyana community has been celebrating its Easter services on the local mountain for years – provided it doesn’t rain. Common songs, a sermon, communion. Most of the sermons I have heard in my life have long since disappeared into oblivion. But I still remember Easter 2019 on the aforementioned ridge above the small town of Curahuasi.
In his short sermon, Dr. Mark Gingerich referred to a passage in Corinthians. In this text, Paul lists many eyewitnesses who had a personal encounter with the risen Christ. Afterwards, urologist Dr. David Brady hit the nail on the head when he said: “Most of us can tell our own story with this Jesus!”
Sometimes I wake up at night and the many miraculous coincidences in my life come to mind. My wife and I moved to Curahuasi in 2003 with three small children, trusting in the God of the Bible, who became visible and tangible in Jesus Christ. We staked everything on this one card, the real power of the Risen Lord. We prayed to HIM and not to Allah or to the Hindu goddess Shiva. We knew back then that we wouldn’t get far with our own efforts. And even the supposed luck of the brave is limited.
Of course, our lives remain unfathomable. We have more questions than answers. And Christians also struggle with themselves, their fate and with God. But one thing is certain for me: with his resurrection, Jesus Christ has created facts that convince me. Because – in the words of David Brady 2019 – I can tell my own story with this Jesus. And I have meticulously documented this journey of experience in four books. For me, there is no reasonable doubt: the tomb was empty. /KDJ
