See, I Told You So
On Easter Sunday, God smiled. And it wasn’t just an ordinary smile. Remember those times when people said to you that you weren’t capable of this or able to do that? You proved them wrong and then enjoyed the moment as they looked at you with shocked faces, amazed at what you accomplished. You were probably too polite to say, “See, I told you so,” but you smiled and that smile was worth a thousand words. God had a day like that on Easter Sunday long ago.
The enemies of Christ seemed to have thoroughly won. Jesus was sealed in a tomb. Case closed; troublemaker finished. And then came the Resurrection. This was the event that shattered stone, confounded soldiers and sent fear into the hearts of Jewish leaders and the Roman governor. Christ had said it would happen. Nobody, including his friends, believed him. Yet, there he stood on Easter morning, shining in the sunlight. And his heavenly Father smiled.
Even after 2,000 years, there are people who doubt that God really raised his son from the dead. The fact that the Resurrection really happened is at the heart of Easter. There are those who think that Christ really just rose in the minds of his disciples; in other words, they let his teachings and miracles inspire them to greater deeds even though down deep they thought him dead. There are others, some Scripture scholars among them, who think that Jesus just died on the cross and his body was tossed to the dogs — what was left was buried in an unmarked grave. It sounds incredible that people could be so skeptical, so unbelieving. The fact that many people disbelieve does not threaten God, so it shouldn’t threaten us either. For 2,000 years, God has gone merrily on His way demonstrating that His son really has risen. Look at the New Testament. There’s a series of books inspired by God and written by people who really believed Jesus had risen. Those writers lived close to the time of Christ. If there had been a hoax, or if people had really known that Jesus stayed dead, don’t you think the word would have gotten out? Instead, these writers of the New Testament changed the world with their testimony as to what actually happened to Jesus — that he was alive and risen.
Look at the Church. God formed this community and for centuries it has been the major civilizing force in the Western world. Where would we be without the Church’s ideas of peace and justice and care for the poor? Sure, this institution has made mistakes, but the world is a far better place because the Church is alive and well. It simply could not function if it’s basic belief in the Resurrection of Christ was a lie.
Look at the saints. All those people down through the years who have demonstrated that Christ is alive in them by doing deeds of power and sometimes even giving their lives for Christ are the human testimony that Jesus is not dead; he is raised. These people did not put their faith in a hollow hope. They put their faith in a real person, the God-man whom they knew from experience was alive in their own personal lives.
The Bible, the Church, the saints — these are God’s “I told you so” to the skeptics who think that the Resurrection is a pious fairytale. There is just too much evidence in favor of Jesus being alive for anyone to remain a credible agnostic or atheist. There will always be enemies of Christ. But on this Easter Sunday, just like on the many that have come before it, God will still be smiling.