In the Spring of 1916 Henry Ford said,
History is more or less bunk. It is tradition. We don’t want tradition. We want to live in the present and the only history that is worth a tinker’s dam is the history we make today.
While there may not be much value in memorizing lists of names and dates and places for a test after which we quickly forget everything we jammed into our minds, to say that past history doesn’t matter seems to be a bit of an overkill. Take for example your birth – it was a historical event. And to you, that event is pretty important because if it hadn’t happened, you would be alive.
It is also hard to deny that there is a profound influence on our lives today because the colonists won the Revolutionary War, the North defeated the South in the Civil War and the Allies were victorious in World War II.
Of all those historical events, however, none comes close to matching the resurrection of Jesus Christ in significance. Throughout his ministry he made outrageous claims about being the Son of God, the only One to give eternal life to human beings. He even went so far as to say that he is equal to God the Father. Some people thought he was insane to say such things. Others said he was a deceiver. And some believed him. Then he was crucified, and no one knew what to think. But then three days later the reports started to come out: “He’s alive. He has risen from the dead!”
The risen Christ appeared to over 500 people on at least 10 different occasions in all different types of settings at various times of the day. The people who saw him did not suffer from visions or hallucinations, they witnessed the results of the greatest historical event in human history – the Resurrection.
The influence of the massive wars mentioned earlier will continue to shape the future of our planet, but the moment each one of us dies, the effect they have on us ends immediately. For in death, the only historical event which will have any meaning or worth will be the Resurrection of Jesus. That’s why it still matters 2000 years later.
Worship service times: Saturday: 6:00 pm, Sunday: 9:00 am & 10:30 am.
