"The resurrection of Jesus is not the central datum of Christianity. The central point, from the earliest times, was God's intervention in history, the coming of his rule.
"Between Easter and the Parousia, God's Lordship is exercised through the lordship of Jesus Christ. The universality of God's authority is fittingly evoked by the four-fold "all"; all authority, all nations, all that I have commanded you, all days. The horizon becomes broad. The moment breaks through all boundaries of time and space. The disciples need not fear the storms of history that will break over the church, for the Risen Lord will be present with them, not only now, but always and in all circumstances, until the eschatological completion of the world." - Resurrection in the New Testament: Festschrift J. Lambrecht
"Although the followers of Jesus who continued his preaching after
his death certainly made Jesus' role a part of that preaching, as we
have outlined, the pattern of their preaching remained the same as it
had been for Jesus: God's rule is coming, and under the rule there
will be salvation for those who have already begun to act accordingly
and to put their trust in God. A new element was added by the idea
that salvation had become possible above all through the death of
Jesus. By this death God had reconciled himself with those who
remained, who had been attached to Jesus and who relied on God for
their salvation. This is in outline the way in which the earliest
Christian preaching developed.
Two things require our attention in this development. Firstly, there
was continuity between what Jesus preached about the coming of God's
rule and the preaching of a number of his followers on the same thing
after his death.
Secondly, just like the preaching of Jesus, the preaching of the
first of his followers to continue his work after his death was
concerned chiefly with God's actions and not with those of Jesus. In
both cases, it was primarily about theology and not Christology.
Following Jesus, the first Christians taught that God was engaged in
bringing about a turning point in history, in fact that he had
definitely intervened in history by sending a final messenger to
announce that turning point. The central point was God's final act of
intervention in the history of the world. That is theology with far
reaching consequences for ethics. Christology, for Jesus and his
disciples, and for those who took up his preaching after his death,
was subsumed into this theology. Originally the idea of Jesus'
resurrection only had a place within the subsumed theology. It is
true that immediately after Jesus' death all those of his followers
who continued his preaching believed in this resurrection as an
expression of their faith that God had acknowledged the truth of his
last prophet. But it was not a central element in the first Christian
theology. It was important above all (a) as an expression of their
trust that God had sanctioned the work of Jesus on earth; and (b) as
a way of making it easier to imagine the role which Jesus still had
to fulfil as judge and saviour in the coming definitive breakthrough
of God's rule.
True, Jesus` followers only continued their theological preaching of
Jesus after his death in a form in which Jesus` unique role as the
messenger sent by God, his death and resurrection were constitutive
elements. They did not revert to the Jewish apocalyptic tradition
without Jesus. What they continued was a theological preaching in
which God was regarded as acting through Jesus` earthly work,
including his death and resurrection. To that extent faith in the
resurrection of Jesus was an integral part of early Christian
theology. And certainly their confidence that Jesus had risen and
been exalted was one of the factors that helped his followers to
continue his theological preaching. Belief in the resurrection and
exaltation of Jesus was a catalyst for the earliest history of the
church; it gave Christians the strength and inspiration to preach and
act. Nevertheless, as Marxsen said, we must stick to the point
that "the resurrection of Jesus is not the central datum of
Christianity". The central point, from the earliest times, was God's
intervention in history, the coming of his rule…
The conviction that Jesus, on the basis of his resurrection, shares
the authority of God has been taken over by Mt from the early church.
The early Christian christological hymns that are preserved in the NT
already testify to this (cf. Eph 1,20-23; Phil 2,6-11; Col 1,15-20; 1
Pet 3,18-22). Jesus` rising from the dead and his elevation to God's
right hand are two sides of one and the same dynamic event (cf. Rom
1.4; 8,34, and others). The resurrection terminology expresses the
event from its starting point, namely death; the elevation motif
looks at the event from its end point, the word of God. For the early
church, the elevation of the Risen Jesus means that he takes part
fully in God's unlimited power of salvation. That is why he is
called "Lord"… In the resurrection event, God not only snatches Jesus
away from the power of death, but moreover He raises him, that is to
say He lets him share in the fullness of His Lordship, in His kingly
authority. That is why the Risen Lord can say: "All authority in
heaven and on earth has been given to me". His authority knows no
bounds, for it is the power of God Himself. This word of authority
forms the foundation and the presupposition for the following word.
Because Jesus is henceforth "Lord", clothed with God's authority, he
can command a task that knows no boundaries in time and space (v. 19-
20a). Because all power is given to him, the Risen Jesus can promise
support to his disciples until the end of time. No single human being
can command such a world-wide mission nor promise such an all-abiding
support without grossly overestimating itself. Only the divine
authority of the Risen Lord can legitimise and found something like
that."…
Between Easter and the Parousia, God's Lordship is exercised through
the lordship of Jesus Christ. The universality of God's authority is
fittingly evoked by the four-fold "all"; all authority, all nations,
all that I have commanded you, all days. The horizon becomes broad.
The moment breaks through all boundaries of time and space. The
disciples need not fear the storms of history that will break over
the church, for the Risen Lord will be present with them, not only
now, but always and in all circumstances, until the eschatological
completion of the world."
Resurrection in the New Testament: Festschrift J. Lambrecht,
pages 50-142
Publisher: Peeters (October 2002)
Language: English, French and German
ISBN-10: 9042912146
ISBN-13: 978-9042912144
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NOTE: If this page was accessed during a web search you may wish to browse the sites listed below where this topic or related issues are discussed in detail to promote global peace, religious harmony, and spiritual development of humanity:
www.adishakti.org/www.al-qiyamah.org/
www.adi-shakti.org/ — Divine Feminine (Hinduism)
www.holyspirit-shekinah.org/ — Divine Feminine (Christianity)
www.ruach-elohim.org/ — Divine Feminine (Judaism)
www.ruh-allah.org/ — Divine Feminine (Islam)
www.tao-mother.org/ — Divine Feminine (Taoism)
www.prajnaaparamita.org/ — Divine Feminine (Buddhism)
www.aykaa-mayee.org/ — Divine Feminine (Sikhism)
www.great-spirit-mother.org/ — Divine Feminine (Native Traditions)
"Now, the principle of Mother is in every, every scripture - has to be there." Shri Mataji, Radio Interview 1983 Oct 01, Santa Cruz, USA
