CERTAINTY OF THE RESURRECTION CORINTHIANS 15:5-8

 THE OLDEST TEXT TO MENTION THE RESURRECTION, WRITTEN LONG BEFORE THE GOSPELS., IS PAUL'S FIRST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS, WRITTEN AROUND 56 C.E.
THE TWELVE DELEGATES, FIVE HUNDRED "BRETHREN" OF JESUS, JAMES, OTHER APOSTLES, AND PAUL HIMSELF.  ARE LISTED ALONG WITH PETER AS  HAVING EXPERIENCES OF THE RISEN JESUS. (1 CORINTHIANS 15:5-8). PAUL'S OWN RESURRECTION VISION OCCURRED IN 32 WHEN HE WAS A YOUNG ZEALOT IN JERUSALEM-STILL NAMED SAUL.- ON A MISSION FROM CAIAPHAS TO DENOUNCE  JESUS FOLLOWERS IN DAMASCUS BOTH IN SYNAGOGUES IN ANTIOCH TO ROMAN OFFICIALS.  ON ROUTE, SAUL WAS SURROUNDED BY LIGHT AND A HEAVENLY ECHO SUCH AS AQIBA HEARD, WHICH IDENTIFIED ITSELF AS JESUS OF NAZARETH (ACTS 9:1-20; 223:-21; 26:9-20). THIS WAS IN NO SENSE A PHYSICAL ENCOUNTER WITH JESUS, THERE IS NOT EVEN AN INDICATION THAT SAUL EVER MET JESUS PERSONALLY PRIOR TO HIS CRUCIFIXION. BUT IT IS AN APPEARANCE VERY SIMILAR TO WHAT PETER AND HIS COMPANIONS EXPERIENCED, COMPLETE WITH PROPHETIC COMMISSIONING AND THE SYMBOLISM OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE SURROUNDING LIGHT.
SAUL TURNED AROUND AND, AFTER A RETREAT INTO SOLITUDE FOR THREE YEARS,
 WENT BACK TO JERUSALEM: HE KNEW EXACTLY WHERE TO HAVE HIS VISION EXPLAINED TO HIM.  HE SPOKE ABOUT IT ONLY TO PETER AND JAMES (GALATIANS 1: 18-20). HE UNDERSTOOD THAT HIS EXPERIENCE WAS MORE VISIONARY THAN PHYSICAL, AS HE CAREFULLY SAYS IN A PASSAGE OF STRAIGHTFORWARD GREEK THAT HAS BEEN PERENNIALLY  MISTRANSLATED: GOD, WROTE PAUL (AS HE CAME TO CALL HIMSELF), "TOOK PLEASURE TO UNCOVER HIS SON IN ME" (GALATIANS 1:16).  FOR I DELIVERED UNTO YOU FIRST OF ALL THAT WHICH I ALSO RECEIVED, HOW THAT CHRIST DIED FOR OUR SINS ACCORDING TO THE SCRIPTURES: AND THAT HE WAS BURIED, AND THAT HE ROSE AGAIN THE THIRD DAY ACCORDING TO THE SCRIPTURES: THEN HE WAS SEEN OF CEPHAS, THEN OF THE TWELVE: AFTER THAT, HE WAS SEEN OF ABOVE FIVE HUNDRED BRETHREN AT ONCE: OF WHOM THE GREATER PART REMAIN UNTO THIS PRESENT, BUT SOME HAVE FALLEN ASLEEP.
AFTER THAT, HE WAS SEEN OF JAMES: THEN OF ALL THE APOSTLES. AND LAST OF ALL HE WAS SEEN OF ME ALSO, AS OF ONE BORN OUT OF DUE TIME. TRADITIONAL CHRISTIANITY HAS HAS FALSIFIED ITS PREMIER APOSTLES OWN VISIONARY EXPERIENCE OF WHAT HE EXPLICITLY (1 CORINTHIANS 15:8 UNDERSTOOD TO BE THE RESURRECTED JESUS. IN JERUSALEM, PETER AND HIS CIRCLE WERE CONSTANT ANNOYANCE TO CAIAPHAS , WHO TRIED TIME AND AGAIN TO PERSUADE THE SANHEDRIN TO DENOUNCE THEM TO PILATE. BUT THE DISCIPLES NEVER AGAIN MOUNTED THE KIND OF RAID ON THE TEMPLE JESUS ATTEMPTED,  AND THEY LEARNED TO PRACTICE THEIR RABBI'S BLASPHEMOUS MEALS IN PRIVATE. CAIAPHAS COULD NEVER COUNT ON THE COUNCIL'S SUPPORT AGAIN AFTER JESUS EXECUTION.  THE NAME CHRISTIAN WAS NOT EVEN USED COMMONLY BEFORE THE YEAR 45: IT WAS COINED IN THE HELLENISTIC CITY OF ANTIOCH TO MOCK THE RIDICULOUS, DELUDED CONGREGATIONS OF DOMESTIC SERVANTS AND FORMER SLAVES WHO WORSHIPED JESUS AS MESSIAH, THE KRISTOS WHO WOULD COME FROM HEAVEN TO RULE IN A WORLD WHERE THE FIRST WOULD BE LAST AND THE LAST FIRST.  THEY STOOD WITH HANDS UPLIFTED, WAITING FOR HIM TO DESCEND WITH ALL THE SPLENDOR OF A GREEK GOD OR A ROMAN STATESMAN. CHRISTIANS CAME TO THE WIDE NOTICE OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 64 C.E. WHEN NERO ACCUSED THEM OF SETTING FIRE TO ROME AND ENCOURAGED THE SADISTIC POGROM OF TORTURE AND CRUCIFIXION THAT ENSUED. NOT UNTIL THE SECOND CENTURY DID CHRISTIANITY BEGAN TO BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY; IT COMPETED IN THE   MARKETPLACE OF IDEAS WITH OTHER POPULAR PHILOSOPHIES SUCH AS STOICISM, PLATONISM, THE DIONYSIAN AND MITHRAIC MYSTERIES- AND JUDAISM.
A FAILURE ON THE WORLD STAGE IN HIS OWN TIME, RABBI JESUS ALSO FELL SHORT OF MAKING A LASTING MARK WITHIN JUDAISM. DEAD AT THIRTY, HE HAD NOT FRAMED HIS MISHNAH, THE FORMALLY CRAFTED PUBLIC TEACHING THAT A RABBI TYPICALLY TRANSMITTED TO HIS STUDENTS BY AROUND THE AGE OF FORTY. NONE THE LESS, HE GENERATED A NEW RELIGION. HE NEVER ARTICULATED  A DOCTRINAL NORM OR A CONFESSIONAL REQUIREMENT, BUT THE EVENTS OF HIS LIFE, HIS PUBLIC TEACHING, AND HIS "KABBALAH" GAVE RISE TO DISTINCTIVE, EMOTIONALLY RESONANT RITUALS SUCH AS BAPTISM, PRAYER, ANOINTING OF THE SICK, AND THE EUCHARIST. JESUS TAUGHT OTHERS TO SEE AS HE SAW, TO SHARE HIS VISION OF GOD, SO THAT EVEN AFTER HIS DEATH HE APPEARED TO HIS DISCIPLES AS ALIVE, A HUMAN PRESENCE WITHIN THE SWIRLING  ENERGY OF THE THRONE.
 THAT VISION PERSISTS AMONG THOSE WHO HOPE THAT THE PURE OF HEART WILL INDEED SEE GOD, BECOME INTIMATE WITH HIM, STAND AT HIS SIDE THROUGH ETERNITY AS JESUS DOES WITH MOSES AND ELIJAH. THE DESCENDANTS OF ADAM MAY YET BE RESTORED TO THEIR LOST PARADISE. WE CANNOT PHYSICALLY MOUNT  THE TEMPLE STEPS WITH JESUS TO REALIZE HIS HOPE OF A SUKKOTH THAT WILL TRANSFORM THE WORLD. NO BUILDING ANYWHERE COULD ACCOMMODATE HIS FOLLOWERS TODAY, NOR COULD HE OR ANY TEACHER REACH THEM ALL WITH HIS HEALING TOUCH. IN ANY CASE, THE TEMPLE HE REVERED WAS DEMOLISHED AS SURELY  AS HE OWN BODY WAS BROKEN.  YET HE REMAINS A MEASURE OF HOW MUCH  WE DARE TO SEE AND FEEL THE DIVINE IN OUR LIVES. THE JOINING OF OUR LIVES TO GOD WAS WHAT WAS AWAKENED IN ME WHEN THE CALL THAT LED ME TO   CHRIST AND THE LOVE WE FEEL FOR ONE ANOTHER CAN ENABLE US TO REALIZE WHO WE ARE IN GOD'S PRESENCE. JESUS FORCE RESIDES IN HIS VULNERABILITY
 NOT ONLY ON THE CROSS BUT THROUGHOUT HIS LIFE. HE ENTICES EACH OF US TO MEET HIM IN THAT DANGEROUS PLACE WHERE AN AWARENESS OF OUR OWN WEAKNESS AN FRAGILITY SHATTERS THE SELF AND BLOSSOMS INTO AN IMAGE OF GOD WITHIN US. THAT IS THE GIFT THAT HIS BIOGRAPHY AND DEATH HAVE LEFT US., AND IT IS WHAT MAKES RABBI JESUS THE TREASURE OF THE CHURCH AND THE UNIQUE POSSESSION OF NO INSTITUTION, NO PERSON ON EARTH. NEARLY TWO MILLENNIA OF CHRISTIANITY HAVE SEEN JESUS VISION INTERPRETED  WITHIN HUMAN LIVES DEBATED AND DISPUTED, THE CENTER OF THE CENTRAL VISION HAS BEEN PRESERVED, A VITAL TRUTH OF HOW JESUS TAUGHT IT. THE RABBI FROM NAZARETH NEVER CLAIMED TO BE UNIQUE. HIS ABBA (FATHER) WAS ABBA TO ALL.
 HIS TEACHING, PURIFYING, EXORCISM, HEALING, PRAYERS, SIGNS, MEALS, AND SACRIFICES WERE NOT FOR HIMSELF ALONE, NOR WERE THEY INTENDED TO DEMONSTRATE HIS PERSONAL POWER OR BRING HIM ADULATION FOR HIS ATTRIBUTES OR ACCOMPLISHMENTS. ALL HIS WORK WAS UNDERTAKEN TO OPEN THE GATE OF HEAVEN SO THAT ISRAEL MIGHT ENTER BEFORE THE THRONE OF GOD. FAR TO MUCH THEOLOGY HAS BEEN PREOCCUPIED WITH CLOSING THE GATE. ITS GOD'S CHOICE WHO GOES IN NOT MINE. BY EXALTING JESUS AS THE ONLY HUMAN BEING TO SIT ON THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD, MANY THEOLOGIANS HAVE DENIED HEAVEN TO OTHERS. THEY REMIND ME OF JESUS COMPLAINT ABOUT SOME PHARISEES, WHO USED THE KEY OF KNOWLEDGE TO SHUT GOD'S KINGDOM TO THOSE OF LESSER LEARNING (MATTHEW 23;13;  LUKE 11:52). JESUS MESSAGE WAS NOT FOR THE FAINTHEARTED OR THE CYNICAL. HE SPOKE TO ALL  OF THOSE WHO WERE WILLING TO OPEN THEIR EYES TO SEE AND THEIR EARS TO HEAR. TO REFINE THEIR SENSES  AND ATTUNE THEIR MINDS AND HEARTS TO THE DIVINE KINGDOM IN THEIR MIDST. NOW AS RABBI JESUS MOVEMENT ENTERS ITS THIRD MILLENNIUM, ITS GREAT GOAL HAS YET TO BE ACHIEVED,  TO SHARE JESUS VISION WITH ALL HUMANITY, THAT IT MAY ENTER THROUGH THE GATES OF HEAVEN AND BE TRANSFORMED BY THE ENERGY O GOD.