This discussion takes place in Rollins College, it is meant to open discussions not necessarily convince or debate.
Marcus begins by answering the question ‘if one believes in the meaning of the resurrection is it necessary to believe in the physical resurrection?’ Marcus’s answer is ‘believe whatever you want about what happened now let’s talk about what those stories mean.’
Jesus lives
It’s hard to be certain about what happened on the first morning of Easter. Focusing on what happened risks becoming a distraction. Instead of focusing on what happened, our focus should be on what did Easter mean to the first followers of Jesus as reported in the New Testament. It meant Jesus continued to be experienced as a figure of the present not just a beloved memory of the past. The apostle Paul gives a direct account of experience of the risen Christ. There are many accounts of visions. Marcus gives much credence to these visions and experiences.
Jesus is Lord
This differs from Jesus lives in that many widows and widowers claim to experience their loved ones after their deaths. This does not make those deceased loved ones their lord. This is something more, a vindication of Jesus in that he is raised to a position of authority and honor at god’s right hand, which is obviously metaphorical language.
Parabolic Reading of the Easter Stories
Remembering that Jesus lives and Jesus is lord were the two meanings of Easter to Jesus’s early followers we can now apply these understandings to the Easter stories. There are no stipulations that the parables Jesus told were factual. Does a story really need to be factual to have any merit? We can all agree that parables are about meaning. If you argue for the reading of a story parabolically doesn’t mean you have to argue that it didn’t happen.
If we read Mark’s story of Easter as a parable. In the story women followers go to the tomb and when they get there they find that that stone has been rolled away and the tomb is empty, instead they find an angel that tells them “You seek Jesus of Nazareth whom they crucified he is not here he is risen.” A parabolic reading of this story means you won’t find Jesus in the land of the dead, he lives. The authorities killed him and put him in a rich man’s tomb but even the authorities and a tomb couldn’t hold him, couldn’t stop him, he’s out there again, loose in the world recruiting for the kingdom of god. Marcus then poses the question ‘what is added by believing that his physical body rose or what is lost by leaving that question unanswered?’
Reverend Charles Holz
Charles begins by talking about his background and his mother’s conversion to Christianity after a difficult divorce and her reading of the book of Job. This happened when Charles was a young adult, after which he was sent to an episcopal high school where he learned a version of Christianity where the stories of Jesus are what matter, the actual history doesn’t matter. Charles uses the story of Lazarus being raised from the dead as an example in that the moral and spiritual meaning are more important than whether or not Lazarus was reanimated. As a high school student Charles took that if they are just stories and myths then they have less merit. This gave him arguments with which to argue with his mother about why she should reject Christianity. It wasn’t until later when presented with a kind of Christianity that believes that the stories of the bible are actually true did Charles find the stories compelling. True in that they actually happened. Charles then goes on to describe his conversion at a retreat in which he was given an opportunity to say out loud that he believed that Jesus Christ had risen from the dead and that he had given his life to Jesus. He was also challenged to learn and memorize a piece of scripture about he who believes in Christ is a new person. Charles sees himself as a new person no longer bound by the fleshly secular perspective. Charles looks as the Christianity taught in his high school as a point of view still bound and palatable to the secular world. Sadly he doesn’t believe it has any power.
Marcus Responds
Marcus uses the example of the Garden of Eden in that he doesn’t believe there necessarily was a garden but that some ideas and concepts are best understood in terms of symbols and metaphors. Turning this on the Easter story, Marcus delves into the central meaning of the Easter story being that Jesus continues to be with us as a figure of the present and Jesus is lord.