Luke 24:12

Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.

From Background Notes [BN] for April 7^th & 8^th written by Pastor Bob Brown:

Have you noticed how the Easter morning people had to remain engaged, and had to be active in their efforts to make sense out of what they experienced? We might be tempted to say, that they needed to do something in order to know something.

They could not remain passive and expect the whole matter of “He is risen” to simply fall into their laps. True, angels came to help the women, and, in turn, the women came to help the apostles — and what a wonderful irony that is! But even with this help, each participant in the Easter drama needed to seek for themselves — kick the tires, so to speak — to pry loose the next piece of evidence and to make the next discovery.

Such persons were not bystanders or mere observers or simply spectators sitting in the stands or on their hands, waiting for Jesus to show up. The women needed to go to the tomb, even if it was for entirely different reasons than discovering the message of the risen Jesus. Apostles needed to check out the testimony of the women by going to the tomb and seeing the strange arrangement of grave clothes. Perhaps the apostles might have allowed the wildly implausible account of the women to shut down their quest to know if Jesus was alive. Yet, even if they “did not believe the women,” that was no excuse for them to avoid “believing for themselves.” Some today may sideline the search because another person does a shabby job of telling the Jesus story. But
what if the Jesus story requires more than the witness of others? What if the witness of others is but the beginning — the gentle nudge that there just might be something to the Jesus story after all? Doesn’t that deserve a second look?

Centuries ago, the philosopher Aristotle, writing three hundred years before the time of Jesus, made a few observations about how people come to believe something. He grouped them under three headings, using some Greek words. 1) Logos; 2) pathos; 3) ethos. His approach is helpful as we consider the way the early followers of Jesus came to terms with his resurrection.

1. Logos is simply the human need for argument, proof, facts, and plain common sense before accepting an idea. We’ve got to have a reason — a logos — in order to believe, else we fall into stupid errors of judgment and become gullible when presented with claims to truth.

2. Pathos refers to how we feel about the idea, and how the idea moves us or inspires us. Beauty and the ability to engage our passions belong to the artistry of belief, as does the ability to satisfy deep longings and needs in human life. Rarely do people believe only from logical argument if the deeper and more emotional aspect of belief is lacking.

3. Ethos connects one person’s belief with that of others through a complex network of relationships that include the parents who reared us, and the people whom we admire and trust. “No man is an island” reasonably applies to the way we come to faith in concert with others. We are not always in the position to have access to all the facts. Other people fill that void through their respective expertise and competence.

Compare this three-fold scenario to the way each character in Luke 21 (as you read the whole chapter) arrives at faith in the risen Jesus. Notice how each successive testimony intentionally connected with other people; how deeply human passions responded to each encounter with Jesus; how what people heard and saw constantly meshed with what they shared and felt. Coming to terms with the meaning of the resurrection requires such grounding in each of the three areas. Rarely do any of us reach a level of faith without all of them at work in the journey.  [BN, 8-9]

Join us this week in Study & Worship at ChicagoFirstChurch of the Nazarene –

* Saturday 6:00pm
* Sunday 8:30am & 11:00am, 5:30pm