Something More Than Life

Since we are in the middle of Holy Week, I've been thinking a lot about the concept of resurrection, which is what we Christians celebrate at Easter. It's a bit farfetched these days to believe in anything like a literal resurrection and all that it entails: that death is not the final chapter of our lives; that we were made to live forever; indeed, that all of existence (which seems to show nothing but death and decay) will be remade according to its original glorious design. It's truly irrational and unbelievable.


In spite of this, it seems to be a universal hope.


Three of my favorite writers--G. K. Chesterton, C. S. Lewis, and J. R. R. Tolkien (why do they insist on being known by their initials??)--all made the same fascinating observation:


Throughout human history, almost every culture and religion has taught something akin to resurrection. Almost every ancient pagan religion has some myth about a god who is killed and then comes back to life. In Norse mythology, it was the god Balder. For the ancient Egyptians, it was Osiris. For the Celtic peoples of Britain, it was the god Lugh who was killed by being hung on a tree and then comes back in victory.


But then let's look at modern philosophies and worldviews: All of them, even the most atheistic and materialistic, do not merely tell you that life is good exactly the way it is. They all say that life will only be good in some unknown, ideal future when all the injustices and human failures are eradicated and the goodness of life is renewed. This is true of the socialism of Karl Marx, the Objectivism of Ayn Rand, and even the American Progressivism of Barack Obama and his allies. Eastern philosophies and religions do this as well.


Not one philosophy or religion of life has taught us that we must be satisfied with the world as it is. Every single human teaching avers that there is something more than life that is just beyond our grasp, something that gives our lives meaning and hope and renewal, and it exists either in some mythical past of gods and goddesses or in some undefined future that we have yet to see.


There is only one religion that teaches that the something more than life, for which we all hope, actually became a tangible, datable fact of history. That fact is that Jesus Christ lived and was crucified "under Pontius Pilate" (which even Greek, Roman, and Jewish historians attest) and that He rose to new life. The early Christians insisted on the historicity of the resurrection to the point that Saint Paul proclaimed, "If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith" (I Corinthians 15:14). He was willing to stake the entire Christian faith on the fact of Christ's resurrection as a historical event.


Christians do not believe that they are better than anyone else. What they do believe is that they have found a concrete answer to the deep desire that animates every human heart -- or rather, they believe that the concrete Answer has found them. Because of that, they are able to enjoy the something more than life even here on earth, and on their best days, they live their lives in a way that makes that something more than life visible to others.


If you are a Christian, take a moment to recognize that what you celebrate this Sunday is not merely a nice tradition or an orthodox theological dogma: it is the deepest truth that every human being desires, even if they can't admit it to themselves. May that recognition give added meaning to this season for you.


If you are not a Christian, I still challenge you to take a moment and celebrate this Easter. Celebrate the fact that deep down, you know that life as we know it is not enough for you. You want something more. Something that you may not be able to define. But something that you hope is real.


Have a blessed Easter!


(For more insights on this, I highly recommend G. K. Chesterton's The Everlasting Man, J. R. R. Tolkien's essay "On Fairy Stories," and C. S. Lewis' book Miracles or his essay "Myth Become Fact." Great reading!)