SAUCIER — Plausible deniability

A theologian I know is a bit of a provocateur — someone who will say some superficially radical things, just to get people to think more about their own experience.

After one of his talks, a member of the audience came up, perturbed by some of the things Pete had said.

“Do you deny the resurrection?” he asked accusingly.

Pete said he wasn’t surprised by the question, but he was caught by it. It was as good a time as any to confess.

 “Yes, of course, I deny the resurrection,” he told the now-shocked questioner.

“Everyone who knows me knows I deny the resurrection.”

“Every time I do not serve my neighbor, every time I walk away from people who are hurting, I deny the resurrection.”

“Every time I participate in an unjust system, I deny the resurrection.”

His point was that, while we may look at that empty tomb and profess a resurrection as a victory over death, it doesn’t mean much if the actions of our lives add to the power of darkness, which also has been known to rise again.

Jesus didn’t endure all that he did, just so we could say, “he was crucified under Pontius Pilate, he suffered death and was buried, and rose again on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.”

That is asking a lot just so we could check the box “I believe in the resurrection.”

For Pete, resurrection is not just a historical event that happened early one Sunday morning in spring a couple of millennia ago.

Its power is that it is dynamic, trans-temporal, happening every day in the lives of those who have been touched by it.

Resurrection is not just a noun, but a verb; not just to be believed, but to be lived.

Resurrection is the assurance that the Kingdom has come, here in our midst, not for the asking but for the doing.

We deny the resurrection in all sorts of ways, as Pete admitted. But more importantly, we have plenty of opportunities to affirm it, to further empower it, to allow it to hold and heal the lives of those who need it most.

Mercy, peacemaking, poverty of spirit, and all the Beatitudes describe life among an Easter people.

The last judgment in Matthew — ministering to the hungry, naked and imprisoned — is the first response of the resurrected.

As Paul reminded the Galatians, “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.”