Easter: Dare we just ‘acknowledge then ignore’ Jesus?

by Raymond Dague

April 9, 2012

It is one thing to believe that there is a God and that Jesus is his Son, and entirely another thing to take that to heart and be a follower, a disciple of the Lord. When one ceases to be a follower it is tempting to say to oneself, ‘there is no God.’ In fact it is almost obligatory because to believe in God yet not be a follower is such a monstrous thing that one cannot for long be in such a state.

God by his very nature is someone who dispels indifference. Either he is, and all of life is thereby very different, or he is not, and we men just grope along making the best we can of meaninglessness.

Some would say that man invented God so that they could avoid meaninglessness. Perhaps so. But how then did man invent Jesus? No story such as his was simply made up. Either he was, and is, and is to be, or he is not. Yet Jesus is no made-up fable. He certainly was, for even secular man acknowledges that. Secular man has a hard time making much logical sense out of Jesus, if he applies himself to think about Jesus. C. S. Lewis had it right when he said that our only two viable options are to call Jesus a nut, or the Son of God. There is just no middle ground for this man who claimed to be the Son of God, and who makes the claims about himself which Jesus made.

The best way to deal with God if you do not wish to be a disciple of Jesus is to ignore him. That is what the bulk of non-Christian man does, and for that matter that is what nominal Christians do. Acknowledge him not at all, or in a pro forma Sunday sort of way, but whatever you do, do not take seriously that there really is a God and that this fact changes everything. Most of mankind takes this ‘acknowledge then ignore’ approach to God. That is a dangerous thing to do.

Easter is a time for us to reconsider this. Dare we just ‘acknowledge then ignore’ Jesus? Many do so. Do we?

The Lord is Risen! Happy Easter!

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