Easter from the Back Side: A Different Look at the Story of Christ's Resurrection

By Dr. J. Ellsworth Kalas

Easter from the Back SideJ. Ellsworth KalasUsing an approach similar to the one he took in Parables from the Back Side and other books in the popular Back Side series, author J. Ellsworth Kalas opens up new possibilities of insight into the biblical Easter story. The author looks beyond the traditional gospel scriptures to connect the story of Christ’s resurrection with other stories and scriptures throughout the Bible, including both the Old Testament and the New Testament.Kalas’s creative approach both clarifies basic teachings and introduces new possibilities of meaning, even for those who are most familiar with the Easter story. Enriched with contemporary illustrations and personal experiences, this volume will provide new perspectives on Easter. Chapter titles and Scriptures include: “Why We Need Easter” (Genesis 3:1-7, 22-24); “Easter from an Ash Heap” (Job 19:13-27); “Easter for the Disillusioned” (Ecclesiastes 2:14-26); “Ezekiel Celebrates Easter” (Ezekiel 37:1-10); “Easter Is a Love Story” (John 20:1-18); “Late for Easter” (1 Corinthians 15:1-11); and “Forever Easter” (Revelation 21:1-4). J. ELLSWORTH KALAS is president of Asbury Theological Seminary and has been part of the faculty there since 1993, after thirty-eight years as a United Methodist pastor and five years in evangelism with the World Methodist Council. He has been a presenter on Disciple videos, is the author of the Christian Believer study, and has written more than thirty books, including the popular Back Side series; Longing to Pray: How the Psalms Teach Us to Talk with God; Strong Was Her Faith: Women of the New Testament; and What I Learned When I Was Ten.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Abingdon Press
• Release date: Oct 1, 2010
• ISBN: 9781426729027

Dr. J. Ellsworth Kalas

J. Ellsworth Kalas (1923-2015) was the author of over 35 books, including the popular Back Side series, A Faith of Her Own: Women of the Old Testament, Strong Was Her Faith: Women of the New Testament, I Bought a House on Gratitude Street, and the Christian Believer study, and was a presenter on DISCIPLE videos. He was part of the faculty of Asbury Theological Seminary since 1993, formerly serving as president and then as senior professor of homiletics. He was a United Methodist pastor for 38 years and also served five years in evangelism with the World Methodist Council.

Book preview

Easter

from the

Back Side

Easter

from the

Back Side

J. ELLSWORTH KALAS

Abingdon Press

NASHVILLE

EASTER FROM THE BACK SIDE

Copyright © 2008 by Abingdon Press

All rights reserved.

No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted by the 1976 Copyright Act or in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission can be addressed to Abingdon Press, P.O. Box 801, 201 Eighth Avenue South, Nashville, TN 37202-0801, or emailed to [e-mail].

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Kalas, J. Ellsworth, 1923-

Easter from the back side / J. Ellsworth Kalas.

p. cm.

ISBN 978-0-687-49079-0 (pbk. : alk. paper)

1. Easter. 2. Bible—Criticism, interpretation, etc.  I.  Title.

BV55.K35 2008

242'.36—dc22

2008038454

All scripture quotations unless noted otherwise are taken from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations from the Knox translation are taken from The Old Testament: Newly translated from the Vulgate Latin by Msgr. Ronald Knox at the Request of His Eminence The Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster. Copyright 1950, Sheed & Ward, Inc.

10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 — 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

To those who have found Easter

and

those who are still seeking it.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1: Why We Need Easter

GENESIS 3:1-7, 22-24

CHAPTER 2: Easter from an Ash Heap

JOB 19:13-27

CHAPTER 3: Easter for the Disillusioned

ECCLESIASTES 2:14-26

CHAPTER 4: Ezekiel Celebrates Easter

EZEKIEL 37:1-10

CHAPTER 5: Easter Is a Love Story

JOHN 20:1-18

CHAPTER 6: Late for Easter

1 CORINTHIANS 15:1-11

CHAPTER 7: Forever Easter

REVELATION 21:1-4

STUDY GUIDE

INTRODUCTION

Easter is too grand an occasion to be experienced adequately in a single day. Our ancestors in the faith realized this and over a period of time developed a season of preparation. We call that season Lent. For well over fifteen hundred years, Christians have used this period of roughly seven weeks to prepare their souls for Easter Day.

In several branches of the church, especially Roman Catholicism, the Lenten season has been seen as a period of fasting—particularly in giving up some food or some practice for the weeks of Lent. No doubt this pattern has been misused by some, but the intention is good, and its faithful practice has blessed millions over the centuries.

In more recent years, many Christians—mostly in Protestant bodies—have made Lent a special time of study and increased devotion. I encouraged such a pattern in the nearly forty years that I served as a parish pastor in The United Methodist Church. Thus, I found great pleasure in the invitation to write a book for general use during the Lenten season.

I was asked to approach Easter from the back side, as I have approached a number of subjects over the past nearly twenty years. I have tried to do just that in the seven chapters that follow. I begin with the Garden of Eden and end in heaven, which seems to me to be a pretty good Lenten trip. I'm glad for the chance to have you join me for this journey. I pray that you will find it a season of deeper faith and of greater love for God, for others, and for the fullness of life.

J. Ellsworth Kalas

CHAPTER 1

Why We Need Easter

GENESIS 3:1-7, 22-24: Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, Did God say, 'You shall not eat from any tree in the garden'? The woman said to the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; but God said, 'You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.' But the serpent said to the woman, You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves. . . .

Then the LORD God said, See, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever—therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man; and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim, and a sword flaming and turning to guard the way to the tree of life.

Easter is an answer. It is such a dramatic, earthshaking answer that for nearly twenty centuries, artists of every kind and quality have been trying to portray its significance. It has been celebrated in music, from countrywestern and bluegrass to symphonies, and in graphic art that ranges from children's crayon work posted on the refrigerator to hangings in most of the art museums of the Western world. Poets and playwrights have celebrated Easter's answer in untold thousands of documents—and of course, no one can begin to estimate the number of sermons preached on this theme over these passing centuries.

So, what's the question? If Easter is such a monumental answer, what's the question?

To answer that question, I'll have to take us all the way back to the beginning. I mean, really the beginning. I'll have to take us back to a kind of mythical place. Not mythical in the sense of being untrue, but mythical in the truest sense—that is, something so true that it's difficult to tell the story without entering areas of mystery and wonder, where ordinary language fails us.

The Bible tells us that once our world was like a garden, fresh from the hands of a loving Creator. Everything about it was ideal. In fact, it was so good that God, the ultimate critic, smiled and pronounced it very good. For example, you didn't have to worry about the need for herbicides, because nothing could be classified as a weed; everything grew where it belonged, without crowding out other expressions of beauty, usefulness, and singularity. The animals were not afraid of the humans, and the humans were not afraid of the animals. The relationship was so good that the humans served in loco parentis (Latin for in the place of a parent) to the animals. Nor did the animals prey on one another. It was all just one big, happy family—the kind of family all of us wish our families could be, except that this family included all the inhabitants of the planet. And when you wanted to have