Jesus

"Those who celebrate the mighty resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, therefore, have an awesome responsibility.  When we say, 'Alleluia! Christ is risen,' we are saying that Jesus is Lord of the world, and that the present would-be lords of the world are not.  When we sing, in the old hymn, that 'Judah's Lion burst his chains, and crushed the serpent's head,' are we ready to put that victory into practice? ...Are we ready to speak up for the truth of the gospel over the dinner table, and in the coffee bar, and in the council chamber?  Let's make no bones about it: if Easter isn't good news, then there is no good news.  But if it is - if it is true that Jesus Christ is risen indeed - then Easter day, and the Easter message, is the true sun which, when it rises, puts all other suns to shame."

-N.T. Wright, For All God's Wrath

"How was I to cross it?  If I were to stake my whole life on the risen Christ, I wanted proof.  I wanted certainty.  I wanted to see him eat a bit of fish.  I wanted letters of fire across the sky.  I got none of these.  And I continued to hang on about the edge of the gap... It was a question of whether I was going to accept him - or reject him.  My God! There was a gap behind me as well!  Perhaps the leap to acceptance was a horrifying gamble - but what of the leap to rejection?  There might be no certainty that Christ was God - but, by God, there was no certainty that he was not.  There was not to be borne, I could not reject Jesus.  There was only one thing to do once I had seen the gap behind me.  I turned away from it, flung myself over the gap towards Jesus."

-Sheldon Vanauken, A Severe Mercy