Briones on relevance of Resurrection today

The Easter Sunday messages at the Church of the Risen Lord in UP Diliman are much anticipated, delivered as they are by consummate personalities who leave us illuminated for days in our erratic journey to perfection. Last Sunday’s speaker was Education Secretary Leonor Magtolis-Briones, whose cv includes her being professor emeritus of public administration at the National College of Public Administration and Governance of the UP; National Treasurer of the Philippines; lead convenor of Social Watch, Philippines Inc., and chair of the Board of Trustees of Silliman University. She holds graduate degrees on scholarship from Harvard University and the University of Leeds in England. But one is awed at her finishing her BA in business administration at Silliman University, magna cum laude, at 17 years old. 

Secretary Briones disarmed her admiring listeners with the greeting, a “glorious Resurrection Day to all of us who believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who died for our sins,” but apologized for not using the more popular “Easter Sunday” greeting as she did “not want to get entangled in the debate whether this holiest of all Christian holidays, which is considered as the foundation of our Christian faith, is named after the pagan goddess Oestre, the Easter Bunny, and Easter eggs.”

Then seriously now, she said Resurrection Day is told concisely by Paul’s letter in First Corinthians 15: 3-8: First, Jesus died for our sins. Second, He was buried. Third, He was raised on the third day. Fourth, He appeared to Cephas, then to His disciples; after which He appeared to more than 500 people; last, He appeared to Paul.

Jesus’ crucifixion and death took place more than 2,000 years ago. She asked, “Is the story of the Resurrection still relevant today”?

As told in the Scriptures, Jesus was born in a stable; a feeding trough served as his cradle. He grew up in the town of Nazareth as a son of the carpenter, Joseph and his wife, Mary. The base of his ministry was the lakeside town of Capernaum where he recruited fishermen as his disciples.

What is the world like now, 2,000 years later? 

Briones said the world is exploding with new knowledge, especially in science and technology.

In 2017 alone, the most impressive advances in technology included an electric flying vehicle which can also float in water, popularly described as “a flying car.”

It is predicted that in 8-10 years, brain implants are possible and human brains can be merged with artificial intelligence.

Advances in science, also in 2017, include the development of quantum teleportation in space by powerful quantum computers. Still in 2017, a team of scientists developed time crystals which were only “imagined” in 2002 by a Nobel Prize winner.

Briones asked: “Can we in the Philippines cope with this new explosion of knowledge?”

In June 2016, the Department of Education continued the Senior High School Program started by the previous administration with STEM – science, technology, engineering and mathematics as a major strand.

It is said that we Filipinos are poor in Math and the hard sciences, she said. (But) not so. Our high school kids are competing in math, robotics, and research contests.

In one international research contest, our Filipino contestants won and had asteroids named after them.
  During the 2018 search for the Global Teacher Awards in Dubai, two Filipinos were among the top contenders out of 30,000 nominees from 171 countries. Dr. Jesus Insilada, an I.P. from Panay, was No. 3. Ryan Homan was No. 40.
  The last Metrobank Foundation math competition had a sixth grade boy from the public school as the national champion. Teams from public schools all over the country are proving their mettle in the field of mathematics.

The secretary has visited many parts of the country and seen the robots built by high school learners. She has no doubt that they will contribute to the technological innovations going on right now.

Then she asked, “With all the exciting changes, advances, and discoveries in the world today, is there room for the story of the Resurrection?”

She pointed to the December 2017 issue of the National Geographic Magazine which had a cover article on “The Real Jesus: What Archaeology Reveals About His Life” by archaeologist and journalist Kristin Romey. The article shows how archaeology can confirm aspects of Jesus’ life and times which are narrated in the Scriptures. Romey traced the footsteps of Jesus, visited the places He went to and examined the latest archaeological findings. 

“A very specialized branch of science – archaeology – is confirming the existence of sites and objects which are mentioned in the Scriptures. We have a situation of science confirming faith!”

Romey unearthed truths about Jesus and His times.

The ancient synagogue discovered in Magdala contained what is now known as the “Magdala” stone with carved reliefs of the most sacred elements of the Temple of Jerusalem.

Equally exciting is the discovery of the remains of a boat in the Sea of Galilee at Capernaum. The  dimensions,  materials, and the style of the boat fits the scriptural description of the boats used during Jesus’ time, such that people now call it the “Jesus boat.” Imagine a discovery of a boat after 2000 years!

There are other sites like the palace of Herod, and finally, Christianity’s holiest site: the site of Jesus’ crucifixion enshrined in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. What is most fascinating is the “aedicule” which is the shrine enclosing the tomb where Jesus is buried. Findings indicate that the aedicule is constructed from rock which corresponds to scriptural description. It is located in an ancient Jewish cemetery. Other stunning items: the limestone shelf on which Jesus body rested; an ossuary which would contain the bones of Caiaphas, an inscription attesting to the rule of Pontius Pilate and a heel bone driven through with an iron crucifixion nail.

Is the Resurrection story relevant today, Briones asked, and she said resoundingly, “Yes! For us Christians, belief in resurrection is central to our faith. If we reject the resurrection, we might as well rename ourselves as the ‘Church of the Supposed Risen Lord,’ or the ‘Church of the Risen Lord (Kuno)’!”
“The story of Jesus’ resurrection cannot be separated from the promise of the resurrection of the dead. If Jesus was resurrected bodily, believers will also be resurrected along with their bodies. St. Paul argues this forcefully in the second half of 1 Corinthians 15:12-24.”
The Scriptures tell us stories about people being brought back to life. The Old Testament tells about Elijah and Elisha raising young boys from the dead. 
Jesus himself raised the daughter of Jairus, and  Lazarus four days after his death, and His disciples, Peter and Paul themselves raised people from the dead.
“Whether science challenges resurrection or not, we believe the scriptural accounts through faith.

“In earlier years, science was utilized to disprove the claims of the Scriptures. Now, many archaeological discoveries confirm events and places, as well as artifacts during the time of Jesus Christ.

“Many scientific discoveries are related to the universal longing and search of the human race for eternal life. Whether Christian or non-Christian, scientists are continually searching for what they describe as the ‘infinite life.’”
She ended with a quotation from Romey: “I realize that for sincere believers, the scholars’ quest for historical, non-supernatural Jesus is of little consequence. The quest will be endless, full of shifting theories, unanswerable questions, irreconcilable facts. But for true believers, their faith in the life, death, and resurrection of the Son of God will be evidence enough.”

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