There’s a moment in every repair that everybody in the shop waits for. The work is done, the tools are put away, and somebody turns the key. Until that engine starts, nobody really knows. You can replace every part on the estimate and still be wrong, and the only proof is that the car runs.
That moment is the best way I know to explain why the resurrection matters. Christians don’t just believe Jesus died on a cross. We believe that three days later he came back to life. Without that second part, the first part would leave us with a lot of hope and no proof.
Paid is not the same as proven
In an earlier post I wrote about the cross as a bill that someone else paid. Jesus took on himself the full cost of our wrongdoing, so that we could go free. That’s the heart of the Christian message.
Which raises a fair question. How would anyone know the payment worked?
Plenty of good people have died for causes they believed in. A death, even a brave and willing one, doesn’t prove anything on its own. If Jesus had died and stayed dead, he would be one more sincere teacher who lost.
In Under the Hood I put it like this: “The resurrection is not a footnote to the story of the cross. It is the proof that the payment was accepted.” It’s the engine turning over. God is saying, about as publicly as he possibly could, that the repair is done and it holds.
What Christians actually claim
If you didn’t grow up in church, it’s worth being clear about what we mean, because it isn’t vague.
We don’t mean Jesus lived on in his followers’ memories, or that his spirit floated off somewhere peaceful. We mean that the same Jesus who was executed by the Roman authorities outside Jerusalem, and buried, got up. His tomb was empty. His friends saw him and talked with him and ate with him.
One of the earliest summaries of the Christian faith, written by the apostle Paul, says “that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3–4).
Paul didn’t treat this as optional. He said plainly, “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins” (1 Corinthians 15:17). Put it in shop terms: if the car never started, the repair didn’t happen, no matter how good the work looked on the lift.
I appreciate that honesty. Christianity doesn’t ask you to believe in a feeling. It puts its whole weight on something that either happened or didn’t.
Three things the empty tomb tells us
When the car comes off the lift and runs, it tells you a few things at once. So does the resurrection.
- The bill really was paid. Jesus’ death wasn’t a noble loss. It did what he said it would do. Justice was satisfied, and the way to God is open.
- Death isn’t the strongest thing in the world. Every one of us is headed toward the end of the road. The resurrection says death has already been beaten once, and it can be beaten again. The Bible calls Jesus “the firstfruits” of those who have died (1 Corinthians 15:20), meaning he’s the first of many.
- Jesus is who he said he is. He claimed to be God come in person. Anybody can claim that. Walking out of a grave is a different kind of evidence.
Now look at the car in that picture again. In the book I say it “ran better than ever, the way it was always designed to.” So the resurrection is about more than getting back to where we were. It points to a life that’s finally working the way God meant it to.
If you find it hard to believe
A lot of people do, and that’s not strange. The resurrection is supposed to be surprising. The first people who heard about it didn’t believe it either, and some of them were Jesus’ closest friends.
If you’re wrestling with it, I don’t want to rush you, and I’m not going to pretend there are no questions. What I’d ask is that you look at it honestly instead of setting it aside. A few ways to do that:
- Read the accounts yourself. The last chapters of each of the four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) describe what happened that first Sunday morning. Read them side by side and notice who was there and what they did.
- Ask what would explain the change. A small group of frightened people who had just watched their leader die went on to risk everything telling others he was alive. What could account for that?
- Say your real question out loud. To a Christian you trust, or to a pastor. You don’t have to agree to anything to ask.
The discussion questions at the back of Under the Hood ask this one directly: “Do you find the resurrection easy or hard to believe? What’s your biggest question about it?” That’s a good place to start. Write your answer down, even if it’s only a sentence.
Why this matters on a Tuesday
The resurrection isn’t just a doctrine for Easter. If it’s true, it changes ordinary days.
It means your failures don’t get the last word, and the people you’ve lost aren’t simply gone, and the life you’re living is headed somewhere. It also means Jesus isn’t a figure in a history book. He’s alive right now, and he can be known and trusted.
That’s what I mean when I say the story of the cross doesn’t end in a grave. As the book puts it, “It ends on a road. And the road leads somewhere extraordinary.”
If you want the whole picture in plain language, Under the Hood walks through it from the diagnosis to the road ahead, using the everyday world of a repair shop. It’s short enough to read in a weekend, and you’re welcome to bring your questions along.
Enjoyed this article?