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This passage is not exactly gossip, although it comes pretty close. Even Paul seems to admit as much. "For I handed on to you as of first importance," he writes, "what I in turn had received" (v. 3). In other words, he is not offering us an eyewitness account here; he's simply reporting what he has been told, which is understandable when you consider that Paul wasn't in Jerusalem on that fateful Easter weekend. He didn't see the crucifixion. He played no part in the funeral procession. He never even visited the empty tomb.

Paul didn't experience any of this firsthand. But he obviously knew people who had, and presumably it's from them that he has gathered his information. The way he heard it, during those forty days following the resurrection, the risen Christ appeared first to Cephas, then to the other disciples, and not long after that, to over 500 believers at the same time. "If you don't believe me," he tells the Corinthians, "you can ask them for yourselves, since most of them are still around and would be happy to describe what it was like." Our Lord came next to James, and then to the rest of the apostles, and last of all -- maybe even least of all, adds Paul -- he found me.

You can't help wishing, of course, that we knew a little more about each of these appearances. There is just enough here to tantalize. For example, did that initial revelation to Peter take place as he was returning from the tomb? Luke seems to indicate that, while the others scoffed at the story, Peter actually went down there to check it out (Luke 24:12). Maybe that's when Christ met him. Or what about this assembly of 500 -- when did that occur? None of the Gospels mention such an event, unless it's implied in that vague reference to the risen Lord performing "many convincing proofs" (Acts 1:3). And which James is this exactly? Was it John's brother, the son of Zebedee? Or the so-called "James the younger," the son of Alphaeus? Some have suggested that it was none other than Jesus' brother. However, since he was not a follower during Jesus' lifetime, it would be interesting to learn when and how he became one.

Paul doesn't provide us with many details. He simply recites the litany of appearances as if it was all a well-established fact. But if this same testimony were presented in a court of law, it would almost certainly be dismissed as hearsay, because apart from his own personal encounter, Paul offers no evidence whatsoever. Indeed, the great irony of this passage is that the lack of proof was probably one of the strongest arguments that Saul the Pharisee used against the Christians, back when he was trying to snuff this fledgling movement out of existence.

Bear in mind that there had been suspicions all along that the disciples might be planning an elaborate hoax, and that soon the rumors would be flying that Jesus of Nazareth had risen from the dead. Matthew says the chief priests even approached Pilate with this scenario and suggested that Roman guards be stationed at the tomb just in case. However, since Pilate had hardly been in favor of crucifying Jesus to begin with, he was not about to dispatch military personnel to babysit the man's corpse. "Don't you have a guard of soldiers?" he asked sarcastically. "Go and make it as secure as you can" (Matthew 27:65), which is precisely what they did -- or at least what they attempted to do. When Jesus shook loose the shackles of death and walked out of the cemetery, the chief priests quickly decided that perhaps a rumor was better than the truth after all. So they concocted the wild tale that, as the guards were taking their rest, the disciples had taken the body (Matthew 28:11-13).

I'm sure that's the explanation Saul preferred, and no doubt the one he most actively promoted. In his mind, the Christians were nothing more than a bunch of grave robbers playing on the superstitions of the gullible and na•ve. "This talk of a resurrection is absolute nonsense," he likely told the congregations, as he moved from synagogue to synagogue. "Where is the evidence? What proof do they have?" He might even have pointed out that all of these alleged sightings involved folks who were already believers.

And actually, as far as that goes, Saul would have been correct. Because according to the Gospel accounts, Christ reveals himself only to the faithful. Don't ask me why. If I had been Jesus' campaign manager, I would have run the resurrection a little differently and scheduled some public appearances. I think the thing to have done would be to have the risen Christ parade up and down the main streets of Jerusalem or stand out in front of the Temple so that the crowds could ooh and aah in amazement. Better still, I would have had him march straight into Pilate's headquarters and announce, "Well, Pontius, do you want to give it another shot?"

But that's not what our Lord does. He never visits Pilate or Caiaphas or any of the chief priests. He comes only to those who had been willing to come to him in the first place. Of course, the one notable exception is that he met Saul on the road to Damascus. However, even then, it's not the physical evidence that finally persuades Saul; it's the experience. It's almost as if Christ is not interested in proving the resurrection as an intellectual proposition. What he desires is a relationship, not just a realization.

The bottom line is that our risen Lord manifests himself exclusively to the church. We're the ones who witnessed his life, death, and resurrection, and therefore, we are the ones responsible for declaring it to the world. If people don't know what took place on Easter, it's not Pilate's fault. We can't blame the government for not getting the message out. Christ came to us. This is our story to tell.

I think that's why Paul wants to go over it again with the Corinthians. "Now I would remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand, [and] through which also you are being saved" (vv. 1-2). In effect, Paul is encouraging the Corinthians to claim their identity as children of the resurrection. The reason he's reminding them of these things is because this is precisely the good news that they now need to share. And the same is true for us.

Occasionally someone will lament to me that our culture no longer seems to be very Christian-friendly. For example, it used to be that on Sunday mornings pretty much everything else was closed except for the church. Shopping at the mall or going to an amusement park was simply not an option. But, of course, that's no longer the case. Most schools have started referring to "Christmas Vacation" as "Winter Break." Federal courts have taken up the debate of whether the Pledge of Allegiance can be recited in the classroom because of the phrase "one nation under God." Some of you may even have noticed that there are now soccer games routinely scheduled for Sunday mornings -- including Easter!

Like many of you, I lament this as well. However, I am not inclined to dash an angry letter off to the school board or the soccer association. And I'll tell you why. It's not their responsibility to promote Christianity; it's ours. I've gone through the Gospels, time and time again, and I cannot find a single instance where our risen Lord ever appeared to the soccer association. He did not visit the school board or the city council. He never held a public hearing in the town square.

We can whine and complain all we want, but that's not going to change the fact that we cannot expect the general population to carry forth the Christian message, unless we share it with them. If the true meaning of Easter is lost and dwindles down to little more than colored eggs and bunny rabbits, it's not the school's fault or the government's fault or the society's fault. If that happens, it will be the church's fault, because the risen Christ came to us. And if the world is going to believe that he got up from the grave, it will only be because we, who believe it, start declaring it.

Let me see if I can get you to picture this. Suppose you have friends who have recently purchased a new boat, and they are excitedly telling you about it. They describe how big it is, and how powerful, and how luxurious. "It sounds great," you finally say. "When are you taking it out on the water?"

"Oh, we're not going to take this boat out on the water," they reply.

"You're not?"

"No way; it might get damaged. There are all kinds of things that could happen to it out there. It could get scratched; it could get stuck. Our boat is staying on the land."

"Are you trying to tell me that you just bought a boat that you're never going to use?"

"But we are going to use it," your friends inform you. "That's the best part. You see, we belong to a club where we all keep our boats in this huge garage. We never take them out on the water. We go down there once a week and we polish our boats and sit up on the deck and wave at one another."

"You're kidding me, right?"

"No, we're serious. It's a lot of fun. We tell boat stories, and sing boat songs, and learn all of the rules for safe boating."

"But none of you are ever going to take your boats out?"

"Probably not," your friends say. "Every once in a while, we'll invite somebody who has actually been out on the water to come in and tell us what it's like. They'll talk for a little bit and answer our questions. Sometimes they'll even bring slides, so that we can see how it would be if we ever went out on the water ourselves. And usually we'll take up a little offering for them."

Do you see what I'm getting at? I hope that we are not just coming here once a week to tell boat stories, and sing boat songs, and learn about boats from others who actually go out on the water. The reason the risen Christ has come to us is so that we will go out into the world. After all, everyone already knows that Jesus lived. That's a matter of public record. Everyone already knows that Jesus died. That, too, is a matter of public record. But when it comes to the resurrection of Jesus Christ, that's not a matter of public record. Of that, we are the witnesses.