Beyond Impossibility – Disturbing the World

My grandmother did not believe that a man could walk on the moon. Even as we sat, mesmerized, watching the television that momentous day, July 20, 1969, she kept repeating, “That’s not real. That’s not real.” Her worldview did not allow for the occurrence of such apparent impossibilities.

But many people have no trouble believing that men have actually walked on the moon. We believe that future travellers to the moon will find mementos of those visits such as footprints, flags, and abandoned equipment, including a used car or two. History, if we choose to believe it, has proven that my grandmother’s beliefs were in error. It seems that it really is possible for a man to walk on the moon.

In fact, very many things that would have seemed impossible to my grandmother happen every day. Our lives are full of what once would have been considered miracles. We have technology and the amazing imaginations of countless creative thinkers to thank for our everyday wonders like airplanes, cell phones, and digital photographs. We live the impossible in our daily lives.

Just as many of my grandmother’s generation viewed travel to the moon as impossible, so many contemporary thinkers discount the possibility of the miraculous. And rightly so! We must not lose sight of the fact that miracles are impossible by definition! A miracle is something that cannot take place within the realm of known possibility. It comes from beyond the possible, from the supernatural.

There are many people today who view the resurrection of Jesus Christ as an impossibility. People don’t ordinarily come back to life after dying. Or do they? Maybe the resurrection is the event that changed the paradigm. We used to believe that it was impossible for a man to walk on the moon. We now believe it is indeed possible. We used to believe that people couldn’t fly. But people fly every day thanks to technology.

What if the historical resurrection of Jesus Christ proves that it is now possible for the dead to rise again? Once a thing happens, doesn’t it move from the realm of impossibility to the realm of the possible? If it is now possible for the dead to rise, isn’t this something you would want to be in on?

The apostle Paul says, “If our hope in Christ has been for this life only, we are the most unfortunate of people” (1 Corinthians 15:19). It is a great encouragement to hope for something better beyond this life. There are days when such hope seems essential to maintain sanity in this crazy world.

When our children are hurt or sick it is natural and instinctive to comfort them by saying that everything will be alright. Hope in the resurrection is the ultimate expression of that comfort. Everything will be alright because God will make it so. The resurrection of Christ was just the beginning.

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