In ancient times it was unthinkable that a messiah, savior, someone who was God or was favored by God, would be crucified by mortal men. The resurrection itself was a great surprise to Jesus' followers, despite everything they saw. They were no different than you and me and struggled - how does an intelligent person believe in a walking dead man?

Frederick Buechner understood this dilemma but he was still certain of the resurrection. He says, "I can tell you this: that what I believe happened and what in faith and with great joy I proclaim to you here is that he somehow got up, with life in him again, and the glory upon him. And I speak very plainly here, very un-fancifully, even though I do not understand well my own language. I was not there to see it any more than I was awake to see the sun rise this morning, but I affirm it as surely as I do that by God's grace the sun did rise this morning because that is why the world is flooded with light."