Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, The Resurrection, And The Mission Of The Church

“Two Easter Sermons” is a short essay based on a piece originally published in an online journal during the Easter season. Wright presents two imaginary clergymen preaching opposing messages from their respective pulpits on Easter Sunday. Pastor Frank Gospelman asserts the reality of the bodily resurrection and the supernatural elements of Easter. He emphasizes that Jesus is truly alive and that he is preparing a place for us in heaven. At the end of our lives, we will leave this “wicked world” behind and go to heaven, where we will be reunited with Jesus and our loved ones.

Up the road, Reverend Jeremy Smoothtongue preaches a liberal Christianity: The Easter story is a metaphor, not a description of a miracle. “True Resurrection” means “breaking through old taboos,” being “inclusive,” and liberating the “true spark of life and identity hidden inside each of us” (293). Resurrection is not some supernatural miracle that happened at one time in history, but rather an “ongoing event in the liberation of humans and the world” (293).

Wright critiques both of these positions. Gospelman fails to realize that the New Testament never speaks of “going to heaven when you die” but instead speaks of bringing the “life of heaven to birth in actual, physical, earthly reality” (293).