A College Professor and the Resurrection

As Easter Day is still a close memory,  I think of one of my former college professors.  His name was Dr. Lorenzo P. Plyler.   He was the chair of the Religion Department of my alma mater, Methodist College  (now known as Methodist University) in Fayetteville.  As I recall, he was a Pennsylvania native  and received his Ph.D. degree from Boston University about the same time as a fella you may have heard of named Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  Dr. Plyler also was an ordained United Methodist pastor. 

He was not a tall man, but his personality and educational exploits were often imposing.  For example,  I recall a time on an Old Testament exam when he asked “Who is Jeremiah?”   When a fellow student named Danny wrote  “Jeremiah was a bullfrog”  (the first line of the hit song “Joy to the World” by music group 3 Dog Night)   Dr.  Plyler gave Danny an “F” on the final exam.  I was often quickly intimidated by Dr. Plyler’s education and his personality.

In the summer of 1973,  I took a class under Dr. Plyler titled  “The Historical Jesus”.   The class was taken through independent study meaning that instead of sitting in a classroom hiding behind a large football player or the homecoming queen it was only Dr. Plyler and I one on one.   I worked full time that summer at Burlington Industries in my hometown of Burlington and would make the drive on weekends to Fayetteville where I would talk with Dr. Plyler at this home  about what Bonhoeffer,Bultmann, Schweitzer, said in their books about Jesus. 

Though there was much reading I would do for the class that summer about Jesus, there was only paper that I had to be write  and the topic was Jesus.   The grade on that paper would determine my grade in the class.    There was much about Jesus in my readings that was undisputable:   that he was born, that he lived, that he died, and that he was a great teacher.   The question I wrestled with was what to write and say about the resurrection.     I recall I wrote that there is nothing historical about the resurrection of Jesus, and that our faith was the only way that one could believe in the resurrection.    Despite my intimidation about Dr.  Plyler and my uncertainty about what to write about the resurrection,  I was delighted when I received an “A” on the paper and also on the course.    The resurrection of Jesus Christ is at the heart of the Christian faith.  It is the heart of the matter.  The apostle Paul puts it this way in I Corinthians 15: 12-17:  

¹² But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? ¹³ If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. ¹⁴ And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. ¹⁵ More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. ¹⁶ For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. ¹⁷ And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 

Thanks be to God for the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  He is risen, He is risen indeed.  Have a joy-filled week.-  Pastor Randy Wall

Prayer:   All praise, glory, and thanksgiving be to you, O God, for the resurrection of Jesus Christ.    We celebrate that we are people of the empty tomb.  Help that resurrection joy to inspire us daily;  through Christ our Lord.  Amen.