Dr. John Tamilio III, Pastor

 © 2025, Dr. Tamilio

This past week, I came across a video on social media that caught my attention.  Some of the videos I see out there are funny, some are informative, and some make me shake my head and just about lose faith in humanity.  This one, though, was called “The Greatest Man in History” and it was narrated by Anthony Hopkins: Dr. Hannibal Lecter himself!  Here’s what he said:

He had no servants, yet they called him master.

He had no degree, yet they called him teacher.

He had no medicines, yet they called him healer.

He had no army, yet kings feared him.

He won no military battles, yet he conquered the world.

He did not live in a castle, yet they called him Lord.

He ruled no nations, yet they called him king.

He committed no crime, yet they crucified him.

He was buried in a tomb, yet he lives today.

His kingdom is not of this world, yet in lies within the hearts of those who believe.

He spoke of love and forgivingness and his words have transformed millions.

He offers no material wealth, yet we consider him the treasure of our lives.

He promises no earthly power, yet in his name the powerless have found strength.

Though he left no written words, his message has filled countless pages.

In his weakness we find our strength.

In his suffering our salvation.

He continues to invite us into a story of redemption, love, and eternal life.

His name is Jesus Christ.

Sometimes you just come across something so well-written (or so clever) that you wish you had penned it yourself.  This is one of those pieces.

Jesus is the greatest person in history.  No one was like him.  Sure, there were other great teachers in antiquity.  Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle all lived before the time of Jesus.  There were also very powerful people who lived before the time of Christ.  There was Ramesses II, Alexander the Great, and Julius Caesar.  Furthermore, other religions existed prior to Christianity and they were also led by influential people.  But who Jesus was and what he achieved on our behalf has no equal in history, no matter how far back in time you go.

First of all, Jesus is the only leader of a religion who claims to be God.   Moses never made such a claim, neither did Mohammed, and neither did the Buddha.  The claim that Jesus is fully God and fully human sets him apart from any teacher, philosopher, guru, or healer.  Furthermore, the power he exhibited was proof that he wasn’t just a man.  Who else could heal the sick, give eyesight to the blind, enable the mute to speak, and free the possessed?  Who else could walk on water, turn water into wine, or feed multitudes with a couple of fish and a few loaves of bread?  Who could calm the sea?  Who could give such hope to a multitude of people looking for release?  Laurence Hull Stookey says that Easter “is a time for both discovery and reconsideration, for a return to the basics of our faith in the Risen One in the conviction that those basics have reverberated sufficiently to touch Christians from the newest to the most experienced.”[1]  How true?  Whether you’ve been a believer all of your life or whether you’ve come to Christ in the more recent past — you have been touched by the basic claims of the faith.  Jesus of Nazareth was the only person in history to have such a profound effect on everything that followed.  We even chart time based on him: BC and AD.

But the most important thing of all — the greatest gift we have been given by the greatest person ever to live — is that Jesus offers us everlasting life.  Death does not have the final word.  That is what this day is all about.  We are not just celebrating the fact that Jesus rose from the dead.  We are anticipating our own resurrections.  Let that sink in for a moment.  We are not just celebrating the fact that Jesus rose from the dead.  We are anticipating our own resurrections.

No one wants to die, especially those who think that death is the end.  You spend 80, 90, 100 years working and dealing with all of the difficulties life throws at you only to die?  Lights out?  No consciousness?  That’s it?  If that were the case, then the rhetorical reality painted by the Apostle Paul rings too loud and too true: “Then those…who have fallen asleep [or died] in Christ are lost.”  That is the verse that comes right before the Epistle reading that Cindy shared this morning.  That reading continues the sentiment: “If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.”  In other words, if your hope is only in this life — if what Christ has achieved only pertains to this sphere of existence — then we should be pitied.

But the fact is the grave was empty.  Jesus rose from the dead attaining for us what no one else could.

At a recent Bible Study, we spoke about near death experiences.  We talked about Dr. Eben Alexander.  His book Proof of Heaven gives a vision of the afterlife that defies words.  Dr. Alexander himself says that there are no words to fully capture what he experienced.  He has written several other books as well.  He has said that he will spend his life trying to describe the sights and sounds he experienced and the message that he received.  That message was, “You are loved.  You are cherished.  There is nothing you can do wrong.”  This message was spoken to him without words.  It was if he received it telepathically.

But it wasn’t a dream nor was it his mind playing tricks on him.  Dr. Alexander is a Harvard educated neurosurgeon.  He had a severe case of spinal meningitis.  He knew, especially after he recovered and looked at his record, that his brain was completely shut off.  It could not have been sending him bizarre images.  In fact, he referred to his experience as hyperrealism: beyond anything he ever experienced.

Dr. Alexander is not the only person to have had such a profound near-death experience.  Several others have shared similar stories — people from all walks of life.

And one day, we all will too.  One day, when our time in this life is over, we will be guided into a reality that words cannot describe.  We will meet our maker, as the cliché states.  We will be face to face with the Risen One whose resurrection makes eternal life possible for us all.  That’s the Good News.  That’s what this day is about.  The man who was born in a manger rose from a borrowed tomb.  The twentieth century Christian devotionalist Watchman Nee put it best: “Our history ends with the cross; our new history begins with the resurrection.”  “In our end is our beginning,” Eliot said.

Embrace this promise, my friends.  May what this day is truly about remain in your hearts throughout the rest of your time on this earth.  May it be the song you sing, the story you share, and the joy you will celebrate when we rejoice with the One who is risen — who is risen indeed.  Amen.

[1] Laurence Hull Stookey, Calendar: Christ’s Time for the Church (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1996), 59.