When people think of the Gospel, they often think of Jesus crucified. But what role does the resurrection of Jesus play? Most often when people share the Gospel story, they won’t even mention the resurrection as if it was a nonessential event like Jesus walking on water or turning water into wine.
However, when one looks at Acts and the letters of Paul, the resurrection of Jesus is prominent, sometimes more so than the crucifixion. Some of the short summaries of early Christian preaching are simply Jesus and the resurrection. In fact, in Acts 17 when Paul is preaching, the Athenians thought he was proclaiming two gods: Jesus and Resurrection (Anastasis). Go through Paul’s letters and you will see that he often puts the resurrection of Jesus front and centre, frequently not even mentioning the crucifixion. In many ways, the primary Christian symbol could have been an empty tomb rather than a cross.
I am not suggesting that we should stop preaching Jesus crucified. The cross is extremely important as that is where our sins were atoned for. But we should rethink the role of the resurrection in how we share our faith. The resurrection is not an add-on to make the story end in a more positive way. The resurrection of Jesus should always play an important role in Christian proclamation. Many people in the first century were crucified. But only one was resurrected. It was in the resurrection that all that took place before, including the crucifixion, was validated.