If you ask most Christians about what Jesus did to save us, the answer will be something like, "He died on the cross to save me from my sins." Perfectly true, of course, but woefully inadequate. There is no forgiveness, no eternal life, no salvation apart from the resurrection of our Lord. While Christmas gets all the attention, the real heart of the Christian faith is Easter.

Each gospel displays the resurrection from a different angle. For John, the whole of chapter 20 works the contrast of seeing and believing. Read it through with that contrast in mind.

It starts with the "race" to the empty tomb between Peter and John. John ("the other disciple") gets there first and peers inside. Simon Peter finally straggles by and he, characteristically, barges right inside, looks at the grave clothes scattered about, and then thinks about it. The other disciple finally goes in and sees it all; he, it says, "saw and believed."

We see the same contrast with Mary Magdalene's visit to the tomb. Here Jesus appears directly to her, but she's so overcome with grief she can't see him through her tears. It's not her seeing that finally grabs her faith, but her hearing. She believes Jesus is alive when he says her name.

Finally, toward the end of the chapter, there's the famous encounter with Thomas. Absent during Jesus' earlier appearance to the disciples, Thomas refuses to believe that the Lord is risen. For Thomas, seeing is believing. Thomas does get to see and touch the Lord, but Jesus' words to him reach across the centuries to us: "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet believed."

Belief becomes the pivotal issue. True belief goes far beyond mere seeing. It involves more than the evidence Peter saw or the proof Thomas sought. Not that these have no place. True faith means understanding the necessity of Jesus' resurrection. It's the culmination of God's plan to save and renew us and the whole of creation. It's much more than just another miracle to applaud and appreciate. It's the linchpin of the Christian faith.

Jesus' resurrection is more than resuscitation. Jesus arose. He defeated sin and death once and for all, and, as Paul says, his resurrection is the first fruits of those who believe. In our baptism and by faith we die with Christ, and are raised with him. We share in his victory and we become heirs in him of eternal life.

Q&A 29 asks, "What good does it do us that he 'rose again from the dead'?" The answer holds three glorious certainties of faith:

• He truly conquered sin and death, and we have nothing to fear in this life or the next. The terrible forces of pollution, guilt, and decay were stopped dead in their tracks.

• He won new life for us, and we begin to live it right now. We have joy, confidence, and a great hope that motivates us to live lives of love and self-sacrifice.

• He guarantees our own resurrection. We will live again with the Lord in a brand new creation.

John closes this chapter with the reason for his writing: "But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name."