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The Greatest Paradigm ShiftJust over three-hundred years ago, people saw the world through Isaac Newton’s eyes. Newton described a world that was regular, clockwork, where things were entirely predictable. Gravity pulls things to the ground, objects move in straight lines, time is the same for everyone, everywhere. It was a clockwork universe.But in the beginning of the twentieth century, this view of reality was fundamentally changed by a man called Albert Einstein who developed what was to become his world-famous theory of relativity. Einstein shocked the world by demonstrating that not everything obeyed Newton’s laws. When things are moving extremely fast, for example, or when they are affected by extreme gravity. Huge things like the sun warp space, and light can bend around stars in such circumstances. Time itself can stretch or shrink depending on how fast you are moving. If a rocket zooms through space at near light speed, time moves slower than for someone standing still on Earth. In short, this theory demonstrated that our view of time, space and motion all depend on where we are and how fast we are moving. Everything is relative. Nothing is fixed.Einstein’s theory of relativity changed everything. Previously the world had been seen as a stage set on which nothing moved. Now, it was as though the stage was constantly shifting, and the sets were being changed and the props were being moved around. The map of reality was being redrawn. And it was no surprise at all to find out that many people struggled to accept it.When asked to explain the theory of relativity, Einstein said, “Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. That's relativity.”I speak of this because I am trying to demonstrate something of the strangeness and the wonder of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. His rising from death was the moment when absolutely everything changed. The Jewish people had expected that the Messiah would be a warrior-king who would lead the sons of Israel to victory. Even when Jesus explained to his disciples time and time again that he would rise from the dead, they could not understand what he was saying. Their picture of the world simply couldn’t fit that fact in.What was needed was an entire paradigm shift, a reordering of their reality. They would need to let go of the old certainties and embrace an entirely new vision of the world. Their thinking was far too small. God’s plan, you see, was not simply to overthrow the Romans and liberate the Jews. His plan was to redeem the entire universe through the conquest of sin and death.The Preaching of the ResurrectionIn the Book of Acts, whenever the early Christians get a chance to preach their message to anyone, they always include as a central fact the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Our reading today is an example of this and a very good summary of the early Christian message. What does the Apostle Peter say to his listeners?- He begins by telling them that God wants to reach everybody in every nation.- He speaks of Jesus preaching good news of peace, being baptised and anointed with the Holy Spirit, doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil.- He tells of Jesus’ crucifixion, that he was put to death by being hung on a tree.- ‘…but God raised him on the third day and made him to appear, not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.’- He has been appointed by God to judge the living and the dead, the prophets bear witness to him and everyone who believes in him will receive forgiveness of sins through his name.Doubtless, there is lots to unpack there but let’s consider this claim that Jesus was raised from the dead. Now Peter is not saying that Jesus’ corpse was reanimated and that he was just like a normal man walking around again. Something far more incredible than that had happened. Jes