“…He is not here, for He is risen…” Matthew 28:6 The Resurrection of Christ

INTRODUCTION TO THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST

Many would argue that the Resurrection of Christ is the most important event in the history of the world.  The Resurrection is certainly the most important event in the history of Christianity.  In this and following posts, I intend to review the fact of the Resurrection, its importance, its relevance and its impact on Christianity.  As always, these will be my thoughts and interpretations.  The reader is urged to take them into consideration only so far as they may be helpful to his/her own understanding of this momentous event.

In my posts numbered 12 and 13 (dated 08/31/18 and 09/07/18) I presented three ways of viewing or considering the Bible in contemporary society.  These different interpretations of the Bible are different from one another in many respects.  However, there is one fact in which they are in complete agreement.  That is, that without Christ’s Resurrection (in body and spirit), Christianity would be nothing other than a nice set of principles and platitudes.  And, that its core message, that Jesus was sent by God to redeem the world by His sacrifice, would have no authority.  The Apostle Paul attests to this when he says in 1 Corinthians 15:19, “…If our hope in Christ has been for this life only, we are of all people the most pitiable.”  No matter which Christian faith or denomination one may belong to, and no matter how one may interpret the Bible, to refer to one’s self as a Christian requires (in my opinion) a belief in Jesus’ physical and spiritual Resurrection.

SKEPTICS OF THE RESURRECTION

Of course, not everyone (then or now) believes (or believed) in the Resurrection.  Atheists don’t believe.  Agnostics may or may not as their individual inclinations lead them.  There are and have been people who do/have termed themselves Christian who do/did not believe in the Christ’s Resurrection.  One of the most famous of these was Thomas Jefferson.  Jefferson held a deep belief in God and in Jesus.  He even referred to himself as a Christian.  However, in his book “The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth” (published in 1820) he makes it very clear that he does not see Jesus as either the Son of God or as having been raised from the grave after His crucifixion.  Jefferson espoused much admiration for Jesus and His teachings but saw Jesus as an inspired prophet whose professed morals and exemplary life were to be admired and emulated, but which were not indicative (to him) of divinity.

Jefferson was not the only skeptic of Jesus’ Resurrection.  When Mary Magdalene came running back from the tomb on Easter morning to tell the frightened and cowering Apostles that Jesus had risen, they didn’t believe her.  Although Christ had told them numerous times (Matthew 12:39-40, 16:21, 27:62-64, Mark 8:31, and John 2:18-22, 10-17-18 are but a few of the times He foretold His death and Resurrection.) that He would die and rise again, they either didn’t understand Him or just plain didn’t believe Him.  At best some of them reacted to Mary’s news with skepticism.  Others disbelieved her altogether.  Thomas famously said, ”Unless I can see the holes that the nails made in his hands and can put my finger into the holes they made, and unless I can put my hand into his side, I refuse to believe.” [John 20:25]

In addition to the Apostles, others of the time did not believe in both the physical and spiritual Resurrection.  The group now referred to as the Gnostics (those possessing ‘secret knowledge’) appeared in the early first century AD.  They believed in Jesus and His teachings.  They even believed that He was the Son of God.  But they didn’t believe that Jesus had an actual physical body because in their belief system, the Son of God could never die.  Rather, they reasoned, He had constructed an image of Himself to be seen and to interact with the world. Their explanation of the crucifixion was that it was His created image that appeared to be put on the cross, and that the image was then allowed to give the impression that Jesus had died.  Meanwhile the actual Jesus stood by (unseen) and observed the crucifixion, disappeared for three days and then appeared to Mary when she approached the tomb.  Some Gnostic sub-groups even held that while Jesus did have a physical body, He was able to use His image to escape the crucifixion and ultimately travel to India where He lived out His earthly existence.  Other groups maintained that Jesus and Mary were subsequently married and relocated to southern Gaul (today’s France).  They also believed that Mary had at least one child with Jesus, and that His descendants still inhabit that region.  Gnosticism was one of the most popular heresies that erupted after Jesus’ death.  It peaked during the Middle Ages and subsequently declined.  But there are still adherents to this belief system today (This is a very brief summary of some of the beliefs the Gnostics held. There were many sub-groups which held differing views on this and other topics.)

REALIZATION AND BELIEF

So, if even the original Apostles didn’t believe that Jesus had risen, what turned them around?  And, what can we use to convince us today of His return?  The answer to the first question is that Jesus appeared to the Apostles (and others) on several occasions subsequent to His Resurrection.  [Matthew 28:17-18, Mark 16:12-18, Luke 24:30-31, John 20 and 21, and Acts 1] In each of these appearances He didn’t just “appear.” By that I mean that He didn’t appear as a vision or as some insubstantial spirit.  He manifested as a man of flesh and blood.  In some instances, he ate food with them.  In others He allowed them to touch and feel his body.  In all instances, He talked with them and they with Him.  Their connection with Him was as real and vital as it had been before He went into the tomb.  Talk about “seeing is believing!!!”  Jesus made sure that there was NO doubt in any of their minds that He had risen and that He was whole.

This wasn’t the first time the Apostles had seen Jesus raise someone from the dead.  He’d done it three times.  Jairus’ daughter was restored to life by Jesus (Mark 5:21-43).  Lazarus’ being raised from the dead was the most public and dramatic (John 11:1-44) of these events. And, He’d raised the widow’s son in Nain (Luke 7:11-17).  So, they should have known that He had the power to perform such miracles.  And, Jesus had told them that He would die and rise again (see above).  But it wasn’t until they saw, heard, and felt Him they finally understood what He’d been saying.  Then, they finally Believed!

The documentation we have for this event is as good or better than we have for many other events from antiquity.  We know of Caesar, Aristotle, or Plato only from their writings and the writings of their contemporaries attesting to their existence.  In the Bible, we have at least five independently written books that testify to the fact of the Resurrection.  And in Luke we have the testimony of someone who purposely took a scholarly approach to researching, cataloguing and reciting the events of Jesus’ life and teachings.  We have also other non-biblical references to Jesus, so we know that He existed.

The writings that were assembled into the Scripture have been researched time and again and found to be authentic for their time and their portrayal of Jesus and His life and teachings.  So, we can safely assume that the people who saw and heard Christ after his Resurrection were not suffering from some mass delirium.  These were real experiences which occurred over the course of approximately forty days after the Resurrection that testify to the reality of the event.

As to the second question, “… what can we use to convince us today of His return?” there have been many books written to answer it.  Some of them I have read and the conclusions they offer are compelling.  But for me, the most compelling answer is found in the lives the Apostles lived after Christ had ascended into heaven (and that includes Paul).  Let’s think about it.

Prior to Jesus’ crucifixion, I believe it safe to say that the Apostles’ attitude was one of great confidence.  They were so cocky that they started squabbling over which of them would get to sit at Jesus’ right hand when He came into power as the Messiah (Mark 10:35-40).  Then, when Jesus was undergoing His trial before the Sanhedrin and Pilate, they became so frightened and cowardly that they scattered like a bunch of quail to save their own hides!

And, that is the condition that Mary found them in on Easter morning.  Scared, huddled in a small room together and probably jumping at every outside noise since they were convinced that the authorities were coming for them next.  Jesus had died and with Him their dreams of earthly glorification and positions of power.  They were acting as cowardly as any bunch before or since.

But then, Mary burst in to their gathering with the Good News!  Jesus was not only alive but had said that He’d see them again soon!  I’m sure their attitude then moved to skeptical hopefulness while Peter and another Apostle went to see the tomb for themselves.  And, when Peter and the other Apostle returned to confirm that the tomb was empty their attitudes moved to truly hopeful (still confused, but hopeful).

Then, Jesus appeared to them (John 20:19-20) and their mixture of skepticism and hope turned to JOY.  What a relief!! Jesus had actually risen from the tomb and was there with them.  All that He’d told them had come true and now made sense.  For the first time, they began to comprehend who He truly was and what He’d truly accomplished.  And when He released them back into world after Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4), they attacked their new mission with a zeal that was, well, of Biblical proportions.

Here we have a group of men who went from huddling cowards to men whose courage, strength of testimony, living example, and miracles of their own changed the world forever!  They were truly “born again.”  These men did what Jesus told them and proceeded to spread His Word through the known world at a terrific pace.  And within just a few years, new Christian churches had been established from Rome to India.

THE CONCLUSION

People don’t change that much because of an idea.  They don’t change that much because of a story.  The Apostles wouldn’t have done the things they did and become the men they became for a piece of fiction, no matter how compelling.  To my mind the only thing that would have so dramatically changed and energized these men was an actual, real experience.  They saw, heard and touched Jesus after He’d risen from the grave, and they were transformed by the experience.  For me, THAT is the best evidence of the fact of the Resurrection.  You can’t fake the kind of fervor they had.  You can’t fake the miracles they performed.

And, you sure can’t convert people to a belief in Christ without an overpowering faith of your own.

God’s Blessings on You All.

Richard

September 28, 2018

P.S.  If these posts are helpful to you, please “Like” and “Share” them with others.  I’ve learned that we can never know who may need to hear God’s message.  All we can do is to share it with as many people as possible and let Him do the talking.

R