The Resurrection Of Jesus….a historical event.

This is my testimony on how I became convinced of the Resurrection of Jesus. As a young boy, I had many questions regarding my beliefs and faith. And one of the major questions was did the resurrection of Jesus really happen? Was it a real event or a historical event or not? All of us can accept the fact that Jesus was a historical figure. The evidence for his historical existence comes from the religious sources i.e. the gospels and letters of the apostles (which form the testimonies of the 1st century people) and also, from secular evidences which include some passages referring to Christ from the writings of historians of those times, to mention a few like Taitus, Phiny the younger Sentonius, Lucian and Josephus Flavius. Apart from these writings some archeological discoveries have confirmed the historical existence of Jesus of Nazareth. The Encyclopedia Britanica Macropedia gives the details of this information.

But the major question that arises is did Jesus really rise from the dead? Well I haven’t done any “doctorate” but I did a careful research according to my capability in order to find answers at a time when I seriously doubted my beliefs. And I would like to share it with you in case it may be of help to you.

To know whether the resurrection of Jesus really happened we have to know whether Jesus was really dead or not. As we know the Gospels are the primary sources for our information about Christ. And we know that the Gospels clearly mention that he was crucified and dead. (Mt 27:45-50, Mk 15:33-37, Lk 23:44-46, Jn 19:28-30). The Roman historian Tacitus in his Annals 15:44 mention the following “……. Christus, the founder of the name was put to death by Pontius Pilate, procurator of Judea in the reign of Tiberius…..” The Jewish antiquity historian Josephus Flavious Writes the following concerning Christ’s death in Antiquites 18:3.3. “Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man …and when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal leaders among us, had condemned him to the cross…”

All the historians of that time agree that Christ was crucified. Even the Jews (…. To this today) agree he was crucified and died. And if he had not died then no one reported his being alive and of being seen amongst people except for the apostles and some 500 men who claimed to have seen Him RESURRECTED. As the gospels tell us that the Jews bribed the Roman soldiers to say that his body was robbed for they knew that his apostles would say that he is risen as he had said. (Mt 28:11-15). Many skeptics rose up in the recent 20th century and questioned the Resurrection of Jesus and put forth certain theories to dump this whole idea of Resurrection. But many defenders of the faith stood up to defend the beliefs. Below are some of the theories that try to outdo the fact of resurrection. After each theory a counter argument is given in defense of the belief.

1) Theory 1: Jesus survived death on the cross and only entered coma and after a few days when he recovered he was seen to be alive.
Argument: this theory sounds as stupid as saying like a person meeting with a serious accident and entering into a coma and recovering from physical pain within a few days approximately a week. The apostles claimed to have seen Jesus on the third day. Can you expect a wounded man (pierced with nails when it concerns Christ) to recover within 3 or 7 days? Also the soldier had pierced the side of Jesus. This was enough to make clear that he was dead. Even if he was alive (i.e. if he had survived death on the cross) it would take at least 6 months or more to recover.

2) Theory 2: the apostles were just hallucinating. They actually did not see Christ.
Argument: well, famous psychologists have proved that people do get hallucinations. But all psychologists or psychiatrists would agree that hallucinations are individual occurrences and not a group phenomenon. Two people getting same hallucination is almost impossible and at the most very rare. But the resurrected Christ was not experienced only by one apostle but all of them including the women and also about 500 people as St. Paul notes.

3) Theory 3: the man who was crucified was not Christ but somebody else who looked like Christ. Since Christ was arrested in the dark they could not recognize who he was.
Argument: this view is mostly held by the Muslims. Well they quote this event from the gospels (Jn 18: 1-12, Mt 26: 47-56, Mk 14: 43-52, Lk 22: 47-53). But they forget to mention that Judas had agreed to go with the soldiers in the garden and kiss the man (Jesus) in order to help the soldiers recognize the man whom they had come to arrest. (Mt 26: 47-49) secondly, though Christ was arrested in the dark, the sentence was passed on him in the morning, when there was enough light to recognize people, specially Jesus, whom the high priest and the Jews would easily recognize, since he had been to Jerusalem, preaching even in the temple, on many occasions (Jn 7:14-15, Jn 10: 22-24)

4) Theory 4: The resurrection is only a myth created by the apostles as a result of the depression caused by the loss of their beloved teacher.
Argument: well many people agree that there are various myths or legends. Many scholars have pointed out that myths take a long time to develop and get passed on to other generations. Calling the resurrection of Christ a myth is difficult and impossible because this news was widely spread within the life time of the apostles or within a few days after Jesus death and the contemporary people knew about it and so could refute it. The people of that time were not less skeptics as the people of today. However, instead of dying out as a myth, the resurrection news spread like a wild fire.

5) Theory 5: the resurrection which the apostles spoke of was the resurrection of the dead which is to happen on the last day and not merely a physical resurrection of a sole person. Or it was a kind of mystical spiritual experience.
Argument: this theory is also unsatisfactory. The apostles admitted that they had seen the physical risen Lord and not merely a “spiritual” one. They could touch him, feel him and even eat with him since the risen Jesus also ate with them. The wounds on his body were visible.

6) Theory 6: the disciples were telling lies. They robbed the body of Jesus and hid it somewhere and spread false news saying that he is risen.
Argument: well this theory / argument sounds good and very strong to prove the resurrection as false. But is it so? We all are aware of the empty tomb. The tomb was empty. There were special guards put to protect the tomb. The body was missing. But no one, either in those days, nor today, produced a body claiming it to be the body of Christ. No historian of that time records such a thing or event (i.e. to say that Jesus’ dead body was discovered). Moreover, the theory that apostles were telling lies can be dismissed on the grounds of their conviction of the resurrection and their faithfulness to it and perseverance in their confession even through severe persecution and trials for more than 300 years. All the apostles except one i.e. John, were martyred. They were killed not all together but one by one. The Act of the Apostles records the killing of James (the first martyrs among the apostles).
This should have been enough a threat to the apostles to utter the truth (if at all they were liars) or they knew their fate. But they did not give up. St. Paul writes in 1Cor 15 that they “had to stay naked, hungry men will die for what they know is truth, even though it may be a lie, but will never die for what they know is a lie and were tortured and persecuted yet they did not give up proclaiming the risen Christ. Christianity from its very beginning underwent suffering and hatred of the Jews and the Romans. Both these enemies of Christianity sought to kill any Christian they found in order to finish this movement. Emperor Nero is a well known persecutor of the Christians.
Thus no one could freely confess to be a Christian. Yet, many died willingly for the faith. Christianity had no status and honor. Thus those who say that the Christian martyrs gave their life in order to get honor could be wrong, because there was no guarantee (in human terms) that Christianity would survive unless they believed firmly that Christ had risen indeed and is the only Lord who would give them victory. Nor did the Christians begin any war nor picked up weapons to defend themselves, yes and I stress on it, they did not use any violent means (in the first 3 centuries) to defend themselves. Yet Christianity survived in the midst of all attempts to suppress and destroy it, Christianity survived. And that too was a miraculous event.
The apostles left everything and did not desire any fame or political status nor they had any “power hungry” intention, so why would they go through all these sufferings if Christ had not risen and they had not seen him?
Thus, these evidence point out that the resurrection was a real physical Historical event “that transcends history” (CCC 639 …) it is the resurrection that gives vibration to our Christian life and those who proclaim Christ. It is the very heart and soul of Christianity. This is why it is right to say Christ is “the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the father except through him” (Jn 14:6). This is why we must proclaim him. For no one did what Christ did and no one is what Christ is. If that was not so then he would not have commanded us to proclaim the good news to all creation. It is because of the resurrection that we can confidently say “for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son…..” (Jn 3:16)

So dear friends, the resurrection is a leaven for every Christian and the whole Christian community itself. This truth must enable us to proclaim the good news and denounce evil around us. And thus we should be able to become Leaven to the society as a faith witnessing community in service of others.

references

1. The New Encyclopedia Britanica, Macropedia, Vol. 22, (U.S.A. University of Chicago, 1991) , 360-376
2 http://www.en.wikipedia.orgg/wiki/Tantus-on-Christ
3 http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josephus-Flavious-and-Christ
4 The first letter to the Corinthians is the earliest known New Testament book dating to about 53. A.D. according to the manuscripts found.

5. Read more about hallucinations from http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallucination
6. Cf. Lk 24:33-43, Jn 20: 19-23, 1Cor 15:5

7. Emperor Constantine had a vision where a voice told him to use the sign of the cross to win the battle against the Eastern Roman Empire and defeated Emperor Maxentius at battle of Milvian Bridge in 312 A.D. He always attributed this victory to the “God of Christians” as he said and gave Christianity the status of the state religion and he himself became a Christian on the death bed. (cf. The World Book Encyclopedia, Vol.4, U.S.A. 1992, Pg 307).