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Dear Father Paul

Dear Father Paul: Did the resurrection of Christ really happen? What's the proof? One of my professors says that the resurrection is a myth. — Anthony, Fayetteville.

Dear Anthony: You ask an excellent question, because if Jesus really did rise from the dead it means that he is, indeed, the Son of God and we owe him our love, worship and lifelong devotion. If he didn't, it means that he was a fake, a phony, and we owe him nothing.

The resurrection of Jesus from the dead is the central tenant of the Christian faith. His resurrection, not his treachings or even his miracles, is the reason why Christianity spread from a handful of disciples to include the vast majority of people in the known world in a short 300 years! Many historians have called the resurrection of Jesus the greatest single event in human history; "a boulder crashing into the pool of history," said one, "its widening circle of waves still having a momentous effect 2,000 years later." Others, like your professor friend, say the resurrection was a myth.

No serious historian would claim that Jesus never lived. Or that he was not a great teacher, prophet and miracle worker, or that he was not crucified; there is just too much historical evidence to the contrary. But was he in fact resurrected? Did he rise from the dead? What is the truth?

Most of the doubtors claim that either Jesus wasn't really ever dead, or that he was not resurrected, that something else happened. They claim that, if he did indeed die on the cross, that the Roman or Jewish authorities removed and hid the body or the disciples stole the body or finally, that the "so called" witnesses were simply "hallucinating." Let's look briefly at each of these.

Those who profess the "Jesus wasn't really dead" view say that Jesus was merely in some kind of "swoon" or coma when he was taken down from the cross. The problem with this view is that crucifixion was a form of execution, the very purpose of which was to kill the victim. It wasn't something anyone ever walked away from alive. The person died a slow and painful death by asphyxiation. In Jesus' case, he was flogged and beaten to within an inch of his life BEFORE he was even put on the cross. A written account from an eyewitness, the apostle John, says that Jesus was already dead when the soldiers came to break his legs, so that he could not continue to lift himself up to breathe (John 19:32-33). It is noted in the Bible also that Jesus was stabbed with a spear in his side and all of his blood ran out onto the ground. Finally, if we believe that he was placed in the tomb while still alive, we have to also believe that he could survive in the tomb for three days without food or water, that he was strong enough to roll away the stone weighing several tons which sealed the tomb, that upon leaving the tomb he fought and defeated several armed Roman soldiers sent to guard the tomb and finally, that he then walked a long distance to Emmaus with two disciples showing no signs of his ordeal. Not very likely.

The problem with the scenario of the Roman or Jewish authorities stealing and hiding the body is that it would have been very easy for the Romans or the Jews to simply produce the body of Jesus as proof he was still dead when the disciples began to claim his resurrection. They didn't produce the body because there was no body to produce.

The claim that the disciples stole and hid the body doesn't hold water either because later, when they themselves were threatened with execution, the disciples could have saved themselves easily by simply coming out with the "truth." All they had to do was to recant their resurrection story and produce the body; not one did. Does anyone seriously believe that all of the disciples would be willing to die for a lie?

Finally, the most powerful pieces of evidence for the resurrection of Jesus are the written eye-witness accounts of his appearances in the Bible. There are six independent written testimonies to his appearances alive by Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul and Peter. They record eleven separate appearances of a risen Jesus over a period of forty days. In 1 Corinthians 15:6 it is recorded that Jesus appeared to over 500 people at one time. Wow! It isn't very likely that all of these various appearances were due to hallucinations.

No, Anthony, I believe that any person with an open mind who looks at the evidence will conclude, as have over one billion people alive today, that Jesus did indeed rise from the dead. That he is the Son of God!

Here is an Easter prayer that I like a lot: Why not make it your prayer? "Lord Jesus, I declare that you are the ever living Son of God. Because you live, I live in hope of your soon return. By your life, death and resurrection I have victory over death, hell and the grave. Hallelujah!"

Happy Easter!

Father Paul Massey will answer your question. Write him at P.O. Box 510, Fayetteville, 30214 or paulmassey@earthlink.net