Jesus' Resurrection

Tuesday's Times (April 6, 2010) carried a wire story about Pope Benedict's Easter sermon. The story said that Easter is the time "when Christ is believed to be resurrected." Happily, that belief is an historically solid one. A casual reading of the four gospels will show that Jesus earned some powerful enemies near the end of his life, enemies who wanted (and managed to get) him killed. After Jesus' death, he was put in a solid rock tomb with a huge rock closing the entrance. A guard of soldiers was posted outside the tomb, to make sure no one tried to get the body out.

This past Sunday Christians worldwide celebrated the fact that on the first Easter Sunday, Jesus' body was not in that tomb. What are the possible explanations? Is it possible that a disheartened band of 11 former fishermen and tax collectors could overcome soldiers and move a huge rock to drag Jesus' dead body out of the tomb? Unlikely; but even if they had, how long could they run around Jerusalem proclaiming that he was alive? Eventually someone would ask to see him; if the apostles could not produce a real, breathing, alive Jesus, the game would be up. If Jesus were not resurrected, those who helped get him killed could end the apostles' preaching by simply taking Jesus' dead body out of the grave and trotting it around the city center for all to see.

The best explanation is that a really dead Jesus was really raised back to life. Jesus said he would die for the forgiveness of sins and be raised on the third day. He completed the death and resurrection part; it is safe to trust him about the forgiveness of sins. Try a prayer to Jesus this Easter season; he lives, and he wants to start a relationship with you, and give you his eternal life.

For more information on the truthfulness of the New Testament and the claims of Jesus, read Josh McDowell's book More Than A Carpenter.

Rudy Poglitsh
rpoglitsh@live.com