Why the Resurrection of Christ is more than just a story

In the decades before and after the life and death of Jesus, there were many different messianic movements in Israel. In almost every case the messianic leader was killed, for many by execution. After the death of the leader, each of these movements incredibly ceased to exist.

Everyone went home, and that was the end of it. And of all the many of these movements, only one did not stop after the death of its leader. It not only did not cease to exist, it literally exploded: within some 300 years it spread throughout the entire Roman Empire.

What makes the Christian faith different from all those messianic movements? Christians would answer that this is so because of what happened after the death of the leader of this movement. So, what caused such an explosive growth of Christianity after the death of its founder?

Jesus died in the middle of the day, and the Sabbath began at sunset. According to Jewish law, one is not allowed to work on the Sabbath, which then meant that Jesus’ body could have been buried that evening or the next day. Therefore, Joseph went to Pilate with the hope that he could bury the body in time. Joseph, although a Pharisee, showed great courage and independent thinking by asking for Jesus’ body. Mark writes:

“Pilate was surprised that He had already died, and, calling the centurion, asked him how long ago he had died? And, having learned from the centurion, he gave the body to Joseph. He bought a shroud and took Him off, wrapped him in the shroud, and laid Him in a tomb, which was hewn out of the rock, and rolled the stone to the door of the tomb. Mary Magdalene and Mary of Joseph looked where they laid Him.” (Mark 15:44-47)

From the way Mark tells us, the fact of the funeral was obvious: Pilate made sure that Jesus was really dead. Joseph of Arimathea is mentioned here as a clear witness to the one who actually wrapped Jesus’ body and laid it in the tomb.

A Roman centurion (who was an expert) witnessed Jesus’ death before Pilate (who had official authority on the matter). Finally, two women are listed as eyewitnesses to the funeral. Thus, a whole crowd of experts and witnesses could confirm that He was indeed dead.

For the first disciples, the resurrection was incomprehensible; they could not believe it, like many of us today. Of course, their reasons were different from ours. The Greeks did not believe in resurrection; in the Greek worldview, after death the soul gained freedom from the body. For them, Sunday was never part of life after death.

As for the Jews, some of them believed that in the future, when the whole world would be renewed, there would be a general resurrection from the dead, but they had no concept of an individual resurrection from the dead. The people of Jesus’ time were not predisposed to believe in the resurrection, any less than we are.

Celsus, a Greek philosopher who lived in the second century AD, was a great antagonist of Christianity. He wrote several works in which he listed arguments against the fact of the resurrection.

One of the arguments he believed in was that most narratives appeared this way: Christianity could not be true because written accounts of the resurrection were based on the testimony of women, and we all know that women are hysterical.

Many of Celsus’s readers agreed that this was a major problem for them. In ancient society, as far as you know, women were not given much importance; the testimony of women was never particularly credible.

Do you understand what this means? If Mark and other Christians were writing their narratives to start their movement from nothing, they would never have mentioned the women in the story as the first eyewitnesses that Jesus’ tomb was empty.

The only possible reason for the presence of women in these reports is that they were actually there and then reported what they saw. The stone was rolled away, the tomb was empty, and an angel announced that Jesus had risen.

What was the resurrected Jesus like? So the body of the resurrected Jesus had “flesh and bones.” He wasn’t a ghost. The disciples were able to recognize Him and touch Him. He talked to them. Could it be that they were all having a group hallucination?

No, because the disciples were not the only ones who saw and touched Him. Paul compiled a long list of people who personally saw the risen Christ, he wrote about it this way: “of whom the greater part are alive to this day” (1 Cor. 15:6).

Moreover, there must be some explanation for how a cowardly group of disciples transformed into a group of leaders. Many of them led a life of sacrifice, many were killed for teaching the resurrection of Jesus.

Jesus rose again, just as He told them. After He served his time in prison as a criminal and fully carried out his sentence, the law no longer had claims on Him, and He was released. Jesus Christ came to take upon Himself the punishment for our sins.

Oh endless condemnation, but He had to bear it completely, and therefore on Easter Sunday He went free. The resurrection was God’s way of stamping “PAID IN FULL” throughout history so that no one could miss it.

The Day of the Lord is the day on which God made all things true; the day when all the sadness has passed; and on that day the same will happen with your pain and sorrows. You will find that the worst thing that has ever happened to you will only serve you in the end for greater eternal joy.

On that day everything will be turned inside out, and you will experience unearthly joy. The joy of your glory will be much greater for every scar you suffer. Therefore, live in the light of the resurrection and rebirth of this world and yourself, in the glorious never-ending joyful dance of grace.

Tim Keller / Translation: bogoblog.ru

Source: https://ieshua.org/pochemu-voskresenie-hrista-eto-bolshe-chem-prosto-istoriya.htm