Did Jesus Rise from the Dead? I have heard people talk about the ancients as if they were gullible and naïve. Maybe they believed in the resurrection because they were not as sophisticated and scientific as we are? This type of snobbery against anyone who happened to live in a time other than ours is unjustified. They knew that people didn’t just “rise from the dead” and would not believe wild stories about it anymore than we would. They would be skeptical. In fact, St. Thomas refused to believe when the other disciples were describing Jesus’ resurrection unless he saw him and touched his wounds. Yet, the disciples did all come to believe that Jesus rose from the dead. Why is that? The simple answer is that it was and is more reasonable to believe in the resurrection than not. This is not an exhaustive list of reasons, but I hope it will give you something to think about.
1. Jesus Really Died I have read some books and opinions such as “Holy Blood, Holy Grail” and “The DaVinci Code”. They propose that Jesus didn’t really die. Instead, Jesus faked death but was revived afterwards by his disciples. There are so many problems with this theory. First and foremost, the Romans knew how to crucify people and they were good at it. People died during crucifixion. Also, how would a half dead Jesus inspire confidence in his disciples who revived him? They might run and escape, but they wouldn’t boldly preach and go to their death for him. Jesus needed to truly die in order for the resurrection to matter and inspire the disciples to boldly proclaim Jesus as Messiah – and that’s what happened.
2. Jewish Burial Customs The Gospels describe various Jewish burial customs that were accurate historically. After someone died, their friends and family members would wash the body, wrap the body in linens, and anoint with a good quantity of myrrh, aloes, and other perfumes (Nicodemus gave 75 pounds to be used). Then they would place the body in a small tomb for a year. After a year, they would gather the bones and bury them in a sarcophagus permanently. The women who went to the tomb were following these burial customs and they all knew he had died. Since Jesus died just before the Sabbath, the women waited until afterwards before bringing the oils for anointing. This was not only to give honor to the person, but a way of honoring the sacredness of the holy land that God gave to Israel.
3. The Empty Tomb Soldiers were posted in front of Jesus’ tomb. By ancient law, if a soldier fell asleep at their post, that would be considered a capital offense and they could be executed. Afterwards, when Jesus’ body was gone, the soldiers and the authorities claimed that the body was stolen after the soldiers fell asleep. There are a few issues with their theory. First of all, since falling asleep at a post was a capital offense, they had a good incentive to perform their duties as required. Secondly, how would the soldiers know the body was stolen if they were asleep? Thirdly, going to the tomb and rolling back a huge stone was not something that could be done stealthily. The tomb was empty, but not because the body was stolen.
4. The Condition of the Disciples: The disciples just witnessed their Lord and Master crucified. They were defeated and in hiding. They were hardly in a position to steal bodies from trained soldiers, make up stories about a resurrection, and go to their death defending a story they didn’t believe. Something must have happened that emboldened them to proclaim the resurrection and die for Jesus and his Gospel. The best answer to why the disciples responded as they did is that they experienced the resurrection of Jesus and afterwards boldly proclaimed that reality.
5. The Details: The details do not follow what you would expect from a made-up story. Women in that day would not be considered credible witnesses, yet the Gospels claim that they were the primary witnesses of the resurrection. The fact that many didn’t recognize Jesus in his resurrected body is not something that would have been included if the story were made-up. A “folded” headpiece not only demonstrates that a robbery didn’t take place, but it is also a detail that shows that the resurrection was not rushed. The descriptions of Jesus “not being a ghost,” eating, and having his wounds are details that are different enough to sound credible. Someone making up a story would have done it differently.
6. Conversions and Testimony: Roman and Jewish historians such as Josephus, Tacitus, Suetonius, Pliny the Younger, and other later traditions seem to repeat the practices of Christians and the reality of Jesus. Even though extra-biblical history is not abundant, it is interesting that what does exist doesn’t claim to deny the resurrection. What is known is that the history of the New Testament matches up with what came to be later. Many works were written around and after the time of the New Testament writings. Much of this was based on the testimony of the witnesses of the resurrection. The women and the disciples were primary but not exclusively the only ones who saw the risen Jesus. St. Paul alone in 1 Corinthians 15:6 states that Jesus appeared to more than 500 disciples at one time, and they could still be contacted to verify his statement. Christianity took off as a movement and eventually became the official religion of the Roman Empire within three hundred years and spread outside of the empire. The number of conversions were huge considering it was illegal to even be Christian during that time. It’s also remarkable that the conversions were not imposed from political or military leaders but through grass root testimony.
7. The Most Reasonable Answer Today we are asking a question that has been asked for 2,000 years. Is it reasonable to believe that Jesus rose from the dead? Did he rise from the dead? I have given a purposely brief explanation to show you why it is more believable to say he rose from the dead than to say he did not. There is much more that could be written. I think a better question could be: How could everything that happened be possible otherwise? If Jesus had not risen from the dead, his body would be in a tomb, the disciples would have left defeated, and Christianity would have died with Jesus. But his body was not in the tomb nor found, the disciples believed and proclaimed the risen Christ, and the witnesses and testimony helped Christianity spread in an unprecedented way. The most reasonable explanation for all of this is that Jesus rose from the dead.