Faces on Faith: Easter its holiest day for Christians
Christians around the world just celebrated Easter. Every religion has its beliefs and holidays, and for Christians the bodily resurrection of Jesus is a bedrock doctrine, and Easter its holiest day. But have you ever investigated the historical evidences for the resurrection? It’s a rather fascinating study. Consider three historical observations:
– Empty tomb: All the ancient eye-witness accounts testify to the empty tomb of Jesus. Interestingly, the first recorded eye-witnesses were women, whose testimony was — tragically — discounted in court at that time. Why put the empty tomb report on the lips of women unless it’s a historical detail? Further, Jesus’ opponents claimed Jesus’ followers had stolen his body; such a claim assumes an empty tomb. And had the body of Jesus still been entombed, anyone could have snuffed out Christianity in its inception by simply pointing out the body’s location.
– Unbelievable explanation: So why was the tomb empty? Jesus’ followers gave an incredible yet simple answer: Jesus was raised from the dead. The resurrection explanation didn’t evolve slowly over the decades and centuries but emerged immediately in the earliest records of the church’s existence. Not only that, but those who claimed to be the key eye-witnesses of the risen Jesus paid for that claim with their lives, making it likely they were sincere in their belief. This proclamation is particularly surprising given that neither contemporary Jewish theology nor Greek philosophy had a category for a resurrected man. In Jewish thought the resurrection awaited the final Judgment Day, and the Greco-Roman worldview saw death as a permanent separation of soul and body. The resurrection lay outside the plausibility structures of the ancient Roman world.
– New religion: The final evidence worth considering is the birth of the church itself. The church exploded into existence a few weeks after the events of Easter, in the very city where it all took place. The disciples stood before the citizens of Jerusalem proclaiming a risen savior, and the crowds believed in great numbers. The church went viral from there throughout the Roman Empire. Adherents came from all walks of life: Jews and Greeks, rich and poor, slaves and free. How does one make sense of a viral, resurrection-centric community?
Of all these evidences, the last one most affects me today. As I looked out over those gathered at my church for Easter a few weeks ago, I saw person after person whose lives had been radically transformed by that simple proclamation, unchanged over the centuries: the Lord is risen!
Pastor Jeramie Rinne is the senior pastor at the Sanibel Community Church.