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Why I Believe in Easter

(Some of the items below are adapted from Dr. Paul Maier's book In the Fullness of Time and his article Reservations About the Resurrection? from this month's issue of The Lutheran Witness -- other thoughts are from Pastor Foote)

1.    The First Century Martyrs

I often have said, "It had to be that the first disciples were also the first martyrs."  It was their death that bore witness (recall that the word "witness" in Greek is "martyr") to the true nature of the resurrection.  All of the disciples, with the exception of St. John (and Judas who committed suicide - before the resurrection!!!), were martyred for their faith.  Paul Maier has a fitting saying, "myths don't make martyrs."  The earliest disciples would have never given up their life for a lie.  Yet they all died wrongfully and willingly, without abandoning their faith, because of the resurrection - they knew that they too would be raised from the dead if they died. They had seen Jesus alive with their own eyes. That truth changed them!

2.   The Change in the Disciples

Although there are limited extra biblical sources, the account of Scripture describing the apostles before Easter and after Easter is dramatically different.  Previously, the disciples were often times doubting, dumb, and deluded.  After Easter, and especially following Pentecost, the disciples went from fearful to fearless.  If Good Friday had been the end of Jesus life, one doubts that they would have been this zealous.  As Luke records the walk to Emmaus, those two disciples were downcast and despondent - that is, until they realized Jesus was walking with them on the road - alive! They soon became resonators of the resurrection!

3.   The Old Testament Prophecies of the Resurrection

This is an interesting point.  The prophecies of Jesus’ resurrection had to be almost covert or hidden in order to eliminate folks saying there had been corroboration to show that Jesus was alive.  And that understatement is exactly what we see in the Old Testament prophecies of Easter.  Many of them are muted, some are mysterious, and others are metaphors.  But put them all together and they show a clear picture that the Messiah would die and rise again. 

Below are some examples:

4.   The Fact That the Easter Tomb Was Empty

There is no arguing that Jesus was not in the tomb on Easter.  How do we explain the growth of Christianity in the first place, a faith which is centered on the death and resurrection of Jesus?  Since the Jewish religious leaders were intent upon destroying the Christian faith, they could have very easily disproved the entire thing by leading people down to Jesus’ tomb and showing them the dead Nazarene.  Since they did not do this, we are quite certain that the tomb was empty.  The fact that the Jewish leaders asked for a guard only further strengthens the case that there was, in fact, a supernatural resurrection.  If they would not have guarded the tomb, it would have been easy to say the disciples came and stole the body.  A few Jewish disciples were no match for 16 Roman soldiers.

5.   The Chaos of the Easter Record

People oftentimes point out the differences in the resurrection accounts between Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.  But instead of disproving the resurrection, this actually reinforces the resurrection.  We can see from the four varying accounts that there was no collusion in trying to arrange for a single report.  The differences in the accounts do not disprove that there was a resurrection, but they showed the value that the early Christians put on telling the truth as they heard it -- they did not try to change the eyewitness testimonies.

6.   Secondary references to the resurrection of Jesus

A first century Roman law prohibiting grave robbery was discovered in Nazareth of all places!  This could simply be a curious coincidence or a verification that Jesus was missing from the tomb on Easter. The Romans (possibly because of their guards’ testimony) might have been trying to accede to the Jewish religious leaders in regards to Jesus of Nazareth and his reported grave robbery (Matthew 28: 11 -- 15).  Josephus the first century Jewish historian says of Jesus,

At this time there was a wise man called Jesus, and his conduct was good, and he was known to be virtuous.  Pilate condemned him to be crucified and to die.  But those who would become his disciples did not abandon his discipleship.  They reported that he had appeared to them three days after his crucifixion and that he was alive.  Accordingly, he was perhaps the Messiah, concerning whom the prophets have reported wonders.  And the tribe of the Christians, so named after him, has not disappeared to this day.

7.  A Hopeless Faith Without a Resurrection

The core of the Christian faith is the forgiveness of sins.  Even without the resurrection, this teaching has meaning and value in life.  We could practice partial forgiveness in our daily life without Jesus’ death and resurrection.  But the forgiveness of sin takes on special meaning when we consider the resurrection.  The Bible teaches that everyone will be raised from the dead, even those who will not end up in heaven.  And that is of course the crux of the issue.  If there is a resurrection from the dead, then one would hope that the forgiveness of sins applies to life after death.  St. Paul wrote, "If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, your faith is also in vain."  Without the resurrection we don't really need Jesus to tell us our sins are forgiven.  But with the resurrection, forgiveness takes on an eternal significance!