Can we really believe that Jesus was resurrected? Luke 24:36-48

 

Acts 3:12-19; Psalm 4; 1 John 3:1-7; Luke 24:36-48

We have great readings again today. In our reading from Acts, through the ministry of Peter, God has healed a man who was born unable to walk with the famous words, 

“I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!”

 The man was known to many people because he sat at the same gate of the temple, begging. This healing gave Peter the opportunity to explain how this healing came to happen- it authenticates his message about Jesus and his resurrection.

Our Psalm includes a call for relief from distress (v1), which is exactly what the man received when he was healed. It also says that the godly will be set apart (v3), which God has done in the disciples of Jesus, who have shown good to the people, and has turned the light of His face on them (v6) through this healing. For this man, and for all those who look on this miracle with wonder, they say to God- 

“You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound” (v7).

And in our reading from John’s first letter, we read that God has so loved us that he has made us children of God. Which puts us in a similar position as Jesus and the prophets found themselves in, being ignored, rejected, or persecuted. Ultimately, the children of God will be transformed to become more like God (!). But for this to happen, we have to reject sin (step 1). To know God is to know that sin is incompatible with life in God.

But we are going to spend our time looking at our Gospel reading today. Like many of the descriptions of the resurrection in the Gospel, we have an emphasis on the physical reality of the resurrection. They go out of their way to say that Jesus had a physical body. Last week we saw Jesus invite Thomas to touch the nail marks in his hands and to put his hand in his side (Jn 20). It is a body with scars. They see him. They touch him. They hear him. … It’s a bit confusing, though, because his body seems to have strange abilities. Sometimes people who know him very well, don’t recognize him (Jn 20:15; Lk 24:15-16). Jesus seems to suddenly appear in closed rooms - sometimes behind locked doors (Jn 20:26). He sits at dinner and suddenly he vanishes (Lk 24:31). … And yet, they don’t want to give up on this idea that he has a real and physical body. … For example, in our reading from Luke today Jesus appears to them and the disciples were “startled and frightened”. They thought they were seeing a ghost, so Jesus invites them to see his hands and feet and to touch him. He invites them to examine him. He has flesh and bones- he isn’t a ghost. He asks for food so he can show them that his body is real and works. He really isn’t a ghost.

At some point in the Easter season, it is good for us to consider what the Gospel writers are saying when they emphasize that Jesus had a physical, resurrected body. They are trying to tell us that this is not a myth. This is not a fairy tale. This is not hopeful thinking. This is not a hallucination. … They want us to know that Jesus was dead, and that he was resurrected. He wasn’t wounded and limping around like he had survived a terrible car accident. He was healthy. He was alive- More than alive. He had become something else. His resurrected body could do new and amazing things, but he was still very physical. The New Testament is unified in trying to communicate to us the stories of the witnesses of the resurrected Jesus.

So we want to honour those original witnesses, who wanted us to really understand the historical and physical nature of the resurrection… And, our society tends to rely on the authority of historians, so I think it is sometimes helpful to look at four things that historians agree about, and then think about the best explanation of those 4 facts. Historians who specialize in this time period overwhelmingly agree with the facts that I’m going to pass along to you (even those who are skeptical of Christianity). (I originally heard this described by William Lane Craig and also in the work of NT Wright).

The first fact is that Jesus died on a Roman cross. The Romans were very good at killing people. He really was dead. This isn’t controversial. We should put away any silly ideas that Jesus survived the cross. The Romans wouldn’t allow that.

The second fact is that the early disciples said they experienced the risen Jesus. There is an important distinction to make here. Historians aren’t saying that the disciples actually saw Jesus. They are saying that the disciples reported that they experienced the risen Jesus. This is the story the disciples were telling. … About 20 years after Jesus died on the cross, Paul wrote this in 1 Corinthians 15- “[Jesus] appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.” They reported Jesus appearing to individuals, like Mary Magdalene. They said he appeared to groups, like the Apostles, and also to large groups (like the 500 Paul mentions). He appeared to Paul, while he was an enemy of the Christians. … It wasn’t that the empty tomb made them believe. They knew there were plenty of ways to make a tomb empty. In the Gospel of John Mary Magdalene assumes that someone took the body, which would be the most natural assumption. No, they said they believed because they saw him alive.

The third fact is that the tomb was found to be empty. There is disagreement about how it got that way, for example the Jerusalem authorities accused the disciples of stealing the body. That accusation assumes that they agree that the tomb was empty. The easiest way to disprove the resurrection would be to come up with the body of Jesus- to put his dead body on display for everyone to see. The body of Jesus was gone- where did it go? … There is another interesting aspect to this. The gospels report that women were the first witnesses to the empty tomb, which is very interesting if we consider that women were not consider reliable witnesses (sorry, women). If this was a conspiracy put together by the disciples, it wouldn’t make sense to make the first witnesses to the empty tomb be women. They would not be the first choice in a fabrication designed to deceive. Surely you would want a more reliable witness in a culture that didn’t value the witness of women. It would be considered an awkward witness, at best.

The fourth and final fact is that the disciples of Jesus were strengthened as a community and were emboldened in their mission. This is strange because a first century Jew would have a certain image of the Messiah. He was supposed to be like a new King David who would destroy the enemies and unify the people and purify their leadership and worship. Among other things, the messiah would be expected to kick out Roman oppression. He would be a great military leader. But Jesus died by the hand of Rome on a shameful cross. There were others who claimed to be the messiah and when their leader was killed the movement died. The messiah had to live to become a new king to lead the people in a new golden age, like David did. A messiah who dies was a contradiction. … But the reality was that the followers of Jesus were strengthened and their movement grew. The followers of Jesus were willing to put their own lives in danger to spread their message. Many did die for that message- the message that Jesus Christ rose from the dead.

So we have these 4 fact that even skeptical historians agree on:

First, Jesus died on a Roman cross.

Second, the early disciples said they experienced the risen Jesus.

Third, the tomb was found to be empty.

Fourth, the disciples of Jesus were strengthened as a community and were emboldened in their mission.

Now we have to figure out what makes sense of all these historical facts. Whatever theory we have about what happened on Easter morning has to account for these facts. So, we might say, for example, that the disciples were hallucinating and were just seeing Jesus as part of their deep grief. But then how do we account for the empty tomb? … The best explanation is that Jesus was actually resurrected. Of, course you need to allow for miracles to be possible, and some aren’t willing to do that.

I know this kind of stuff isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. But I do think it is important that we take the witness of the early Christians seriously. They went to great lengths to let us know that Jesus really did come back from the dead- that he has a body. He is alive and he is still alive. That’s important because we want to believe in something real. We don’t want fairy tales and trickery to be the foundation of our belief. … He is really alive. AMEN