Evidence of the Resurrection

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.  Then He appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.  Then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles.  Last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared also to me.  --1 Corinthians 15:3-8

 We all grew up with stories of men bigger than life.  King Arthur with his Knights of the Round Table is one.  Robin Hood and his Merry Men is another.  Unfortunately, we tend to lump the Bible and stories of Jesus and His Disciples in with these myths and legends.

History tells us that King Arthur probably never lived, but that the legend grew from a series of poems from Welsh and Breton sources dating back to the 10th and 11th centuries.  Then in the 12th century a man named Geoffrey of Monmouth wrote a fictional work called Historia Regum Brittanniae or "History of the Kings of Britain."  The Historia included tales of Arthur warding off Saxon invaders, and other stories grew out of this work.

Robin Hood was probably based on a real person who lived in the 12th or 13th century, but whose actual life was not as glamorous or romantic as the legend or stories or movies make him out to be.  The stores that grew out of his life were mythical, speaking to the needs of later generations.

Unfortunately, many biblical deconstructionists view Jesus in the same way.  He probably never existed, they say, or if He did, there is no real evidence of the miracles He performed or that He was actually physically raised from the dead.  They convince themselves that, like King Arthur and Robin Hood, the stories surrounding the life and death of Jesus were made up out of whole cloth, and that the mythology of His divinity has evolved over time.

I submit that the writers of the Gospels--Matthew, Mark, Luke and John--were all actual people, and that they wrote history, not just biography and certainly not mythology.  They were eyewitnesses to the events that they recorded, and that their testimony is true.

Continuing our reading of Mark 16:

Now when He rose early on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom He had cast out seven demons.  She went and told those who had been with Him, as they mourned and wept.  But when they hears that He was still alive and had been seen by her, they would not believe it.  After these things He appeared in another form to two of them, as they were walking into the country.  And they went back and told the rest, but they did not believe them.  --Mark 16:9-13.

If you read the fine print in your Bible, and take a look at the footnotes in most modern translations, you will see that some of the earliest manuscripts do not include these verses.  They were likely added later and may not have been included in Marks original Gospel account.  Critics will look at this and show it as proof that the story of Jesus is myth and legend, and that each retelling of His life added more to the original story.  However, they tend to ignore the fact that Mark's account does not in any way contradict the other Gospel accounts of Jesus.

Let's explore the mention of Mary Magdalene.  She was first to see the empty tomb, and John 20:11-18 fills out her story.  She was clearly distraught that Jesus's body was not where they had left it, and she wondered who would steal the body, and why.  She turns and sees Jesus standing before her, but does not recognize him through the darkness and her tears.  He speaks to her, and it does not register who spoke or what He said.  Wrapped up in her own grief and sense of loss, she confesses that she is seeking Jesus but does not know where to look.  Jesus spoke her name, and her eyes were opened.  When she realizes to Whom she is speaking, she falls at His feet and clings to His garment.  Jesus tells her to stop clinging to Him, and to go and tell the others where to find Him.

Laying aside the spiritual ramifications for a moment, that if we seek Him then He will make Himself known to us by opening our spiritual eyes, let's look at this narrative as an eyewitness account of one who saw Jesus alive after He had been crucified.  The previous narrative was that the tomb was empty, but that did not prove the resurrection as much as an eyewitness account of seeing Him alive.

One eyewitness was not enough, not in a Jewish court of law.  That may be why the disciples did not believe Mary Magdalene when she told them.  It was not until Jesus appeared to them in the flesh that they actually believed, and Thomas would not believe the testimony of 10 witnesses--he had to see for himself.

As for the two men travelling from Jerusalem to the village of Emmaus, about seven miles away: they were two men who could testify in a Jewish court that they had in fact seen the Savior.  Jewish law required two independent witnesses in any trial, and these two men fit the bill.  They had heard the testimony of Mary Magdalene and the other women who had seen that the tomb was empty, and had heard the angels testify of His resurrection, but these men were not sure what to believe.  Jesus appeared to them on the road, and explained the Scriptures to them.

Sometimes I wish I could know exactly what Jesus said in the parts of the Bible that do not go into such detail.  In this case, Jesus took the Old Testament, "beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself."(Luke 24:27).  I would have liked to hear that sermon, and see what Old Testament verses He shared that proved He was the Messiah.  I would also like to know what He told Peter when He appeared to him personally.  We know that Jesus appeared to Simon Peter exclusively, because when the men rushed back from Emmaus to tell the disciples what they had seen and heard, "they found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, saying, 'The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!'"  These words were not recorded; and if the story of the resurrection was a myth, certainly other authors would have later expanded the narrative to include what was said in these meetings--that's how legends work.

Do not doubt the Scriptures, for they speak Truth in our times.  Do not be like Thomas or like the modern biblical critics.  Repent and believe.  God will open your eyes to see Him.