The Incredulity of Saint Thomas, Caravaggio; 1601-02

THE Resurrection of Christ is most often thought of as a religious event, but it was first and foremost an historic event. Here is a brief summary of what we know from the New Testament accounts, which were consciously written as history and have as much authenticity as most universally accepted (by professional historians and laymen) ancient documents; from general knowledge of that era and from elementary interpretation of all this:

*Eyewitnesses described the crucifixion of Jesus in detail. John said that he saw blood and water pour forth from Christ’s lanced heart right before his death. (Jn 19:34-35)

*Roman soldiers faced the death penalty if they did not successfully execute someone condemned to death.

*Jesus’s body was handled and wrapped in cloth. Eyewitnesses testified that it was placed in a tomb covered with a boulder. Roman soldiers guarded the tomb. They would have faced severe penalty if they left it unguarded.

*Removal of the boulder would have been difficult to hide from the soldiers.

*Jesus appeared to the women who visited the tomb, the apostles and other disciples repeatedly in the weeks after his death. At one point, he appeared to a crowd of five hundred people. (1 Cor 15:3-8). The five hundred saw Christ at one time and in one place.

*The key witnesses were known to be moral and upright people. They were not criminals or con-artists.

*The disciples testified that they spoke with Jesus and he spoke back. They touched him, thus disproving the theory that he was a ghost or apparition. They said he ate a meal. At least two of the disciples were skeptical at first but were convinced by these encounters that Jesus was alive after having been dead.

*The disciples were fearful and cowering behind closed doors immediately after Christ’s death. They were transformed days later, becoming unafraid and publicly proclaiming the Resurrection. They devoted the remainder of their lives to telling others that Jesus had risen from the dead.

*The disciples chose death rather than deny that they had seen Christ alive.

*No body of Christ was ever produced by the Romans or Jews even though they were eager to denounce this new cult and its leaders.

*Within weeks of Jesus’s crucifixion, thousands of Jews proclaimed he was the Son of God and began changing their lives on pain of social ostracism and damnation if they were wrong.

*Jesus prophesied his own death and Resurrection on numerous occasions.

*Again, the Gospels were consciously written as history. They are filled with proper names, dates, historical events and details of that period.

*Paul’s letters were written within the lifetimes of witnesses to Christ and, while he was being hounded by the authorities, he challenged anyone to question the five hundred who had seen Jesus and verify their story.

Of course, many hundreds of millions of people have since believed in the literal fact of Christ’s resurrection, and an entire civilization arose on the foundation of that historical event.

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