Did Christ Really Rise from the Dead?
April 4, 2021
The Incredulity of Thomas, Caravaggio; 1601-02
“OUR Lord’s resurrection is the strongest proof of His being what he declared Himself to be. If Christ is not risen, says St. Paul, our faith is vain and we are still in our sins. Christ’s resurrection is also a pledge of our own resurrection from the dead.
“The reality of Christ’s resurrection is substantiated by the most solid proofs that any historical fact can possess. In the first place Christ foretold His resurrection. It was known and feared by his enemies. See St. Matt. Chapters xii. and xxvii. on these two points. On that account they took every possible means to prevent it, and, if possible, to give the lie to His prediction and so discredit His teaching. That He rose as He foretold is a fact beyond all possible doubt. On the morning of the third day His body had disappeared from the tomb, though guarded by a band of soldiers.
“But, it is said, His body was stolen while the soldiers slept. Both were impossible. That they should have slept and not be put to death for it, and that the timid Apostles could have taken it while they were awake, either suggestion is childish.
“Modern disbelievers say that He had only swooned on the cross and had revived in the sepulcher. It is hard to imagine how He could revive, whose Heart was pierced with a spear and who was then embalmed, or how, if He had revived He could have removed the great stone with which the tomb was closed. This is in keeping with the other objections.
“The account of the Apostles [who themselves did not initially believe in his Resurrection] on the other hand is absolutely trustworthy. They were not deceived themselves, nor could they deceive others, even if they wished. They were not deceived themselves, because Christ was seen not by one person alone, or by a few, or a few times, but again and again, now to some and now to all the Apostles at the same time. They ate with Him, conversed with Him, touched Him, put their hands in His wounds, saw Him work miracles and at last He was seen by five hundred people at once. They were not credulous, they were the reverse, and the only consequence of their telling what they saw was to lose their lives for it. They were all put to death precisely because they were witnesses to His resurrection. To suppose hallucination in themselves, or a desire to deceive others in such circumstances is absurd.”
—- What Christ Revealed, Louis Jouin (St. John’s College, 1897); pp. 52-54
