Evidence for Jesus’ Resurrection, Part 3

In all four Gospels, guess who the first people are to discover and talk about the resurrection of Jesus?  The Disciples of Jesus, right?  No! 

It wasn’t the men; it was the women followers of Jesus who discover the resurrection.  The fact that all four gospel writers specifically describe that it was women followers of Jesus who first discover and talk about the resurrection is evidence for the veracity of the resurrection. How is this evidence in support of the resurrection of Jesus? 

Because in the first century Greco-Roman Empire, women’s testimony was not considered valid.  When the Gospel writers, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, told the story of Jesus’ resurrection, if they wanted to be more readily believable, they should have ignored the part of the women being the first to find the empty tomb, meet Jesus, and tell the disciples about it.  The authors of the Gospels should have just skipped right to the part where the male disciples find out.  In fact, the Gospels writers could have told the story like that truthfully.  Not including details is not lying.  Every author chooses to include some details and skip others. 

By including the women’s testimony as the first, the Gospel writers actually made the story potentially more difficult for people in that day to believe.  Why did they do that?  Because it was true.  Jesus really did rise from the dead and first met with the women.  That’s what happened.  By including the women, the Gospel writers took a more difficult path, which is evidence they were convinced of its truth.  There was no need for them to change or ignore any details.  They were assured of the truth of what they wrote.

Another piece of evidence for Jesus’ resurrection is that he appeared to numerous people.  The women, the disciples, his brother James, and many others.  Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15, verse 6, that the risen Jesus appeared to more than 500 people at the same time.  And, Paul says, many of those people were still alive decades later when he wrote that letter.  What Paul is saying is that there are people who can verify this account.  A lot of people.  Paul wants his readers to know that the resurrection of Jesus was not just a fantasy story.  The resurrection, Paul says, is a factual story, a news story, a historical event that was verifiable by many eyewitnesses. 

Thirdly, consider what the disciples did in the years to come.  Every single one of them would passionately give their lives to the mission of Jesus.  They would face persecution from the Jewish religious leaders in Jerusalem and Palestine, and from Roman officials across the Empire.  They would travel all over the known world to talk about Jesus’ resurrection, inviting people to follow Jesus, start churches. During those missionary trips, they often faced physical bodily harm.  They were beaten, stoned, jailed, crucified upside down, martyred.

Who would do that if they knew that Jesus didn’t really rise from the dead?  People do give their lives for a lie.  But it is counter-intuitive.  

In my view, the Apostle Paul is a particular interesting case.  He did not get his start as a Jesus follower. Instead, Paul came along later. He was a Pharisee, and a very passionate Pharisee at that.  So when the early Christian movement started growing, Paul shows up and is determined to shut the Christians down.  He was persecuting them.  Rounding them up and putting them in jail or killing them.

Then something happened.  Paul does a 180.  Suddenly he is preaching Jesus as the risen one, the truth.  Why?  The account in Acts 9 tells us the risen Jesus appeared to Paul in a vision.  That changed everything.  Jesus changed everything.  Paul now realized that what the early Christians had been claiming all along was true.  Paul would give his life, his body, and eventually be killed for Christ.  Why?  For a bad dream?  For a nightmare?  No.  He met Jesus, and Jesus was alive. 

Photo by Jonny Gios on Unsplash