Pastor Nathan Peeler Monticello Church of Christ
Last week we gave the first two reasons I believe in the resurrection: 1. Jesus died by crucifixion and 2. Jesus’ tomb was empty. 3. Eyewitness testimony When recreating an event which you were not present for, one of the first things you look for is eyewitness testimony. The more eyewitnesses you have the better. While their stories will often differ at several points, if they are telling the same basic account then you can generally recreate what happened with accuracy. Multiple eyewitness accounts affirm they saw Jesus after He died. Several women (Mt 28:9-10; Jn 20:11-18), the eleven disciples (Lk 24:36-43; Jn 20:19-31; 21:1-25) and 500 brethren at one time (1 Cor 15:6) just to name a few. Jesus appeared to his followers over a period of 40 days, giving them much convincing proof that he was alive after his sufferings (Acts 1:1-4). There are sometime slight differences in their stories, but that is to be expected and does not cause a problem. As a matter of fact, it would be a problem if all the accounts said the same thing because it would point to a coerced effort to “get the story straight.” 4. Embarrassing admissions support historical claims While many view the gospel as inspired (as I do) there is good reason to view them as historically accurate even if you do not think they are inspired. One thing historians look for in historical documents is embarrassing admissions. If the author admits something that is embarrassing or hurts their cause, then it strengthens the claim they are recording accurate history. Do the gospel accounts contain embarrassing details? The answer is yes. We will only focus on two. First, all the gospel accounts agree that the women were the first witnesses of the empty tomb and Matthew and John inform us that they were the first to witness the resurrected Lord. This would have been an embarrassing detail in the 1ST Century. In that day and age women were not considered to be reliable witnesses and could not give testimony in a court of law. They were second-class citizens in most of the world, not being able to hold jobs or own land. Jesus’ treatment of women with honor and respect would have been surprising in that day and age. If you were making up a story, would you pick such a group of individuals as key witnesses? Indeed not, knowing most would not have given any weight to their testimony. The only reason you would record this was if it really happened this way. Second, the disciples were slow to believe in the resurrection. Most of us think of the disciples very positively. They were bold in the book of Acts and rejoiced when they suffered for Christ (Acts 5:40-42). They wrote most of the New Testament (with the exception of books like James and Jude) and were the first to announce the terms of interest into the Kingdom of God. However, they were slow to believe the resurrection. When the women brought the news back about the empty tomb they thought they were crazy (Lk 24:10-11, 22-24). When Jesus first appeared to them, they thought he was a ghost and only believe after touching him and witnessing him eat something (Lk 24:36-43). Thomas was not present for Jesus’ first appearance and said he would not believe until he saw Jesus and touched his wounds (Jn 20:24-25; which he did in Jn 20:26-29). Why make the leaders of your movement look so bad if it did not actually happen this way? The embarrassing details bolster the historical reliability of the gospels and gives good evidence for the resurrection.
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