Christ is Risen! He has risen indeed! We shout out this declaration of faith every Easter. As I said last week, this thunderous confession from the mouths of God’s people is one of my favorite parts of worship during the Easter season. Everything that we are; everything that we stand for; the very essence of our faith is summed up in this profound and yet simple confession, “Christ is Risen!” But how do you know? I mean you weren’t there. You did not feel the ground quake on Easter morning. You did not see the stone tossed aside. You did not hear the angel say, “do not be afraid”[1]. And you did not stand in the presence of our resurrected Savior. So how do you know that Christ has risen? How do you know that He has risen indeed?
Unless you are an eyewitness observer of an event, how can you be sure it really happened? That’s the question Thomas struggled with. He had heard the story that Mary Magdalene and the other woman told about the risen Savior outside the empty tomb early in the morning. He had heard from his fellow disciples all about the appearance of the risen Savior as they gathered behind locked doors later that same evening. For a week his fellow disciples kept telling him, “We have seen the Lord!”[2] But Thomas remained skeptical. He told his friends, unless I am an eyewitness observer to these things how can I know they really happened? A week later, Jesus addressed Thomas’ skepticism. The risen Savior stood before Thomas and said, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”[3]
Thomas got what he needed to overcome his skepticism. He became an eyewitness observer to the event and was therefore sure that Christ had risen, certain that He had risen indeed. But what about you? The risen Savior has not stood in front of you. He has not offered you His nail pierced hand or spear pierced side for the poking. So how can you know that Christ is risen? How can you know that He has risen indeed?
Take another look at verses 30 & 31 of our Gospel lesson from John 20; there our risen Savior addresses the skepticism of those who are not eyewitness observers of the event. Saint John writes, “30 Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book.” There are about 35 different miracles recorded in the gospels. It is kind of cool to think Jesus performed “many other” miracles that we don’t even know about. The ones we do know about, saint John tells us “are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”
Saint John tells us “these are written that you may believe”. Our Savior has left a written record of His resurrection. But how does a written record of Jesus’ resurrection help you overcome your skepticism? Well, think about it, how do you know anything from the past is true? If you were not there to be an eyewitness observer of the event, how can you be sure the event happened? For example, how do you know Bo Jackson was one of the greatest athletes of all time? How do you know he won the Heisman trophy in 1985, rushed for over 4,000 yards and was inducted into the college football hall of fame? How do you know that in 1986 he was drafted by both major league baseball and the national football league? How do you know he was a baseball MVP all-star who hit 141 homeruns and had a .474 batting average? How do you know he averaged 5.4 yards per carry on the football field? If you weren’t there to witness these things how do you know they happened? You know because there is a written record of these events. Simply google “Bo Jackson” and in less than a second you will have access to a plethora of written records verifying that what I just told you about Bo Jackson is true.
Now, of course not everything you read is true; not every written record is reliable. So how do you know which written records you can trust? Well there are some very basic principles that most historians use when evaluating a written record in order to determine the historicity of an event, that is whether or not the event actually happened.
Let’s apply some of those basic principles, the same ones we might use to verify Bo Jackson’s batting average, to the resurrection of our Savior. For just a moment, let’s pretend the Bible is not the Word of God. Let’s pretend it is not as Paul says in 2 Timothy 3:16 “God breathed”. Let’s pretend the men who wrote the bible were not, as it says in 2 Peter 1:21, “carried along by the Holy Spirit.” Let’s pretend that the bible is not the very “words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words” as it says in 1 Corinthians 2:13. Instead lets, just for a moment, treat the bible like any other historical document. Let’s then apply the basic principles historians use to evaluate the historicity of the Easter event.
One of the first things a historian will look for to determine the historicity of an event are eyewitness accounts of the event. The historian will want these witnesses to be firsthand witnesses; there is a higher degree of reliability attached to a document that records the accounts of eyewitnesses. The historian will also be looking for multiple independent sources of the event. One witness describing an event three times is not as valuable as three witnesses describing the same event once.
So, let’s apply the historical principle to the written record of our Savior’s resurrection. In Matthew 28 we have a written record of the risen Savior appearing to a group of women outside the empty tomb. In John 20 we have a written record of the risen Savior appearing separately to Mary Magdalene outside the same tomb. In Luke 24 we have a written record of the risen Savior breaking bread with two disciples who were traveling to Emmaus. Also, in Luke 24 there is an additional written record of the risen Savior appearing to Simon. Still in Luke 24 there is yet another independent written record of the risen Savior appearing to the disciples without Thomas and then in John 20 there is a written record of the risen Savior appearing to the disciples with Thomas. Further, in John 21 there is a written record of the risen Savior appearing to seven disciples who were fishing on the Sea of Tiberias. Finally, in 1 Corinthians 15 there is a written record that states the risen Savior appeared to more than 500 brothers at the same time. I think even the most skeptical historian would say this is a sufficient number of independent firsthand eyewitness to validate the historicity of our Savior’s resurrection.
But to be sure, let’s compare our Savior’s resurrection to another historical principle. A very persuasive piece of evidence for the historicity of an event can be found in the reactions that opponents have to the event. We have a written record of such a reaction in Matthew 28:11-15. In that record we are told Pontius Pilate, who openly demonstrated that he was no supporter of our risen Savior, stationed two Roman guards outside the tomb where Jesus was buried. According to the written record, when those guards saw the angel who told the women that our Savior had risen, they ran away, well first they fainted and then they ran to tell the chief priest that Jesus had risen. Upon hearing this news, the chief priests, who even more than Pontius Pilate demonstrated that they were not supporters of our risen Savior, bribed the Roman guards to say that the disciples stole Jesus’ body away. Now, why would these opponents of the resurrection do that unless the body of Jesus had risen? Think about it. The fact that they concocted a lie to cover up the resurrection is evidence that the resurrection happened. Otherwise, why not just refute the claims of our Savior’s resurrection by giving daily tours of His tomb where people could see His rotting corpse with their own eyes? Again, even the most skeptical historian would have to admit the reaction of the chief priests is a very persuasive piece of evidence in support of the historicity of our Savior’s resurrection.
But, for the sake of certainty. Let’s compare our Savior’s resurrection to one more historical principle. An element that adds credibility to the historicity of an event can be found in the details of the written record; specifically, those details that are less than flattering for the witnesses of the event. Typically, when people recount events, they tend to gloss over the parts that make them look foolish. So, when an event includes embarrassing admissions it demonstrates a willingness to tell the truth.
There are several embarrassing admissions included in the written record of our Savior’s resurrection, so many in fact it is hard to know where to begin. We could start in the garden of Gethsemane where the disciples admit that they ran for their lives and abandoned Jesus to the temple guards. Or we could go to the courtyard where Peter admits to calling down curses on himself, so people don’t associate him with Jesus. But maybe we should just focus our attention on the embarrassing events most closely associated with the Easter event. Like Mary Magdalene thinking that the King of kings and LORD of lords was a gardener. Or how the two disciples on the road to Emmaus who accused the all-knowing God of being the only one in Jerusalem who didn’t know what had happened to Jesus. Or how about the events of our gospel lesson for today where Thomas crudely states, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.”[4] Once again, even the most skeptical historian would have to admit the admissions of these embarrassing details adds credibility to the historicity of our Savior’s resurrection.
I could apply more basic principles to evaluate the historicity of our Savior’s resurrection, but that’s probably enough for now. The reason I have spent so much time talking about the historicity of the Easter event is because I want you to know that your faith in our risen Savior is not illogical, it’s not irrational, and it is not unreasonable. Even if you simply treat the Bible as a historical document, the evidence for the resurrection of our Savior is convincing. If you are merely willing to grant the Bible the same amount of reliability as you grant Wikipedia, you can be confident of your confession. Then when you remember that these things that are written are God breathed to men who were carried along by the Holy Spirit so that we can have spiritual truths taught by the Spirit, you can believe beyond a shadow of a doubt that your Savior Jesus has indeed risen from the dead.
Our risen Savior preserved a written record of the Easter event in order to overcome your skepticism so that you “may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” Your salvation is the reason our Savior preserved a written record of His resurrection. Jesus did not become flesh, endure temptation, and suffer the wages of sin so that He could get a t-shirt that says, ‘been there done that’. Your Savior preserved this written record of His resurrection for you. He did it so that you would believe that true God became also true man for the specific purpose of paying for your sin and purchasing your salvation with His death on the cross and with His resurrection from the dead He proclaimed victory not only over sin, death, and the devil but over skepticism as well. Our Savior preserved a written record of His resurrection so that you could confidently confess, “Christ has risen!” “He has risen indeed!” Amen.
[1] Matthew 28:5
[2] John 20:25
[3] John 20:27
[4] John 20:25