By Jason, M.Ed., M.A.R., Headmaster
“I believe witnesses who get their throats cut.” – Blaise Pascal
I would like to issue a challenge to all skeptics: Try to think of a massive conspiracy in history where 12 ring-leaders maintained their storyline consistently in the face of the death penalty, refusing to recant even when threatened with beheading, crucifixion and being run through with a sword. I have a second challenge: Name one person who has been more universally regarded and admired over the past 2,000 years than Jesus of Nazareth. (Hint: The answer to both challenges is the same: "There isn't one.")
The point of the first challenge is to ask you to seriously consider the truth claims of the Gospels and indeed the whole New Testament. The second challenge should make you weigh why such a consideration should be valuable. Yet I have one more challenge before we proceed: Think of any movement, philosophy, value system, religion or political system which has no jerks, hypocrites, idiots and bozos in its ranks. Of course, there are none. Liberalism and conservatism, atheism and Hinduism, Islam and environmentalism, humanism and astrology all have deeply flawed followers. So does Christianity. It’s not fair to judge any belief system by the actions of its worst believers.
Of all of the religious texts in the world, the Gospels of the Christian New Testament (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) are unique: They alone claim to be eye-witness historical accounts of the life, death and resurrection of the Son of God. They are not philosophical speculations, accumulated myths, the sayings of a guru or a collection of rules and regulations. They are four accounts, two of which were written by men who claimed to be eye-witnesses (Matthew and John) and the other two claim to be based on eye-witness accounts (Mark and Luke). They were all written within 40-60 years of the life of Christ, their subject, and their authors faced severe persecution for their content. These men make it clear that they are writing what they claim are historical, reliable accounts.
Perhaps the most important thing to consider about the authors of the New Testament and the other men who first led the Church of Jesus Christ is how much they were willing to suffer patiently and humbly for their truth claims. These men died as martyrs, yet not as some today who strap on explosives and kill others in the name of their “god,” hoping for eternal, glorious pleasure. No, these men who led the first generation of Christians never formed armies or led men into battle. They never harmed anyone or forced their views on anyone. They testified to what they had seen and heard, and in response they were beaten, stoned, whipped, driven from their homes and towns, imprisoned and finally executed. Throughout it all, they had ample opportunity to change their minds. They could have denied; they could have recanted. Even good men who are telling the truth sometimes do. Ask Galileo.
Peter was willing to be crucified, asking to be hung upside down because he was unworthy to die like His Savior. His brother, Andrew, was also crucified, on an X-shaped cross that has become the national symbol for Scotland. Paul, a convert to Christ after initially persecuting the church himself, was beheaded. James, the son of Zebedee, was beheaded. Matthew, the Jewish tax-collector who became an apostle and a Gospel writer, was run through with a spear. Thomas, the doubting one who would not believe until he could feel Jesus’ wounds for himself, travelled to India to tell others about Jesus. There he was also run through with a spear.
Why did these men have to die? Why were they willing to die, unafraid? The answer to both questions is simple: They had seen Jesus of Nazareth, a man full of wisdom and power unlike anyone else, crucified on a Roman cross, laid in a stone tomb in grave clothes, and then raised again from the dead. Not only raised again from the dead, but they saw Him ascend into the sky and disappear into the clouds. Now this may seem ridiculous, too fantastic for our modern minds to take seriously. But these men claimed they had witnessed these events. They all said they had seen, heard, touched and dined with the resurrected Jesus, whom they then worshipped as their Savior and Master.
Yeah, but people have seen UFOs, too, haven’t they? I’ve seen very convincing accounts from people who say they have been abducted by aliens. My aunt swears that her horoscope is truly accurate and that her life is guided by the movements of the stars. What makes the Gospel writers any different?
Two things: First, large groups of people saw Jesus together, ate with him and listened to him teach after He rose from the dead. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15 that five hundred people saw Jesus at one time, and he adds that most of them were still alive at the time of his writing. It’s as if he’s saying, “Look, don’t just take my word for it. There are 500 people who saw Him all at the same time. Go ask them.” Second, no one had ever claimed to have seen anything similar before. In other words, the resurrection of Jesus was an unprecedented event. It was not a pattern that could be copied based on earlier similar stories. And even though I said two things, I’d like to remind you of a third: These men died for the truth of what they had seen.
I keep mentioning this because I am convinced it cannot be over-stated. Even if these were good and honest men, what would give them the courage to face death and not recant? It is significant to note that they died at different times and in different places, over a 30-year period of time (from AD 44 to 74) and on three different continents (Asia, Africa and Europe). You might imagine them all encouraging each other and standing firm if they died all together, all at once. But that’s not what happened, so they needed courage from somewhere else. Only if they had seen Jesus crucified and then raised again, conquering death and promising them the same victory – only then would they have sufficient hope and courage to face such deaths.
What difference does it all make, really? So what if Jesus did rise from the dead? Well, if Jesus did rise from the dead, then He was telling the truth when he said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet he shall live.” (John 11:25) And He was also right when He said, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but through Me.” (John 14:6) Having such a Savior, who has beaten death and who offers eternal life to all who believe in Him, makes all the difference in the world.
It certainly made all the difference for the leaders of the early church. Today we think of these men for their heroic preaching, daring travels and courageous deaths. Yet the day after Jesus died on the cross, they tell us they were hiding in the upper room of someone’s house, behind a locked door, fearful for their lives. Everything they had hoped for had come crashing to a sudden and bloody end. They did not know what to do. This is hardly the lot you would select to the turn the world upside down, to found the most successful religion in human history. The resurrection of Jesus changed all of that. Seeing their teacher and friend raised from the dead in a new and more glorious body filled them with such awe and wonder that they worshipped Him as Savior and God. It gave them such hope and courage that they spread the good news of Jesus from India and Ethiopia to Rome and Spain, all within 50 years and without an army or government support or a large, well financed organization.
For the world, the resurrection of Jesus has made all the difference, too. These days its trendy to criticize Christians and Christianity, but so much of what we love about civilization and take for granted in our lives came from the direct influence of Christianity in the world: schools, hospitals, orphanages, universities, widespread literacy, human rights, the abolition of slavery, the Civil Rights movement, modern democracy, modern science, women's rights and so much more.
The only question remaining: What difference does it make for you?