Easter: Telling the Truth or a Tall Tale?
By Bob Rognlien
On the very first Easter morning Mary Magdalene burst into the house of Mary, the mother of John Mark, in southwestern Jerusalem and declared to the other disciples, “I have seen the Lord!” Later that night the male disciples were still hiding out in the upper room of that same house when the risen Jesus appeared to them, offering peace and showing them the marks of his crucifixion, proof he was their crucified Rabbi now gloriously transformed and forever alive. When Thomas showed up later that evening they told him, “We have seen the Lord!” (John 20:18, 25)
The Gospel accounts of Jesus’ resurrection offer eyewitness testimony that Jesus overcame death itself and was transformed into a new state of physicality that transcends life as we know it, offering an indestructible hope to all those who face mortality. But can that testimony be trusted? Luke tells us the male disciples’ first reaction to Mary’s report was to label it an “idle tale.” (Luke 24:9). Matthew tells us that “some doubted.” (Matthew 28:17) In the midst of a global pandemic with a daily compounding death toll in the tens of thousands, now more than ever Easter confronts us with this crucial question, did Jesus really rise from the dead?
After more than 30 years of studying the Gospel accounts, exploring the site of Jesus’ death and resurrection, and examining the archaeological and historical evidence, I am more convinced than ever that the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ resurrection are, in fact, credible and accurate. Here are some of the reasons I am willing to stake my life on it:
1. Geographical Accuracy: There is an ancient rock quarry that stood just outside the western city walls of Jerusalem. In the first century it was converted into an elite cemetery with expensive tombs cut into its rock walls. The quarry included a 20-foot high outcropping of unstable limestone which the stonemasons had left standing and the Roman’s adopted as their place of crucifixion, known to the locals as Golgotha, meaning “place of the skull.” One of the newly rock-cut tombs in this cemetery belonged to Joseph of Arimathea and was used to bury the crucified remains of Jesus. Each of the details of this physical setting match exactly with the description of the Gospel writers and show us the Easter story is not told in a fantastical setting but took place in an identifiable geographical context which we can examine still today.
2. Cultural Accuracy: The burial customs of Jews in first-century Palestine are well known to us through the thousands of tombs which have been excavated in Jerusalem. The Gospel accounts of the anointing and burial of Jesus accurately reflect those first-century practices. The recent discovery of a doubly sealed tomb in Jerusalem which preserved the first-ever discovered grave clothes of a first-century Jewish man, corroborates John’s description of the uniquely placed burial shroud and face cloth which the disciples discovered in the empty tomb. It demonstrates that these accounts fit the cultural practices of Jerusalem in Jesus’ time.
3. Forensic Authenticity: Every trial lawyer knows that a series of eyewitnesses whose sworn testimony in court aligns perfectly with each other are automatically suspected of collusion. Each person who witnesses the same events, especially when they are unexpected and emotionally charged, will come away with a slightly different perception of those events. When we read the four Gospel accounts, each one includes different details, some of which seem to conflict, although the substantial testimony of all three is the same: Jesus was verifiably dead, his body was sealed in a rock-cut tomb, that tomb was discovered empty on the morning of the third day, and he physically appeared to many credible eyewitnesses in different settings fully alive and gloriously transformed.
4. Unlikely Conspiracy: Matthew tells us the errant Roman guards who abandoned their post at the tomb were spared the punishment of death in return for spreading the story that Jesus’ disciples had stolen his body to stage his resurrection. The idea that Jesus’ resurrection was a carefully planned conspiracy falls apart on examination of the record. All four Gospels state that is was Mary Magdalene and the women disciples who discovered the empty tomb and first encountered the risen Jesus. In the first century a woman’s testimony was not admissible evidence in court because they were considered “unreliable.” Furthermore, the male disciples, including those who wrote and were quoted in the Gospels, are described as fearful and cowardly, hiding out in the upper room and doubtful of the women’s testimony. If these male disciples were going to construct a false story of resurrection, you can be sure it would have played very differently!
5. Costly Testimony: Of the hundreds who witnessed Jesus’ resurrection, it was the core eleven disciples who went on to lead the movement that quickly spread across the Mediterranean world and beyond. At the heart of the Good News they proclaimed was their testimony that the same Jesus who was brutally executed on a Roman cross, physically appeared to them fully alive again. According to a combination of biblical accounts and early church tradition, ten of these eleven men ended up being tortured and executed for their testimony of Jesus’ resurrection. If you claim to be an eyewitness of something, you know conclusively whether it is true or not. No one in their right mind would be willing to die a torturous death for something they know is a lie! I believe the consistent and unwavering witness of those who actually encountered the risen Jesus is the greatest evidence that it actually happened!
In my recent book, Recovering the Way, I summarized this convincing evidence in the following paragraph, “No first century Jew would make up a story that was first witnessed by women who put their male counterparts to shame. No Roman guard would allow a sealed tomb to be opened and robbed when he knew his depended on preventing it. No grave robber would carefully unwrap and rearrange valuable grave cloths, leaving them behind in the tomb. No ghostly apparition would touch those to whom it appeared and eat food with them. No impostor would bear the wounds of the cross and be able to appear and disappear at will from a rock tomb and locked rooms. No conspiracy would ever promote and maintain a lie that consistently resulted in poverty, persecution, and painful death for themselves and their loved ones over many years. When we look at the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ resurrection in the light of archaeology, history, and culture, we see that it constitutes clear and convincing eyewitness testimony that Jesus died, rose from the dead, was gloriously transformed, appeared to many of his disciples, and ascended into heaven.” (page 335-336).
There is no teaching of Christianity that has more significance than Jesus’ physical resurrection from the dead. The Apostle Paul wrote, “if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.” (1 Corinthians 15:14) Of course, the corollary is also true, if Christ HAS BEEN RAISED then everything has changed! Everything else Jesus said and did is validated by this unique historical event. If Jesus’ resurrection is true, then he alone has the authority and power to help us face death and overcome. The more confident we are in the resurrection, the more faith we will find to follow Jesus, even in the face of global tragedy. The Good News of Easter is this is not an “idle tale” but absolute historical and theological truth. Paul, who also encountered the risen Jesus, says, “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” (1 Corinthians 15:20). I pray this Easter, of all Easters, your confidence in Jesus’ resurrection will grow so that you will find greater faith to follow in his footsteps.
(For a more in-depth account of the evidence for Jesus’ resurrection, read Chapter 12 of Recovering the Way.)