The resurrection of Jesus could explain the changes of these people – Paul, Peter, and James – very naturally. However, there are many other people who has changed because of Jesus’ resurrection.
There are around 2 billion Christians in this world today. Jesus’ crucifixion happens more than two thousand years ago. What ignited the fire for the first century Christians to spread the story about Jesus, which always has Jesus’ resurrection at the center of their message?
The gospel of Matthew tells us that when Jesus was arrested, “then all the disciples deserted him and fled”. The disciples did not have the courage to stand against the authorities who were arresting Jesus but left Jesus and ran to safety. Some return to their past lives’ work of fishing, and some huddled away and hid behind locked doors because of fear of the authorities.
What changed these disciples so that within a few weeks after Jesus' death that they declared to everyone that Jesus was resurrected even though they had to face the possible persecution from the authorities?
I think the answer could be very simple: They know that Jesus truly resurrected, because they saw him!
At this point, I would like to go back to our previous discussion about the empty tomb. I think we should be fairly confident that Jesus’ tomb was indeed empty, shouldn’t we? If Jesus’ tomb was not empty, the disciples’ message about Jesus’ resurrection would be quickly dismissed. How could Jesus resurrect if his body was still inside the tomb? No doubt the disciples would have checked it! Even the disciples themselves would not believe Jesus’ resurrection if his body was still inside his tomb.
How can we explain the resurrection appearances and the empty tomb if we insist that Jesus did not resurrect?
Many explanations have been proposed. There is the Apparent Death Theory, which hypothesized that Jesus did not really die on the cross. We discussed this hypothesis before. It is not plausible both medically and logically.
Another theory is the Theft Theory, which claims that someone stole Jesus’ body. We discussed that too. Actually, the best it can do is to explain how Jesus’ tomb was empty. It tells nothing about the resurrection appearances.
To explain the resurrection appearances, I think the most popular theory that opposes the biblical explanation is the Hallucination Theory. It claims that the people who saw the resurrected Jesus did not really see what they thought they saw, but just an illusion. We discussed that too. It is just impossible for so many people under so many different circumstances to dream the same dream!
Although it sounds quite contrary to common sense, the resurrection of Jesus is the best explanation to his empty tomb and his appearances after his crucifixion. The miraculous changes of the first century Christians, including Peter, James, Paul, and Jesus’ disciples can be readily understood by the appearances of the resurrected Jesus.
Historical facts, including the empty tomb and the dramatic changes of the first century disciples, are basically undeniable. I think we should at least consider the possibility of the resurrection of Jesus seriously.
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