The Resurrection
The resurrection is central to the Christian faith. Without the resurrection Jesus was simply an ordinary man.
On the third day, the Sunday morning, the women went to the tomb with spices. But they found that the stone was rolled away and the body of Jesus was gone!
More
An angel, with an appearance like lightning, said to the women, ‘He is not here; he has risen, just as he said’.
Some of the guards went to the city and told the chief priests everything that had happened. They paid the soldiers a large sum of money and told them to spread a story that the disciples had come at night and had stolen the body.
Jesus made many appearances to his followers before he ascended to heaven after 40 days.
The evidence
The writers of the four gospels wrote as witnesses of the events or from accounts of witnesses.
It was a serious offence to break the seal on a tomb and the tomb was guarded.
There are historical reports of the empty tomb.
How could a stone weighing around two tons be moved in secret?
The grave clothes were left undisturbed; this would not be the case if the body had been stolen.
Jesus appeared to many witnesses, more than 500 at once!
The real proof, however, was the change in the disciples, from terrified fugitives to bold messengers of the gospel.
Dig deeper
‘Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen!’
That is what the angels said to Mary Magdalene and the other women who had arrived at the tomb only to find it empty.
When they told the disciples what had happened, they didn’t believe them, but Peter ran to the tomb to find out for himself.
The Bible says
Luke 23:1-12
On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them.
In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, ‘Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen!’
‘Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: “The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.”‘
Then they remembered his words.
When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense.
Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.