From the Chaplain’s Office…

Father Roger J. Landry Not Only Hearers

but Doers of the Word
Chaplain

April-May 2001
Chaplain’s Conference #3

The Case for the Resurrection

& the Consequences for the Christian Faith
Outline
I. Introduction
II. Resurrection Texts in Sacred Scripture
III. Synthesis of the New Testament Accounts
IV. Opposing theories to the Christian explanation
1) Theft
2) Hallucination
3) “Resurrection only in faith”
4) Swoon
V. The Case for the Resurrection
1) The coherence and credibility of the testimony itself
a) The weakness of the opposing theories
b) The evidence of the empty tomb
c) The evidence of the appearances
2) The credibility of the witnesses
a) The weakness of the apostles prior to the resurrection contrasted with their later boldness.
b) No incentive; in fact, many disincentives, including persecution and death
c) The miracle of the success of their mission.
d) The compelling case of St. Paul
VI. Practical consequences for us
1) God chooses all of us to be his witnesses.
2) Persuasiveness based on credibility of witnesses’ lived faith.
3) We are witnesses if we have experienced the Risen Lord.

I. Introduction

1) The Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is ground zero for the Christian faith. It is the central mystery of faith that
Christ died for our sins and rose from the dead on the third day, just as he promised he would. When the Scribes and the
Pharisees asked Jesus for a sign to show that his words were true, that he was sent from God, Jesus responded: “No sign will
be given to this generation except the sign of the prophet Jonah.” In our faith in the Resurrection, we celebrate that sign and
all that it means! Jesus, after having spent three days dead in the earth, after having been tortured and killed on a Cross for
all of Jerusalem to see, rose from the dead!

2) We Christians today perhaps accept this fact TOO readily, I think, and as a result often underappreciate the true meaning
this event would have had for the first disciples, not to mention us and everyone who has ever lived. Pause for a second just
to consider what we believe about Jesus. Among other things:
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a) We believe, among other things, that he was conceived by the power of God in the virginal womb of a young teenage
girl.
b) We believe that he walked on water.
c) We believe that he fed 5000 families with five fish and two loaves of bread.
d) We believe that he cured countless sick people, expunged legions of demons, and raised Lazarus from the dead four days
after Lazarus had died.
e) Then we believe that he himself after having been scourged, beaten and hammered to a tree in front of countless
eyewitnesses, having breathed his last and lowered his head, having been pierced with a sword to prove that he was dead,
having been taken down from the Cross in the arms of his mother, anointed with oils, and then laid in a tomb that was
sealed with a huge stone, ROSE FROM THE DEAD 40 hours later.

3) We Christians often take these facts too readily for granted. Let me ask you: If a teenage girl came to you and said she was
pregnant but she had never been with a man, would you believe her? If you saw a man walking on water during a storm,
would you not think your eyes were deceiving you? Have you ever seen a man rise from the dead?

4) Each of these claims is completely outrageous from the point of view of typical human experience. This fact was not lost on
the early Christians.

a) The ancient pagans in the Roman empire used to constantly mock the first Christians for believing in superstitions like
“a god dying” or a “man rising from the dead.” These pagans, to taunt the Christians, used to constantly remind them
that their so-called Savior had been tortured and killed by the Romans and had died on a Cross. They did it so often
that the Christians became so embarrassed of the crucifixion — Jesus, the God-man, being killed on a Cross — that
they didn’t start putting a corpus on the Cross until the 400s, after Christianity had become the official religious of the
empire.

b) The ancient Christians knew that when they put their faith in the Christ’s resurrection, they were believing in something
that was ridiculous from a human point of view. They knew it made them seem like those today in the United States
who maintain that Elvis is still alive — in other words, it made them seem CRAZY. But they believed that these facts
which sounded too good to be true really were true, and everything in their lives changed as a result.

c) They recognized that Jesus was either who he said he was — the Son of God, the Messiah, who had come into the world
to save us from our sins, who had worked all of these miracles and risen from the dead as he had prophesied — or he
was the GREATEST LIAR OF ALL TIME, not to mention a blasphemer and a lunatic who would actually believed that
he was the eternal Son of God. To believe that Jesus was merely a good man was not an option: how could a “good
man,” a good moral teacher, actually claim to be God if he weren’t?

d) No rationalist has produced any plausible theory to explain how the belief in the deity of Christ originated. The
contemporaries of Jesus were no readier to believe that some obscure carpenter was God than we should be. Had not
Christ risen from the dead the belief in his deity would have died with him. There is no escaping the dilemma that
Christ was either God or deluded madman intoxicated with a conceit overpowering in its absurdity. There is no trace in
the words of our Lord of the humility which we associate with the saints. He never displays remorse, never suggests that
he has fallen into sin, for the one text which is tolerant of some such suggestion is in reality an example of our Lord's
gentle irony. Christ seldom stated his claims explicitly; it was his custom to elicit admissions of those claims by
questions addressed to his disciples, and the questions which he poses in the words "Why dost thou call me good? None
is good but God alone", admits of two answers. "You are neither God nor good", or "you are God and therefore you are
good."

e) The Christians knew that if Jesus truly had truly risen from the dead, if the sign of Jonah were true, then that confirmed
EVERYTHING Jesus had said, about life, about death, about the truth, about God. As Jesus said on a few occasions to
the scribes and pharisees, “The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does
his works.… If you do not [believe me because of my words], then believe me because of the works themselves.” The
works of the Father — most especially his greatest, most miraculous work of all, raising Jesus from the dead
— confirmed everything Jesus had said. And the first Christians knew that it meant that their lives should therefore
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change to conform entirely with this way, truth and life, this Good News incarnate, who was Jesus, the Risen Lord, the
Son of God.

5) The Resurrection of Christ, again, is ground-zero in our Catholic Faith. Everything we believe basically comes from this fact
and is based on it. There are today many so-called Catholic and Protestant Biblical and theological “scholars” — many
here in Germany, many in the United States — who say that if Jesus’ body were found in the tomb, it really wouldn’t
change our faith very much.

a) St. Paul answered them two-thousand years ago when he said to the Corinthians, who were raising a similar point: “If
Christ has not been raised, your faith is in vain and you are still in your sins.”
b) If Christ is not risen from the dead, therefore, then everything we hold in the Catholic faith is a grand charade. Then our
hope in eternal life is just a delusion. Then what we eat in the Eucharist is just strange-looking bread and cheap wine.
Then all of our efforts to be good really have no ultimate foundation, and, as St. Paul says, the logical consequence is
that we should all “eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die.”
c) To put it in more concrete terms, if Christ has not risen from the dead, then the last one of us to leave this chapel and
throw off our cassocks and habits is the biggest fool of all.

6) We believe in the fact of the Resurrection with the certainty of faith, but nevertheless we believe it and strictly speaking we
don’t know it on the basis of having seen it occur.

a) Questions can arise, therefore, about the role of our reason in our belief in the Resurrection.
b) Is our belief merely a matter of a “gift of faith,” that we have and that other’s don’t, or is it something that is
“reasonable,” something that is capable of being communicated to others?
c) Is there evidence we can use to make a case to persuade others that this event — which, we have to be honest, far exceeds
the normal human capacity for credibility, that Jesus ROSE FROM THE DEAD after he was crucified— really
happened?
d) Yes, there is evidence, and a good deal of it, and this conference hopes to provide some of it.

II. Resurrection Texts in Sacred Scripture

Matt. 28:1 After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. 2 And
suddenly there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His
appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. 4 For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men. 5 But the
angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here; for he has been raised,
as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is
going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.’ This is my message for you.” 8 So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy,
and ran to tell his disciples. 9 Suddenly Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped
him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.” 11 While they were
going, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests everything that had happened. 12 After the priests had assembled with
the elders, they devised a plan to give a large sum of money to the soldiers, 13 telling them, “You must say, ‘His disciples came by night and
stole him away while we were asleep.’ 14 If this comes to the governor’s ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” 15 So they
took the money and did as they were directed. And this story is still told among the Jews to this day. 16 Now the eleven disciples went to
Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 And Jesus
came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything that I have
commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Mark 16:1 When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go
and anoint him. 2 And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. 3 They had been saying to one
another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” 4 When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was
very large, had already been rolled back. 5 As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side;
and they were alarmed. 6 But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been
raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. 7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there
you will see him, just as he told you.” 8 So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said
nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. 9 [[Now after he rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from
whom he had cast out seven demons. 10 She went out and told those who had been with him, while they were mourning and weeping. 11
But when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they would not believe it. 12 After this he appeared in another form to two
of them, as they were walking into the country. 13 And they went back and told the rest, but they did not believe them. 14 Later he
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appeared to the eleven themselves as they were sitting at the table; and he upbraided them for their lack of faith and stubbornness, because
they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen. 15 And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to
the whole creation. 16 The one who believes and is baptized will be saved; but the one who does not believe will be condemned. 17 And
these signs will accompany those who believe: by using my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will
pick up snakes in their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will
recover.” 19 So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. 20 And
they went out and proclaimed the good news everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that
accompanied it.]] 21 [[And all that had been commanded them they told briefly to those around Peter. And afterward Jesus himself sent
out through them, from east to west, the sacred and imperishable prclamation of eternal salvation.]]

Luke 24:1 But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. 2 They found
the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they went in, they did not find the body. 4 While they were perplexed about this,
suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. 5 The women were terrified and bowed 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, but has risen. 6 Remember how he told you, while he was still in
Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.” 8 Then they remembered
his words, 9 and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. 10 Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary
the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. 11 But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they
did not believe them. 12 But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went
home, amazed at what had happened. 13 Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles
from Jerusalem, 14 and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. 15 While they were talking and discussing, Jesus
himself came near and went with them, 16 but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. 17 And he said to them, “What are you
discussing with each other while you walk along?” They stood still, looking sad. 18 Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered
him, “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?” 19 He asked them,
“What things?” They replied, “The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the
people, 20 and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. 21 But we had hoped that
he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place. 22 Moreover, some women of
our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, 23 and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us
that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. 24 Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just
as the women had said; but they did not see him.” 25 Then he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all
that the prophets have declared! 26 Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?” 27 Then
beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures. 28 As they came near the
village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. 29 But they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, because it is
almost evening and the day is now nearly over.” So he went in to stay with them. 30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread,
blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. 32
They said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to
us?” 33 That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. 34
They were saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!” 35 Then they told what had happened on the road, and how
he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread. 36 While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and
said to them, “Peace be with you.” 37 They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. 38 He said to them,
“Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? 39 Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see;
for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” 40 And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. 41
While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” 42 They gave him a piece of
broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate in their presence. 44 Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still
with you — that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” 45 Then he opened their
minds to understand the scriptures, 46 and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the
third day, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You
are witnesses of these things. 49 And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been
clothed with power from on high.” 50 Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them. 51 While he was
blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. 52 And they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great
joy; 53 and they were continually in the temple blessing God.

John 20:1 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been
removed from the tomb. 2 So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They
have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” 3 Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went
toward the tomb. 4 The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent down to look
in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw
the linen wrappings lying there, 7 and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by
itself. 8 Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; 9 for as yet they did not understand the
scripture, that he must rise from the dead. 10 Then the disciples returned to their homes. 11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As
she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; 12 and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the
head and the other at the feet. 13 They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and
I do not know where they have laid him.” 14 When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know
that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she
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said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She
turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). 17 Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet
ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” 18
Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her. 19
When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the
Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then
the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” 22
When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven
them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” 24 But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when
Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands,
and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.” 26 A week later his disciples were again in the house,
and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 27 Then he
said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” 28 Thomas
answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not
seen and yet have come to believe.” 30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. 31
But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in
his name.

John 21:1 After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias; and he showed himself in this way. 2
Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his
disciples. 3 Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but
that night they caught nothing. 4 Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. 5 Jesus said
to them, “Children, you have no fish, have you?” They answered him, “No.” 6 He said to them, “Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and
you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish. 7 That disciple whom Jesus
loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on some clothes, for he was naked, and jumped into
the sea. 8 But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, only about a hundred
yards off. 9 When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread. 10 Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the
fish that you have just caught.” 11 So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred fifty-three of them;
and though there were so many, the net was not torn. 12 Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared to
ask him, “Who are you?” because they knew it was the Lord. 13 Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with
the fish. 14 This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead. 15 When they had finished
breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love
you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.” 16 A second time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord;
you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Tend my sheep.” 17 He said to him the third time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter
felt hurt because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” And he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.”
Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. 18 Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you
wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do
not wish to go.” 19 (He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, “Follow me.” 20
Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them; he was the one who had reclined next to Jesus at the supper and had
said, “Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?” 21 When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about him?” 22 Jesus said to him, “If
it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? Follow me!” 23 So the rumor spread in the community that this disciple would
not die. Yet Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?” 24 This is
the disciple who is testifying to these things and has written them, and we know that his testimony is true. 25 But there are also many other
things that Jesus did; if every one of them were written down, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be
written.

1Cor. 15:1 Now I would remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which
also you stand, 2 through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you — unless you have come
to believe in vain. 3 For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with
the scriptures, 4 and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to
Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive,
though some have died. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.

III. Synthesis of the New Testament Accounts

1) The main sources which directly attest the fact of Christ's Resurrection are the Four Gospels and the Epistles of St. Paul
which we have just listed.

2) Easter morning is so rich in incident, and so crowded with interested persons, that its complete history presents a rather
complicated tableau. It is not surprising, therefore, that the partial accounts contained in each of the Four Gospels appear at
first sight hard to harmonize.
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3) But whatever exegetic view as to the visit to the sepulchre by the pious women and the appearance of the angels we may
defend, we cannot deny the Evangelists' agreement as to the fact that the risen Christ appeared to one or more persons.

a) According to St. Matthew, He appeared to the holy women, and again on a mountain in Galilee;
b) According to St. Mark, He was seen by Mary Magdalen, by the two disciples at Emmaus, and the Eleven before his
Ascension into heaven;
c) According to St. Luke, He walked with the disciples to Emmaus, appeared to Peter and to the assembled disciples in
Jerusalem;
d) According to St. John, Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalen, to the ten Apostles on Easter Sunday, to the Eleven a week
later, and to the seven disciples at the Sea of Tiberias.
e) St. Paul (I Cor., xv, 3-8) enumerates another series of apparitions of Jesus after His Resurrection; he was seen by
Cephas, by the Eleven, by more than 500 brethren, many of whom were still alive at the time of the Apostle's writing,
by James, by all the Apostles, and lastly by Paul himself.

4) Here is an outline of a possible harmony of the Evangelists' account concerning the principal events of Easter Sunday:

a) The holy women carrying the spices previously prepared start out for the sepulchre before dawn, and reach it after
sunrise; they are anxious about the heavy stone, but know nothing of the official guard of the sepulchre (Matt., xxviii, 1-
3; Mark, xvi, 1-3; Luke, xxiv, 1; John, xx, 1).
b) The angel frightened the guards by his brightness, put them to flight, rolled away the stone, and seated himself (not
upon, ep autou), but above (epano autou) the stone (Matt. xxviii, 2-4).
c) Mary Magdalen, Mary the Mother of James, and Salome approach the sepulchre, and see the stone rolled back, whereupon
Mary Magdalen immediately returns to inform the Apostles (Mark, xvi, 4; Luke, xxiv, 2; John xx, 1-2).
d) The other two holy women enter the sepulchre, find an angel seated in the vestibule, who shows them the empty
sepulchre, announces the Resurrection, and commissions them to tell the disciples and Peter that they shall see Jesus in
Galilee (Matt., xxviii, 5-7; Mark, xvi, 5-7).
e) A second group of holy women, consisting of Joanna and her companions, arrive at the sepulchre, where they have
probably agreed to meet the first group, enter the empty interior, and are admonished by two angels that Jesus has risen
according to His prediction (Luke, xxiv, 10).
f) Not long after, Peter and John, who were notified by Mary Magdalen, arrive at the sepulchre and find the linen cloth in
such a position as to exclude the supposition that the body was stolen; for they lay simply flat on the ground, showing
that the sacred body had vanished out of them without touching them. When John notices this he believes (John, xx, 3-
10).
g) Mary Magdalen returns to the sepulchre, sees first two angels within, and then Jesus Himself (John, xx, 11-l6; Mark,
xvi, 9).
h) The two groups of pious women, who probably met on their return to the city, are favored with the sight of Christ
arisen, who commissions them to tell His brethren that they will see him in Galilee (Matt., xxviii, 8-10; Mark, xvi, 8).
i) The holy women relate their experiences to the Apostles, but find no belief (Mark, xvi, 10-11; Luke, xxiv, 9-11).
j) Jesus appears to the disciples, at Emmaus, and they return to Jerusalem; the Apostles appear to waver between doubt and
belief (Mark, xvi, 12-13; Luke, xxiv, 13-35).
k) Christ appears to Peter, and therefore Peter and John firmly believe in the Resurrection (Luke, xxiv, 34; John, xx, 8).
l) After the return of the disciples from Emmaus, Jesus appears to all the Apostles excepting Thomas (Mark, xvi, 14; Luke,
xxiv, 36-43; John, xx, 19-25).
m) The harmony of the other apparitions of Christ after His Resurrection presents no special difficulties.

5) Briefly, therefore, the fact of Christ's Resurrection is attested by more than 500 eyewitnesses, whose experience, simplicity,
and uprightness of life rendered them incapable of inventing such a fable, who lived at a time when any attempt to deceive
could have been easily discovered, who had nothing in this life to gain, but everything to lose by their testimony, whose
moral courage exhibited in their apostolic life can be explained only by their intimate conviction of the objective truth of
their message.

a) Again the fact of Christ's Resurrection is attested by the eloquent silence of the Synagogue which had done everything to
prevent deception, which could have easily discovered deception, if there had been any, which opposed only sleeping
THE CASE FOR THE RESURRECTION PAGE 7
witnesses to the testimony of the Apostles, which did not punish the alleged carelessness of the official guard, and which
could not answer the testimony of the Apostles except by threatening them "that they speak no more in this name to any
man" (Acts, iv, 17).
b) Finally the thousands and millions, both Jews and Gentiles, who believed the testimony of the Apostles in spite of all the
disadvantages following from such a belief, in short the origin of the Church, requires for its explanation the reality of
Christ's Resurrection, fot the rise of the Church without the Resurrection would have been a greater miracle than the
Resurrection itself.

IV. Opposing theories

1) By what means can the evidence for Christ's Resurrection by overthrown? Four general theories of explanation have been
advanced through the ages, which we will tackle in turn:

2) The Theft Theory

a) The disciples, it is said, stole the body of Jesus from the grave, and then proclaimed to men that their Lord had risen.

b) This theory was anticipated by the Jewish authorities who "gave a great sum of money to the soldiers, saying: Say you,
His disciples came by night, and stole him away when we were asleep" (Matt., xxviii, 12 sq.).

1) The Jewish authorities bribed the guards to lie and say that the disciples stole Jesus’ body and, as the end of the
passage states, “this story is still told among the Jews to this day” — in other words it was still circulating at the
time of the writing of St. Matthew’s Gospel, probably about 30-40 years after the Resurrection would have taken
place.

2) It’s ironic that the Jewish authorities bribed the guards to lie, for they had arranged for them to be installed at the
tomb by Pilate. The deeper significance of the phrase "within three days" and of Christ's cryptic allusions to
destroying temple and rebuilding it in three days did not escape the chief priests; for while the witnesses blundered
and contradicted each other in their attempt, not necessarily dishonest, to represent Jesus as a madman who had
asserted that he could destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, the chief priest seems to have suspected that
what Jesus really meant was "If you kill me, I shall rise again in three days". And it is therefore easy to understand
why they should have gone to Pilate saying: “Sir, we have remembered, that that seducer said, while he was yet
alive: After three days I will rise again. Command therefore the sepulcher to be guarded until the third day, lest
perhaps his disciples come and steal him away, and say to the people: He is risen from the dead; and the last error
shall be worse than the first. Pilate saith to them: You have a guard: go, guard it as you know."

3) In succeeding centuries Roman pagans and intellectuals tried to attack the Christian belief in the Resurrection as
irrational. How could a God die or a man rise from the dead, they asked?

4) The same was urged by Celsus (Orig., "Contra Cels.", II, 56) with some difference of detail.

5) There are still many people today who say they cannot accept the miracle of the Resurrection, including, sadly,
many so-called Christian “intellectuals” in University settings, who think Jesus was a good man, but that the first
disciples just exaggerated Jesus’ physical resurrection when what they really meant to say (as we’ll see below with
the modernists’) was that Jesus was risen from the dead only “in faith” within their hearts. They say that if the
tomb were not empty on Easter Sunday morning, it really wouldn’t change our faith at all. They will say, like the
Jewish authorities of the first century we see in today’s Gospel, that the empty tomb in itself is not proof that Jesus
rose from the dead. It just proves that Jesus’ body was not there on Easter Sunday morning; it doesn’t answer the
question WHY his body wasn’t there.

c) But to assume that the Apostles with a burden of this kind upon their consciences could have preached a kingdom of
truth and righteousness as the one great effort of their lives, and that for the sake of that kingdom they could have
suffered even unto death, is to assume one of those moral impossibilities which may pass for a moment in the heat of
controversy, but must be dismissed without delay in the hour of good reflection. More below.
THE CASE FOR THE RESURRECTION PAGE 8

3) The Vision Theory

a) This theory as generally understood by its advocates does not allow visions caused by a Divine intervention, but only
such as are the product of human agencies. For if a Divine intervention be admitted, we may as well believe, as far as
principles are concerned, that God raised Jesus from the dead.

b) But, according to this theory, where are the human agencies which might cause these visions?
1) The idea of a resurrection from the grave was familiar to the disciples from their Jewish faith;
2) they had also vague intimations in the prophecies of the Old Testament;
3) finally, Jesus Himself had always associated His Resurrection with the predictions of his death.

c) On the other hand, according to this theory, the disciples' state of mind was one of great excitement; they treasured the
memory of Christ with a fondness which made it almost impossible for them to believe that He was gone. In short,
their whole mental condition was such as needed only the application of a spark to kindle the flame. The spark was
applied by Mary Magdalen, and the flame at once spread with the rapidity and force of a conflagration. What she
believed that she had seen, others immediately believed that they must see. Their expectations were fulfilled, and the
conviction seized the members of the early Church that the Lord had really risen from the dead.

d) Such is the vision theory commonly defended by recent critics of the Resurrection. But however ingeniously it may be
devised, it is quite impossible from an historical point of view.

1) It is incompatible with the state of mind of the Apostles; the theory presupposes faith and expectancy on the part of
the Apostles, while in point of fact the disciples' faith and expectancy followed their vision of the risen Christ.

2) It is inconsistent with the nature of Christ's manifestations; they ought to have been connected with heavenly glory,
or they should have continued the former intimate relations of Jesus with His disciples, while actually and
consistently they presented quite a new phase that could not have been expected.

3) It does not agree with the conditions of the early Christian community; after the first excitement of Easter Sunday,
the disciples as a body are noted for their cool deliberation rather than the exalted enthusiasm of a community of
visionaries.

4) It is incompatible with the length of time during which the apparitions lasted; visions such as the critics suppose
have never been known to last long, while some of Christ's manifestations lasted a considerable period.

5) It is not consistent with the fact that the manifestations were made to numbers at the same instant.

6) It does not agree with the place where most of the manifestations were made: visionary appearances would have been
expected in Galilee, while most apparitions of Jesus occurred in Judea.

7) It is inconsistent with the fact that the visions came to a sudden end on the day of Ascension.

4) Modernist View — A resurrection only in “faith”

a) The Church described and condemned in the thirty-sixth and thirty-seventh propositions of the Decree "Lamentabili", the
views advocated by another class of opponents of the Resurrection.

b) The 36th proposition reads: "The Resurrection of our Saviour is not properly a fact of the historical order, but a fact of
the purely supernatural order neither proved nor provable, which Christian consciousness has little by little inferred
from other facts." This statement agrees with, and is further explained by the words of Loisy ("Autour d'un petit livre",
p. viii, 120-121, 169; "L'Evangile et l'Eglise", pp. 74-78; 120-121; 171).

c) According to Loisy:
THE CASE FOR THE RESURRECTION PAGE 9

1) The entrance into life immortal of one risen from the dead is not subject to observation; it is a supernatural, hyper-
historical fact, not capable of historical proof. The proofs alleged for the Resurrection of Jesus Christ are
inadequate; the empty sepulchre is only an indirect argument, while the apparitions of the risen Christ are open to
suspicion on a priori grounds, being sensible impressions of a supernatural reality; and they are doubtful evidence
from a critical point of view, on account of the discrepancies in the various Scriptural narratives and the mixed
character of the detail connected with the apparitions.

2) If one prescinds from the faith of the Apostles, the testimony of the New Testament does not furnish a certain
argument for the fact of the Resurrection. This faith of the Apostles is concerned not so much with the Resurrection
of Jesus Christ as with His immortal life; being based on the apparitions, which are unsatisfactory evidence from an
historical point of view, its force is appreciated only by faith itself; being a development of the idea of an immortal
Messias, it is an evolution of Christian consciousness, though it is at the same time a corrective of the scandal of
the Cross. The Holy Office rejects this view of the Resurrection when it condemns the thirty-seventh proposition in
the Decree "Lamentabili": "The faith in the Resurrection of Christ pointed at the beginning no so much to the fact of
the Resurrection, as to the immortal life of Christ with God."

d) The contemporary relevance of Jesus’ physical Resurrection was highlighted in the 1976 Easter edition of the French daily
Le Monde, which put the following question to well known and less well known spokesmen for the country's Christian
community: "What would happen to your faith if in some place in ancient Palestine an archeologist's pick should
unearth the bones of Jesus of Nazareth?"

1) The replies of many ordinary faithful who were asked this question reflected their embarrassment and distress. As
did that of Jean Guitton. "If a find of that kind should really come to light, I would set down in my will: 'I have
deceived and have deceived myself'," replied the French academic and friend of Paul VI.

2) In contrast, many priests and professional theologians shrugged off the <Le Monde> question. "It wouldn't distress
me at all. My faith does not rely on a tomb either empty or filled," said one leading Catholic priest.

3) Another replied that "the discovery of the skeleton of Jesus would strengthen my faith, which has to be entirely
undemonstrable if it is to be such, and it would destroy the myth of the reanimation of a corpse".

4) A respected Protestant theologian added: "It wouldn't prevent me from believing in the resurrection. Indeed such a
find would unleash the faith, forcing it no longer to trust in the visible".

5) The Protestant theologian Rudolf Bultmann said: "If the resurrection were an historical fact, faith would become
superfluous. What is decisive is not that Jesus came to life again but that he is <for you> the Risen One. The one
who was crucified is alive again if you see him as such with the eyes of faith".

e) Besides the authoritative rejection of this foregoing “Modernist” view, we may submit the following three considerations
which render it untenable:

1) The contention that the Resurrection of Christ cannot be proved historically is not in accord with science. Science
does not know enough about the limitations and the properties of a body raised from the dead to immortal life to
warrant the assertion that such a body cannot be perceived by the senses; again in the case of Christ, the empty
sepulchre with all its concrete circumstances cannot be explained except by a miraculous Divine intervention as
supernatural in its character as the Resurrection of Jesus.

2) History does not allow us to regard the belief in the Resurrection as the result of a gradual evolution in Christian
consciousness. The apparitions were not a mere projection of the disciples' Messianic hope and expectation; their
Messianic hope and expectations had to be revived by the apparitions. Again, the Apostles did not begin with
preaching the immortal life of Christ with God, but they preached Christ's Resurrection from the very beginning,
they insisted on it as a fundamental fact and they described even some of the details connected with this fact: Acts,
THE CASE FOR THE RESURRECTION PAGE 10
ii, 24, 31; iii, 15,26; iv, 10; v, 30; x, 39-40; xiii, 30, 37; xvii, 31-2; Rom., i,4; iv, 25; vi, 4,9; viii, 11, 34; x, 7; xiv,
9; I Cor., xv, 4, 13 sqq.; etc.

3) The denial of the historical certainty of Christ's Resurrection involves several historical blunders:

a) it questions the objective reality of the apparitions without any historical grounds for such a doubt;
b) it denies the fact of the empty sepulcher in spite of solid historical evidence to the contrary;
c) it questions even the fact of Christ's burial in Joseph's sepulchre, though this fact is based on the clear and
simply unimpeachable testimony of history.

5) The Swoon Theory

a) This is a now-seldom-held-but-historically-prevalent theory of those who assert that Christ did not really die upon the
cross, that His supposed death was only a temporary swoon, and that His Resurrection was simply a return to
consciousness.

b) This was advocated by Paulus ("Exegetisches Handbuch", 1842, II, p. 929) and in a modified form by Hase ("Gesch.
Jesu", n. 112), but it does not agree with the data furnished by the Gospels.

c) The scourging and the crown of thorns, the carrying of the cross and the crucifixion, the three hours on the cross and the
piercing of the Sufferer's side cannot have brought on a mere swoon.

d) His real death is attested by the centurion and the soldiers, by the friends of Jesus and by his most bitter enemies.
Moreover, if Jesus had merely returned from a swoon, the feelings of Easter morning would have been those of sympathy
rather than those of joy and triumph, the Apostles would have been roused to the duties of a sick chamber rather than to
apostolic work, the life of the powerful wonderworker would have ended in ignoble solitude and inglorious obscurity, and
His vaunted sinlessness would have changed into His silent approval of a lie as the foundation stone of His Church.

d) It is no wonder that later critics of the Resurrection, like Strauss, have heaped contempt on the old theory of a swoon.

V. The Case for the Resurrection

1) It’s very important that we do respond to the claims against the Resurrection, because St. Paul says that if Jesus Christ did
not rise from the dead, then our faith would be in vain. All that we do in the faith would simply be a waste of time.

1 Cor 15:13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; 14 and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation
has been in vain and your faith has been in vain. 15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified of God that he
raised Christ — whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been
raised. 17 If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.

2) There are, fundamentally, two categories of evidence in favor of the Resurrection. They are, essentially, the same categories
that would be used in a modern trial:

a) The inherent coherence and credibility of the evidence or testimony itself; and
b) the credibility of the witnesses giving the testimony.

We will take each in turn. This evidence will provide us not only means to respond to those might question us, but also help
us to understand our faith better and, even more importantly, to live it.

3) When we look at the evidence, it is clear that the position of the Jewish authorities about the empty tomb is in itself self-
contradictory.
THE CASE FOR THE RESURRECTION PAGE 11
a) St. Thomas Aquinas used to say that human reason cannot PROVE or demonstrate the things of the faith, but it can
demonstrate the falsity of claims against the faith or at least show that these claims do not prove what they think they
prove. We see this in the matter of the empty tomb.

b) The argument of the Jewish authorities was on the basis of the bribed soldiers’ claim that the disciples “came by night
and stole Jesus while they were asleep.” Well, as any good lawyer might ask:

1) If they were asleep, how do they know that it was the DISCIPLES who took Jesus?

2) How would the disciples not have awakened them in moving the huge stone from in front of the tomb?

3) If the disciples had stolen Jesus’ body, why would they have left the wrappings for his body and his head inside the
empty tomb at all, not to mention very neatly? Why, in others words, would they have wanted to steal Jesus
NAKED and carry him unclothed through the streets of Jerusalem?

4) We can also ask the larger question about why they would have come at all to take the corpse of someone who had
just been crucified as a criminal and who, if he didn’t rise from the dead, was a liar who not only got himself killed,
but, as we will in the Acts of the Apostles, would get his disciples in a lot of trouble as well.

5) The evidence AGAINST the Christian explanation of the empty tomb is extraordinarily weak indeed.

4) When we turn to the evidence and testimony for the Resurrection, there are two main sources.

a) The first is the empty tomb.

1) Although not in itself PROOF that Jesus rose from the dead, it is evidence that the Christian explanation is
plausible.

2) Jesus’ body was simply not found in the tomb and it was never found afterward there or anywhere else.

3) Had the body of Jesus never left the tomb the Pharisees would have thrown the tomb open for inspection and invited
the dupes of this new heresy to see for themselves the body of Jesus, still lying where he had been buried.

4) There is at least one fact which suggests that some of the Pharisees were not particularly impressed by their own
hypothesis. When St. Peter was summoned before the Council and refused to cease preaching Christ, many of the
Council wished to put him to death, but Gamaliel "a doctor of the law, and respected by the people" warned them
"if this work be of men it will come to naught. But if it be of God you cannot overthrow it. And they consented to
him." They would probably not have consented had they been wholly convinced by their assertion that the disciples
had stolen the body of Jesus and were therefore preaching something which they knew to be false.

b) But the main evidence is found the APPEARANCES of the Risen Lord.

1) Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene; the disciples on the road to Emmaus; the ten in the upper room on Easter
Sunday; the eleven the following week; Peter, Thomas, Nathanael, James and John and two other disciples fishing in
the Sea of Galilee; 500 disciples most of whom, St. Paul tells the Corinthians, were still alive; James, and then
ultimately Paul on the road to Damascus.

2) All of these people testified to SEEING the Risen Lord.

a) In just chapter 20 of the Gospel of John on the apparitions of Jesus, who has come forth from the tomb, we can
perceive—also from the use of words—that faith in the Risen One is born of seeing, of noting with the eyes the
tangible signs of His Resurrection as an historical fact.
THE CASE FOR THE RESURRECTION PAGE 12
b) The verb "to see" in its various connotations expressed by the different Greek forms, appears all of 13 times in
just 25 verses.

c) The experience of seeing progressively engages four subjects (first the beloved disciple who has gone to the tomb
with Peter, then Mary Magdalene, then the whole group of apostles except for Thomas and then Thomas
together with all the apostles).

d) In the various passages, we perceive a progressive purification of outlook which begins with wonder at the
physical sight of Jesus risen again (though at first the Magdalene thinks he is a gardener) and it reaches the
point of contemplation, with that same wonder, of the mystery of the Lord who reveals himself. And, in fact, we
go from the verb <Blepein>, meaning to see, take in, to look attentively and observe (verb <Aeorein>), and
arrive at conscious recognition, clear vision, contemplation of the mystery manifest (the perfect <Eoraka>).

e) After the Magdalene announces that she has found the stone of the tomb rolled away and the tomb empty, John
runs to the site with Peter. When Peter and John arrive, it is enough for the beloved disciple, even before he sees
the Risen One, to sight a few signs (the empty tomb, the bands in which Christ's body was wrapped are an
empty shell and have not unravelled) in order to start "to believe" (20,8). But it was intuition, a stirring of the
hope that John conserved in his heart, the calm, serene acceptance of a mystery still in part inexplicable. For, in
fact, it has still not exploded in the announcement made to the other disciples: he and Peter go back home,
because, the Gospel tells us, "they had still not understood the scripture, that he must rise from the dead" (20,
9).

f) This initial lack of preparation on the disciples' part is fundamental. It shows that the resurrection was for them
a totally unexpected event and not an <a priori,> something that could be taken for granted and that the
disciples were bound to believe and divulge. And this renders their testimony credible, when the experiencable
signs become more evident and when the transition is made from John's timid initial intuition to indisputable
certainty. As Father Donatien Mollat wrote: "This stage of total lack of preparation, a sort of blindness on the
part of the witnesses when faced with the resurrection, is fundamental: this radical lack of preparation only
highlights more the reality of divine intervention and its aspect as an act of creation. The Easter faith was a
reawakening for Jesus' disciples".

3) There are only three possible conclusions on the basis of these appearances:

a) Either all of them were deceived in one way or another by some false image (which would have been an
extraordinary feat in its own right!);

1) Such an hallucination would seeing something else, and mistaking it for what you are looking for; these
people saw what they were looking for and, one and all, mistook it for something else.

2) St. Mary Magdalene did want to find the Crucified, and it would have been natural enough if she had seen
the gardener and mistaken him for our Lord. The curious thing is that she saw our Lord and mistook him
for the gardener.

3) The two disciples on the Emmaus road, who were thinking about our Lord and talking about him as they
went, might have been pardoned if they had recognized his figure, wrongly, in that of some casual passer-
by. But the fact is that they thought he was a casual passer-by when they really met him.

4) The apostles in the Upper Room might easily have seen a ghost and taken it for their Master; but they
didn't, they saw their Master and took him for a ghost.

5) And again by the lake-side, they might have been deceived by the accents of a strange voice, and thought it
was his. It is more significant that they should have been deceived by the accents of his voice, and thought
it was a strange one.
THE CASE FOR THE RESURRECTION PAGE 13
6) They didn't run away with their first impressions, and tell unauthenticated stories of a miracle. They
examined their first impressions and only by examination learned the miraculous truth.

7) The example of St. Thomas is quite clear as well. No prejudice could be stronger than St. Thomas'. He
insists on experimental proof before he believes, and yields only to the irresistible pressure of stubborn fact.
It is impossible to fit this story into the familiar pattern of hallucination.

b) or all of them were lying, or

c) or they were telling the truth that they had indeed seen Jesus risen from the dead.

c) To determine which of the three possibilities seems most likely, we do so on the basis of the resurrection witnesses’
credibility.

1) When we look at the witnesses in the Gospels and in the letters, we cannot help being overwhelmed by the evidence
in favor of their believability.

2) The men who were testifying to Jesus’ being risen from the dead were people who had abandoned the Lord in the
Garden when he was alive but merely seized. Why would they speak boldly after his death? If Jesus hadn’t risen,
they would be testifying to a liar, someone who deceived them for three years, had gottem them to leave their
families, their businesses, and their livelihoods in what would have turned out to have been a grand hoax. They
would have more likely HATED Jesus rather than posthumously praised him.

3) The apostles would have had nothing to gain financially from propagating such a falsehood. They traveled, by Jesus’
instructions, with no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, and no extra tunic.

4) They had no real persuasive abilities, all coming from obscure Galilean villages with little education — and, let’s be
honest, proclaiming a crucified man as risen from the dead would not have been an easy sell even for famous Roman
orators. How would these fishermen and tax collectors have gone to the ends of the earth to plant a made-up story
of the resurrection?

5) In proclaiming the Gospel, moreover, they were ostracized from their religion, repeatedly beaten and ultimately
killed. Why would they have gone through all of this unless they had truly seen the Lord rise from the dead, just as
they testified?

a) If the disciples had stolen the body of Jesus, they would have known that he had died the death of a deluded
fanatic, and that he had not risen from the dead. Why should the disciples conspire to impose upon the world a
new religion which they knew to be false?

b) A spontaneous falsehood, as Origen pointed out, could not have nerved the disciples to announce with such
unflinching courage a doctrine which was so perilous in its probable consequences. What occult compensation
could have nerved them to break with their Church and their friends, and to accept martyrdom in the
propagation of what they themselves knew to be a monstrous and superfluous lie.

c) "I readily believe", wrote Pascal, "those witnesses who get their throats cut."

6) St. Thomas Aquinas says that all types of people were converted to “Christ, wise, noble, rich, powerful and great
men at the preaching of simple men, who were both poor and few. This was either done miraculously or not. If it
was done miraculously my point is proved. If it was not, I say that there could not be a greater miracle than that
all the world should have been converted without miracles’” (De Symbolo Apostolico).

7) If the story of Christ’s resurrection had been invented we may be very sure that the discovery of the empty tomb
would not have been attributed to women. "The mind of the first century about women", writes H. Nunn, in his
valuable book "What is Modernism?" "even in Christian circles is clearly seen in the Epistles and in the First Gospel
THE CASE FOR THE RESURRECTION PAGE 14
where we are told that the disciples marveled that our Lord even spoke to a woman.... If the story is true, no further
explanation of the important part played in it by women is needed. It is only another proof of the honesty of the
witnesses of the Resurrection who admitted the slowness and lack of faith of the Apostles and the ready faith of the
women."

d) St. Paul’s case was slightly different, but in some ways even more powerful an example.

1) He was a Christian KILLER, terrorizing the Christians of the 30s like Nero did in the 60s.

Acts 7:58 Then they dragged him out of the city and began to stone him; and the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young
man named Saul. Acts 8:1 And Saul approved of their killing him. That day a severe persecution began against the church in
Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout the countryside of Judea and Samaria.

Acts 8:3 But Saul was ravaging the church by entering house after house; dragging off both men and women, he committed them
to prison.

Acts 9:1 Meanwhile Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest

2) Why would he have changed all of a sudden and become a Christian when it would have meant the loss of his
position within the Jewish authorities as well as the fact that the Jewish authorities would put a contract on his
head for the rest of his days?

3) Yet this extraordinarily intelligent man said in simple, highly believable language, “Last of all, as to one untimely
born, Jesus appeared also to me.”

4) Again, either Paul was a liar, completely deceived, or telling the truth.

5) The evidence is overwhelmingly in favor of his telling the truth, as with all of the other witnesses.

VI. Practical consequences for us

1) What do we gain from this? We learn more than just the evidence for a debate with non-Christians. We learn ultimately
two things.

2) The first is that God didn’t call necessarily the smartest, bravest, most capable people to give witness to his
[Link], too, might not be the most brilliant or talented proponents of the faith, but he calls us to give witness just
as he called them, and just as he called countless others throughout the centuries down to our own day. We do have a role in
the new Acts of the Apostles that is being written for the third millennium.

a) To be a credible witness to an event, you had to have experienced it. Because we were not present 1971 years ago when
Jesus rose from the dead, how can we be a witness?

b) Only if we have experienced the Risen Lord ourselves personally, experienced an encounter with him. We do through all
of the Sacraments and through prayer, but do we realize this?

3) The second thing we can grasp is that the persuasiveness of the testimony of the resurrection is on the basis of the credibility
of one’s lived faith, on the credibility of the Gospel we preach by our actions.

a) The apostles were credible because they could not possibly have had “mixed motives” in proclaiming the Gospel. Either it
was true, or they were deceived, but what was excluded was their proclaiming a falsehood for personal benefit.

b) This is still the case of Christian credibility today. Why was Mother Teresa’s lived Gospel so persuasive to so many
people, Christians and non-Christians alike? Her example was so powerful because it was all love. She had nothing to
gain financially from spending her nearly 50 years lovingly caring for the maggot-infested dying people in Calcutta. Her
vocation, and those of the sisters in her community she founded, could not possibly be understood as a “good career
THE CASE FOR THE RESURRECTION PAGE 15
move!” And yet she joyfully proclaimed that they were doing it out of nothing but love for Jesus, which left those who
observed her with one of two possible responses: either she was benevolently deluded or she really was inspired by a
living relationship with Jesus Christ, just as she said.

4) It’s the same thing with us. We’re called to live the Christian life with such joyful, self-giving heroism that proclaims to
everyone that we REALLY BELIEVE the Great News that Jesus lives, that he loves us, and that we love him — and leave
them with the choice that either we’re crazy or we’re right!

a) We’re ultimately called to give witness to the world that Jesus is someone worth LIVING for completely and, if need be,
worth DYING for.

Luke 24:45 Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, 46 and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to
rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from
Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you
have been clothed with power from on high.” 50 Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them. 51 While he
was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven.

Acts 5:32 And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.”

b) He certainly was for the first apostles. He certainly was as well for Mother Teresa and countless others through the
centuries.

c) May we follow their example and be witnesses of this Greatest News Ever Told to others!

d) Jesus has truly risen! And this fact changes everything! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

Sources used
Catholic Encyclopedia, “Resurrection of Jesus Christ”
Ignace de la Potterie, “Against the efforts of an ever reviving gnosis”
St. John Chrysostom, “Homilies on the Gospel of St. Matthew”
Arnold Lunn, “The Third Day”
Fr. Roger Landry, “The Case for the Resurrection,” The Pilot, May 2000.