Making the Case for Resurrection, Part 2
Jim Fidler, Attorney-at-law, and Member of
Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church
Easter 4: April 28-29, 2007
With an Introduction by Pastor Sherwindt
Introduction: Since the Festival of Easter the sermons have focused on the fact of the Resurrection as the cornerstone and foundation of the Christian faith. Beginning with the sign of the empty tomb, and then focusing on the Signs of the Times with the proof offered by Thomas and the encounter with Peter by the seashore, the focal point has been on how you prove the Resurrection of our Lord. Last week I mentioned the strong case that Jim Fidler had made during the Sunday School hour a couple of weeks ago, suggesting that I hoped Jim would present that case during the sermon this week. Jim has agreed to do just that.
Last week I introduced Jim's case by referring to the cumulative affect offered by the testimony of the apostles, first-hand witnesses to the fact that Jesus was raised from the dead. I also indicated that encountering God is not like encountering any other thing in the repertoire of common human experience. Test-tube evidence sought by scientific analysis is not going to get the job done when it comes to proving that the Risen Lord is the revelation of God's life and God's love alive among us. What does go a long way in demonstrating the power of these Christian claims about the Risen Christ is the witness offered by the first generation of eye-witness apostles. And that's what Jim Fidler is going to address with his comments that follow.
Jim's Message: Christ Is Risen! Alleluia! We say it, we proclaim it, we shout it and with all the fervor we can muster, we say we believe it! It goes to the core of our Christian faith and underpins our notions of atonement for our sins and eternal salvation. That's why, for two thousand years, the question of evidence has been explored.
Paul examines the ramifications of denying Christ's Resurrection by eloquently noting that if Christ did NOT rise: FAITH IS USELESS, because His words to His followers predicting His death and Resurrection are not true; and OUR SINS are NOT FORGIVEN because His death would be in vain. Romans 10:9 gives us the good news: “That if you confess with your mouth 'Jesus is Lord', and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” FAITH is not only essential but sufficient! FAITH is the essential ingredient and FAITH carries the day.
But I'm also here to tell you that the concrete, tangible evidence is more than adequate to convince open-minded historians, accountants, investigators, theological scholars and attorneys at law beyond a reasonable doubt that Jesus Christ did indeed rise from the dead. As an attorney and someone who spent thirty-one years as a criminal investigator, I can tell you there is not a prosecutor, or for that matter, a defense attorney, who would not want to have eyewitness testimony from individuals of the caliber of the first Christians, the individuals who walked with Jesus, claimed they saw Him alive after His death, and suffered so tremendously for their testimony in the First Century, A.D.
Christian persecution was a part of early Church history. Anyone who contends the life, death and Resurrection of Jesus is a hoax perpetrated by a group of disciples should check out the history of martyrdom. Eleven of the twelve Apostles, and many other disciples, died horrible deaths for their unwavering adherence to this story. The hundreds of eyewitnesses to Jesus' Resurrection spread out all over the known world at that time.
For promoting this story, these individuals lost their homes, families, and material wealth, and suffered torture, beatings, stonings, scourging, stabbings, hangings, immersion in cauldrons of boiling oil and crucifixion for absolutely no recognizable earthly material gain. Not one person recanted. Not one said he wasn't sure. Not one said he might be confused. Not one claimed he might have been hallucinating. Not one instance of contradictory testimony from these alleged eyewitnesses has ever been recorded.
Historians, criminal investigators, and attorneys can all attest to the fact that individuals do not suffer and die, with no expectation of material gain, to perpetuate a story they know to be a lie. Three individuals conspiring to lie will contradict each other within two or three hours if interrogated in separate rooms, even if the interrogators did not utilize the torturous methods employed by Emperor Nero to deal with the early Christians, whom he regularly set afire to illuminate his garden. These eyewitnesses to the Resurrection willfully and resolutely endured prolonged torture and death rather than repudiate their testimony.
According to non-Christian historical records, like the accounts of Pliny and Tacitus, Christians could have ended their suffering by repudiating their testimony. And what sets these early Christians apart from modern day Jihadists who flew planes into the World Trade Center is that, unlike the suicide hijackers, these early Christians were in a position to know whether what they were saying was true because either they saw what they claimed to see or they did not. These early Christians did not have to rely on traditions passed down to them or the words of others because they were the first generation.
Another key evidentiary point is the empty tomb. Jesus was publicly executed and buried in Jerusalem. Faith in His Resurrection could not have taken hold there if His body were still in the tomb, where it could have been exhumed and placed on public display, exposing the hoax. One explanation offered by the enemies of Christianity for the absence of the body was that the disciples stole it. But if this were true, the early adherents to the faith would have known the story of His Resurrection to be a lie and at least one of them would have recanted in the face of the ongoing torture and persecution, if not to end his own suffering, at least to end the suffering of friends and family.
Another explanation - that Jesus faked his death and escaped from the tomb - is, in my opinion, patently absurd. According to eyewitness testimony of friends and enemies alike, Christ was beaten, tortured, lacerated and stabbed. He suffered internal damage, massive blood loss, asphyxiation, and a spear through His heart. There is no reason to believe that He, or anyone else, could survive such an ordeal, fake His death, sit in a tomb for three days and nights without medical attention, food or water, remove the massive stone which sealed His tomb, escape undetected (without leaving a trail of blood), convince hundreds of eyewitnesses that He was resurrected from the dead and in good health, then disappear without a trace. We don't need a CSI team to tell us that is ridiculous. And to what end? So that His followers could perpetrate a lie for which they would be rewarded with scorn, ridicule, torture, persecution and death?
Allow me to offer one final note regarding discovery of the empty tomb. Given the lack of esteem in which women were held in ancient Jewish and Roman culture, it would have been unwise indeed for someone trying to convince others of the validity of a hoax to portray women as the first and primary eyewitnesses to the Resurrection. If the disciples were perpetrating a hoax, they picked the most discredited witnesses they could find in their effort to do so.
Perhaps though, for me, the most compelling aspect of the eyewitness testimony of the first Christians is the undeniable change in their character following the alleged post-Resurrection appearances of Christ. By this, I mean not only the fact that skeptics such as James and enemies such as Paul experienced a conversion from being individuals who were hostile to and who persecuted the early Church to being its most fervent adherents, but also the fact that the Apostles went from being a group of lukewarm, even cowardly, supporters who hid in fear for their lives immediately after His crucifixion to individuals who, following the Resurrection, boldly took to the streets to proclaim it despite intensifying persecution. Even as those early leaders died horrible deaths, Christianity flourished throughout the Roman Empire - a record of martyrdom establishing the absolute truth of the Christian faith.
What accounts for the sudden and drastic change in these individuals? I can only surmise that they witnessed something that convinced them beyond all doubt that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, that our sins are forgiven and that salvation is ours if we have the courage to live in His Name. Amen