Does God raise Jesus or was everything a farce?

It often arises, at Easter time, some “expert” writes denying the Resurrection of Jesus and posing it as “a fraud” of the apostles and the Church. Unfortunately, those who do not know the background to Catholic doctrine are no longer offended by such lies. So let’s meditate on the highest point of our faith.

First of all, it was Jesus himself who assured that he would rise; something that the apostles paid dearly with their lives to believe.

Those who crucified Jesus were to say to Pilate: “And they said unto him, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while living: After three days I will rise. (Mt 27, 63). “ “From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes; would be killed, and rise the third day “(Mt 16,21).

The Resurrection of Jesus is an undeniable historical fact. The first event of Easter Sunday morning was the “discovery of the empty tomb” (Mk 16.1 to 8). It was the basis of all the action and preaching of the apostles and was very well recorded by them. St. John says: “What we saw, heard and touched with our hands that we certify” (1 John 1.1-2).

The risen Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene (John 20.19 to 23); the disciples of Emmaus (Lk 24.13 to 25), to the Apostles in the Upper Room, with Thomas absent (John 20.19 to 23); and then, with this Thomas (John 20.24 to 29); on Lake of Gennesaret (Jn 21.1 to 24); on Mount in Galilee (Mt 28.16 to 20); according to St. Paul “he appeared to more than 500 people” (1 Cor 15.6) and that Christ died for our sins […] and that he was buried, and rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and was seen by Khefas, and then the Eleven; then was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of which most live today and some have fallen asleep; then he appeared to James, then by all the apostles; and, finally, after all was also seen by me as an abortion “(1 Cor 15: 3-8).

“God has raised this Jesus, and to this we are all witnesses” (Acts 2, 32), said St. Peter at Pentecost. “Know for sure the whole House of Israel, God made Lord (Kýrios) and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified” (Acts 2: 36). “Christ died and lived to be the Lord of the dead and the living” (Romans 14: 9). In Revelation, John concludes: “I am the First and the Last, the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and the dead area “(Rev 1: 17s).

The first experience of the apostles with the risen Jesus was remarkable and unforgettable: “Jesus stood in the midst of the apostles and said,” Peace be with you”. Taken with awe and fear they thought they were seeing a spirit!. But he said: “Why are you troubled, and why such doubts arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet, it is I! “Touch me and understand that a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have”. Saying this, he showed them his hands and feet. And because, for joy, they could not believe they still remained surprised and He said to them, “You have something to eat?”. They showed him a piece of broiled fish. Then he took it and ate it before them “(Lk 24, 34ss).

The frightened apostles, thought they saw a ghost. Jesus asks that they touch him and find that has flesh and bones. None of this was a hallucination or illusion or delusion, nor lie, nor fraud of the Apostles, because it was realistic that many people at first even doubted  the Resurrection of the Master. . .  Christ himself had to talk to Thomas, “Touch me and see: ghosts do not have flesh and bones as ye see me have” (Luke 24.39). The Emmaus disciples were disappointed because “we had hoped that he who would restore Israel” (Lk 24: 21). None of them believed in the Resurrection … until they saw the Lord.

These “first time” testimonials, designed and transmitted by immediate disciples of the Lord, are sufficient arguments to dissolve any theory that wants to deny the bodily resurrection of Christ. This faith did not come “later”, as some in the history of the early Christian communities, but is the result of Christ’s mission accompanied daily by the Apostles.

The rulers of the Jews became aware of the significance of the Resurrection of Jesus, and therefore decided to dispel it: “They gave soldiers a large sum of money, recommending:” Say that his disciples came by night, while slumbered, and stole the dead body of Jesus. If it reach the ears of the Governor, we convince, and leave you without complication. “ They took the money and acted in accordance with instructions received. And this story has spread among the Jews until this day “(Mt 28: 12-15).

And Jesus really died, including being pierced in the side by the spear of the soldier. It is a ridiculous theory that Jesus was just “sleeping” on the Cross. The Apostles could only believe in the Resurrection of Jesus by the evidence of the facts as they were not inclined to admit it; on the contrary, they lost all courage when they saw the imprisoned and condemned Master; also for them the resurrection was a scandal. They had no psychological dispositions to “invent” the news of the resurrection of Jesus or to forge such an event.

They were still impregnated with the conceptions of a nationalist and political messianism, and fell when they saw the apparently failed and arrested Master. They fled to avoid arrest themselves (cf. Mt 26: 31s); Peter denied the Lord (cf. Mt 26: 33-35). The concept of a God who died and rose again in human flesh was totally alien to the mentality of the Jews.

It is further noted that the preaching of the Apostles was tightly controlled by the Jews, so that if any of them would lie , they immediately would be denounced by members of the Sanhedrin. If the resurrection of Jesus, preached by the Apostles was not real, it was fraud, the Jews would have discovered it, but they could never do it.
The twenty long centuries of Christianity, full of success and glory, were based on the truth of the Resurrection of Jesus. Affirming that Christianity was born and raised on a lie and fraud would assume a miracle even greater than the actual Resurrection of the Lord.

On behalf of a “fantasy”, a mirage, will thousands of faithful face death in the face of Roman persecution, as they face today before the Islamic State? Of course not.

On behalf of a myth, would crowds go to the desert to live a life of penance and prayer?
The testimony of the Apostles about the Resurrection of Jesus was convincing. Building Christianity requires a more solid foundation than fraud or mental weakness. Thus, it is much more logical to believe in the Resurrection of Jesus than to explain the power of Christianity by a fantasy of dishonest or hallucinating people.

The Resurrection of Jesus is central point of the Christian faith, so that St. Paul says: “If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is empty; empty is also your faith … If Christ be not raised, your faith is empty; ye are yet in your sins “(1 Cor 15, 14:17).
The Resurrection of Jesus is the basis of faith; St. Paul calls Christ resurrected “the firstborn from the dead” (Col 1: 18). To him, resurrected first, then will be the resurrection of the brethren: “Each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at the time of his second coming; then there will be the end”(1 Cor 15: 23ff).