Today, millions of Christians worldwide will celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus.
While I may be stating the obvious for many of us, the results of a Gallup Poll I read this week reminded me that not everybody understands this holiday's purpose. According to the poll, 25 percent of Americans don't know why Easter is celebrated.
However, for Christians, the Resurrection is the pivotal event of our faith. If it were not for this event, Christianity would crumble and could easily be classified as the biggest hoax of all time.
Without the Resurrection, Jesus would have been just another false prophet who did not deliver on what He promised.
I know these are strong words, but it is impossible for me to over-emphasize this holiday's importance.
For all the hype that Christmas receives, the Resurrection's importance dwarfs it and then some. Simply put, deciding whether Jesus rose from the dead or not is the most important question a person will ever answer.
Obviously, there have been an uncountable number of debates over the centuries regarding this event. However, when analyzing whether Jesus rose from the dead, one of the most compelling pieces of evidence supporting this event is the behavior of those closest to Him.
When Jesus was arrested and crucified, His disciples ran for their lives. They were terrified, and Peter went as far as to publicly deny Him three times.
Some are quick to criticize Peter, but we should all know better. When the heat is on, it is part of our human nature to want to save our own skin, and that is all he was doing.
We have all denied Jesus only it was not documented in the best-selling book of all time so people could read about it throughout the centuries. Jesus forgave Peter and that is good enough for me.
The main point here is that the disciples had hit rock bottom. Their Master was dead, and they were terrified for their lives because of threats from religious leaders, Roman authorities, and the public in general.
The situation was desperate.
However, compare their behavior at this point to their behavior only a few days later. Not only did they stop running, but they began to actively proclaim the Gospel, knowing it would bring them suffering and hardship.
What could have caused such a reversal in just a few, short days? They met the resurrected Jesus.
As previously stated, they had all demonstrated the human quality of wanting to save their own skin because they knew what awaited them by being associated with Jesus. It would have taken a supernatural event to turn them back at this point.
This is exactly what happened. The reality of the Jesus’ Resurrection hit them right between the eyes. Despite the torture and hardship that awaited them, they willingly took the Gospel into the world.
Consider for a moment what these men were undertaking. These men were basically peasants with no power, and they were going to challenge the most powerful empire in the world.
The message they would carry would rattle society, and if nothing else, history shows us the Romans were not patient when it came to events that caused instability within their empire.
Again, why would they do this? Because they were absolutely certain what they believed in was true. The reality of the Resurrection of Jesus cemented His teachings in their hearts.
People don't suffer and die for something they know to be a lie or a hoax. Our human nature does not work that way. A person would be insane to willingly suffer in the ways these men suffered if they knew it was all a lie. These men faced public humiliation in ways that have been rarely experienced.
History is littered with people who committed to a cause but then jumped ship as soon as it got tough. We read about it every day in the news. We read about groups that are committed to a cause, but as the justice system closes in on them, they quickly cut deals to testify against others to lessen their jail time or suffering.
However, it did not work that way with the disciples. They did not compromise. They knew what was true, and their commitment impacts us thousands of years later.
Perhaps that should make us consider our own commitment.
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Either Jesus was who He said He was, or He was a liar or just plain crazy. He can't be just a "good person" or "prophet."
-- quoted by many, many times
"Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it. His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men. But the angel answered and said to the women, 'Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold, I have told you.' So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring His disciples word. And as they went to tell His disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, 'Rejoice!' So they came and held Him by the feet and worshiped Him."
--- Matthew 28:1-9 (NRSV)
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