By Dr. Jeanette Pinto –
The resurrection of Jesus is the Christian religious belief that after being put to death, Jesus rose again from the dead. It is the central tenet of Christian theology and part of the Nicene Creed: “On the third day he rose again in accordance to the Scriptures”. The New Testament tells us that the Romans crucified Jesus. His body was anointed and buried in a new tomb by Joseph of Arimathea, but God raised him from the dead. Thereafter he appeared to many people over the span of forty days before he ascended to Heaven to sit at the right hand of God. This rising from the dead is the Easter miracle of the Resurrection.
All this may seem extraordinary to the reader, but the human mind is perplexed at this astounding phenomenon and one begins to wonder if this is a mere fairy tale. The pathos of mockery, the scourging, heaving the heavy cross up to Calvary and being crucified questions man’s inhumanity to man. What an anti- life attitude! Something violent, but rising from the dead is awesome and incredible. Who in history has risen from the dead; if none, then how was this man called Jesus raised from the dead? Thousands of ‘doubting Thomas’s would refrain from believing, and wonder if it is a figment of the imagination. Is the resurrection of Jesus Christ a historical event that really happened or is it only a myth, as many non-believers and atheists claim? No one witnessed the actual resurrection, but many people swore they saw the risen Christ after his death, and thereafter their lives were never the same.
What are the proofs that we can offer to the non-believers?
Firstly, the empty tomb may be the strongest proof. Some folks argue that someone stole Jesus’ body or even worse that the women and disciples went to the wrong tomb. But the burial shrouds/sheets were neatly folded; something very unlikely that grave robbers would do. The angel at the entrance of the tomb joyfully announced spoke to the women that Jesus had risen.
Secondly the holy women were the first eyewitnesses; this proves that the gospels are historical records. In biblical times women were considered second class citizens, their testimony was not even accepted in court. Even so the Bible records that the risen Christ appeared to Mary Magdalene and the other holy women. Initially the apostles did not believe Mary’s story that the tomb was empty, but deep down in their hearts the apostles knew that Jesus has special respect for these women, and so they honoured their word. God had indeed favoured these women.
The witnessing of the crucifixion was a horrific and traumatic experience for the followers of Jesus, especially the apostles who had been walking with Jesus all along. They now feared that their turn for such an ordeal would be next, so they hid behind locked doors, terrified and edgy, wondering what would be their fate. But something powerful changed them from cowards to bold preachers. Psychologists affirm that human behaviour does not change overnight. The dramatic change was seeing their Master Jesus bodily raised from the dead, appear to them in a locked room, then on the shore of the Sea of Galilee and on the Mount of Olives. These wondrous and amazing appearances pumped courage into their hearts. The third proof was that Peter boldly walked out of the locked room; all the others quit hiding and renewed in the Spirit they went out to become fearless preachers.
A fourth proof was that the resurrection changed the lives of James who was close to Jesus and of the other apostles. They were in disbelief to see Jesus – alive again. How was this possible? Such a thing had never before taken place. They finally and truly understood that Jesus is God incarnated, who saved them from sin, and this made them fiery effective missionaries. Later James became leader of the Jerusalem Church and was even stoned to death. These zealous eyewitnesses spread the faith to Rome and beyond, and for 2000 years encounters with the resurrected Jesus have miraculously changed the lives of people.
A fifth proof was that more than 500 eyewitnesses saw the risen Jesus Christ at the same time. It was no hallucination. It is impossible for a large crowd to have the same vision at the same time. They all saw and touched Jesus and watched him eat food. The Apostle Paul records this event in 1 Corinthians 15:6. He states that most of these men and women who experienced Jesus alive were indeed living when he wrote this letter about 55AD. In fact after the ascension of Jesus into heaven sightings of him stopped.
The most important event in human history apart from the life, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth is the conversion to Christianity of Saul of Tarsus. This is the sixth proof. The event recorded in the Bible is the most drastically changed life – from being an aggressive persecutor of the early Church, the appearance of the Risen Christ turned Paul to become Christianity’s most zealous and determined missionary. Thereafter he endured several imprisonments, five floggings, three beatings, three shipwrecks, a stoning, poverty and years of ridicule. Finally the Roman emperor Nero had Paul beheaded when he refused to deny his faith in Jesus. This was because Paul was awestruck on his way to Damascus when he encountered the risen Jesus.
The seventh proof is that countless people have died for Jesus, which absolutely indicates that the resurrection of Christ is a historical fact. The apostles died as martyrs for Christ, thousands of early Christians died in the Roman arena and in prisons for their faith. Down the centuries and even today people suffer persecution and martyrdom because they have faith in the fact that Christ rose from the dead. Over 2000 years have passed but those who believe in Jesus are convinced that Jesus conquered death to give them eternal life. This is the Easter miracle of the Resurrection. Alleluia!
Dr Jeanette Pinto, an educator for the past 5 decades, headed the Department of History was Vice Principal of St. Xavier’s College Mumbai, and retired as Principal of Sophia College, Mumbai. She is a counsellor and conductor of Personal Enrichment Programmes for students and teachers.
She set up the Human Life Committee in the Archdiocese of Bombay. As a sex educator she has given talks on Human Sexuality in India and abroad. In 2014 she received the Rachana Outstanding Woman of the Year for her Pro-life work presented by the Diocese of Mangalore. She has attended many National and International Pro-life conferences and given talks at other fora on various women’s issues.
She is author of a couple of books, her most recent ones are titled: I’m Pro-Life Are you? & Sex Talk: Parent to Child. She has also written a number of articles on a variety of themes and subjects, which have been published in research journals, The Examiner and other Catholic publications.