Do The Facts Stack Up?

From the historical evidence that we’ve looked at so far I think we can agree on 3 things: 1. Jesus definitely died at his crucifixion. 2. He was buried in a rich man’s tomb in Jerusalem. 3. And that tomb which was heavily guarded by Romans was found empty. So what happened? Well I think and what I’d like to suggest is that we can definitely rule out the Jewish Authorities and the Roman Authorities as suspects. So it leaves us with one legitimate possibility: the disciples. I think we should look at the disciples under two headings... Firstly 'opportunity' and secondly 'motive'. So, opportunity...as we read through the Gospels, the insight you get into the disciples and their character doesn’t necessarily lead you to believe that they could become criminal masterminds overnight! Stealing the body of Jesus would have been a serious heist. And not only that these guys are fishermen, they’re peasants they’re accountants, and they’re following a peace-preaching, commandment keeping, i.e do not steal kind of teacher. Even if they had the skillset to pull that off, the evidence suggests that they didn’t have the courage to do so. After Jesus’ death, his disciples are depicted as a scared and disheartened group of followers in hiding! Jesus is arrested because one of them betrayed him and, when the arrest happens, the disciples scatter. And Jesus is actually left alone, forsaken by the group who said that they would die before ever forsaking him. When you read the stories of these individuals, it’s far fetched to suggest that a group that were too afraid to launch a rescue mission for Jesus when he was alive would risk their lives to get his dead body back. What about motive... Initially, I can understand the case for the disciples stealing the body of Jesus and then claiming that he had been raised from the dead. Let’s face it, no one likes to be wrong and history is full of examples of people lying to get ahead. Where this breaks down however, is over the long term. If the resurrection meant that the disciples went on to become powerful and influential, we would always wonder if they were telling the truth. They simply had nothing to gain by fabricating a new religious movement based off a lie, because more than likely they would have faced a lot of ridicule, a lot of torture and ultimately a cruel death, but for what? Christians were killed or jailed long after the days of the apostles and all the way up until the time of the Emperor Constantine, almost two hundred years later. From what we can tell from Christian tradition, several of the apostles were killed for their faith in horrible circumstances that they faced with extraordinary courage. To give your life for something is a powerful thing. One might be willing to die for a friend or a family member. You might be willing to die for a cause that you really believe in. But would you really be willing to die for a lie? When the Christian movement kicked off in Jerusalem, the Jewish authorities did everything they could to try and stop it, but what they found that the harder they pushed, the more the church grew. An older, wiser rabbi, reminded his colleagues of all the movements they had seen come and go in their lives and finished by saying: If this movement is of human design and creation, we won't need to oppose it. It will collapse by itself. But if it is from God then, no matter how hard we fight it, nothing will stop it. People have tried to fight it. Leaders both old and new have tried to wipe Christianity off the face of the earth and here we are, 2000 years later talking about it. Perhaps this is the greatest evidence of the resurrection that we have. The Resurrection is a game changer. Saint Paul said it best that 'if Christ did not rise from the dead, then Christianity is useless and we are to be pitied above all people.' (Corinthians 15) But if Jesus did rise from the dead then I believe it changes everything!