This has been adapted from a speech I gave on Good Friday 2006.

Tomorrow is Good Friday which is the day Christians around the world commemorate Jesus Christs crucifixion around 2000 years ago. In of itself, the execution of a Jewish man or another ethnicity in ancient Rome was nothing out of the ordinary. What, however, went beyond the ordinary was that the death of Jesus was not the end of His story. This coming Sunday, is Easter. A more fitting name though is Resurrection Sunday. Three days after Jesus death and burial, His previously guarded tomb was found empty by some of His followers and for forty days afterwards, Jesus appeared to His disciples and followers in His resurrected body.

To some the story of Jesus resurrection is merely a fairy tale with as much truth to it as the mythical Greek stories of the gods of old. Others see it as a beautiful metaphor to inspire people to live good and upright lives.

Then there are those such as myself, who look towards Jesus victory over death as the greatest triumph this world has ever known and a guarantee of the shared victory we will have with Him in this life and the life to come.

Now hear me, my words are all well and good if Jesus did indeed rise from the dead as I and other Christians believe, but as the Bible says If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men. (1Corinthians 15:19)However, I want to assure you that my hope is by no means deserving of any pity.

Today, I will share with all of you why the Biblical account of Jesus resurrection is grounded in history as well as logic. Then I will share with you the reason for His death and resurrection and what this means to you.

Whatever your beliefs are I ask that you please listen to me with an open mind and heart. Thank You.

To start off, Im going to establish the existence of Jesus through citing different historical documents that mention Him outside of the Bible. After all, trying to establish the historical truth of the resurrection if there were no Jesus would be like trying to prove that Peter Pan really went to Never Never Land.

In the Antiquities of the Jews Flavius Josephus, a first century Roman Historian, makes references to Jesus where he calls him the so-called Christ, and to his forerunner John the Baptist as well as his brother James. (Jeffrey 184 -188)

The Talmud, a collection of writings by Jewish rabbis, makes mention of Jesus as someone who practiced sorcery and it also makes mention of his execution occurring on Passover. ( Jeffrey, 180-181)

Speaking of the execution, or rather the crucifixion of Jesus, in the Gospel accounts it makes reference to darkness coming over the land at the sixth hour when Jesus was on the cross till the ninth hour as well as an earthquake. This biblical detail of Jesus last hours has been collaborated by two different historians. Both Thallus and Phlegon make mention of the darkness falling in 33 A.D as an eclipse of the sun with Phlegon also recording the earthquake. Phlegon wrote that the darkness was so extreme that stars even appeared in the heavens. ( Strobel, 84-85) Interestingly, with Jesus death occurring at Passover an eclipse is astronomically impossible. Passover falls on a full moon when it is diametrically opposite of the sun. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thallus_(historian) )

I would like to address some of the different alternate theories as to what happened to Jesus after the cross.

Some say that the disciples who claimed to visit Jesus empty tomb went to wrong one. If this had been the case, the young religion would have folded before it even began. When the followers of Jesus were claiming Jesus rose from the dead!! people would have been quick to point out their stupidity and shown them the correct and occupied grave.

Some skeptics have attributed the sightings of Jesus by His disciples as hallucinations. This theory also falls short. Quoting the psychologist Gary Collins Hallucinations are individual occurrences. By their very nature only one person can see a given hallucination at one time. (Strobel, 238-239)

Going on to another lousy theory is the swoon theory. This theory states that Jesus didnt really die on the cross but rather survived faking His death. First off, Jesus had already suffered massive blood loss after His flogging before the crucifixion. Second of all, the way people died from crucifixion was ultimately from asphyxiation. So Jesus would have had to hold His breath for an hour or so which wouldnt have been possible. Finally, Jesus had a spear thrust through His side penetrating His heart. It should be noted that Roman soldiers were very effective killers and if they failed to carry out the deaths of the condemned criminal they were executing, they would then in turn be executed. (Strobel, 198- 201)

Finally, some say the whole rising from the dead story was just made up or BS. Maybe the disciples stole His body, maybe they just didnt want to let His teachings die or whatever. Let me draw an important distinction between the origins of the Christian faith and other religions. In Islam, no one saw Muhammad allegedly receive the Koran from the angel Gabriel. Muhammads first followers followed him on faith trusting him to be telling the truth. None of the first followers of the Buddhas paths were able to see any of his alleged insights he gained through his meditation breakthrough where he reached enlightenment. However, the first followers of Jesus were different. They did not believe on faith. They believed on sight claiming to have seen Him after His resurrection. Many of them, 10 out of the remaining 11 disciples, went to their torturous deaths proclaiming the triumph of Jesus over death. Now, many people will die for what they believe in be it religion, love, or country. But no one will die willingly for a lie. No one. (Strobel, 263-264)

With all these alternative explanations gone, what are we left with? The best possible explanation left standing for Jesus missing body is that He did indeed rise from the dead as He said He would.

Bibliography

Greatcom.org(April 10^th , 2006) (http://www.greatcom.org/laws/)

Jeffrey, G. R. (1999) Jesus: The Great Debate

Nashville: Word Publishing

Strobel, L. (1998) The Case For Christ

Grand Rapids: Zondervan

Strobel, L. (2000) The Case For Faith

Grand Rapids: Zondervan

Wikipedia.org (April 10^th, 2006) ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thallus_(historian) )