The Resurrection of Jesus during the season of His birth?

The Resurrection of Jesus feels like the complete opposite of what we should be thinking about during the season in which we celebrate the birth of Jesus. Talk about beginning at the end? Well, I was working my way through First Corinthians, which talks a lot about whether or not Jesus really rose from the dead, as well as what it means for us if He didn’t actually come out of that tomb.

Maybe we should get the obvious out of the way first: rising from the dead is not a natural act. Putting a dead body into the tomb, only to have it walk out of there alive-and-well three days later, sounds like a fairy tale. I understand that our finite human minds can’t naturally accept this conclusion.

The tomb of Jesus is EMPTY!

Acceptance and real understanding will require some investigation, something that we humans are often unwilling or too lazy to do (I do include myself in that “lazy” part). We are comfortable not believing in something because we either think it doesn’t make sense or someone else told us it doesn’t make sense. It’s hard for us to stand out when the natural impulse is to blend in and not attract attention. I get that. I’ve experience that too.

Let me offer a few insights I’ve picked up over the years. I’m not a fully educated preacher, and I freely admit it. But I am a journalist, so I do know how to do some research. You don’t have to agree with everything I say, either. All I’m asking you to do is open your mind a little to what I’m saying and then do your own investigating.

Cultural Implications

Do you know what it meant from a cultural standpoint for Jesus to get crucified on a cross? According to the law, when Jesus got crucified, he was then “exposed as a heretic.” He was said to be accursed by God under the law. After all, He did claim to “be God.”

Jewish tradition taught that their Messiah would lead them to triumph over their enemies. It didn’t teach that the Messiah would be shamefully executed as a criminal by the same people He was supposed to lead to a military triumph.

Do you also know what the Jewish people believed about the afterlife? Those beliefs precluded anyone’s rising from the dead to glory and immortality before the general resurrection of the dead at the end of the world. That belief flew right in the face of everything Jesus said while He walked among them.

In baseball terms, that’s three strikes and already one out in the inning. But there are more strikes to come yet.

The Tomb

The tomb itself was another serious obstacle to the resurrection, both literally and figuratively. The tomb itself was a small area cut out of solid rock, and it never was occupied. Luke 23:53 says, “And he took the body down and wrapped it in a linen cloth and laid Him in a tomb cut into the rock, where no one had ever lain before.” Do you understand what that truly means? There were no other bodies in there that could have been confused with Jesus.

Officials put a large stone in front of the tomb’s entrance. Matthew 27:59-60 says, “Joseph (of Arimathea) took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and placed it in the new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away.”

The stone was large enough that it would have been all but impossible for the disciples to come in and roll out of the way. They’d need a whole lot of muscle to accomplish the task. But the stone wouldn’t be their only problem.

The Romans placed their official seal over the tomb. Matthew 27:66 says, “And they went and made the grave secure, and along with the guard, they set a seal on the stone.” By the way, that seal is a Roman seal and a sign of authentication. The power and authority of Rome stood behind that seal. Anyone found breaking the Roman seal would suffer a truly unpleasant death that would likely be in line with the one Jesus suffered.

By the way, that guard? It was either a Roman guard or the Jewish Temple Police. The context makes it seem that it was a Roman guard; a sixteen-man unit that was governed by a strict set of rules. Strict might technically be an understatement.

The Roman Legions were not to be messed with.

Each member was responsible for six square feet of space around them, and they weren’t allowed to sit or lean against anything on duty. 16 multiplied by 6 is 96 feet of property covered by well-armed fighting men. You couldn’t sneak up through that many wide-awake legionnaires and have any shot at getting the dead body out of the grave, even if you were strong enough to move that stone.

Speaking of “wide-awake:” if a Roman guard member ever fell asleep on duty, he was done for. He was beaten and burned alive with his own clothes. However, he wasn’t the only one to go out like that. The entire sixteen-man guard unit got executed even if only one of the members conked out while on duty.

What if it was the Jewish Temple Police? That Roman seal on the tomb meant they’d suffer the same fate if the body got stolen on their watch. Not a pleasant way to die at all.

Security

The Blue Letter Bible website points out that these precautions made the religious rulers feel secure that the excitement around Jesus would soon be gone for good. Jesus lay dead in the tomb, and His frightened disciples had either scattered or gone into hiding. They thought they had finally won.

Joseph of Arimathea

Some have said that Joseph of Arimathea was a Biblical invention. However, given the completely understandable hostility of the Christian movement toward Jewish national leaders, Joseph of Arimathea was a member of the same Jewish High Court that condemned Jesus and wouldn’t have been a Christian “invention.”

And don’t you think that a member of the Jewish High Council burying a radical like Jesus would have been a well-known event among the populace? Both Jewish leaders and Christians knew where the tomb was located.

So, what happened?

Remember the story of the disciples hiding in the upper room because they feared the Jews? The resurrected Jesus is said to have shown up in the same room without even opening the door. I know, it’s a crazy thing to claim, but if the guy could walk out of a tomb on His own, that door should be a piece of cake.

But I digress. The point is, the disciples were afraid, cowering in that very room together. HOW did they go from a group of frightened “church mice” to believing so passionately that they saw the risen Jesus that they’d be willing to die for that belief?

An agreed-upon lie, you say. Listen, that whole Watergate scandal couldn’t be protected for two weeks before it came apart. Let me offer this as proof of someone who lived through the scandal and was penalized for it:

That kind of passion only comes from seeing the risen Jesus. Period. Please look into it yourself. Anyone who loved Mankind enough to allow Himself to be put to that kind of death to save our souls is worth following. It’s not about religion and never has been. It’s about a loving relationship between you and the creator of the universe. Look into it for yourself.