Four Hypothesises on the Resurrection

[Eucharisted]

1. The Swoon Theory: Jesus was only unconscious in the Tomb

But one soldier thrust his lance into his side, and immediately blood and water flowed out. (John 19:34)

Some believe Jesus didn’t die on the Cross. In the Gospels, we read that a Roman soldier was one of those naysayers. He didn’t think Jesus was dead, either. And why shouldn’t he? Crucifixions usually went on for days - Jesus’ only lasted a hour, and the two criminals who He died between were alive, too (they had to have their bones broken so as to hasten their deaths, since the Jews didn’t want them hanging on the tree on Sabbath). So what did the soldier decide to do? He thurst his spear into Jesus’ side, and out gushed blood and water.

Blood and water, in the early Church, was a representation of Baptism and the Eucharist. Now, a fallacy you might hear is that, because the blood and water represents something, than it must have just been a symbol, not historic. But as the Gospels are the memoirs of the Apostles, and the real account of Jesus’ death could have easily been discovered given the number of witnesses who were there, plus the fact that most of the gentiles in that time did not believe in any kind of resurrection and would be quick to find any evidence against Jesus’ own Resurrection, than it must be that the blood and water really did gush out of Jesus’ side when He was pierced by the Roman soldier.

For those of you who say Jesus didn’t on die while on the Cross, here’s something to chew on: According to medical science, losing all your blood and water means you’re dead. You’re not half-dead, you don’t fall asleep; you are dead, finished, gone, no longer among the living. And Jesus’ disciples didn’t know CPR. Nor could they revive Him with a couple of blood transmissions. So He was dead. But wait, you might be wondering, how did the Roman soldier know that by piercing Jesus’ side, He would die? Because Roman soldiers were trained to execute criminals, and that included piercing the side to drain them of their fluids.

2. The Stolen Body Theory: Jesus’ corpse was stolen out of the Tomb

“They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.” (John 20:2)

So, Jesus is dead. But was His corpse stolen by the disciples? Some believe this. They believe He was stolen out of the tomb and only pretended to be risen from the dead. A few even point to the recording of what the Jewish leaders said, that they ordered soldiers to be placed at Jesus’ tomb because the liar had said He would rise from the dead and they assumed His disciples would come later at night to steal His corpse and proclaim Him risen from the dead, and later to when they ordered a false report to be spread about how the disciples stole Jesus’ corpse and were only pretending He was risen, even bribing the soldiers to spread such a report (both times the Jewish leaders feared the disciples would cause a revolt against the Roman, to attempt to redeem Israel, which would end in the Romans coming down to destroy Jerusalem), in a way of showing how the Gospels try to deflect the truth by showing it to be a lie. But if Jesus really was taken, than the recording of the Pharisee’s words would only raise the supsecious of the gentiles, who were not easily swayed about a resurrection and would check to see if it was untrue.

But Jesus could not have been stolen by His friends, because when they discovered the empty tomb they had thought He had been stolen and lamented over the lost corpse. Mary Magdalene asked the gardener (actually Jesus) where His body was, because she thought he had moved it. Peter and John both ran to the tomb, and Peter entered it, and they both left in sorrow. The other Apostles, when Jesus appeared to them, were afraid of Him because they thought He was a ghost. Obviously, they all thought His body was stolen, and not by them. If the other disciples had it, they certainly weren’t sharing it with them. But there were no reports that any disiciple had the corpse, nor were there reports that any of Jesus’ enemies had His corpse.

3. The Hallucination Theory: Jesus’ Resurrection was only imagined by the Apostles

Jesus came over and took the bread and gave it to them, and in like manner the fish. (John 21:13)

The loss of the Messiah’s corpse would have caused great anxiety to Jesus’ disciples. So when He appeared to the Apostles (sans Thomas) while they were talking with the two disciples whom He appeared to on the road, they thought He was a ghost or a vision - anything but real. But than He appeared to them again, this time when Thomas was there, and He allowed Thomas to touch His Wounds, to show He wasn’t a vision or a ghost but of real glorified flesh. And again He appeared to some Apostles on the shore, and He gave them fish and bread. And He kept on appearing to them for forty days, even to five hundred believers at one time, until finally He lead them to a hill outside Jerusalem and ascented into Heaven. A hallucination, a ghost, and a vision cannot have flesh, walk down a road, build a fire, give and eat bread and fish with friends, appear to a mass of believers at once and appear many more times to the Apostles - even leading them out to a hill. It is impossible for something immaterial to do all those things.

 

[Eucharisted]

4. The Resurrection Event: Jesus rose from the dead like He said

“Why do you seek the living one among the dead?” (Luke 24:5)

I left this one last, because most don’t think of it first, and some don’t believe it even after the theories have been debunked. Some propose other theories, but there isn’t anything else that could have happened in that time and place. Either Jesus swooned and was revived, He was taken away and falsely proclaimed risen, the Apostles only imagined seeing Jesus risen, or Jesus really did rise from the dead. You can add in other details, like the theory that the soldiers who guarded Jesus’ tomb were bribed to keep His rotting corpse from being ever seen so the Church could perputate a mythical resurrection, or the theory that someone died in Jesus’ place on the Cross, but it essentially all comes down to the same four possibilities. Not only that, but some of the wilder theories, like the one about the soldiers being bribed, are on the conspiracy theory level, which really lowers the possibility of their actuality. Plus, there is no evidence for the wilder theories; they’re just made up from the imagination, either with or without scriptural verses being taken out of context. So, without further ado, let’s get into the only last remaining possibility regarding Jesus’ Resurrection: the Resurrection event!

Skipping the angelic apparitions for now, let’s zoom to the first Resurrection appearance, which was to Mary Magdalene. The other women she had been with to anoint Jesus’ body had left when they saw the angel sitting on the rock rolled away from Jesus’ tomb, but she stayed behind, persistant in wanting to see Jesus. He had driven seven demons out of her and she loved Him very much for that. He approached her, and His glorified body was so beautiful that she didn’t recognize Him at first; she thought He was the gardener. But He spoke her name, and she instantly recognized Him, just as a brother would instantly recognize his sister by her calling him his name or as an old friend would immediately recognize a friend by being called by their name. She held onto Him, but He told her not to, because He had not yet ascented to the Father.

Next, Jesus appeared to the women who were leaving the tomb and told them to tell His Apostles that He was risen and He would be seeing them. The Apostles Peter and John, the former of whom Jesus had appointed as leader of the Twelve and the latter of whom had witnessed Jesus’ death at Calvary, ran to the tomb where Christ was supposed to be buried. They found the stone rolled away. John didn’t go into the tomb, but Peter did. He found Jesus’ burial cloth folded. This perplexed him. In a Jewish household with slaves, a master, while eating, would use a napkin: if he folded the napkin, it meant “I’m coming back”; if he crumbled the napkin, it meant “I’m finished.” He was perplexed because he immediately recognized the folded cloth as meaning “I’m back!” Not only that, but if Jesus was stolen, the cloth would either be crumbled up or stolen as well, since theieves either tend to have no interest in burial cloth or just steal the corpse cloth and all.

That same Sunday, He appeared to two disciples who were on their way home. They, like Mary Magdalene, did not recognize Him. He asked them why they were so sad and they asked, in turn, if He didn’t know about Jesus of Nazareth and how they had hoped He was the Messiah. Obviously all of Jesus’ disciples had heard the news of His crucifixion. As they walked down the road, Jesus told them all the prophecies in the Old Testament that pointed to the Messiah to reassure their hearts about who Jesus is - the Messiah - and when they reached home, they begged Him to stay with them, since it was already late. He did, and when He blessed the bread and broke it - literally, consecrated the bread, turning it into His Body and Blood - they immediately recognized who He was, but He vanished. It is interesting to note that the disciples were not celebrating the Eucharist; Jesus simply took some bread and turned it into Himself.

 

[Eucharisted]

Later Jesus appeared to the Apostles, save Thomas, who was not with them, and He showed them His Wounds. They thought He was a ghost from sheol, but He reasured them. They believed Him, but still doubted He was really risen. They could have been imaging His apperance. Whether or not Peter told them about the burial cloth being folded is uncertain, but if he did, it didn’t make an impression on them - especially since the report of the angels and the report of Jesus appearing to two disciples on the road did not impress them one bit.

A week later Jesus appeared to them again, this time when Thomas was with them, and He again showed them His Wounds. He instructed Thomas to touch each of His Wounds, which he did, and he suddenly believed He was Jesus. This testimony also helped to strengthen the faith of the other Apostles. But even still, some of them doubted.

That same week, when four Apostles and two disciples when on the shore of Lake Galilee - the fishermen among the Apostles had returned to their job of fishing in Galilee, which they had all abandoned when Jesus called them to Himself; their faith was very weak at this point, even after so many appearances by Jesus - Jesus appeared to them a third time. But none of them reconized Him, because it was still dark that early morning. Jesus told the fishermen, after a night of unsuccessful catches, to throw the net on the right side of the boat. It was a crazy suggestion because the fishermen knew how to fish, and if you didn’t catch anything at night, you wouldn’t catch anything during the day. But they threw the net anyways, and caught an abudant amount of fish. Peter immediately knew it was Jesus and he jumped out of the boat and went to shore. There he found a fire Jesus had made, with fish and bread over it - fish and bread being symbols of the Eucharist. He distributed the bread and fish to them, just as He had given them the consecrated bread - His Body and Blood - at Passover.

He appeared to them many more times for forty days. And He appeared to five hundred believers in Jerusalem, who doubted He was risen. After the forty days, He ascented into Heaven. Ascension, along with angelic apparition, were signs of divinity in that time. So God had His angels proclaim Jesus’ Resurrection: “He is not here, he is risen like He said!” “Why do you look for the living among the dead?” Not only this, but angels, in Judaism, are holy messagers of God, and their words are believed more than men’s. So the angels speaking to the women was a reassurance to them that they were not being deceived. But also in that time, a woman was not considered as highly as a man, so the women testifying to Jesus’ resurrection would appear almost laughable to the Apostles - but God works in ways that seem to go against His plans. Plus, when they found out Jesus really is risen, the womens’ testimony would only be more evidence for the historical fact of the Resurrection, for, why would men believe what women had to say in that time?

But there is even greater evidence for the Resurrection: Jesus’ constant predictions of it. He would speak of His death and resurrection multiple times to the Apostles, and each time they wouldn’t believe Him - once, even, Peter rebuked Him for saying such things. This is why the angels said “He is risen like He said!” It reminded them of His words. But why would Jesus predicting His resurrection be of any importance if it was close to the date of His death? That would be a valid question. But Jesus predicted His resurrection three, two, and one year before His death, and again before He entered Jerusalem, and once more when He visited the Temple in Jerusame, and, finally, the night He was to be betrayed. Each time He predicted His death, it was at a specific time and place, either on an important feast day (like Passover) or near an important building or object (like the Temple), which He as God ordered so as to drive the message of His words, which the Apostles would realize after His Resurrection, home.

 

[Sam_777]

wow, thanks Eucharisted for you effort in explaining that.

 

[BrianH]

Nicely done. The vast majority of people who do not accept Christianity I believe do not subscribe to any of those but are instead the “legend” theory. Mark writing 40 years later had almost no historical basis and Matthew and Luke writing even later had less. John writing less…almost none. If you read any of the best selling critics like Crossan, Spong, Funk or anyone you can grab at Barnes and Noble this is what they believe.

 

[Kaninchen]

Nicely done. The vast majority of people who do not accept Christianity I believe do not subscribe to any of those but are instead the “legend” theory.

Or the ‘pious fiction’ theory, of course.