The other day at youth group, we were looking at the resurrection of Jesus (as you do in the lead-up to Christmas, right?). Specifically the account in Mark, which has a few interesting things about it, but it got me thinking; and I wanted to put my thoughts up here. I'm going to take a look at it, rather than through the big picture lens which we often do (Jesus died to save us, rose again so we can have eternal life etc), through the view of the time.
The Pharisees and other religious leaders of the time (including the Sanhedrin, which was the Jewish High Council) had been hearing about this Jesus guy for some time now. He'd been making quite a stir. Performing miracles, teaching many, and had a large number of followers. He was becoming increasingly popular with the people, particularly the lower class. And, worryingly, he was speaking against them, inciting the people to distrust them and what they said.
Things came to a head when he came back to Jerusalem for the Passover. There were always a large number of people that came for the festival, and so a large crowd welcomed him, spreading out cloaks, waving palm leaves, crying out to him - and he came in riding a donkey! The nerve.
It was reaching a fever pitch, and something had to be done to right the balance. Particularly as it was coming to Passover, and they couldn't have a disturbance during that time. It needed to be done before that.
Jesus needed to die. Then his followers would fall away, afraid, and the Pharisees and religious leaders would be restored to their rightful place. His words would be dismissed as heretical and blasphemous, and then that would be the end of that.
Miraculously, things fell into place. One of Jesus' own followers came forward as being willing to betray him, and with just enough time before the Passover to make it happen. So it did. Jesus was captured and brought before an emergency meeting of the Sanhedrin. He was taken before Pilate, and Herod, and the high priest. The crowd was swayed, and he was pronounced guilty - Pilate agreed to let him be crucified! It couldn't have been better. He would be publicly humiliated and scorned, and they wouldn't see anything of him or his people ever again.
It started well. His followers did scatter, afraid. Afraid for their very lives.
But then....a few of the women following Jesus took a risk, and for the love of him, went to his tomb to put spices over his body.
But he wasn't there.
The stone had been rolled away. There had been a guard at the tomb, but they were dazed, confused, and ran off. Soon, the women were running too - after being told by an angel to tell the rest of them that Jesus - was alive!
Coming from today; we know the story. We've heard it a billion times. But often, we don't get the significance of this event.
If Jesus wasn't really the Son of God; whether he was a liar and a cheat, a lunatic, or just a figure that's been blown up into legend - the cross is where it would have ended. Just as the religious powers of the time had planned, and had probably seen others fall likewise in the past. Either he would have slipped out somehow of being crucified in the first place, or he wouldn't have come back. Nobody (that I know of, at least) has been raised from the dead by themselves, or spontaneously. People miraculously coming back after being dead for X minutes? Sure. Miraculously coming back after being dead for hours? In ancient times? Not so much.
And if that was the case - if he didn't actually die, or if he didn't actually come back - then his disciples would have known about it, one way or another. Because you can bet that the Pharisees et al. would have been jumping on anything like that, and just absolutely cheering. And his followers would have melted away, hid in their pockets and clumps, and quietly died off. And that would have been the last we'd heard of Jesus of Nazareth, with barely a mention in the history books if he was very lucky.
But that's not what we have happening. Instead, we see the Pharisees et al. still scrambling around trying to shut this thing down; spreading a lie that Jesus' body was stolen by his followers, and repeatedly telling his followers not to talk about Jesus in public, often whipping them to discourage further talk. But it didn't work - his followers became increasingly vocal and more widespread and numerous, even after sustained persecution, and many members being killed or tortured. It then spread outwards into surrounding countries, no longer being just a 'Jewish sect' known as The Way, but becoming something new. And, in time, Jesus' followers started to be called "little Christs" - Christians. Today, we have millions of Christians worldwide, and the Bible available in a large percentage of language and dialects that are spoken. All this leads us to conclude - that Jesus actually died, and actually came back. Which, to any logically-thinking non-religious person, seems absurd, because people don't do that. That can't happen. But it did.
Now, you could argue, of course, that the Bible is an unreliable source. That trusting in what it says is silly, because it's a biased and religious document. Okay, in that case, we have other historical sources talking about the death of Jesus. Even ones that aren't Jewish, or Christian. Have a look on this website. Yes, we don't have an exhaustive number of other primary sources. But we do have reliable, well-used and cited alternate, non-Christian sources who say that Jesus actually lived, and actually died (or at the very least, that is what they know and believe to be true). And after that - history is the record of how quickly Christianity spread and grew, particularly after becoming the "state religion" of Ancient Rome, a significant turning point.
I'm not saying this is a foolproof, ironclad, unsinkable proof that Jesus died and came back to life. But it is worth seriously considering, given some of the circumstances.
One final thought that I'll leave you with. Mark's account of Jesus' resurrection - as well as the other gospel writers - specifically have women first discovering the absence of the body in the tomb. We don't notice this as much, but at the time, this was very strange. Women were seen as lower-class, as unreliable witnesses, and typically wouldn't have been listened to. And yet - here we see each of the gospel writers saying that the first people to discover that Jesus wasn't in the tomb were women.
This isn't what the disciples would have done if they were making up a story to fool people into he had come back. They would have said that men had discovered it - probably Peter, or John, or James. But no. Women do. They hurt their case; or perhaps, just maybe, they were telling the truth.
I'll leave you to decide.
