The resurrection that brought a new religion

By Leonard R. Mahaarachchi

Christians believe that the Son of God, who was born as a man and put to death by the Jewish church leaders on April 7, 30 AD, was buried but rose again from the dead the following Sunday, the third day on the Cross. The resurrection of Jesus is the last episode in the Mystery of the Redemption, which brought a new religion and changed the course of history, separating it into periods before and after Christ. (Anno Domini- AD).

The resurrection on that first Easter Sunday, confirms the belief in the survival of every individual after death. Not that such beliefs did not exist in the ancient world, specially in Egypt.

But the Christian belief is that with the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the resurrection of every man and woman after death is assured. This is the core of the Christian faith. The Jews of Jesus's day, specially the Pharisees, believed in the resurrection of their bodies, so much so, that it is chronicled, that some of them even specified as to what sort of clothes they should be dressed in at death.

All three Synoptics plus John report in detail the incidents that took place that first Easter morning. All concur in their narratives, though apparently certain details run into difficulty. To prove the rising of Christ, one has to prove that He died on Good Friday, after being nailed to the Cross. Some hold the view that Christ did not die, but went into a swoon and recovered later. Though Jewish custom was to stone criminals to death, Jesus had to be crucified, a Roman method of capital punishment, since Rome held sway over Palestine at the time of Christ's death.

We know that Jesus was scourged, made to carry His Cross in agony and was hanging for as much as three hours, enough time to die with a crown of thorns pricking His head, among other torments. If He was not dead by the time the centurion came to inspect Him, that thrust of his lance would have killed Him. Even if that didn't, the 60 pounds of aromatic spices pressed down on Jesus at the burial, would have certainly suffocated Him. So it is certain that He was dead before burial.

There was a theory then, that the resurrection was a collective hallucination on the part of the Apostles. But the story of doubting Thomas, touching Jesus and exclaiming, " My Lord, my God", disproves such wishful thinking. Besides, the gospels, bear proof of the resurrection.

Mathew says, Jesus appeared to the women (28/9.10) and also to the eleven disciples in Galilee (Ibid/16-20). Mark records no appearances but says that the messenger who conveyed the news of the resurrection was a young man in a white robe (16/5). Luke tells us that Jesus appeared to the two travellers on the road to Emmaus (24/13-21). He describes the messenger of Mark as two men in dazzling apparel (Ibid v.4) and also that He appeared to St. Peter and the disciples at Jerusalem (Ibid 24-50). Then John reports that Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene at Jerusalem, that the messengers were two angels (20/11-18).

Before the gospels were written, Paul is said to have recorded the resurrection on five occasions - to St. Peter; then to the twelve; to more than 500 on a single occasion, to James and finally to himself (I Cor. 15/1-8).

There is also today in the possession of the Catholic Church a sacred relic that proves the resurrection. It is the 'Shroud of Turin', the long winding sheet in which Christ's body lay from burial to the moment of rising. The present Pontiff is so sure of its authenticity that he prefers to call it the fifth gospel.

There is today a new hypo thesis, confirmed by an Israeli Syndologist, now a convert to Catholicism, that this shroud is the very cloth that was laid on the table at the Last Supper, on the first Maundy Thursday.

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