Matthew 28: 1-15 in the ESV Bible says, “Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for He has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where He lay. Then go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead, and behold, He is going before you to Galilee; there you will see Him. See, I have told you.” So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell His disciples. And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”

While they were going, behold, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place. And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers and said, “Tell people, ‘His disciples came by night and stole Him away while we were asleep.’ And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day.”

Dear brothers and sister, peace be to everyone. I am happy to meet everyone again, but also saddened as this will be the final episode to the series. I truly hope you have taken away a great deal from this series. In the previous episode, I shared with you about the resurrection of Jesus - Gospel of resurrection. His death and resurrection are the two most important pillars of our faith. If Jesus did not die, our sins would not be forgiven. If He did not resurrect, forgiveness of sins is an ideology but not a reality. However, Jesus has indeed resurrected in history. This shows that death is defeated – we have the courage and faith to face death. Thank God for His love towards mankind for He has given us eternal hope.

At that point in history, after spreading the news about resurrection of Jesus Christ, there was a great repercussion. The chief priests and the elders could not accept the reality of it as they put Jesus to death so they fabricated lies. They said to the soldiers, “You must say that Jesus’ disciples came and stole His body away.” They gave the soldiers a sum of money. Till now, some people mention theories about disbelief in the resurrection of Jesus. How do we answer them? Typically, why don’t people believe in His resurrection?

Theories that show disbelief in Jesus’ Resurrection

1) The Conspiracy Theory - After Jesus’ disciples had stolen His body,

they proclaimed in public that Jesus was resurrected.

Let us explore the first theory, that is, ‘Jesus’ disciples fabricated lies about His resurrection. It was not a reality.’ In other words, His disciples stole His body away and then, proclaimed that He had resurrected. Can you accept such a ‘Conspiracy Theory’? We clearly refute such a theory with the following reasons.

Firstly, those who opposed Jesus came prepared and requested the authorities to let them send soldiers to guard Jesus’ tomb. Their reason was “…lest His disciples go and steal Him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last fraud will be worse than the first.” (Matthew 27:62-66). Therefore, a lot of soldiers were stationed at the tomb. Could His disciples avoid this group of soldiers guarding Jesus’ tomb and stole His body away? Impossible. Did they bribe these soldiers? How could such ordinary citizens, fishermen do so?

The second reason, if Jesus’ body was stolen by the disciples who later fabricated lies about His resurrection, they would not die for such a lie according to psychological analysis. I would die for the truth but rather unlikely for a lie. Moreover, Jesus’ disciples were a group of honest and reliable people. Dear brothers and sisters, the Conspiracy Theory is completely illogical.

2) The Swoon Theory – this is the belief that Jesus Christ had only fainted on the cross and He did not really die on the cross. He had only fainted while being put into the tomb. He awakened 3 days later so the disciples thought that He was resurrected. Such a saying was naive! Why?

First of all, the soldiers witnessed the death of Jesus so they did not break His legs. They were professional soldiers who knew if the crucified person was dead. Thus, they broke the legs of the robber so that he could die. When it came to Jesus, they discovered that He was dead. How do we know it? “It was because when they pierced His side with a spear, at once there came out blood and water.” (John 19:33-34 in the ESV Bible). The separation of water and blood showed that Jesus was truly dead so they did not break His legs.

Secondly, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus and Pilate gave him permission. After that, Nicodemus brought 50kg of myrrh and aloes and bound His body in linen cloths with the spices according to the burial custom of the Jews. This showed that Jesus had died. Even if He was not dead, He would have been crushed or suffocated to death by the spices as the Jews wrapped up the whole dead body with linen cloths.

Thirdly, if Jesus merely fainted, would He have enough strength to roll away the stone at the entrance of the tomb after He had regained consciousness? Even if He could do so, could He overcome the soldiers guarding the tomb? At that time, Jesus’ face was pale and He had weak limbs. Would the disciples believe that He was their Savior and died for Him? It was unimaginable! Therefore, such a Swoon Theory was implausible.

3)   The Hallucination Theory – the disciples were in grief and missed Jesus so much that they had hallucinations, mistakenly thought that He had resurrected.

The third theory was the Hallucination Theory. Jesus’ death was a heavy blow to His disciples. As a result of excessive grief and thinking about Jesus, they had hallucinations, mistakenly thought that He had resurrected. At times, people would have hallucinations. For instance, when you walked past the cemetery, you could not see your fingers or felt as if something white was shadowing you. After you were awakened in your spirit, you could not see anything else so it was hallucination. Or someone was depressed, cried throughout the night and could not sleep. Overwhelmed by grief, he looked at the rain outside the window and said, "God is shedding tears for me.” After that, he looked at the mirror and said: “I am the most pitiful person in the world.” Then, suddenly, he shouted, “O, you are here! “This is hallucination. However, when we read the Bible, the disciples did not long for Jesus in such a way or were overwhelmed by grief. On the contrary, the Bible mentioned that they were dispersed and returned to their former occupation of catching fish. They resumed their lives they had before knowing Jesus. Therefore, the Hallucination Theory was false.

Hallucination is a subjective individualistic mental reaction. For example, if I saw a ghost, it was an individual experience. It could be that I was subjective or it was a hallucination. However, if a few hundred people and I saw that ghost, it could be true. Do you know how many people saw Jesus when He had resurrected? The Bible recorded that more than 500 brothers saw Him (1 Corinthians 15:6). There were more people if we include the sisters.

In addition, after Jesus had resurrected, He appeared to His disciples for about 40 days, not only for a moment. For instance, the magician David Copperfield performed the illusion for the disappearance of the Statue of Liberty in a short time using the modern high technology and techniques but it was actually there. The Hallucination Theory could not account for the resurrection of Jesus as hallucination only occurred briefly but Jesus appeared to His disciples for 40 days.

Today, why can’t people believe in Jesus’ resurrection?

More importantly, we have to ask why can’t people believe in Jesus’ resurrection today? Basically, we know that it is illogical and contradicts our personal experiences. To illustrate this, we say, “People will die. There is no resurrection after death.” This is our life experience which forms the basis of our assumption. Another assumption is that Jesus is like us. Therefore, the conclusion is that “there was no resurrection after Jesus’ death.”

This is our assumption and deduction. However, Jesus is not only a human, but also God as He is the incarnated God. It is wrong to have such a deduction about Jesus. Yes. Jesus was a human so He died but He is also God. Thus, He was resurrected! You cannot believe in Jesus’ resurrection because of your life experiences. However, He surpasses your life experiences as He is not confined to them.

Jesus’ resurrection has transformed His disciples’ lives, including yours and mine today

We thank God that Jesus’ resurrection is a historical fact. This is extremely important to our Christian faith. This shows that what we believe is not a subjective ideology but an objective Christian faith.

When we mention about Jesus’ resurrection, it is not only from the historical record in those days. Till now, we constantly experience His resurrection in our lives for He transforms us. Just like how He had transformed Apostle Paul’s life. Before believing in Jesus, Paul persecuted Jesus and imprisoned His disciples. Later, his life underwent a dramatic and revolutionary transformation. From then on, he would proclaim the Gospel of Jesus’ resurrection wherever he was. Why? It was because he had seen the resurrected Jesus. Jesus’ resurrection had transformed him.

Regarding Jesus’ resurrection, if we have the opportunity to be in Israel, we can see that Jesus’ tomb is still empty. Today, our lives, like those of Paul, Peter and His disciples, are transformed because of Him. Such transformation is real, not brought about by ethics and morality. A gambler can become a godly Christian. It is the result of Jesus transforming his life.

The Book of 1 Corinthians described the appearance of Jesus to numerous people after His resurrection. When Paul sent this letter to the Corinthians church, most of them were alive and could testify that they had once seen Jesus. All these indicated that Jesus’ resurrection is real. It is a historical fact.

Therefore, today, we thank the Lord that we have believed in Jesus. We want to share the good news about His resurrection with others just like what the angels had instructed Jesus’ disciples to do in those days. Are you willing? We must preach this message as it is a historical fact, the truth of our faith and the glorious gospel. We have to tell the people of the world this unchanging eternal truth so that they are able to find eternal hope in their finite lives. May the Lord bless them and use us as vessels to proclaim the gospel. Amen.

Let us pray together.

Dear heavenly father, we thank the Lord for His grace as the Gospel of resurrection tells us that we have hope for resurrection. Death no longer has a hold on us. Jesus’ resurrection is a historical fact. One day, we will resurrect from death. We have such hope and faith in Jesus Christ. May the Lord bring it to fulfilment. Before we depart from the world, may we share this wonderful gospel with many people so that they can hear it, have eternal hope and not end up in hell. Lord, hear our prayer. In the holy name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.