CSI JERUSALEM

Nearly two thousand years ago Jesus of Nazareth was crucified near Jerusalem. He was crucified between two others and his death would have meant nothing more than theirs except that on the third day his tomb was empty! Now some claim that the body was stolen by his followers. some say that Jesus didn't really die, he merely walked away. some say that the disciples merely had auditory and visual hallucinations of Jesus being alive after his death. What really happened in Jerusalem on what we celebrate as Resurrection Day?

As Gil Grissom, of CSI Sin City, is wont to say, "Follow the evidence." The evidence says that once a person is dead, he stays dead. The evidence says that the place of burial was known to friend and foe alike. The evidence says that both friend and foe agree that the tomb (place of burial) was empty. The facts so far: Jesus of Nazareth was crucified and his tomb was empty.

For Christians, everything is at stake here because the validity of the Christian religion rests on this event. It was the preaching of the resurrection of Jesus that was the drawing power of the Church from the very beginning (I Corinthians 15:1-6). If the event didn't occur, Jesus the Christ was a fraud or a nut case. Christ was never preached in the first century Church as a good moral teacher or prophet, but he was always preached as Son of God, Lord and Savior. Paul, the apostle, sums it up best when he says, "If Christ has not been raised your faith is futile and you are still in your sins"(I Corinthians 15:17). Come to think of it, the preaching itself is evidence because the preaching was about the resurrection of Jesus. This event was preached in Jerusalem, itself, fifty days later. Friend and foe heard the first sermon. Counter evidence could have been presented. Christianity would have been stomped out at its birth. But, as a result of that preaching, three thousand believed it and obeyed the command to repent and be immersed. Wow! If there would have been powerful counter evidence the Church never would have had a beginning!

Grace & Peace;
Tom