If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised (1 Corinthians 15:13)

When little Bianca returned to school after a week’s holiday, she told Veronica that she’d spent her vacation playing in the Canadian snow. Veronica was suitably impressed, but became suspicious when Bianca said she’d visited Jonathan in Canada, for as Veronica well knew, Jonathan lived in South Africa.

The mystery unraveled when Bianca’s mother explained how, during the holidays, Bianca had played a make-believe game involving a visit to Canada. The game had originated from the fact that Jonathan, Bianca’s friend, was emigrating to Canada. To deal with the parting she’d pretended to visit him and play in the snow. In fact, the game had been so realistic that the distinction for Bianca, between fact and fantasy, disappeared. When she returned to school she believed she’d been to Canada!

Teachers know that young children are pre-operational in their cognitive development and have an incomplete ability to understand some things because their thinking is elementary and occasionally illogical. Adults have long since grown out of a pre-operational stage and should be able to distinguish between fact and fantasy. Yet remarkably, there are adults who still can’t discern between what’s true and imaginary. Dead set against the resurrection of Jesus, they’ve dreamt up some incredible theories:

– The tomb was so hot that it caused Jesus’ body to disintegrate!

– Jesus and the disciples purportedly ate mushrooms that made them hallucinate about the entire event!

– Jesus had an identical twin and it was the twin who came on the scene after Jesus was entombed!

– The gardener was fed up with the disciples trudging over his garden so he stole the body in order to grow his“lettuces” in peace!
Sir Lionel Luckhoo, knighted twice by Queen Elizabeth and one of the most accomplished lawyers on the planet, won two-hundred and forty-five murder acquittals in a row, either before a jury or on appeal. When asked to analyze the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus he painstakingly studied the issue and concluded, “I say unequivocally that the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ is so overwhelming that it compels acceptance by proof which leaves no room for doubt.” Convinced of the evidence, Luckhoo became a Christian. Other lawyers who, like Luckhoo, didn’t start out as Christians – people like Josh McDowell (cf. Evidence that Demands a Verdict) and Lee Strobel (cf. The Case for Christ) have similarly examined the matter and concluded, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the resurrection is true. How about you?

life question: The resurrection – fact or fantasy?

lenten prayer: All praise to the Lord of the resurrection, Jesus Christ – Amen