Evidence for the Resurrection - Easter Sunday - April 21st, 2019

Alleluia, He is Risen!  He is Risen Indeed!  We celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.  This miracle reveals that He is God, just as He said He is before His Passion, Dead, and Resurrection.  What we celebrate, is the most important event in history.  However, there are some who struggle to believe it is true.  Listen to my homily and learn about some of the evidence for the resurrection!

Evidence for the Resurrection - Easter Sunday - April 21st, 2019
Click here to download the homily

Ambo with Easter Candle

(Easter Candle is a symbol of the Risen Lord)

Related Homilies and Reflections:

Reflection of the Tomb of Jesus (Part of Pilgrimage to the Holy Land Series)

Easter Sunday Homily 2018

Below are some related bulletin articles:

Evidence for the Resurrection Part 1 of 4

Alleluia, He is Risen!  He is Risen Indeed!  We celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ during the Easter Season.  This miracle is the greatest miracle to show that He is God.  This is the most important event in history.  However, there are some who struggle to believe it is true.

St. Paul considers the Resurrection so important that he places the entire Faith upon this event.  He says, “if Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain; you are still in your sins.  … If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are the most pitiable people of all.” (1 Cor 15:17,19)  If Jesus Christ wasn’t raised from the dead, then we shouldn’t believe anything else about Christianity. 

If we examine the evidence, then we can make a reasonable decision.  In the Gospels, we heard that some of the disciples went to the tomb and saw that it was empty.  Many of the disciples claimed they saw the Risen Jesus Christ multiple times.  Then, they spread the Good News throughout the known world and Christianity became popular despite persecution.  Anyone who wants to disprove the Resurrection, would have to explain the empty tomb, the visits of the Risen Lord, and the spreading of Christianity.

Catholic apologist Trent Horn, in his book Why We’re Catholic, addresses the first two issues.  Starting with why we should believe that the tomb was empty.  First, the Apostles preached the Risen Lord in Jerusalem.  Jesus was crucified and buried directly outside of the city walls.  The people of Jerusalem could easily check the tomb to see if it really was empty, and if it wasn’t then the Apostles would be exposed as frauds. 

Instead, those who opposed the Christians agreed that the tomb was empty, and they did not deny it.  If it wasn’t empty, then they would be the first to declare it, and so that’s the second reason to believe, their enemies agreed the tomb was empty.

(To be continued…)

Evidence for the Resurrection Part 2 of 4

(Continued from the previous bulletin.)

Okay, so the tomb was empty, that doesn’t prove the Resurrection, but it does support it.  Along with that evidence, we have the Apostles claiming that they saw the Risen Lord.  How do we explain their claim?

Trent Horn in his book, Why We are Catholic, addresses the argument: maybe the Apostles and other disciples were all hallucinating because they were so depressed.  That doesn’t seem to explain it.  First, hallucinations are typically for individuals, not groups.  Yet, multiple groups, multiple times, encountered the same Risen Lord, making it highly unlikely that hallucinations could explain it.

Secondly, even if that highly unlikely situation was true, then how do we explain the conversion of their opponents?  The most famous one is St. Paul.  He zealously persecuted the Christians, until he met the Risen Lord.  Then, he became Christian.  While the disciples may have wanted to see their leader risen, St. Paul before his conversion did not know Jesus nor want to see Him as resurrected from the dead.  Yet, he was so convinced that he was willing to die for Jesus.  What better explanation can we have for these encounters of the Risen Lord than that they really happened?

Maybe they were all liars and they made up the resurrection story and the claims that they met Jesus risen from the dead.  Usually, a liar lies for the sake of his own benefit.  The Apostles and disciples were being persecuted for their belief.  Most of the Apostles died for this.  It doesn’t make sense to lie about Jesus if instead of earthly benefit, they are tortured and put to death.  They must have really believed it, if they were willing to die for it.  Also, if it were a conspiracy, then someone would likely have cracked under pressure and revealed the lie.  Instead, they would rather die.  Who would knowingly die for a lie?

(To be continued…)