The Resurrection: Supernatural Hocus Pocus or Holy Moment? (A New Thought Possibility)

Would the Creator of the Universe break Its own natural laws just to prove a point?

(I found this great article without an author attribution. I do not claim to be the writer. Whoever did write it, thank you.)

The doctrine of the Resurrection of Jesus consists of two combined sets of New Testament stories about an empty tomb and a series of ghostly appearances. All four Gospels report that the body of Jesus was missing when one—or several—women visited his grave early on Easter Sunday. The idea of resurrection comes from one or two unknown men presumed to be angels who met the women in the tomb (according to Mark, Matthew and Luke).

By contrast, in John’s account, Mary Magdalene suspects that her Lord’s remains were removed by someone not connected with the Apostles. She asked an unknown man standing close by, later identified by the writer as Jesus, where he had put the missing body. No one knows for certain who the man was.

Another scriptural type of “evidence”, the apparitions of the risen Jesus to his apostles, does not fare much better. The oldest account, Mark 16: verses 1-8 contains no visions at all. But according to Luke and John, Jesus was seen by the Apostles in Jerusalem on Easter Sunday and Luke mentions an encounter with two Disciples on the same day some miles away in the town of Emmaus. Matthew places the only meeting of Jesus with 11 Apostles days later on a Galilean mountain, and John asserts that seven Apostles saw him by the Sea of Tiberias. To muddle the story further, Luke’s Jesus orders his Disciples not to leave Jerusalem at all until Pentecost. As for the identity of the appearing person, Mary Magdalene took him for the gardener, the Emmaus Disciples for an unknown passer-by, and the Jerusalem Apostles for a ghost.

There are four rational ways for explaining away the Resurrection conundrum:

One: The body was not found by the women because the guardian of the cemetery used the first opportunity to move the body of Jesus out of the grave that had been prepared for someone else.

Two: In the darkness the women lost their way and went to a wrong tomb.

Three: The Apostles stole the corpse as was alleged by the priestly leaders. (But since nobody expected Jesus to rise again, why should anybody fake his resurrection?)

Four: Jesus was buried alive and survived. This modern telling is unsupported by ancient hard evidence, though we know that recovery from crucifixion was possible.

Neither positive nor negative reasoning leads anywhere because the Resurrection of Jesus cannot be compared with events belonging to history. There is one phenomenon that may lead us out of this maze: the Transformation of the Apostles. It was not because of the apparitions of Jesus. What catapulted them into action was Pentecost, the metamorphosis achieved by the inward experience of the Spirit. Pusillanimous men became spiritual warriors. The charismatic potency imparted to them by Jesus and the recollection of His powerful teaching resulted in mighty words and deeds. They felt their Master close to them: He had risen in their hearts.

(Note: New Thought believers are diverse in their dealings with the Resurrection. This particular article comes as close as necessary to my particular approach. Richard)

(Not attributed. If you are, or know, the author of this wonderful piece, please let me know at newpossbilitiescenter@gmx.com.)