Daily Manna 21-04-2016

Topic: The empty tomb 21

Reading: Matthew 27:57-66, 28:1-15

Scripture: He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee. (Luke 24:6)

Note: Of all the enemies of Christ who doubted the truth of the empty tomb, in my estimation the most vicious and dangerous of all with far-reaching consequences were the early philosophers and theologians that tried to attack the infant church with their open attacks on the veracity of the historicity of the empty tomb.

Some of the arguments advanced by these enemies who fall within the category of probabilistic scholars, against the historicity of the empty tomb are the following: According to Robert M. Price, Christian “apologists love to make the claims … that the resurrection of Jesus is the best attested event in history”, but “probabilistic arguments” show that “the resurrection is anything but an open-and-shut case.” Robert Greg Cavin, a professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Cypress College, states that, “our only sources of potential evidence, the New Testament Easter traditions, fall far short of providing the kind of information necessary for establishing the resurrection hypothesis.”

Biblical scholar Géza Vermes analyzes this subject in his book, The Resurrection. He concludes that there are eight possible theories to explain the “resurrection of Jesus”. Vermes outlines his boundaries as follows: “I have discounted the two extremes that are not susceptible to rational judgment, the blind faith of the fundamentalist believer and the out-of-hand rejection of the inveterate skeptic. The fundamentalists accept the story, not as written down in the New Testament texts, but as reshaped, transmitted, and interpreted by Church tradition. They smooth down the rough edges and abstain from asking tiresome questions. The unbelievers, in turn, treat the whole Resurrection story as the figment of early Christian imagination. Most inquirers with a smattering of knowledge of the history of religions will find themselves between these two poles.”

These philosophers and theologians at best sought to portray the resurrection of Christ and his several appearances to the apostles and other disciples as merely visionary and not a bodily resurrection; physical or material. But the narratives of the Gospel Writers, especially Luke, makes the non-materiality of the empty tomb a non starter as depicted in the story of the two disciples that encountered the resurrected Christ during their trip to Emmaus.

Food for thought: The high price of death paid for our salvation makes it incumbent on us to diligently and earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered to us.

Declaration: Then said Jesus to them, “O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.” (Luke 24:25)

© Author: Rev Fred Aboe