1 Corinthians 15:3-7 — For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures: and that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: after that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles.
Newspaper reprint: Acta Diurna (Daily Record), Rome.
From time to time we like to entertain you with stories from the stranger corners of the empire. Here’s one from a dusty province out East called Judaea.
It seems that one of the local holy men got himself into trouble with the religious authorities, and they persuaded the Prefect (P. Pilate) to have him crucified. “Nothing odd about that”, you say. Well here’s what happened next.
According to his followers, the holy man came up from the grave, visited with various people over the next few weeks, finished with a fish fry breakfast on the beach for old friends and then vanished through a cloud into the holies!
The strangest stuff surely happens out East!
That’s how the resurrection might have looked to an observer in Rome in 37 a.d. — if the news even reached his ears. The thing is it wasn’t just some wild oriental story. That Sunday, all those years ago, was the strangest day in history precisely because it’s all true. That’s what happened. He is risen.
Maybe the events of that strangest day in history should serve notice on people in the great empires of the world. Today some 2 billion Christians in the world remembered and celebrated the events of that day. The empire that was Rome is long gone.
That “local holy man” — Jesus — has taken up residence in the hearts of billions of people. The stories of those early witnesses have become part of the most influential book that has ever been.
The search for knowledge about and understanding of this Jesus has driven scientific a philosophical progress. The principles He articulated form the foundation of legal systems across a good part of the world. A desire to represent the glories of His kingdom has inspired the most beautiful art ever created. A longing to show how much He is loved has inspired music that is loved and shared in at least two hundred countries in the world.
Strange indeed … The world changed forever by the disappearance of the man who wasn’t there.
He is risen indeed!