How can we believe in the Resurrection of Christ?

There are some who call themselves Christian who question the reality of the Resurrection. They ask with sincerity, "Did Jesus really rise from the dead? Where is the proof?" They do not question His Crucifixion or the fact that He was put into a tomb after He was taken down from the Cross, but cannot accept that he was resurrected from the dead. They wonder if the body was stolen or that Jesus just fainted and really wasn't dead or some other rationale.  But this fact of His Resurrection is the heart of Christian belief. You cannot be a Christian and doubt that He rose from the Dead. This is the hope we all have as Christians that we too will be resurrected, following Him to be united with Him in Paradise for eternity. Without the Resurrection there is no basis for the Church, the sacramental life based on the Holy Spirit that Jesus sent on Pentecost. So this question needs to be answered.

Let's take the argument that someone stole the body. We need to ask who had such a motive to do so? It's not clear that there was anyone who had such a motive. We can consider the possibilities of the Romans, Jewish religious leaders or the disciples.

The Romans were most interested in peace in Their territory. If they had stolen the body there would have been chaos. The only reason they let Him unjustly be crucified is that they thought it would bring peace. They were concerned about the problems that would occur if anyone stole the Body. So what did they do? They stationed guards around the tomb and sealed it. They knew he was dead as it was they who killed Him.

How about the Jewish leaders? What would have been the rumors if they had stolen the body and hidden it somewhere? People would have thought He had risen from the dead, the very idea they were trying to suppress. They surely wanted Him to be dead and able to prove that He was dead lying in the tomb. The fact that He was missing from the tomb was a serious problem for these Jewish leaders. The Jewish leaders were suspicious that the disciples had stolen the Body to give the people the impression that Jesus had in fact risen from the dead and was Who He claimed to be, the Messiah.

How about the disciples, could they have stolen it. Remember the tomb was guarded by Roman Guards and its was sealed with a cord and a wax seal on orders of Pontus Pilot.  If these soldiers were neglect in their duty their fate would have been death. It would have been very difficult for them to have bribed the guards to have access to the tomb. There were 11 disciples so even if somehow they got by the guards and stole the body, one of the eleven would have surely said something about it eventually. Think about what they did after the Resurrection. They carried the Good News to all corners of the world and all but one was killed for their belief and teaching. If the Resurrection was a lie they made up, how could they have faced such suffering and death on behalf of a story that was made up? It's very likely that one of them when faced with the threat of torture and death would have given in and confessed that it was all a hoax, that they had stolen the body to make it look like He had risen from the dead. But not one of them did. They sacrificed dedicated their lives to Him and brought many to having faith in Him. Their efforts caused much suffering and difficulty for themselves as they acted over several decades without wavering in their faith.

Also the disciples saw Him after they found the empty tomb. They talked with Him, He instructed them on the mysteries of the Church, He prepared them for their future ministry to carry on His teaching. They set out to tell the world after having witnessed the resurrected Christ knowing they too would never die as Jesus had shown them that He truly had the power over life and death. They knew what they had witnessed was the truth.

How about the idea that Jesus did not really die but was only unconscious when taken down from the Cross? Examine the details of what took place.  First he was severely scourged, He was beaten with a whip that had several cords with a small piece of metal or bone attacked at the end. The idea was this kind of scourging would tear the skin.  Normally there was a limit to 40 strokes but the Romans were much more ruthless than the Jews and there was no limit for them. The historian Eusebius wrote in the third century that "veins were laid bare, and... the very muscles, sinew, and bowels of the victim were open to exposure."  Jesus could have died just from this whipping. When he ascended on the Cross he had already lost much blood. The use of the Cross was considered the most cruel way to kill someone. There were spikes that were driven through the hands and feet, but the killer was that you had to struggle to breath so death come from suffocation and each breath brought pain. It was a slow painful death. At the end the Romans broke the legs to make sure they could not support themselves for any more breaths. But in the case of Jesus they saw He was already dead and did not break His legs. To make sure He was dead the soldiers took their spear and pierced His body and there was something that looked like blood and water that came out. Medical technology tells us that the description accords with the fact that the blood had already been clotting inside His body and had separated from the watery serum a sure sign of death.

Knowing that Jesus was dead, and wanting to get the bodies disposed of before the sunset and the beginning of the Sabbath, Jesus was taken down from the Cross and prepared for burial in the tomb.  There was an influential man Joseph of Arimathea who asked Pilot for the body. He had a tomb nearby where He could be buried. Think of the situation. The spikes and to be taken out of his hands and feet and his body was torn severely from the scourging.  They prepared His body for burial according to the Jewish custom. The body was washed and then bandaged with narrow long strips of cloth that they wrapped tightly around His body. There was a mixture of spices placed between the layers of cloth that would seal them together.  In the case of Jesus we know they used a large amount of spices, 100 lbs, to make sure His body was well preserved. He was wrapped like a mummy and laid on a slab in the tomb. The tomb was then closed with a heavy stone, sealed and then guarded by Roman soldiers.

What happened? The day after the Sabbath were there was allowed no work some of the women who had followed Jesus went to the tomb to anoint his body with perfume.  But when they got there they found the tomb to be empty. They clearly expected to find Him there. They were dismayed to find Him missing. Then they fled to tell the disciples. Peter and John immediately ran to the tomb to verify what the women had seen.  John who was there records what he found.

And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples went back to their homes.    John 20:5-10

The women returned and are greeted by two angels. One, Mary Magdalene,  encountered the risen Christ in the garden. He says to her,

Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, "I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God."

His body was spiritualized. Yet he could eat and did with the disciples.  There were many who witnessed Him. There are many other details available in the Scripture. Its hard to imagine that all this could have been all made up.  With all the little details it is clearly the account of eyewitnesses There is the detail of the head napkin lying by itself and folded. It was clear that the body was not taken out of the grave cloths which had been sealed to gather with the mixture of spices. If they had it would have been unraveled. There was the empty grave wrapping and the head cloth by itself. This is not the scene of a robbery.

Truly He is risen!

Reference: Everything I Ever Wanted to Know About God: The Jesus Edition, Eric Metaxas