We have all had the experience. Some time or another, someone has uttered the words: “Prove it” to us.  We make a statement. Someone challenges us.

When we compare the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ resurrection, we find a rather confusing lack of consistency. St. Matthew tells us that Mary Magdalene and “the other Mary” came to the tomb as day was dawning. St. Mark tells us that Mary Magdalene, Mary, the mother of James, and Salome, came when the sun had risen. St. Luke does not name the women and records that they went at daybreak. St. John tells us that Mary Magdalene came alone while it was still dark. St. Matthew and St. Mark tell us that the women were greeted by a man (St. Matthew calls him an angel), but St. Luke tells us that it was two men. St. John only makes mention of any such an appearance after Mary Magdalene returns to the garden.

It gets even more confusing. St. Matthew and St. Mark tell us that Jesus will meet the disciples in Galilee. St. Luke tells us that Jesus met two disciples as they were returning home to Emmaus. Then he appears to the disciples in Jerusalem. St. John also records that Jesus appears to the disciples in Jerusalem. The most confusing detail of all comes to us from the Gospel of St. Mark. In the original ending to his Gospel, he tells us that the women were so afraid that they ran away and told no one about what they had seen and heard. One would think that an event of such importance would be recorded in the Gospels in a consistent story line.

That’s the point. There is no consistency in the story for one very good reason. The event cannot be proven. There were no witnesses. No one can say when it happened and how. Then there is the fact that the empty tomb was found by women who were not able to give testimony in a court of law. Only men could be witnesses! We cannot prove that Jesus rose from the dead. One has to accept the fact by faith. God doesn’t want witnesses. God wants believers. 

There is one issue, however, that is rather convincing. After the resurrection of Jesus, not too many years passed before people started to die for their faith in the risen Jesus. The Gospels tell us that Jesus was seen in the flesh by various people. In St. Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, chapter fifteen, St. Paul tells us: “He appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at once, most of whom are still living.” He then goes on to relate that Jesus appeared to him as he was on the road to Damascus. If people were willing to die rather than give up their faith in the resurrection, this evidence of his appearance to so many people would have been the cornerstone of their faith. If Jesus had appeared to only a few, there are those who could have claimed that these few were simply imagining it. However, the Christian Scriptures attest to the fact that Jesus appeared to many after the resurrection, and that those who were his disciples counted themselves as fortunate if they were asked to suffer for their faith.

For the next fifty days, the Church will once again celebrate the Easter Season. Every Sunday of the year, Christians will gather in their churches and proclaim their faith in Jesus as the Risen Lord.  Men and women will dedicate their lives to serving others in the name of the Risen Lord Jesus. Nothing in the past has been able to stop people from believing. Nothing in the future will persuade us otherwise. Jesus has conquered death. He is risen as he said. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.