Cross View Blog

How does one stop a story once it's breaking news? That was Zerah's problem. His worst nightmare had happened: Jesus' body was gone! Immediately, Zerah knew that "the Jesus problem" was not going away. In fact, the real story of Jesus was just beginning!

Let's drop in on the scene and see what's happening at the tomb of Jesus when the news broke:

Zerah had stationed himself a short distance apart from the soldiers and was keeping watch. Nothing happened the night through. Then, with the dawn of Sunday scarcely breaking, the guards were suddenly alert, startled by the women.

"What's happening?" cried the bewildered sentry.  Zerah hurried forward, realizing with sudden alarm that the tomb was open. Bending down, he entered the low doorway.

He looked horrified.

Lentullus, the officer in charge, demanded from the sentries, "You were stationed here all night. Who moved the stone?"

The guards remained silent. Lentullus snapped, "I don't like this at all. Are you sure you were on guard all night, that you didn't fall asleep?"

"Positive, sir. We were given strict orders. Those Jewish priests were here watching us."

Zerah emerged from the tomb, panting and angry. "There's only one explanation. His followers came here during the night. They removed the stone."

"Impossible!  I had officers posted on both sides," objected Lentullus.

Zerah shook his head and bending down looked inside the tomb again. There was nothing. "Now it begins," he muttered. "Now it all begins....."

The lid was off and the story could not be contained. For the Jewish leaders and the Romans, the missing body was a public relations disaster.  They had to make up fake news that would tell a different narrative.

According to Matthew 28, when the soldiers reported to the priests and Pharisees, they were offered hush money to report that the body had been stolen. So the sentries would not be charged with neglect of duty,  the Romans were also bribed. Zerah was very determined to stop any story of a resurrection.

Also, the Roman government wanted to stop the story because Jesus represented a possible threat to their absolute authority. They would seek to arrest anyone teaching a resurrection. But, could even the mighty Roman Empire stop the story?

The incredible news spread from Mary and the women directly to the 11 disciples.  At first, the disciples were reluctant to believe, but after several bodily appearances of Jesus, they gradually came to believe the news and became active carriers of the news showing symptoms of joy and hope.

Suddenly after Pentecost, the story spread like "a benevolent virus" from Judea to Samaria to Asia Minor and eventually to Rome.  Within a generation, Jesus was being worshiped as a living LORD throughout the Mediterranean world!

In the next two hundred years, the resurrection story was officially banned by the Romans under the threat of persecution.  However, the more they suppressed the Gospel, the faster it spread. The blood of the martyrs fueled its growth. The edicts of emperors seemed helpless to stop it. Thomas carried the news to southern India. Others to Egypt and Africa.

"But the Word of the Lord increased and multiplied."(Acts 12:24).

Throughout the centuries, many attempts have been made to discredit the resurrection of Jesus. Islamic teaching maintains that Jesus did not actually die, but He went into "a swoon" and later revived.  This disinformation did not stop the resurrection story from spreading throughout the entire European continent and beyond. 

Following the Age of Rationalism and the Enlightenment, the bodily resurrection of Jesus was claimed to have been a development of the Early Church.  "The Jesus of history became the Christ of the Church." Although this theory has attracted some, it has not advanced beyond a circle of academics.

More recently, some scholars claim that "supernatural" stories in Scripture should not be interpreted literally, but metaphorically. They  teach the notion of "meta truth," a virtual truth, so to speak.  However, this doctrine has not gained traction in the real world.

Totalitarian governments have always tried to stop the story by substituting the "good news" of their ideologies. Classic Communism cannot tolerate a living Lord.  Party hardliners assert that "salvation" is achieved by loyalty to the State and dismiss the resurrection as a pious myth. But it has not stopped the amazing growth of the underground Church in China.

Perhaps the most convincing proof of the bodily resurrection of Jesus is that it began with a missing body, was spread by only 12 apostles and within two centuries "went viral" to the uttermost parts of the earth. Believers gave their lives for its veracity. They were not motivated by a dead hero and his teachings, but by a living LORD.

The liberating story of the resurrection of Jesus will continue until His return, The Great Day of the Lord when all peoples will appear before Him, and every knee will bow and acknowledge His lordship.

His living presence will endure forever and ever. As Zerah suspected,  there's simply no stopping it!

Paul Emmel
Minneapolis
The Fifth Week of Easter 2020 

Paul Emmel is a retired pastor in the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod, having served as a parish pastor, a correctional chaplain for the Wisconsin Department of Corrections, and a hospital chaplain and a community counselor. As a retired pastor, Paul continues to serve the Lord and His people, including establishing the Minnesota South District’s “Pastors to Prisoners” ministry.