Sample Discussion: Dad, why do we believe Jesus rose from the dead?

3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles….17 if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins….19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. —1 Corinthians 15:3–5, 17, 19

You probably remember me yelling, “I can’t believe it!” last November. I was watching Alabama and Auburn in the Iron Bowl. Alabama needed a touchdown to win, but it was 4th and 31 with time for just one more play. They had less than a .1% chance of winning. If 1,000 other teams were in a similar situation, maybe one of them would make a play that would win the game. Maybe.

But then the Alabama quarterback threw a perfect pass to an Alabama receiver, who made a perfect catch in the end zone, and Alabama won. I couldn’t believe it. No one could. People called it a miracle.

Of course, all the Alabama fans had been hoping something like that would happen so they would win, but just hoping wouldn’t have been enough if that receiver hadn’t made that catch. If he had dropped it, it wouldn’t matter how fervently they believed he had caught it—they still would have lost. And just because they were hoping he would make that catch doesn’t mean that they made up the fact that he did—sometimes our wishes do actually come true! On the other hand, after the Alabama player caught that pass, all the Auburn fans wished he hadn’t, but that couldn’t change the outcome of the game either. Thousands of fans in the stadium and millions watching on TV saw what happened.

The resurrection of Jesus from the grave is an even greater miracle. The chances of a dead person living again were far less than .1%. Out of the billions of people who have lived, no one else has defeated death and risen from the grave on his own accord (though the Bible tells us God used prophets to raise a very few other people, and Jesus resurrected a few himself). But Christian faith stands on the fact that Jesus actually rose from the grave. Without the resurrection, Christianity is not true,  just like Alabama couldn’t have won unless that player actually made that catch. Alabama fans couldn’t just believe he did and Auburn fans couldn’t just believe he didn’t. Something actually happened, and that changes everything. And, how do we know what actually happened when Jesus died? We can’t watch the replay, unfortunately, but we can look at the evidence from the Bible and history. The Bible includes the testimony of eye-witnesses, people who actually saw the resurrected Jesus—just like all those people who actually saw that miraculous catch.

Of course, there was a lot more riding on Jesus’ resurrection than there was on a play in the Iron Bowl. Without the resurrection, 1 Corinthians 15 tells us, the Christian faith is foolish (just like Alabama’s hopes of winning without that catch). But, because Jesus did rise from the grave, we can be “more than conquerors” (Romans 8:37)!