Straight Thinking 041468 Where Did the Body Go?
Straight Thinking
041468
WHERE DID THE BODY GO?
Sunday. Many of you high school seniors may be in for a jolt six months from now. Some college professors get a kick out of shaking up “green freshmen” and listening to them rattle around trying to justify what they have always accepted without question. And the self-appointed dormitory philosophers may try to pin you in the corner of your room, demanding on-the-spot reasons for what you believe. What will you say? (Read 1 Peter 3:15.)
Monday. Don’t be lured into fruitless philosophizing. Too often Christians try to huff and puff and blow the house down from the inside. We can’t very well defend our faith by trying to combat philosophical speculations, because Christianity is a matter of history centered around the resurrection of Christ, not a philosophy about, say, the theoretical possibility of a universe without God. Instead, we ask this question: “Where did the body of Jesus go?” (Read Colossians 2:1-10.)
Tuesday. Some would answer the question, “Jesus’ body went the way of all flesh.” But the Jewish leaders knew where the tomb of Jesus was; why didn’t they bring the evidence and throw it down at the apostles’ feet as they were preaching on Pentecost about his resurrection? That would have silenced permanently the claim that his flesh did not see corruption. (Read Matthew 28:11-15.)
Wednesday. Others claim, “Jesus was still alive. He revived in the coolness of his underground grave, got out, and died somewhere else.” But a man too weak to carry his cross after being beaten could not after crucifixion have rolled away the “exceeding great” stone that blocked the only entrance to his tomb—and him on the inside! (Read Mark 15:15-25; John 19:32-34; Mark 16:1-4.)
Thursday. “His disciples stole it.” That’s the rumor the Jews tried to start. But the Jewish leaders had stationed sixteen soldiers at his tomb to prevent Jesus’ disciples from stealing his body and claiming he resurrected. Sealing the entrance with an exceeding great stone was part of their security measures on this very point. (Read Matthew 27:62-66.)
Friday. As a matter of fact, Jesus’ body ascended to heaven. The body that Joseph and Nicodemus laid in the tomb on Friday evening came out again on Sunday morning and appeared to many. In addition to seeing and hearing him, the disciples touched him and ate with him. He wasn’t a ghost. At his last appearance, he ascended bodily into the clouds. (Read Luke 24:36-48; Acts 1:9-12.)
Saturday. You probably didn’t win the first time you played your best sport. Likewise, Christians may not make a good showing the first time they tangle with disbelievers. Unprepared Christians may even lose their own faith simply because they don’t know how to defend it. If you work on the answers now, your faith won’t fold six months from now. (Read Jude 17-21.)
Virgil Warren, Straight, April 14, 1968, p13 christir.org