The Passion of The Christ

^{Was Jesus death a huge Con Job?}

Grace Emmanuel Church

Pastor Sam Chess

Introduction: I’ve have purposely, over the last two weeks, been trying to stretch our brains around the evidence of Jesus birth, death, and resurrection. It’s one thing for you to sit in this room and declare your faith in Jesus Christ as your Savior….if you do… It’d quite another to be able to answer the question…. why?

If one of those theologically liberal “dingbats” that the airwaves are plagued with this passion season came up to you and said, “Why do you believe in that mythical, superhero called Jesus…what would your response be. Andy Rooney said that Mel Gibson is a “wacko” and so are Evangelical thinkers like myself.

He said he wouldn’t spend money to go see the Passion movie just for a few laughs. I’ve seen the movie three times, I don’t remember laughing a lot, I remember crying a lot…. If Andy Rooney came up to you and asked, “A you a wacko” Do you put faith in this made up story about some nobody Jewish carpenter who was killed and supposedly rose from the dead…. what would your response be?

I am supplying copies of the last two Sundays sermon text with supporting documentation so you can be armed with some evidences that this story, far from being made up fiction, is rooted in provable historical fact. In fact, as we saw last Sunday and again on Wednesday evening… It’s takes more faith to believe some of the fantastic contortions that people go through to disprove the Gospel accounts than it does simply to take them at face value…..

What we are going to discuss today ..and finish on Wednesday evening, is no exception to that:

You need to understand that there are many people in this world…including some who claim to be experts in theology… who do not believe that Jesus actually died that day in Jerusalem. Because of the evidence that we have already looked at, it is hard for any thinking person to deny that Jesus was a living, breathing person. There is just too much secular evidence, that supports that he was born and lived for three decades on this earth.

As you have seen, there is so much evidence that supports that Jesus ran afoul of the law and ended up in a trial, was sentenced to death and crucified by the Romans.

You would be surprised how many people on this earth believe the historical account up to that point, who believe just about everything that the Passion movie showed to be true, but strongly deny that the events of that day brought about literal death.

There is a “huge left-wing conspiracy” (theologically speaking) who believe that those last few final moments of the Passion story should properly be rewritten to include: a sedative that was secretly put on that sponge that caused him to appear dead, but not actually die, as proved by Pilate’s surprise that Jesus was so quickly dead. Once he got into the cool, damp, air of the tomb, he revived, and as per a pre-arranged plan the disciples help him sneak away in the night.

The “glorious Koran” says that Jesus fled to India,… and there is today in Kashmir a shrine that marks his real burial place. They fully believe that we Christians have been suckered into believing a fairy tale. Have we?________________________________

Both Biblical and secular accounts support the trial and torture of Jesus. We know from history what dehumanizing animals the Romans were. Those who try to convince you that what you see in the Passion movie was far worse than reality, simply do not know their history. It was probably much, much worse than what you saw. Many criminals did not make it to their cross, they died in the torture stage. The Jewish people had a limit of 39 lashes…the Romans had no limit!

When a person loses a lot of blood, the enter what is called: hypovelemic shock.

Hypo-low; vel-volume; emic-blood

1) Heart races to pump blood that isn’t there

In our modern medical times he would have spend days in intensive care recovering from the loss of blood and damage to his heart and lungs. The idea that the cool air of the tomb revived him takes far more faith to believe than the actual

facts found in the gospels.

Once Jesus got to Golgotha and climbed onto the cross, round two then began in earnest. Crucifixion was the worst form of death known to mankind in the first century. The point of death on a cross was to inflict as much pain, agony, and torture as the evil mind of men could possible come up with. The nails, besides holding a person on the cross, were put directly into the nerves to cause the greatest amount of pain. Death finally came by asphyxiation. (I’ll explain more about this next Sunday morning) It happened to everyone who the Romans crucified; the heart began beating slower and slower, carbon dioxide began to build up in the system, the heart would move into an irregular pattern. All of these things moving toward a massive failure of the heart.

John (perhaps unwittingly) gives us the proof of Jesus death and the exact cause of death. There are two aspects to this proof.

Proof #1) The effect of the spear in his side:

(John 19:32-37) The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: "Not one of his bones will be broken," (36 Exodus 12:46; Num. 9:12; Psalm 34:20) and, as another scripture says, "They will look on the one they have pierced." Zech. 12:10) (NIV)

With all the torture Jesus had taken the fact that John thought the spear thrust was odd enough to mention is important to history. What intrigued him was not one more hole in Jesus body but what came out of the hole. He wasn’t a pathologist, he probably didn’t know what it meant, but he thought is strange enough to mention.

According to Samuel Houghton MD.; the great physiologist from the University of Dublin, the blood followed by water was a sure sign:

(Can find that discussion in Evidence that demands a Verdict- Josh McDowell)

It was the task of the Roman soldiers to ensure that their victim was dead. Roman law said that if they failed to do their job they would suffer the criminals fate. These were people who killed others for a living. They knew death. When they came to the two thieves they broke their legs to ensure they would gasp their last in minutes. They didn’t break Jesus legs because they were 100% sure that he was dead. Remember…if they were wrong they would pay with their lives!

They weren’t wrong… Jesus was dead! His heart literally ruptured apart.

Every drop of his life giving blood spilled out on the ground. Isaiah warned 700 years before that he would literally be unrecognizable. We’re not talking about a person who gulped in some fresh air, got up and sauntered out of the tomb. He died…bearing the total weight of all of our sins.. And it literally tore his heart in two.

Could anybody honestly believe that he lived through all of that and three days later he is seen strolling down the road to Emmaus chatting it up with two disciples; then later appearing to at least 512 other people. I don’t mean this disrespectfully, but if his intestines were hanging out of his torso, don’t you think somebody might have said…“hey, you don’t look so good. Does anybody really believe that would have inspired a worldwide movement of people proclaiming him to be:

Risen from the dead!

We have to establish that he died to establish a resurrection, but the death is not really the issue. If we can prove he died but can’t prove he rose from the dead we are left with less than nothing.

All four gospels agree that Jesus did not stay dead, Perhaps from an evidence standpoint this creed in I Corinthians was being quoted right after Jesus death:

(1 Corinthians 15:3-7) For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, (NIV)

If the Jewish and Roman leaders lost the PR battle on this one is wasn’t for lack of trying.

They made absolutely certain this man was dead. They made sure somebody was guarding his body every second. They positioned several Roman guards to watch this massive stone to make sure that no one went in or came out. If those guards failed in their job the given punishment was death. Three days after the crucifixion, Jesus is reported to be walking around outside of town.

All they have to do to disprove this dangerous heresy is to walk over to the tomb and produce the body. They don’t because they can’t…the tomb is empty. And at least 512 people, all upstanding citizens in the city testify to have personally seen him with their own eyes and heard him with their own ears. Add to that those dead people who came out of their graves when Jesus died and the Sanhedrin spin doctors have a tough job on their hands.

They are so inept:

1) The disciples stole his body

How could we, you had Romans guards watching the stone.

2) But the guards at the tomb fell asleep….

If they did the punishment is death…why aren’t they being killed? Could it be that you bribed them to spin your story and you are not killing them because you know they are innocent?

3) Since the tomb is empty and the man who was in it is outside the city talking to people; why don’t you hurry out there and confront him. If it’s not really him you can save yourselves humiliation by confronting him and proving him to be an imposter.

4) If you crucified him because you were afraid of an insurrection, you have a much bigger insurrection building now. There are people all over this town declaring that he has risen from the dead. If you don’t stop them saying that they will take that message across the entire Roman empire. If you think you’ve got a problem now; wait till this story of a crucified and risen King reaches Asia, and Greece and even into Rome itself.

5) The greatest argument against your spin doctors are Jesus disciples. If they stole his body then they deserve Oscars for their performance. They are on fire! They are very convincing when they say:

a) We saw him alive

Some argue that we can’t quite accept as fact the resurrection because nobody witnessed it? Everybody witnessed his excruciating death, nobody directly witnessed him rolling back the tomb and stepping out….Oddly with all of those terrible wounds ..except for the ones in his hands….gone. How can we believe something cannot directly be proven by eyewitness accounts?

You believe in, and take for granted, things every day that there are no eyewitness accounts to prove the existence of. You believe them because there is mountains of circumstantial evidence around them to suggest they exist. Nobody saw the first cancerous cell begin to work but you constantly see the evidence that it came to be. None of you have ever seen a Mammoth, but because of the evidence left behind you accept that they must have once existed.

Nobody saw Jesus rise from the dead, but immediately thereafter an explosion of evidence suggest that he did …

For one thing people saw him, physically saw him, not one, not two…hundreds!!!

1) Mary Magdalene- (John 20:10-18)

These were all different kinds and grouping of people…these weren’t like Elvis sightings…These people spent time with him…lots of time…asking him questions, sorting out the details, finding how it all fit together.

If that wasn’t enough you’ve got this creed from I Corinthians That is so specific:

(1 Corinthians 15:3-7) For what I received (from Jerusalem church leaders 2-3 years after Jesus death) I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, (NIV)

Don’t miss this…500 people at the same time. This wasn’t a casual sighting across a crowded mall. This was a sit down, teaching, question and answer session where 500 known, reputable people all at the same time, heard and saw exactly the same thing, came back into town and told everyone what they had experienced.

This is why for the first 80 years or so there is no first century writer that tries to disprove the resurrection of Jesus. Everybody in town knew somebody, who knew somebody who had personally seen this Jesus alive after the Romans had pronounced him very, very dead. Out of this comes this huge, fast growing movement, called the Christian Church that swept to the ends of the civilized world by the end of the first century.

What was the centerpiece of that early church’s teaching. What was the rally point around which that vast group from every culture and race grew.

Conclusion: One of the greatest evidence of all time is what this belief in Jesus Resurrection did to those who believed.

1) All the apostle turned from halfhearted followers into fanatical proclaimers who gave there lifetimes and their lives to this great truth.

2) Jesus brother did not believe in him at all during his ministry. I Corinthians 15 told us specifically that the resurrected Jesus appeared to James. Secular history, (Josephus) tells us that James not only believed but went on to become the leader of the Christian Church in Jerusalem.

3) One of the most significant evidences of a risen Christ is that everyone, even today, who comes into personal contact with Jesus Christ, and believes, is transformed from the chains of sin into a life of righteousness! That couldn’t happen if Jesus had rotted to dust in an unknown cave

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