Michael Baigent, the author of "The Jesus Papers" and co author of Holy Blood, Holy Grail sued Dan Brown author of The Da Vinci Code. Baigent accused Brown of plagiarism. Dan Brown's lawyer argued that Baigent's ideas were not original therefore Baigent could not claim exclusive rights to the views shared by the two books. He won.
Both Baigent and Brown dismiss the gospel accounts of Jesus. Yet they both argue that Jesus lived after the crucifixion. If he lived after the crucifixion, then they acknowledge that he lived and he was crucified.
According to Baigent, Jesus lived after his crucifixion because although Jesus was crucified, he didn't die. Pilate did not want Jesus to die so Pilate plotted with others to keep Jesus alive. The sponge put in Jesus' mouth was actually a concoction of opium, belladonna and hashish along with other substances. The mixture acted as an anesthetic. (Maclean's, April 3, 2006, Brian Bethune.)
When Jesus was taken down from the cross, he was drugged, not dead. That night Joseph of Arimathea and others were able to revive him in the tomb. Jesus was then whisked out of the country. First, he went to Egypt and eventually he and Mary Magdalene, his wife, ended up in France and had children.
Baigent and Brown are right about one thing. If Jesus lived after his crucifixion, there has to be an explanation. Crucified people did not live to tell their story.
Jesus' closest followers offer a different explanation. Jesus died - which is what happens when people are crucified. Then God raised Jesus from the dead.
Historians, whether secular or Christian, dismiss Baigent's explanation. From their perspective there are too few facts, if any, to suggest that Pilate was involved in a plot to crucify Jesus but keep him alive.
We have some choices. If we believe that Jesus continued to live after his crucifixion yet we are unable to accept the story of resurrection, then we have to believe Jesus did not die. If he didn't die, the early church (following the example of the apostles) lied.
Those who have trouble with the idea of the apostles lying suggest that the accounts of Jesus appearing after his death on the cross are actually hallucinations. They thought they saw him. They thought he appeared to them, but it was only their minds playing tricks on them.
Tom Harper, author of the Pagan Christ , goes a step further. He suggests Jesus did not exist at all. According to Harper, "Orthodox Christianity was based on a foolishly literalized version of a mythic cycle that had been around for millennia before Jesus-who never lived at all-was supposedly born." (Maclean's, April 3, 2006, Brian Bethune.)
His view, by the way, is dismissed by Michael Baigent and others who say there is too much historical evidence for the life and crucifixion of Christ.
The Apostles say "Yes, Jesus died on the cross. Yes, Jesus was alive after his death." He was alive because God raised him from the dead. God did the impossible. We never expected to see him alive again. Watching him die meant the end of our hopes and dreams.
The men on the road to Emmaus talking to Jesus before they recognized him summed it up this way in Luke 24: 20-21: "The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel." Notice "we had hoped" he was going to redeem Israel.
Hope came slowly to the disciples after the crucifixion. First, there was the empty tomb, discovered by the women, later by Peter and John. Yet unbelief persists. Nobody knows what is going on but no one is willing to believe that Jesus is alive. They, like Tom Harper and many others then and now, refused to believe that the man they watched die on the cross could somehow be alive again. It was nonsense. It made no sense.
As the believers sat in despair and disbelief, Jesus-who had been beaten to a physical pulp, then crucified, had a spear thrust in his side just a few days before- appears to them. Only now he is strong, healthy, vibrant and full of life. He is not an almost dead person who needs months to recuperate from his cruel experience, as Baigent would have us believe.
Disbelief turns to belief. Despair becomes hope. The disciples are convinced.
Listen to how Luke tells the story. "While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you." They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. He said to them, "Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have." When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, "Do you have anything here to eat?" They gave him a piece of broiled fish and he took it and ate it in their presence. He said to them, "This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms." Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, "This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things."
If the Gospel stories are only an elaborate re-working of an ancient Egyptian myth as Tom Harper argues, then the first followers of Jesus sure put together an elaborate story. But for what purpose? It boggles the mind. They deserve a prize for a remarkable piece of fiction. Or if Jesus didn't die and they nursed him back to health, as Baigent suggests, one has to wonder not only at the integrity of the disciples but of Jesus himself. To pretend to be raised from the dead and to coach your followers to preach such a message would mean that we have to question the character of Jesus.
The Apostle Paul agrees. Paul, who said he encountered the living Christ on the Damascus road, writes: "And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins," (I Corinthians 15: 17).
The writings of Tom Harper, Michael Baigent, and Dan Brown remind us that belief can be avoided. The alternatives these men suggest to belief in the story of the resurrection stretch the imagination. For many, their explanations are simply unbelievable. But even worse is that in their desire not to believe in the resurrection they remove hope. Their explanations turn the scriptures into a fabrication, a deceptive document and for what purpose?
N.T. Wright, a New Testament scholar, writes: "We know of lots of other messianic and similar moments in the Jewish world … In many cases the leader died a violent death at the hands of the authorities. In not one single case do we hear the slightest mention of the disappointed followers claiming that their hero had been raised from the dead. They knew better...Claiming that the original leader was alive again was simply not an option. Unless, of course, He was"! (Quoted by Neil Earle, pastor of the Worldwide Church of God, Glendora, California congregation.). There are a lot more reasons to believe the Gospel accounts of Jesus' resurrection than to believe Baigent's attempts to give an alternative explanation for the life of Jesus after the crucifixion. But belief cannot be forced. A person can choose to ignore, disbelieve or believe.
If the Bible points to the truth of God's actions in our world, then some day we will stand before the God who resurrected his Son from the dead, who created us, loved us, and who says that eternal life, salvation, and forgiveness are found in Jesus. If you disbelieve and are wrong, you are wrong for all eternity.
Have you ever had regrets - deep regrets where you have made a serious mistake, or a poor judgment call? To recount your action causes you to feel awful. Can you imagine spending all of eternity separated from God, separated from everything that is good and wonderful, everything that is enjoyable and life giving, saying to yourself, "I had the opportunity. I don't have to be here. I came so close but then I said "No." I refused to follow. I refused to repent. I decided to live as if God did not exist." The Bible does not paint a pretty picture of what it will mean to be separated from God forever.
It is because of this awfulness that Jesus died on the cross and God raised him from the dead. God wants us to spend eternity with him. Jesus' resurrection is our story of hope. Steve Jobs, cofounder of Apple Computer and Pixar, spoke these words at the Stanford University Commencement Address in June 2005:
"Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything-all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure-these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important."
If Jesus rose from the dead then there is life after death. Remembering that we will be dead soon means that one of the most important decisions we can make is the decision to follow Jesus. The decision is so important that, in the words of Steve Jobs, "all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure" should be left behind...
As David Cahill once said to an atheist who had little interest in thinking about Jesus, "Remember, eternity is an awfully long time; make sure you've got the right answer." (One Thing You Can't Do In Heaven. Pg. 74)
This morning I invite you to reaffirm the truth of the resurrection into your thinking and into your living. Allow God by his grace to lead you into his everlasting life. The story of the resurrection of Jesus was not a hoax. It is our hope.