Gibson's Passion Popular for One Reason: The Story is True

APRIL 5, 2004
By GREG RUMMO

     THE LATEST NUMBERS for Mel Gibson’s sleeper-turned-blockbuster, The Passion of the Christ indicate it’s in sixth place despite having opened over 40 days ago. The movie has grossed almost $350 million proving the story of humanity’s redemption by the Son of God is still a powerful draw throughout the world.

“The Passion” focuses on those last horrific twelve hours when Jesus would be betrayed by a friend, denied and deserted by his disciples, reviled and cursed by an angry mob, beaten and spit upon by a group of Roman soldiers and finally crucified on a cross between two thieves outside the city of Jerusalem at a place called Golgotha.

So intense was Jesus’ suffering on the cross that God felt it necessary to draw a veil of darkness over the whole Earth, shielding us from the outpouring of His wrath on His own Son.

The prophet Isaiah described Jesus’ appearance as being “marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men,” and Gibson’s movie is an accurate portrayal of the sufferings of Christ.

Yet, while Jesus’ death is important, it is His resurrection that sets Christianity apart from every other religion.

Christians worship and serve a living God.

The well-known speaker and author of several books on biblical apologetics, Josh McDowell, set out as a young man to debunk the claims of Christianity.  “I aimed to show everyone that Christianity was nonsense,” he explained in an article entitled “If I Had Faked the Resurrection.”

“I thought it would be easy. I thought a careful investigation of the facts would expose Christianity as a lie and its followers as dupes. But then a funny thing happened. As I began investigating the claims of Christianity, I kept running up against the evidence. Time after time, I was surprised to discover the factual basis for the seemingly outlandish things Christians believe. And one of the most convincing categories of evidence I confronted was this: The resurrection accounts found in the Gospels are not the stuff of fable, forgery or fabrication.”

McDowell explains that if he had wanted to fake the resurrection of Jesus Christ, he would have waited a prudent amount of time before publishing the events of Holy Week, publish the account far from where it actually happened, select his witnesses very carefully, avoiding the use of any names and certainly no prominent figures, disguise the actual location of the tomb and attempt to squelch any inquiry or investigation.

But the apostles broke all of these rules.

Not only did they preach about the risen Christ boldly and almost immediately—within 50 days of the resurrection—but written accounts of the events of Holy Week appeared as early as two years later, originating in Jerusalem—the very city where they took place.

No less than 16 witnesses of the resurrection are mentioned by name and one was a very prominent member of the Sanhedrin, Joseph of Arimathea, who was present when they buried Jesus Christ in Joseph’s own tomb.

“As a member of the Sanhedrin, a Jewish Supreme Court, he would have been well-known,” writes McDowell. “No one could have invented such a person who did not exist and say he was on the Sanhedrin if such were not the case.”

Additionally, over 500 witnesses were mentioned by the apostle Paul in his letter to the Corinthians: “After that, he [Jesus] was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present [time]…”

The theologian Dr. Edwin Yamauchi, commenting on this passage from First Corinthians writes, “What gives special authority to the list [of witnesses] as historical evidence is the reference to most of the five hundred brethren being still alive. St. Paul says in effect, ‘If you do not believe me, you can ask them.’ ”

But the testimony of the apostles did not end with their fervent preaching of what was and still is the greatest and most powerful story ever told.

Many of them willingly died a martyr’s death for what they believed.

Bible scholar Lee Strobel writes, “People will die for their religious beliefs if they sincerely believe they're true, but people won't die for their religious beliefs if they know their beliefs are false. While most people can only have faith that their beliefs are true, the disciples were in a position to know without a doubt whether or not Jesus had risen from the dead. They claimed that they saw him, talked with him, and ate with him. If they weren't absolutely certain, they wouldn't have allowed themselves to be tortured to death for proclaiming that the resurrection had happened.”

Because of the resurrection, for the past two millennia, Jesus Christ has changed the lives of all those who believe on His name.

Hallelujah! He is risen indeed! n

Gregory J. Rummo is a syndicated columnist. Read all of his columns on his homepage, www.GregRummo.com. E-Mail Rummo at  GregoryJRummo@aol.com