The Resurrection of Christ, a central doctrine of Christianity, is based on the belief that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead on the third day after his Crucifixion and that through His conquering of death, all believers will subsequently share in His victory over “sin, death, and the Devil.” Through His death, we receive new life. Because Jesus died for our sins, we get to receive His righteousness. He takes everything we deserved upon Himself and gives us everything earned by Him. As the saying goes, “everyone wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die.” Here’s the truth – there is no resurrection without crucifixion.

Resurrection is the central event in Christianity. Based on the resurrection of Jesus and taking it as a base the Bible was written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. St. Paul is the first person to speak about the Resurrection of Jesus in 1 Corinthians 15, “But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith”.

All four gospel writers speak of the death and resurrection of Jesus. But still, some don’t accept that Jesus was really crucified. The crucifixion and Death of Jesus is a true fact.

First, the death of Christ was not a random occurrence or a failure, a defeat, or a sign of weakness. It happened as per the plan and purpose of God to redeem mankind. This is what the apostle Peter affirmed when he was standing in front of a crowd of Jews, who knew the Old Testament well. He told them in Acts 2:23 “This man, who was handed over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you executed by nailing him to a cross at the hands of Gentiles.” Peter added in Acts 3:18: “But the things God foretold long ago through all the prophets– that His Christ would suffer– He has fulfilled in this way.”

Second, during Jesus Christ’s life and ministry with His disciples, He continually repeated in their hearing that He came to give Himself as a ransom for mankind, and that He would suffer and be killed, and after three days rise from the dead. Because Jesus was honest in His words, and clear, with no doubt or deception, everything that He said was certain to happen. This is another piece of evidence that the death of Christ on the cross is a historical fact because it is impossible that Christ would have confirmed these things to His disciples if He knew that they would not happen.

Third, Jesus Christ was the one who was crucified, and not another person who was made to look like Him.

The saying that God made another person look like Jesus be crucified leads us to many other problems:

This claim, which has no evidence to support it, opens up the door to utter chaos and sophistries. Far be it from God to deceive all those people who knew Jesus well. This is not fitting for the stature and wisdom of God.

God was able to save Him by raising Him to heaven, so what use was it to cast His likeness on someone else except for killing an innocent person?

Would not the substitute have been able to defend himself and say that he was not Jesus if that had happened, it would have become known and spread abroad. But we have not heard of this person at all.

Since Jesus came to the world for this purpose and to fulfill what was written about Him in the Old Testament according to the will of God, why would God deceive those people and go against what He had promised?

Good Friday only exists because of Easter (Resurrection). We have to remind ourselves that we can endure the darkness of this day knowing the Light will break someday. There is death and a body in a tomb, but on Sunday there is life and the tomb is empty. Mary Magdalene and His apostles saw Jesus after His resurrection. The resurrection showed that Jesus was the Son of God. The resurrection provides hope of a future resurrection and eternal life is well grounded.

There is no heaven without death, purification without fire, skilled sailors without rough seas, diamonds without pressure and there is no phoenix rising unless there are ashes. There is indeed no resurrection without crucifixion.

-Fr. Leslie Gomes