Convnced

"But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense." (Luke 24:11)

Scientific truth is established through a rigorous process of repeated experimentation and observation. When a scientist seeks to understand a certain phenomenon he develops a hypothesis about what is going on. He then performs an experiment to test his hypothesis. When the same result is repeatedly observed the truth of his hypothesis is confirmed.

When the disiciples first heard the words of the women exclaiming that Jesus had risen from the dead, they did not believe them. Their words seemed like nonsense to them. Why? Early Christians are sometimes portrayed as "gullible" fools who were duped into believing miracles by a master magician, Jesus. The disciples were not gullible. They knew that in their ordinary experience dead people did not rise. Yes, they had seen Jesus raise the dead, but in this case, the One who had raised the dead was dead Himself. Therefore, they did not believe the women's report.

However, something changed their minds. What was it? It was repeated experience of the same report, or their own repeated observation of the same phenomenon, Jesus risen from the dead, that ultimately caused them to recognize the fact of the resurrection. After the women gave their report, Peter and John observed the empty tomb for themselves. They heard the report of the Emmaus disciples who saw Jesus alive. Then, they observed the risen Lord for themselves. And not only that, they saw Jesus experimentally demonstrate that He was truly alive in the flesh by eating in front of them on more than one occasion.

When we ask ourselves why we should believe that 2000 years ago the impossible occurred, that a man who had obviously died in the presence of many witnesses arose from the dead on the third day, we can assure ourselves that we have good reason to believe. Ancient skeptics were themselves convinced by repeated observation of the facts. Luke, the historian, records those repreated observations for us so that we can "know the certainty of the things [we] have been taught." (Luke 1:4)