A friend of mine was worried. He thought
I’d lost my head.
He came to me one evening, and this is what he said:
“I know you follow Jesus. Your
faith is very strong.
I think you’ve lost your reason! How could you be so wrong?
How can you follow Jesus, when you know that
he has died!”
“Because he came to life again,” I quietly replied.
He said, “The dead do not
come back! It simply isn’t true!
He tricked the people of his day, and now he’s fooled you too!
He was drugged, or quite unconscious, when they
laid him in the tomb.
Somehow, He lived, and then escaped. That is what I assume.”
I spoke up in amazement,
saying, “Just how was this done?
He loosened heavy grave clothes, and unwrapped them one by one?
He pushed aside a heavy stone, with hands so
badly marred?
With wounds in hands and feet and side, he overcame the guard?
That brings up another point, the deep
wound in his side.
With flowing blood and water, he surely should have died!
Only death could have made the blood and water
come apart.
He must have died some time before the spear point burst his heart.
But if, somehow, he lived, escaped,
and overcame the guard,
And if he then walked many miles, so wounded and so marred ...
That alone should make you think! That
alone should make you pause!
That alone should be enough, to compel you to his cause!”
My friend exclaimed, “You
win this round, but I have more to say.
Your case for death is strong, but there is another way.
Perhaps they stole his body, before the guard
was to arrive.
The empty tomb convinced the people that he was still alive.”
“An empty tomb is not enough,”
I very quickly said,
“They would not seal his tomb unless he still were there, and dead!
Even if they came, before the guard was to arrive,
Suffocating
grave clothes made sure he could not survive!
Let me see if I can guess the very next thing you’ll say.
They stole
his body while guards slept. That’s how he got away.
A noisy stone was rolled away, and still the
guards remained asleep?
In all that noise and confusion, not one guard made a peep?
Merely a stolen body would not inspire
so much zeal!
He must have been alive and well! He must have been quite real!
Men do not give up their lives, in order to deceive!
Men
do not die for something they truly do not believe.
For such a noble cause, you might find one or even two.
But twelve
men, or even hundreds? You know that’s just not true!”
My friend exclaimed, “I see your point!
Perhaps they saw him rise,
But only with demented minds that played tricks on their eyes.
Perhaps he was nothing more
than someone’s legendary tale.”
Then I said, “Here’s where your logic really starts to fail!
Five hundred people really saw him, in person!
I
fear that your logic is starting to worsen!
One or two minds may have started to go.
But, five hundred minds?
That’s just simply not so!
His name appears in historical diction.
So,
we know that he wasn’t somebody’s fiction.
Now, some will say that he had a twin brother, and that’s
how he rose.
But this “twin” is not mentioned, not even by foes!
Now imagine this twin, with wounds in hands,
and feet, and side
Just like Jesus had, when He was crucified!
No, the only course left is that Jesus did rise!
No
fiction! No fancy! No folly! No disguise!”
My friend really thought, for a moment or two.
With
surprise in his eyes, he said, “Then, it must all be true!
He really did rise, so that I might believe!
He really
did rise, so that I might not grieve!
If only I’d seen! If only I’d
known!”
“Don’t worry,” I said, “I, too, had to be shown.
Now, we are brothers, with no
fear and no doubt!
Let us tell others what we have found out!
And when we meet Jesus, at the end of our
days,
He will say, “Well done, faithful servant! I give you my praise!”
© 1993 by Chris Hansen
This poem may be used in its entirety, with credits in tact,
for
non-profit ministering purposes.
