In a world of conspiracy theories and rapid advancement in scientific and technological knowledge, there are many people who would not be convinced about the resurrection of Jesus Christ and would even posit that such a person did not exist. Even among those who believe in Christian religious truths or symbolism, there are those who are not too sure about what the resurrection of Jesus should mean to them.

Outside of parroting the cliché about the concept every Easter, there does not seem to be an understanding of how it can be practically applied to their day-to-day lives.

One may say that these are harsh judgements, but they are observations that ought to be weighed against how practically the concept is applied in how we live our lives. I will attempt to show later how this can be done.

But I will be the first to admit that, outside of a strong religious faith and belief in Jesus Christ, this is not a concept or, better stated, an event in history that can be easily grasped. It is not something that can be proven scientifically, which is why it would hardly be accepted by the scientific world.

Indeed, even at the time of Jesus and the apostles in the early Church, there was contention between the sects of the Pharisees, who believed in the resurrection, and the Sadducees, who did not.

Paul, the foremost proponent of the resurrection in the Church, came up against serious opposition to the concept. In his first epistle to the church at Corinth he makes the case for the resurrection. After pointing to physical evidence of Jesus being seen after he rose from the dead, he made the cryptic point that, if Christ was not risen from the dead, then all preaching and believing in him is empty and futile (I Corinthians 15: 14).

Paul and the other apostles recognised from the very start that the resurrection of Jesus was the glue that would hold the Church together; it was the foundation on which the Church would be built; it was the centrepiece of what the Gospel message was about. Without the thought of Jesus being alive, there could be no gospel and no good news to a world that needed it.

Even more importantly for them, with the exception of Paul, they were eyewitnesses to the event.

As we might know, Paul was not a member of the original 12 disciples of Jesus. He came later in the day to speak, when he had his Damascus experience, and his life was transformed when he met the resurrected Christ.

It was left to Peter and the others who had been there to affirm the veracity of what had taken place as eyewitnesses to the event.

It was Peter, the often erratic and idiosyncratic apostle to whom Jesus had made the promise that he would occupy a foundational role in the formation of the new community of believers (the Church), who stood up to defend the resurrection of Christ. He eloquently proclaimed to the Christian diaspora in Pontus, Galatia, Asia, and other parts of the Roman empire that they did not follow cleverly devised fables when they declared the power of Christ as they were eyewitnesses to His majesty.

In other words, they did not follow a lie.

They were there, and having been there, they were willing to hang their very lives on what they had come to know. They believed, not because they had second-hand knowledge of the events concerning Christ or because they listened to reported speech about him, but they saw and experienced it first-hand for themselves.

This is evidence and testimony that can stand up in any court of law. It is this kind of first-hand evidence that wins convictions.

The disciples did not come to this reckoning by wishful thinking.

The most compelling thing for me about the veracity of the resurrection is the amazing transformation that occurred in the lives of the disciples after they actually knew that Jesus had risen from the dead. If he was as they believed, then everything that he taught them and the people had to be true, and they could have confidence in proclaiming him to the world.

But they did not come to this reckoning easily.

Throughout their brief walk with Jesus, they, especially Peter and Thomas, had occasionally expressed doubt about aspects of Jesus’s statements to them, such as when Jesus told them that he would be killed in Jerusalem but would rise on the third day, and Peter challenged him that this could not be so. Before the crucifixion, Peter had denied that he knew him three times. They, with the exception of John, the beloved disciple, were not at the foot of the cross when he was crucified. They were hiding in fear for their lives.

Before the day of Pentecost, they were dispirited and disillusioned. Their master had been taken away from them and killed. There was now no future for them. And then he appeared to them in a room, not once, but twice, and indulged the doubting Thomas by revealing the nail prints in his hands and feet.

Wow! The rest became history, as they say, when the promised Holy Spirit descended upon them in power in the upper room in Jerusalem. Nothing could stop them now. Their fear of the religious and Roman authorities evaporated like morning mist at the rising of the sun.

They had been transformed. Every one of them was willing to lay down his life in commitment to the new reality that had dawned with the resurrection of the Son of God. And that they did.

Scattered throughout the Roman empire, each, without the facility of social media or cellphones to communicate with each other, had only their belief in the good news about Jesus to keep them going.

They would not sacrifice their lives for a lie. Only a fool would do that. But they were willing to die for they knew that what they believed was the truth. Their fidelity to the truth and their willingness to lay down their lives for it is among the most compelling reasons for my belief in the resurrection of Christ.

I said earlier that we need to understand the practical implications of the resurrection for our lives.

Very briefly, it is about living in the power of the resurrected Christ and not being too willing to accept the limitations that life brings. It means not living below the true level of our capabilities, but to transcend them in becoming the kind of person that we know we can truly become if we believe in ourselves.

As a child of God walking in the power of the resurrected Christ, you do not accept the negativity that the world throws at you, the belittling statements that undermine your self-confidence, for you know that you have been empowered for something better.

For me, the resurrection means hope in the face of despair, and it gives us a sense of transcendence without which we would be trapped in the immediacy of life as we understand it in the here and now. As Paul presciently observed to the Corinthians: If it is in this life only that we have hope, we are of all people the most pitiable (1Corinthians 15: 19).

Resurrection is renewal and restoration, but it is also a revival to purpose, a rekindling of dying embers, and a call to a greater nobility in service to our fellow men.

Dr Raulston Nembhard is a priest, social commentator, and author of the books Finding Peace in the Midst of Life’s Storm and Your Self-esteem Guide to a Better Life. Send comments to the Jamaica Observer or stead6655@aol.com.