Introduction
What’s something you once doubted or were skeptical about, but eventually became convinced was true? What changed your mind?
We all know what it’s like to wrestle with doubt, especially when something feels hard to believe or beyond explanation. Sometimes it takes new evidence, personal experience, or time to shift what we’re convinced is true.
In Luke 24, the first witnesses to the empty tomb don’t respond with immediate confidence, but with confusion and skepticism. This passage invites us to honestly wrestle with the resurrection and consider what it might mean if it’s actually true.
Text: Read Luke 24:1-12 and pray.
Discussion Questions
In Luke 24:1–12, the resurrection of Jesus is presented not as a private “spiritual” experience, but as an historical fact. The tomb was really empty, and Jesus physically rose from the dead! After the women discovered the empty tomb, they rushed back to tell the other disciples. But they responded with doubt and disbelief, showing that the earliest witnesses were not gullible or superstitious, but rather ordinary people struggling to make sense of such an extraordinary claim. Similar to those first disciples, we live in a world that struggles to believe supernatural claims. This passage, however, challenges us to reckon with the possibility that the resurrection truly happened.
- In Luke 24:1–12, what specific details (names, places, actions, emotional reactions) make this account read like a report of real events rather than a symbolic or legendary story?
- The disciples initially respond to the women’s report with doubt and disbelief. How does their skepticism actually add to the historical credibility of Luke’s resurrection account? In a similar way, why does Luke’s decision to name women as the first witnesses strengthen the historical reliability of his report?
- Historians, both secular and Christian, agree almost universally on three historical facts regarding the resurrection accounts of Jesus.
- First, the tomb was empty. This is confirmed by six independent sources (Lk 24:1-12; Jn 20:1-8; 1 Cor 15:3-5; Mk 16:1-8; Matt 28:1-10; Acts 2:29-32) and by the Jewish authorities’ response to the empty tomb, which suggested that the disciples had stolen the body. If the tomb hadn’t been empty, they could have just produced the body and decisively refuted the claim.
- Second, all scholars agree that several hundred people experienced appearances of Jesus alive after his death (1 Cor 15:5-8). In fact, one of the most liberal Jesus scholars, Gerd Ludemann, refers to this as an historical certainty.
- Finally, all scholars agree that the disciples of Jesus truly believed Jesus had risen from the dead. If they didn’t, why would most of them go on to suffer and die for what they knew to be a lie? N.T. Wright concludes, “As an historian I cannot explain the rise of early Christianity unless Jesus rose again, leaving an empty tomb behind him.”
- Taken together, which of these do you find most compelling, and why? Are there any you find difficult or unconvincing?
- In a modern secular culture, supernatural claims are often ruled out before the evidence is considered. What underlying assumptions about reality or science might shape that instinctive skepticism? How would you challenge anti-supernatural assumptions?
- Read 1 Corinthians 15:12-28. According to Paul, why is the literal, physical resurrection of Jesus so important? For you and for the world?
Close in Prayer
Close by thanking God for the truth of the resurrection and asking Him to deepen your faith.