Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they, and certain other women with them, came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared.But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. And it happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold, two men stood by them in shining garments.Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen!"--Luke 24.1-6
Karl Barth once famously compared the gospel to a bomb that has exploded in our midst. A potent metaphor for Europeans who had witnessed WW1 and WW2. Keeping with the metaphor, any historical investigation of the resurrection is akin to examining the hollowed out crater left behind by the blast. The bomb itself is not to be found.
Christian faith is about this hole in history. But more than history, our faith is about a crack in the cosmos. A tear in the fabric of reality. Hiccup in the Matrix. Gap in causality. The factual loose end that science will never be able to tie.
Is reality a closed system, tending toward darkness, entropy, and death? Are you seeking the living among the dead?
Or is there a crack running through all things where daylight is streaming through?
