People have been telling me that Jesus was the Messiah and that the proof is his resurrection. I am so confused and I need to find the truth before someone takes it away from me.

The good news is that there are answers to all your questions, and that Judaism has those answers.

First of all, concerning the supposed resurrection of Jesus. Jewish historical literature is full of stories about people being resurrected. The farther back in history we go, the more often it appears to have happened. During the writing of the Talmud, it happened more often than it happens now. During the time of the second Temple, it happened more often than during the writing of the Talmud. During the times of the Prophets, it happened even more often than that. Without going into why it doesn’t happen any more, or whether or not it is possible that Jesus was resurrected, let’s just say that having been resurrected does not make one the Messiah. In fact, there are no messianic prophecies that indicate that resurrection from the dead is a proof that one is the Messiah.In reality, there is no reason to believe that the resurrection ever took place, since the only source for the alleged resurrection of Jesus is the New Testament. It is interesting that the gospel of Matthew claims that after Jesus was resurrected, the bodies of many righteous Jewish people were resurrected from their graves and walked around the streets of Jerusalem. This seems as credible as the claims of some people today that they have seen Elvis Presley alive, or the scores of Catholics who claim to have personally seen the virgin Mary. Just because something is claimed doesn’t mean that it is true. The much touted “Shroud of Tourin” which was claimed to substantiate the resurrection of Jesus, was recently shown conclusively to be a fake. What’s more difficult, is that even though the gospels are the only source of the resurrection, they each impeach the other’s testimony. Each of the four gospels gives a completely different account of the resurrection of Jesus.

Some apologists claim that the discrepancy between the four gospel accounts is similar to four different people who witness a traffic accident and will give slightly different reports because they are seeing the event from four slightly different perspectives. The problem with this explanation is that none of the gospel writers were eye-witnesses to the resurrection.

The New Testament is supposed to be the Word of God. God would hardly make a mistake in transmitting the story that happened. One of the most damning issues is that even in the New Testament accounts, Jesus’s own disciples didn’t recognize him when he appeared, and many didn’t believe the reports that he was alive. Hardly information that would inspire us now to believe the story.

According to the Christian bible, when Jesus was alive, the leading rabbis asked him for a sign. In Matthew 12, Jesus says that the only sign he would give them would be his own resurrection. However, Jesus never appeared before the Sanhedrin or the Pharisees after his alleged resurrection. Certainly, if he was supposed to be giving them a sign, he would have appeared in his post-resurrection state to show the rabbis the sign that he had promised them. The only people that Jesus is said to have appeared to, were his own followers. It certainly seems more reasonable to assume that the story of the resurrection was invented by the followers of Jesus, who needed to explain away his embarrassing death at the hands of the Romans.

Even if Jesus was resurrected from the dead, and even IF he did some “miracles”, the Torah indicates that false prophets, prophets who would lead us to worship other gods will produce signs and wonders. Those signs and wonders are not supposed to entice us to follow him, instead we are supposed to look at his message and ask ourselves if he is leading us away from the One True God and Torah, or towards them. Here is the quote:

“If there should stand up in your midst a prophet or a dreamer of a dream, and he will produce to you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes about, of which he spoke to your, saying, “Let us follow gods of others that you did not know and we shall worship them!”, do not hearken to the words of that prophet or to tha dreamer of a dream, for Hashem, your God, is testing you to know whether you love Hashem, your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Hashem, your God, shall you follow and Him shall you fear. His commandments shall you observe and to His voice shall you hearken; Him shall you serve and to Him shall you cleave.”