Four questions about the Resurrection

1. I have heard it said that the Resurrection being a 'prank' is a absurd notion because no huge historical event has been caused by a 'joke' before. Surely that doesn't rule it out as an explanation? Surely if we know anything about history it is to expect the unexpected?
2. What if Jesus was not 'mad, bad or the true son of God'...In the days pre-dating modern World viewpoints, surely a remarkable man might have felt their was something deeply different about himself and might make the conclusion he was a highly spiritual being? I should imagine if John Lennon had been born 2000 years ago he might have made some very singular and interesting ideas. I'm not saying this IS so but is it not a frightening possibility?
3. Might not an ardent follower of someone so influential (not necessarily a disciple) 'rig' the Resurrection just to 'prove' that Jesus IS worth remembering and following? Might they not, in turn, have dressed as Jesus and appeared before the disciples in an 'act'? Outrageous suggestion, I know, but many startling events have been known to happen.
4. Might not the disciples have all 'changed their minds' from being afraid of being identified with Jesus to being an ardent upholder of his name (even unto violent death?). Yes, they were terrified at first and it might seem a remarkable transformation but have not such things been known to happen, when a losing 'team' (sorry to put it in such a crass way) go from feeling defeated to feeling a 'spiritual' ardour to go down with dignity? Is it not possible that these (obviously highly religious individuals) let their loyalties overrun their first reaction to escape? I hate to put it like this...as I am a Christian and this seems very blasphemous but I can think of no better way of putting my point...might not a terrorist organisation do much the same if at first cornered?

Response:

1. There are an infinite number of conceivable “explanations” of any historical event – esp when you allow for sci-fi type approaches. But it’s fair to say that the prank explanation is absurd. Note also that a “prank” would “explain” the Empty Tomb but not the Resurrection.
2. The whole history of Israel is full of “highly spiritual beings” who were bearers of God’s word. They called themselves “Prophets”. Jesus was called a Prophet by many people, but never by himself.
3. No-one suggested that Moses wasn’t worth following because he died. And how on earth could a rich follower of Jesus fool his closest friends when they were eating with them?
4. Certainly the disciples might have decided to preserve his moral teachings and write accounts of his remarkable life. Plato did this for Socrates for example. What they actually did was very different – they asserted that he was (already) risen from the dead, no-one could produce the body (which would have stopped the whole thing immediately), within 350 years they “conquered” from within the greatest empire the world had ever known, and to this day the resurrection (or, if secularists would prefer whatever happened which the disciples termed the resurrection) is the most decisive single event in the whole of human history.