You may have heard the story of the Italian priest who is being sued by the village atheist under Italy’s fraudulent deception laws. Luigi Cascioli is suing his old grade school classmate, the Rev. Enrico Righi, for asserting the historical authenticity of the claim that Jesus did, in fact, live. Read all about it.

The story has been in the news for a couple of weeks, but has reappeared this week as the case went to trial on Friday. The judge will decide Monday whether or not the trial can proceed. In the U.S., the suit would most certainly be ruled frivolous. We’ll see what the Italians decide. In any event, the story has raised the question, even among the faithful, as to whether Jesus’ historical existence can be proved. The answer to the question is an unequivocal “yes.”

The news story says that Father Righi, “has stressed substantial historical evidence - both Christian and non-Christian - of Jesus’ existence.” The historical evidence that Jesus of Nazareth lived is solid – many say that it as solid as the evidence for the life of nearly all of Jesus’ contemporaries from Caesar Augustus to King Herod to Pontius Pilate. Click here for more on the scholarly evidence.

The question as to whether this Jesus of Nazareth was crucified dead and buried, descended into Hell, rose on the third day and ascended to the right hand of God the Father Almighty, is not for the historian to decide, though the Apostle Paul confidently offered the testimony of more than 500 witnesses to the 40-day ministry of the risen Christ. Click here for 1 Corinthians 15:3-8.

Luigi Cascioli’s case deserves to be tossed out of court. But what if he asked, “Is Jesus alive?” instead of “Did Jesus live?” Here the historian’s catalog of ancient texts does us no good. Is there evidence admissible into a court of law to prove the Jesus is still alive? Probably not. But there is evidence to persuade both the human heart and the human mind.

As evidence for the existence of the Christ, I would offer the lives of the saints and martyrs. For nearly 2,000 years, men and women have lived lives in response to the presence of the living Christ in their lives. In their own lives they have been freed from the demons of addiction, anger, abuse of power and self-loathing; they have found grace sufficient for their need and God’s peace that passes understanding. In their communities they have build schools and hospitals, fed the hungry, clothed the naked, and visited the prisoner. Around the world they have fought slavery, injustice, and oppression, living as strangers in a foreign land, “looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” (Hebrews 11:10)

What evidence is there that Jesus is alive? A world changed one life at a time. And what about the evidence that Jesus is alive in you or me? Would there be evidence to convict you of harboring the life-changing Jesus in the secret chambers of your heart?