Can We Believe This
Can We Believe This?
April 12, 1998
Easter
SPIN-DOCTORS! People often tell stories according to how they hear, and/or, perceive something. To add a certain kind of flavor to what they heard or saw, they might add a little embellishment here and there. So when they retell the story, there is a certain SPIN on it. I suppose television and radio media are the best examples of this today. Sadly, all the spinning that takes place has a negative affect on us. The effect; Nobody really knows the truth; Probably not even those who do the spinning.
SPIN-DOCTORS are not new. I think the first SPIN on a story was when the serpant deceived Eve. Then Adam put a certain spin on his guilt be saying, “the woman you gave me made me do it.” Oh yeah? The Devil’s SPINNING what people hear and believe about God even now stands as a reminder of its end. Unfortunately, we all are infected with this terrible disease which I’ll call SPINITIS.
SPINITIS sent Jesus to the cross. Oh yes, When Jesus talked about destroying the temple it was only natural that someone would give it their own spin. Jesus’ trial before the Sanhedren, really brought the SPIN-DOCTORS out. “We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this man-made temple and in three days will build another, not made by man.’” Well, that must have sounded pretty ridiculous to those people. It had taken forty years to build the temple. In their rush to judgment, though, even the spin-doctors who testified against Jesus could not agree on the details. Would you like to know what Jesus really said? He said, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” He was speaking of the temple of his own body. He was talking about his death and resurrection. Can We Believe This?! Can we believe the words of Jesus?
Sometimes people wonder why Jesus didn’t do something to change people’s perception so He wouldn’t have to suffer the Cross. Jesus all explains this, Jn. 10.17 “The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life— only to take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.” Surely, Jesus is not what some people perceive him to be, a sinful man being punished by God, is He? Jesus is True God and True Man. He is the Perfect, Sinless, Sacrifice for sin; Even our sin. Only God could do that. .… Can We Believe This?!
It must be possible, many people do believe. However, faith must come from hearing the Word of Christ. This is precisely where the Devil’s SPIN-DOCTORS, new or old, work to prevent that Word from having its proper effect. By putting a certain spin on it, like He did in the garden of Eden, Satan retells God’s truth the way he wants it heard. In that way he prevents many from believing God’s truth.
Even the disciples who had been with Jesus from the beginning of His three-year ministry and had heard His teaching every day; even they had trouble remembering what Jesus had taught them. Even though they believed He was the Christ, the promised Messiah, they did not believe the women who reported finding His tomb empty. He is risen! But they just could not believe it, “because their words seemed to them like nonsense.” So I ask again, Can We Believe This?!
Dear people loved by God our Father, do the Words of Scripture sometime seem like nonsense to you? It’s common to all students of the Word. Our D.C.E. and principle of Hope Lutheran School, in Idaho Falls, summarized this phenomenon very well. He said, “Whenever the Scripture doesn’t make sense to me, I have to remember that I am the one with the problem, not the Word, and certainly not God.” I think this statement is so real and right on. It clarifies where the Devil’s attacks happen most, right in our own backyard, so-to-speak; right in our own sinful flesh.
Even the remaining eleven disciples were affected by it. How sad that they could not recall what Jesus had said to them, “The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.” Friends of Jesus, our Savior, Can We Believe This?!
The women who went to Jesus’ empty tomb early that first Easter morning believed it. Even then it took special messengers of God to remind them of Jesus’ teaching. It is the same for us. Faith is worked in our hearts through the very same teaching. This is how God chose to make himself known to us. He sent His eternal Word to dwell with us in human flesh. He gave his prophets and apostles to record His Word for our benefit. He even raised Jesus from the grave to assure us that our sins are forgiven for the sake of His One-and-Only Son. He gives us His Holy Spirit by whom faith to believe the Word is worked in human hearts. Again, I ask the question. Can We Believe This?! …
Can we really know God’s truth? Indeed! We can. The Holy Spirit, promised in Baptism, reminds us of Jesus’ Words and teaches us truth through the written Word. This is how we learn what Easter is all about. Easter is about the Resurrection from the dead; the Resurrection to new life in Christ; a different life not thwarted by SPINITIS.
Even so, SPIN-DOCTORS are still hard at work. Many people today perceive no purpose, and no benefit of Easter, for themselves, or, for anyone else. It’s anybody’s guess as to why. It does make me wonder if maybe they think when a person dies, they are just dead, that there is nothing more. In fact, many books, papers, and journal articles have been written in this century arguing for this very point of view. A recent survey of a major Christian denomination indicated that less than 49% of their clergy believe that Christ rose, bodily, from the dead. This SPIN is so devastating to God’s Truth and Christian faith. Thank God, then, that nobody, no kind of SPINITIS can change reality. No one can change God’s purpose in raising Christ from the dead. Paul, the called apostle of God, explains it best for all Christians, some twenty years after Jesus is raised.
He writes, !Cor.15.1 “Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you,… 2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you…. 3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins …, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures”…. 12 “Now if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith…. 16 For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins…. 20 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead,… 21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 23 But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” This is God’s Word of truth. Can We Believe This?! Indeed! we can.
We believe it for the same reason people have believed it for two-thousand years. God has chosen to reveal it to us in His Son, The risen Christ. There is no SPIN to this story. It is God’s story to us. It is His story of glory that raises us from spiritual death to spiritual life. It is His truth that gives us the hope; not only in this life, but in the life to come. We can count on it. We Can Believe This! We have the cure for SPINITIS, Jesus Christ. He is not dead. He is alive. He is risen! Amen.
