The REAL Message is not that a dead man Got Up
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Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations 393 Space Age Deepens Spiritual Life
Walter F. Burke, general manager of Project Mercury and Gemini, and vice-president of the McDonnell Aircraft Corporation, teaches Sunday school in his church. In an interview he declared:
“I have found nothing in science or space exploration to compel me to throw away my Bible or to reject my Savior, Jesus Christ, in whom I trust. The space age has been a factor in the deepening of my own spiritual life. I read the Bible more now. I get from the Bible what I cannot get from science—the really important things of life.”
From a post on the Facebook page “Fans of Cold-Case Christianity:”
“That’s question-begging, and won’t fly in an honest dialogue with a skeptic.
You do, in fact, have to give evidence for the Resurrection if you’d like it to be taken seriously, and simply asserting that it’s true because the Bible says it is would be an incoherent way to argue this point with someone who doesn’t believe, because if they believed that everything in the Bible is true, they would already be a Christian.”
Lord God, bless Your Word wherever it is proclaimed. Make it a Word of power and peace to convert those not yet Your own and to confirm those who have come to saving faith. May Your Word pass from the ear to the heart, from the heart to the lip, and from the lip to the life that, as You have promised, Your Word may achieve the purpose for which You send it, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”
It would seem that, over two thousand years ago the task of witnessing was rather straightforward. A Jerusalem Christian would probably say something like this:
We saw Jesus die on a cross, we saw him buried. On the third day, the original disciples reported strange claims from some of their female colleagues who said that they had seen Jesus alive or angels who told them to tell the men that He was and would see the soon. Peter and John go to check out their story. They find an empty tomb, just as the women said, but they did not see Jesus, nor did any angels greet them. By the evening of that day, however, everyone but Thomas had seen Him, and as the Apostle Paul and Luke, his companion and physician wrote, he was seen by many people over the course of 40 days. They could even give a list of names, possibly even including themselves.
This group of people could tell of Jesus’ miracles, and possibly those of the Apostles as well, and so they did. The Church grew by the grace of our Lord as they told what they had seen and heard of the Lord Jesus, and by the end of that first century, the Gospel had spread into the very heart of the Roman Empire.
If this is what it mean to be called to be “His witnesses,” there is no way we can match them, our vantage point is so much different from theirs. While if God commands us to be like them, we would have little choice than to say, “Yes Lord,” but it is true that we would be hard pressed to convince anyone today, since we have no physical evidence that would enable us to say “This proves that Jesus of Nazareth died on the cross and rose three days later, and you ignore this at your own grave peril!”
The truth is, that is not the message that they were given to take to the ends of the earth. The message that they were given to share was that to which the Resurrection pointed. Jesus gave a clue with one of the first open miracles that He did in support of His claim to the Office of the Messiah, a miracle that John alone fails to present.
When Jesus, proving that He had authority on earth to forgive sins, told the paralytic to “rise, take your bed and go home,” He was illustrating both His message and the power that he had to make that message effective. On that day, a man whose body had been dead from birth rose, and three years later, the Son of Man, whose body submitted to death so that we could all be forgiven of our sins, sent His Apostles into the world to announce that Jesus truly has power to forgive sins.
And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”
Each of the four Gospels makes this statement, that the forgiveness of sins is to be declared in His name, and this is the Good News that they are empowered by the Holy Spirit to take to everyone, both Jews and Gentiles.
The message that has been handed forward in each generation is this - Law and Gospel - and it was handed to us as well. People try to show that they deserve to be rewarded for their relative goodness to others, or they ask the government to use its power to compel us to treat our neighbors with love, or even better, compel those whom we think have it better than we do, to do so. Others try to convince both themselves and others that “right and wrong” are not objective concepts to which we all are held accountable. Instead, morality and justice are just tools of power and even of oppression, that humans use to force others to do what they determine is “good, right, and salutary.”
We cannot ask other humans to replace God any more than we can do so ourselves. There is only one God, and one mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus. He is the Son of Man who has authority on earth to forgive sins. He has delegated that authority to His Bride, the Church, which is also the only place one can go to receive the holiness that pleases God because it is a reflection of His holiness. That holiness draws both admiration and resentment from a fallen world that is in the grasp of Satan. Because of this, Peter’s words are not simply the rallying cry of those who would engage the rest of the world in a debate about whose spirituality is best.
Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.
What is the hope that sets the Christian apart from the rest of the world? It is the Hope that there is fforgiveness in Chriwst, a real forgiveness, rather than a self-seeking silencing of a guilty coincience by trying to add more “good deeds” on teh other side of teh scale. Christ, through His own precious Body and Blood, has reconciled teh world to Himself.
Over 600 years before, an Israelite Prophet named Habakkuk had asked God how He can make even wickedness work together for His good purposes.
And the Lord answered me: “Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it. For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay.
The Law of God is plain, and it plainly says that Man is sinful. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is equally plain. It plainly says that Jesus Christ forgives the sins of those who believe. Indeed, this is the sweetest, most foundational promise that makes the other promises have any value.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
IF it weren’t for the fact that many of you hear have been waiting all year to hear about “Doubting Thomas,”
I would end right here, but for you all who just love that passage because no matter how low you go, you don’t have that moniker attached to you!
Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.” Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
What have you believed that gives you peace in the midst of your storm? Not that Jesus had holes in His hands and feet - that just proved to Thomas who He was - the Man, Christ Jesus, not some ethereal ghost sent to comfort the mourning! No, Jesus showed Thomas that the forgiveness of sins in His name was the message that the Church was to carry until He returns.
So let the peace of God, that passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.