Surprises tell us important things
The
flash of the dashboard warning light. A
piecing alarm jolting us. A sudden wind
change out at sea. A sharp stab of pain
at mile 10. Surprises tell us important
things – a damaged combustion system, a dangerous fire, a gathering storm, a
torn ligament.
There
are three in John’s account of Jesus appearing alive, having died and been
buried. A surprising witness in
Mary. A surprising transformation of the
disciples. A surprising promise from
Jesus. They tell us important things – are
these accounts true and reliably recorded; can those who wrote the Bible be
trusted; what is the core message of the Christian faith?
A Surprising Witness
Mary
is controversial, biased, confused and a women in a male-dominated society:
exactly the sort of witness you would never use if you were fabricating or
embellishing an account.
‘Now
Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the
tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the
head and the other at the foot. They asked her, ‘Woman, why are you crying?’ ‘They
have taken my Lord away,’ she said, ‘and I don’t know where they have put him.’
At this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realise
that it was Jesus. He asked her, ‘Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are
looking for?’ Thinking he was the gardener, she said, ‘Sir, if you have carried
him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.’ Jesus said to
her, ‘Mary.’ She turned towards him and cried out in Aramaic, ‘Rabboni!’ (which
means ‘Teacher’).’ (John 20:10-18)
She
is controversial: a renowned prostitute.
She is biased: Jesus had rescued her from that forced prostitution and
now she was blindly loyal to him, one of the last at his side as he died
(19:25). She is alone with no one to verify
her story, distraught and weeping in grief, and muddled, not even initially
recognising Jesus. And she is a women in
a male-dominated society, and therefore her testimony in a law-court was
discounted.
This
is a record of a real account not a fabricated or embellishment – Mary would have
been airbrushed out sharpish if this was a politically spun document.
A Surprising Transformation
Only
something of the magnitude of a resurrection would turn this original group from
having ‘doors locked for fear’ to ‘overjoyed’ and then to sacrifice their lives
for the claim.
‘On
the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together,
with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood
among them and said, ‘Peace be with you!’ After he said this, he showed them
his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.’ (John
19-20)
Nobody
has the emotional reserves to recovery so rapidly from such devastation. It takes years to find a new balance and
routine when we adjust to the loss of a loved one. They recover immediately. And remember they had no concept or
expectation of Jesus’ resurrection (20:9) – to them he was dead, and with him
all their hopes and dreams. The majority
of these original witnesses died for this – nobody dies for what they know to
be a lie!
It really was Jesus
He
is identified by his friends (no look-a-like from a distance managed to fool
them) and his body was marked by the unique wounds of a crucifixion.
A Surprising Promise
These
original eye-witness are sent out by Jesus with the unique ability to
communicate to the world how to be forgiven.
‘Again
Jesus said, ‘Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.’ And
with that he breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you
forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them,
they are not forgiven.’ (John 20:21-23)
They
are sent out like Jesus was sent from the Father: to the world (John 3:16). They will need to bring the message of Jesus
to the world – they’ll plant the first churches and write the Bible. How will they and we know what they say will
be correct and accurate? Are we to rely
on warped memories of half remembered events?
No – they are given the Spirit for the specific tasks of writing the
Bible – so we know it is reliable. Jesus
has already explained why they would ‘receive the Spirit’ in his long teaching
session prior to his death.
‘All
this I have spoken while still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit,
whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind
you of everything I have said to you…When the Advocate comes, whom I will send
to you from the Father – the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father – he
will testify about me. And you also must testify, for you have been with me
from the beginning…‘I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear.
But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth.
He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell
you what is yet to come…That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what
he will make known to you.’ (John 14:25-26;
15:26-27; 16:12-15)
Objection:
Aren’t
we meant to also receive the Spirit today?
Yes – Christians generally in the New Testament are encouraged to
receive the Spirit – the exact phrase is used in 2 Corinthians 11:14 and Galatians
3:2, 14. But whereas the original witnesses
needed the Spirit to write the Bible; we need the Spirit to obey the Bible.
The core message
What
is the core message of that word they will reliably relay?
How
to be forgiven. ‘If you forgive anyone’s
sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not
forgiven.’ (John 20:23) The way to be
forgiven is communicate by the writing of these Spirit-empowered Bible-writers.
Forgiveness is real and true when
aligned to how they say to be forgiven.
Forgiveness is corrupt and false if via another root. And the overwhelming promise of forgiveness in
the Bible is that is not dependent on our performance – it is not what we do to
earn our acceptance. Rather it is
dependent on Jesus’ performance – it is what he has done that has earned our
acceptance. He trades his A+ for our D-;
his personal best for our second-to-last; his stunning annual review for our
third written warning. His performance
is granted to us, and as he dies he accepts our failed efforts as his.
So we can be certain
Did
the resurrection really happen? Yes, Mary’s unreliability makes fact stranger
than any fiction that could have been created.
Jesus is a certain Lord.
Can
I trust the Bible? Yes. We are not
reliant just on the original witnesses being first hand and reliable (which
they are) but also on the particular gift of the Spirit for them to write the
Bible.
What
is the heart of the Christian message? Forgiveness. But forgiveness not that we have to earn but
which is freely granted based on Jesus’ performance.
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