Can we be certain - of Jesus, the Bible, and being forgiven?

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.