I’m told that the golden arches of McDonald’s and the swirling script of Coca Cola’s logo are more widely recognized throughout the world today than the Christian cross. Millions around the world have never heard of Jesus Christ. Is the cancel culture that is keen to silence any talk of Jesus, succeeding?

Indeed, there seems to a lack of urgency amongst God’s people about reaching others with God’s gospel. If they do speak up, they fear what others will think. They also fear they won’t have the right words. I’ll come back to this later.

Promise. But first, come with me to Luke 24. Luke’s ‘resurrection chapter’ sets out three scenes – Scene 1: Angels remind the women who visited Jesus’ tomb early on the Sunday morning following his crucifixion of what he had said: “… and on the third day (I will) rise again” (24:7). In Scene 2, Jesus walked as a stranger with two of his followers on the road to Emmaus and explained what the Scriptures had predicted and promised about the Messiah. In Scene 3 Jesus spoke in person to his disciples of the promises and the fulfillment of the Scriptures concerning his death and resurrection.

Moses had foreshadowed the need for a perfect sacrifice (Leviticus 17:11; Hebrews 9:22). Isaiah had spoken about God’s servant who would suffer for the people, bearing our guilt, dying for our sins (Isaiah 52:13-53:12). Jesus wanted his perplexed, grief-stricken followers to understand they were to interpret all that had happened to him in the light of the Scriptures. He is saying, ‘The Bible says…’

Five words express the essence of what he was saying: He (the Christ) died for our sins. It’s a simple statement. The first two words have to do with facts – history: Christ died. Without explanation the event could mean almost anything – one thing for the Christian and another for the Muslim. The meaning is provided with three further words: … for our sins.

Christ died is not good news. Whereas Christ died for our sins is.

When people ask, ‘How does Christ’s death benefit me?’ our response should be, ‘We need to go to the Scriptures, for they give us the interpretation’. The Scriptures provide the meaning: the New Testament interprets the Old Testament and the Old interprets the New.  The idea that both Testaments interpret one another may seem strange, but that is the nature of the unity of the Scriptures. Indeed, a passage such as Isaiah 52:13-53:12 in providing us with a clear interpretation, also reveals God’s masterplan of rescue.

Fulfillment. Jesus’ words in Luke 24:46 are electrifying for in telling us that Christ had to suffer and die, and rise again, they reveal the depths of God’s love for us: “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day,…”

Jesus’ death and resurrection is not the story of a dead man who came back to life, nor the story of a dying and rising god. Nor is it a romantic story that tells us that death is not the end. It is the story of Messiah’s shameful death by crucifixion, suffering the pains of God-forsakenness on behalf of men and women who had broken God’s good and perfect law.

Jesus’ resurrection is God’s answer to the innocent man who had cried out, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ Without his death, Jesus’ resurrection has no significance for fallen men and women. Unless sin has first been dealt with, resurrection cannot point to forgiveness and new life. The resurrection is now a glorious message because it has made sense of Jesus’ death. Jesus, for his part, would be crowned with the highest honours and given the greatest glory.

But there is much more – that involves you and me today! In verse 47 we read: “…and repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations… You are witnesses of these things.”

Repentance translates a Greek word which speaks of ‘a change of mind and lifestyle’. Unless we have a change of mind and heart towards Jesus Christ, asking for his forgiveness and committing to a new attitude and lifestyle, there is no forgiveness.

These truths are to be proclaimed to the nations! Jesus commissioned his first disciples – not just one or two – as his witnesses. And, as God’s good news must be taken to all nations, we are caught up in this partnership today. We can’t be witnesses in the strict sense, but we can introduce others to the God of love and compassion.

One way we can do this is to turn the pages of ‘The Word One-to-One’ with friends over coffee. ‘The Word One-to-One’ has the text of John’s Gospel with helpful explanatory notes. You can find out more at: www.theword121.com. Furthermore, the February Anglican Connection Online Conference included talks from Dr. John Lennox and Richard Borgonon. Both spoke of the advantages of this ministry. For US$30.00 you can access this conference at www.anglicanconnection.com.

Not Alone… Jesus knew that even his close followers who had seen him risen from the dead didn’t have the inner resources to go out and tell the nations God’s good news. They needed the Holy Spirit, to clothe them (24:49). They needed then, as we do today, a clear understanding of the truth, wisdom and inner resolve to talk with others – especially when faced with opposing voices. The encouraging news is that the regenerative power of God’s Spirit is now actively at work in us and in the world.

Because people’s eternal lives are at stake, let’s not be silenced by the voices around us. Rather, let’s pray that God’s Spirit will so fill our lives that our faith spills over into our conversations enabling others to find life and joy in all its fullness in Christ forever.

© John G. Mason

A Prayer for the Gospel

Lord Christ, eternal Word and Light of the Father’s glory: send your light and your truth so that we may both know and proclaim your word of life, to the glory of God the Father; for you now live and reign, God for all eternity. Amen.

Writing in The Weekend Australian (April 3-4, 2021), John Carroll, emeritus professor of sociology at La Trobe University, Australia, comments ‘Immortality has become the great question mark… For the secular modern age, belief in any form of life after death is in doubt … Most no longer believe in a supernatural being – whether providential, guiding, punishing, or forgiving. God has become a figment of the archaic imagination…’

What then does life have to offer? The sub-text of today’s elites are the words of the 5th century BC philosopher, Protagoras: In all things man (humanity) is the measure. Men and women determine what is of value and what is not. Voices today pronounce on race and gender, equality and rights. Interestingly, in the same way that 5th Greek philosophers drew aspects of their moral teaching from Moses, so there are aspects today that reflect Judaeo-Christian values – such as the abolition of slavery. That said, aspects of today’s agenda stand in clear contrast to those virtues.

Given that life and death matters are at stake, it’s imperative we ask whether the account of Jesus’ resurrection is an invention. I say this because the resurrection is foundational for Christianity. If it’s false, let’s eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die. If it’s true, it’s life-changing.

The words of the Greek philosopher Heraclitus are apt: ‘Unless you expect the unexpected you will never find truth, for it is hard to discover and hard to attain’. And last century G.K. Chesterton remarked, ‘Truth is stranger than fiction, for fiction is the creation of the human mind and therefore congenial to it.’

The first witnesses. In the opening lines of John 20, the Apostle relates his experience on the morning of the third day following Jesus’ crucifixion. Mary of Magdala, one of the women who went to the tomb, ran back to tell Peter and John it was empty. “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb,” she said, “and we do not know where they have laid him” (John 20:2).

Despite the testimony of women being treated as unreliable and insignificant in first century Judaism, women were the first witnesses of the empty tomb. No Jewish writer would have written this if the account were fiction.

Furthermore, John the Apostle’s own testimony rings true. He tells us that he outran Peter, but he didn’t enter the tomb first: Peter did. Both saw the linen wrappings lying there and the linen cloth that had been around Jesus’ head… rolled up in another place. It was as though Jesus’ body had passed through the shroud which included some one hundred pounds weight of expensive myrrh and aloes (John 19:39) and the head covering had been discarded. It seemed that human hands had not removed the body. What did it mean?

John tells us that he saw and believed (20:8). But in the next sentence he tells us that neither he nor Peter understood it. Like Martha who had told Jesus she knew her brother Lazarus would rise from the dead on the last day (John 11:24), John reasoned that Jesus had gone to be with God the Father, as he had said (John 14:2-4). Neither he nor Peter understood what Jesus meant when he said they would see him again, physically risen from the dead. We need to grasp this, for it emphasises the unexpectedness and authenticity of what happened.

Despair. We need to appreciate how Jesus’ first friends felt when they saw him strung up on a cross. For three years they’d been with him. They’d seen him turn water into wine, heal the sick, restore sight to a man born blind. They’d even watched when, standing at the entrance of a tomb, he called out to a man who had been dead for four days: “Lazarus, come out” (John 11:43). Furthermore, they’d heard him teach and outclass the smartest minds that sought to break him. They believed that he was the Son of God incarnate.

Then to their horror, they’d watched him die! They’d heard his prayer of forgiveness and his promise to the penitent insurrectionist (Luke 23:34-43). They’d also heard his shout of victory, “It is finished” – ‘My work is done’ – as he died (John 19:30).

Their minds were numb with the shock that such an innocent man who had used his powers to serve others, should die a common criminal. No wonder they hid behind locked doors, fearing for their own lives.

John records that on that Sunday evening, Jesus suddenly stood in the midst of his disciples. His words, Jesus stood, contrast with the time they had last seen him – hanging on a cross, wounded and bleeding, wracked with pain, dying. And when they had seen the spear thrust in his side, they knew he was dead.

Yet here Jesus was, not weak and limp, but standing, tall and erect, in command, repeating words he had spoken when he was last with them: “Peace be with you”. And to prove he was real and not a ghost, he showed them his hands and his side (20:19f).

Bewildered and confused though they were, they nevertheless knew that Jesus was alive. “Peace be with you!” he said again. At their last meal he had promised, “My peace I leave with you… Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Believe in me” (John 14:27). His resurrection was proof of that.

They were overjoyed, but their minds couldn’t fully grasp what was happening. It was like a dream. But, as Chesterton observed, Truth is stranger than fiction.

As I have remarked before, Jesus’ resurrection is not the result of a natural law that can be tested. Rather, as the New Testament tells us, it happened because God chose to over-rule the ’natural laws’, intervening with his awesome, supernatural power (Romans 6:4b). And no-one has been able to prove conclusively that it didn’t happen.

More than ever our confused world needs to hear God’s good news. When we turn to the risen Christ, he says to us, ‘Peace be with you. Have no fear’.

Prayer: Almighty God, you have conquered death through your dearly beloved Son Jesus Christ and have opened to us the gate of everlasting life: grant us by your grace to set our mind on things above, so that by your continual help our whole life may be transformed; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit in everlasting glory.  Amen.  (BCP, Easter Day – adapted)

No one likes failure. You may not have experienced it, but it happens, even to the smartest of people. We can experience failure when we let others down or when we fail to meet our own expectations. It can happen in unexpected moments when we like to feel we are in control. In whatever form it takes, none of us likes to feel a failure. We are embarrassed and it can wound us deeply.

Departure. Come with me to the scene that John records of Jesus’ closing hours with his disciples on the eve of his crucifixion. There is an air of gloom as Jesus tells them he is going away (John 13).

In verse 33 we read Jesus’ words:  Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come…’

Grief. The idea of Jesus going away left them grief-stricken. Over three years they had come to see that he is God incarnate. It was all too much for Peter: “Lord, where are you going?” he said. To which Jesus answered, “Where I am going, you cannot follow me now; but you will follow afterward.” Peter said to him, “Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.”

Peter’s plea is like that of a distressed child: ‘Why can’t I come with you now?’ And, next moment, he insisted that only over his dead body would anything happen to Jesus. Clearly Peter was devoted to Jesus. His grief-stricken response is understandable. But let’s think about his words, “…I will lay down my life for you.”

It was not long since Jesus had said that he was the Good Shepherd who would lay down his life for the sheep (John 10:11). To ensure that everyone had heard him, he had said it again (John 10:15-18). And now that the time had come, ironically Peter was saying said he wanted to reverse the roles: “I will lay down my life for you”. I wonder if there was the suggestion of a smile on Jesus’ lips as he replied, ‘Will you really?’

At first Peter’s words seem courageous. However, they reveal his underlying pride. His response is similar to his words a little earlier when he had said to Jesus who was about to wash his feet: “You will never wash my feet”. To which Jesus had responded: “Unless I wash you, you will have no share with me” (John 13:8).

Pride. Clearly Peter had not understood the import of these words. And now, the ever-impetuous Peter, still prideful, was saying: ‘I won’t let you die for me Jesus. I’m not like the others’. Jesus’ response is gentle, but clear: ‘Peter, courageous though you may think you are, a time will come shortly when you will need to let someone else do for you what you can’t do. You will have to accept someone else’s generosity. You can’t put yourself in my debt.’

This is important. Jesus owes none of us anything. We are the ones who are totally dependent on him for his charity. Devastating though it may be for our egos, we need to get to the point where we are willing to see it that way.

Pride is the one passion Jesus won’t allow his disciples to have, not least on the eve of Good Friday. Nor will he allow anyone of us to have such pride.

Jesus’ warning to Peter is prophetic: “I tell you the truth, the cock will not crow, till you have denied me three times” (John 13:38). And before dawn, Peter did deny Jesus three times. As we read elsewhere, Peter came to grieve with deep sorrow and self-reproach. This proud disciple came to despise his cowardice and turn in heartfelt repentance to the Lord.

Christ Alone. Peter had to learn the hard lesson we all have to learn. Jesus doesn’t love us because we are faithful to him, let alone prepared to die for him. He loves us in spite of all our failures. Our allegiance to him must be based on this. It’s humbling and it hurts, but there’s no other way.

There will be times when we are like Peter. We don’t want to give in to Jesus. And there may also be times when we feel that others are so much more spiritual than we are. But remember this: Jesus is not impressed by super-spirituality.

He knows there are those who like to give the impression that they are first-class followers. They talk about their spiritual experiences, or their certainty of the Lord’s leading them to do this or to do that. They are always active, doing ‘Christian’ work. But Jesus knows when this is done to impress others.

Jesus urges everyone who would follow him to trust him – as we see in the opening words of John 14: “Let not your hearts be troubled, believe in God, believe also me”, he says.

Humility and Trust. ‘Trust me Peter’, Jesus insists. ‘Before the next twenty-four hours are over, you will all feel failures. But your faithlessness won’t mean the end of everything. ‘The faith, or trust, that I am talking about is not based upon on what you can do for me, but rather in what I alone can do for you.’

It’s easy for some of us to be like impetuous, proud Peter. But we should never forget the wisdom and prophecy of The Book of Proverbs: Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall… (16:18-19).

Jesus urges us to learn the lesson of humility and believe in God. We can be very confident that he is committed to us, no matter what. The events of the first Good Friday and Easter Day assure us that this is true.

Towards the end of his finest book, The Cross of Christ, John Stott draws from the playlet, ‘The Long Silence’. At the end of time billions of people are found in the presence of God’s throne. While the majority stand back against the brilliant light, various groups at the front are listing their complaints against God. ‘How can God judge us?’ they ask. ‘How can he know about suffering?’

Having assembled their complaint, representatives of the various groups meet – someone from Auschwitz, an African American, an abused woman, someone from Hiroshima, a thalidomide child, and many others. On reaching agreement, they presented their case that before God could be qualified to judge, he must endure what they endured: God should be sentenced to live on earth as a man. ‘…Let him be betrayed, face false charges, be tried by a prejudiced jury and convicted by a cowardly judge. Let him be tortured and die, horribly and alone…’

With these thoughts in mind come with me to the Gospel of John. In the course of his public ministry, John records, Jesus spoke of his hour. When Mary asked Jesus to do something about the need for wine at a wedding in Cana (John 2:1-11), he replied that his hour had not yet come. Later on, he said it again (John 7:20 and 8:30). But in John 12:23, when Philip and Andrew reported that some Greeks wanted to meet Jesus, a turning point came. It was then that he said: “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified”.

Suffering. It would be through Jesus’ death that God’s kingdom would be open to all who believe in him (Jesus) – Greeks (the non-Jewish world) as well as Jewish people. Twice more, when he was with his disciples in the upper room, Jesus spoke of the time having come for him to depart this world through an event that would be his glorification – his death.

‘And what should I say – “Father, save me from this hour?” No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour’, we read in John 12:27. Jesus knew the day would come when he would die. His expectation was not the same as ours – that one day we will die.

Sin-bearer. We get glimpses of Jesus’ understanding of the purpose of his life throughout the four Gospel records. The words of Isaiah 52:13-53:12 provide the key. Indeed, Luke 22:37 records Jesus’ direct quote from Isaiah 53:12 – He was numbered with the transgressors. In keeping with a Jewish interpretative approach, we should note the larger context of Jesus’ quote – all of Isaiah 53, and especially all of v.12 which concludes: Yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

Jesus, the Word of God incarnate, was born to suffer and die for human sin – the perfect for the imperfect. The hidden nature of the depths of God’s love was revealed in the crucifixion – where the Son of God was glorified. Glory speaks of the outward manifestation of inner character. RVG Tasker (The Gospel According to St John) makes the important point that Jesus’ words, “Father, save me from this hour” are a prayer that God will bring him safely (literally) out of (not from) this hour. Tasker quotes Alford’s paraphrase: ‘The going into and exhausting this hour, this cup, is the very appointed way of my (Jesus’) glorification’ (p.149).

Glorification. Furthermore, Jesus prays that the Father’s name will also be glorified. Too often we forget that God, whose nature is always to show mercy, is passionate about rescuing the lost. In John 12:28 we read God’s words: ‘I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again’ – which we see in Jesus’ raising Lazarus from death, and supremely in God’s raising of Jesus from the dead. Jesus’ glorification is also the Father’s glorification.

Judgement. Another significant facet of Jesus’ crucifixion we often overlook is that the world and its ‘ruler’ were judged then and there. For Jesus’ death involved a conflict with the powers of evil. As Jesus’ crucifixion involved the reversal of the events of Genesis 3, the original tempter needed to be deposed once and for all. Through his crucifixion Jesus, the Son of God, not only overcame the power of sin, but also disarmed the evil powers of this world and triumphed over them (Colossians 2:15). Yes, the powers of evil are still hell-bent on defacing and destroying humanity as the image of God. But these very powers are in their death throes, kicking out against what they know will be their end.

The extreme cost to God. In John 12:32 we read Jesus’ words: ‘And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.’ He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die. Jesus endured the extremes of injustice and torture, suffering and crucifixion.

The cross was not a heartless God punishing a hapless Son. Jesus tells us himself: it was his choice – his voluntary sacrifice (John 10:14-15) – because both he and the Father love the world and are intent on its rescue, no matter the cost. When we come to see that Jesus’ cross reveals ‘the invincible power of God’s love’, we are drawn to put our trust in him. Come what may in this world, because God in Christ is victorious over sin and the powers of evil, we have the hope of a future far beyond our imagination.

Returning to John Stott’s reference to The Long Silence. As each of the speakers laid out their complaint against God, loud murmurs of approval rose from the great crowd. When the last speaker finished, there was silence. A very long silence… No one spoke. No one moved. ‘Suddenly everyone knew that God had served his sentence’ (pp.336f).

‘While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of light,’ Jesus warns (John 12:36).

© John G. Mason

In today’s world, God is not so much dead. He is cancelled. He is not to be spoken about. If he is, there’s nothing good to say about him: ‘he is uncaring and grim’.

How different this is from what the Bible actually says about God. Consider the most well- known words in the Bible: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16).

For God so loved the world… God… Yes, he does exist.

At the recent Anglican Connection Online Conference, Dr. Henry F. (Fritz) Schaefer, one of the world’s leading quantum chemists, commented:

“The laws of nature look just as if they have been selected as the most simple and elegant principles of understandable change by a wise creator. Belief in the decipherability of nature strongly suggests the existence of a cosmic mind, who can construct nature in accordance with rational laws.”

Dr. Schaefer also drew attention to the words of Francis Collins, Scientific director of the (US) government’s Human Genome Project, on the discovery of the human genome: “It is humbling for me and awe-inspiring to realize that we have caught the first glimpse of our own instruction book, previously known only to God.”

The Bible tells us that God’s essential nature is love. In Psalm 145:8-9 we read: The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. The Lord is good to all, and his compassion is over all that he has made.

The theme of the love of God permeates both the Old and New Testaments. What is more, we find that his love is not sparked by something attractive about us. God loves because love is at the very heart of his being.

Now it’s important to note that our English word ‘love’ translates four Greek words (the language in which the New Testament was written). One word is eros, from which we get our word erotic. It’s a word associated with intense emotional feeling. It’s a word that pagan religions have long used in part as a reference to the mystical experience of the supernatural. One form of yoga in Hinduism exploits sexual intercourse as a technique for achieving spiritual enlightenment.

But nowhere does the New Testament use the word eros. It uses a rare word in the original Greek: agape. There are no rapturous, mystical experiences associated with agape. Rather, agape is committed to serve the best interests of the ones who are loved – self-centered us.

Furthermore, John tells us, God so loved the world that he reaches out to all men and women. This is breath-taking. God could have shut humanity down at the moment of their rebellion. We deserved nothing less. But God in his love, had a bigger and very costly plan in mind that would benefit a world that rejected him.

God gave the world a gift. He gave us his Son…

John is not saying that God loved world enough to give his Son. Rather, it was out of God’s love for the world that he gave his Son.

In the first instance this means the Son personally reveals what God is like to us. As Jesus says later, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). More than ever we need to hear and respond to him.

But God did not only give his Son to shine his light of revelation into a dark world. The gift was to reach its climax and fulfillment with the Son’s crucifixion. God’s love is seen not so much in the coming of his Son, but in the death of the Son, the Word of God incarnate, Jesus Christ.

This was the action of a holy and just God whose love found a way to forgive, rescue and restore men and women who had shown no love for him. Extraordinarily, God in and through his Son, was willing to make great sacrifices for undeserving people. We needed a Saviour because we are sinners. And God himself was willing to take the initiative to do it at great cost to himself. It is here we see the immeasurable depth of God’s love.

And John tells us of the offer that God holds out – So that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Eternal life is contrasted with perishing. John doesn’t tell us what perishing is, but it does tell us that it will be a most unwelcome experience. Elsewhere we learn, mainly through Jesus’ own teaching, that it is a very serious thing to refuse God’s gift. The perishing won’t be perpetually partying on with friends. They will lose everything that is good, beautiful and true. T.S. Elliot put it this way, Hell is oneself. Hell is alone…

Life eternal, on the other hand, is the experience and joy of a life that is appropriate in the coming age. It will be a life of perfection and beauty, where there will be no more pain or suffering, self-interest or injustice; rather it will be the fullness of joy in the glory of the Lord.

And John tells us who will benefit: Whoever believes in the Son… We can’t achieve eternal life by our own efforts or merits. We are totally dependent on God’s generous gift. To turn to Jesus, the Son of God and to trust him, is the key to our benefiting from God’s precious gift.

Have you turned to Christ? Are you aware that at least one-in-five people around us are open to an invitation to explore Christianity? Pray. The fields are white unto harvest. God can’t be cancelled.