Easter Reflections (5) – May 22, 2019

‘The End of the Beginning…’

The question of meaning has plagued humanity through the ages. In his recent book, Pagans and Christians in the City: Culture Wars from the Tiber to the Potomac (Eerdmans: 2018), Steven D. Smith helps us to see links between the culture wars of today and questions that arose in the ancient world.

In a chapter where he writes on the questions of meaning and the reality of death he quotes leaders and thinkers of the ancient world and observes that there was ‘a kind of futility in the Homeric assumption that the best a man can hope for is to kill gloriously and die gloriously, so that his name will be recalled in the lyrics chanted by bards when the man himself is no longer around to hear the songs.

Smith continues with a reference to Sophocles: ‘“Then what is the good of glory, of magnificent renown,” Sophocles has the aged Oedipus ask, “if in its flow it streams away to nothing?” Marcus Aurelius agreed: ”Fame after life is no better than oblivion.” A hero may grimly make the best of mortality, but given the chance, wouldn’t he eagerly exchange it for a life of endless contentment?…’ (p.185).

How different was the message that Christianity gave voice to. Quoting the historian Paul Veyne, Smith notes that ‘Under Christianity a person’s life “suddenly acquired an eternal significance within a cosmic plan, something that no philosopher or paganism could confer” (p.187).

And there is something else. Smith notes that Paul Veyne ‘adds that Christianity had another important advantage over paganism because it taught that God cared about – indeed, was essentially devoted to – human beings… “…Christ, the Man-God sacrificed himself for his people”’ (pp.187f).

It is so important that we remember this Christian message does not spring from myth or hero worship, but from events observed by eyewitnesses – witnesses the Gospel writers and Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:3-7 identify for us. The movement of thought that unfolds throughout the Bible – of creation and redemption – enables us to understand that we can participate personally in God’s story, a story that sweeps us up into eternity.

Jesus’ bodily departure from this world, described in Luke 24, opens a window on what this will mean for all who respond to his offer of forgiveness and new life.

In his last chapter, Luke takes us to the final scene of Jesus’ earthly life. Jesus led the way to Bethanyon the eastern side of the Mount of Olives. As he prayed for God’s special blessing on his immediate followers, Luke tells us that Jesus withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven (24:51).

His departure was not a disappearance, as when he left the two he had met on the road to Emmaus (24:31). Rather his departure here was somewhat similar to that of Elijah of old – though without the chariot (2 Kings 2:11). There was an air of finality about it. No longer would there be a physical face-to-face relationship between Jesus and his people.

And there was something else: Jesus departed from the world in human form. Luke is telling us that in taking on human form at his birth, the Son of God would exist forever as a man. His ascension foreshadowed the final state of all men and women who turn to him as Lord.

Luke’s Gospel concludes on a high note. Whereas chapter 24 had opened with the grief and despair of Jesus’ followers, their response now was one of wonder, worship and joy (24:52).

Jesus’ final display of transcendent power in his ascension, convinced the disciples. As they looked back over the years they had been with him, as they remembered what he told them about the announcement of the angels at his birth (1:31-33; 2:11-12), as they had seen him die and rise again and heard his words of explanation, they knew he truly was God in the flesh.

We can only begin to imagine their overwhelming joy. We begin to see why they worshipped him. And we begin to see why, empowered by the Holy Spirit, they couldn’t keep quiet about Jesus.

Luke began his narrative with the announcement of an angel to one man, the Jewish priest, Zechariah (1:5). Now he concludes his account with Jesus’ followers being in the temple continually blessing God (24:53). It was the end of the beginning. Jesus Christ is the One who stands at the hinge of history.

Easter Reflections (4) – May 15, 2019

Grand Design…

Voices around us insist that we exist by chance and that our experience of life now is all there is. And many of these voices want to shut down any opposing view, no matter whether it is grounded in history or makes sense philosophically.

In his book God’s Undertaker: Has Science Buried God? Dr. John Lennox, emeritus Professor Mathematics, Oxford University, writes, “To the majority of those who have reflected deeply and written about the origin and nature of the universe, it has seemed that it points beyond itself to a source which is non-physical and of great intelligence and power.”

Transcendent Power. With our culture’s opposing voices, we often overlook the transcendent power that was at work in the physical resurrection of Jesus. A careful reading of the Gospel records, Luke 24 for example, reveals that Jesus’ resurrection did not occur because of some natural mechanism. Rather it happened because God chose to intervene (Romans 6:4b).

Eyewitnesses. Furthermore, we don’t just have the Gospel records. In 1 Corinthians 15:4b-6a, 8, Paul the Apostle writes: … Christ was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and …he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at one time, most of whom are still living… Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.

Paul is saying that Christianity didn’t start because a group of fanatics had invented a story about their hero, nor because a group of philosophers had come to an agreed conclusion about life, nor because a group of mystics shared the same vision about God. It began with eyewitnesses – ordinary men and women who saw something very extra-ordinary happen. In fact it began with the history of a man who had risen from the dead.

Grand Design. Furthermore, there was a far-reaching purpose in the events of Jesus’ death and resurrection. In Luke 24 the dominant theme is Jesus’ crucifixion: “It had to happen”.

In his conversation with the two on the road to Emmaus Jesus said: “Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and enter his glory?” (24:26). He also pointed out, ‘If you knew the Scriptures you would have known that for me the road to the crown was through the cross. That was the message of the prophets. I would be the suffering servant of whom they spoke.’

And later, when he met with the disciples, he spelled out God’s grand design. He showed them how the Scriptures pointed to Messiah’s necessary suffering, death and resurrection on the third day (24:46).

Furthermore, he told them what then needed to happen: “Repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem” (24:47). Jesus’ death and resurrection are tightly linked to the announcement of the forgiveness of sins.

Indeed, Paul identifies this when he writes: For I passed on to you as of first importance that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, and was raised on the third day … (1 Corinthians 15:3)

The story of Jesus’ death and resurrection is not merely that of a dead man who came back to life, nor that of a dying and rising god. Nor is it a romantic story that tells us that death is not the end. It is the record of Messiah’s shameful death by crucifixion, suffering the pains of God-forsakenness on our behalf because we have broken God’s holy law.

Unless sin had first been dealt with, Jesus’ resurrection would not point to forgiveness and new life. Everyone who truly turns to him now will enjoy life with him forever.

In these days when strident voices want to close down freedom of speech and especially freedom of religion, we need to pray for our leaders and for wisdom to discern leaders who will protect freedom of religion.

Jesus’ resurrection bears witness to God’s grand design for men and women – a design that offers a life of meaning and purpose, love and joy forever.

In his final Narnia story, The Last Battle, CS Lewis metaphorically opens our eyes to an ever larger picture of God’s Grand Design: “And as He (Aslan) spoke, He no longer looked to them like a lion; but the things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them.

“And for us this the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on for ever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.”

Wednesday – May 8, 2019

First Witnesses…! 

A popular view in the culture today is that Christianity denigrates women. When we hear such views expressed it’s worth having a creative response at our fingertips – such as sensitively opening a way to take our interlocutors to the biblical narrative.

Significantly, all four Gospel records inform us that women were the first witnesses to the empty tomb. Consider Dr Luke’s account. He reports that some women who were close to Jesus had gone to his tomb on the first day of the new week to give his body a formal Jewish burial. But arriving there, they were astonished to find that the tomb was not only open, but that the body was gone. The tomb was empty.

Well, not quite. Two dazzling figures were there and spoke to the women. ‘Don’t you remember what Jesus had said?’ they asked. ‘If you had thought about what he had foreshadowed, you would not have been puzzled by his death; you would not be stricken with grief; and you would not be in this place today’ (Luke 24:5b-7).

Two witnesses. The fact that there were two dazzling figures is consistent with the requirement in Deuteronomy (19:15) that for a statement to be treated as reliable and true there needs to be more than one witness – something the Bible consistently provides. Indeed, unlike other revealed religions, we have the written records of four Gospel writers concerning Jesus and within their statements we consistently find more than one witness to critical events – not least Jesus’ resurrection from the dead.

 Here the two figures testify to three women that Jesus’ body is not in the tomb because he has been raised to life. In 1 Corinthians 15:3-8 Paul the Apostle speaks of Peter and the disciples who saw him physically alive. He adds that more than 500 had the same experience, including himself.

Yes, the women did remember Jesus’ words. And what a difference it made when they were reminded of them. Suddenly filled with joy they were re-energized and rushed off to tell their friends in Jerusalem the breaking news.

And here it is also worth noting that Dr Luke, the very careful historian, wants to underline the point that the witness of the women that day is true. It’s one of the reasons he identifies them by name: Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James (Luke 24:10). These women were perfectly sane and sensible people, people of integrity. They had names. They could be identified. ‘In fact,’ Luke was implying, ‘if you want to find out for yourself, go and talk to them’.

Nonsense? But look at the response they received in Jerusalem: No-one believed them!  They thought it was an idle tale or ‘nonsense’ (24:11). The word nonsense was a medical term for the wild, confused talk of people in a state of delirium. Luke, the writer, was a doctor! The report of the women was regarded as nothing more than the wild talk of delirious people. To speak of seeing angels and of Jesus risen from the dead was nonsense!

The disciples’ dismissive reaction may well reflect the culture of the day. In Judaism for example, a woman’s testimony in court was treated at best as secondary, at worst as unreliable. Yet significantly, in God’s purposes, it is women who are the first witnesses of the empty tomb. To them, first of all, comes the reminder of Jesus’ words that these events had to happen.

However, there was at least one person who was keen to find out if the women were telling the truth: Peter. He was the man who had three times denied knowing Jesus. And now, more than anything else he wanted to sort out that broken relationship. His guilt burdened him.

As a Christian minister I meet with many people in all stages of their lives. I also see the grief and sorrow in times of bereavement. Very few people I meet want to say that death is the end.

Did you know that the first Christian sermon was preached was only a few miles from Jesus’ tomb? Nobody was in a better position to have tested the truth of this resurrection story than those who heard Peter’s testimony. 

Yet when Peter on the Day of Pentecost insisted that Jesus was risen from the dead, we don’t find three thousand sceptics or cynics, but three thousand converts.  They were not deluded. Hundreds saw Jesus alive, physically risen from the dead. No-one has proved otherwise. 

The dream of life beyond the grave can be a reality. Joylessness can turn into joy. The cross and the resurrection of Christ are the keys. This is what we celebrate at Easter.

Witnesses to the truth. These are the great truths that God revealed to the women. It was their witness that first spoke to the world of God’s personal intervention when he reversed the events of Eden (Genesis 3). God alone could do this. And he has done it!

© John G. Mason 

Note 1: Material for today’s ‘Word’ is adapted from my commentary, Luke: An Unexpected God (Aquila: 2019, 2^nd Edition).

May 1, 2019

The Cross…! 

Easter Day is truly a gala day as we celebrate Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. His resurrection underscores the validity of the Christian faith. Without it, we are lost.

That said, our Easter celebration raises interesting questions: ‘Why isn’t an empty tomb the symbol of Christianity?’ ‘Why is the symbol a cross?’ In today’s age when feelings and political correctness trump facts it would surely make much more sense if we focused on the themes of new life and hope that the resurrection symbolizes.

Yet, despite the fact that Jesus’ crucifixion was a bloody and brutal affair, the cross remains the symbol of the Christian faith.

In the opening scene of Luke’s ‘resurrection chapter’ we read: But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body (Luke 24:1-3).

Despair. There was no joy in the hearts of those women that morning. They had watched Jesus die and now were grief-stricken and despairing. They had believed that he was God’s Messiah and were looking forward to a new age of justice and peace, of laughter, love and joy. Now, their only thought was to give his body a proper burial.

We can picture them trudging to the tomb in the grey light of the dawn, burdened by their own thoughts and laden with heavy jars of oils and spices for the burial.

But that was not all: when they arrived at the grave, they saw that the huge stone closing the tomb had been rolled away. Was this some underhand action on the part of the authorities? 

While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them… (24:4). They had despaired at Jesus’ death and now they were terrified: they could only bow their faces to the ground at the dazzling appearance of two angels. And when the angels spoke, the women were even more confused: “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.” ‘You’ve come to the wrong place.’

Remember! “Remember how he told you while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise again…’” (Luke 24:6b-7a).

The angels could have explained the empty tomb. Instead, they told the women to remember what Jesus had said to them. The focus of Jesus’ words they quoted is important: ‘The Son of Man, the Messiah had to suffer and die and then rise again’. Suffering and death were essential to the work of God’s king.

Which brings us back to the subject of the cross. Richard Dawkins, with others, reckons that to say, ‘Jesus died for our sins’ is vicious and disgusting. ‘Why couldn’t God simply forgive sins if he so chose?’ he asks.

In every age Jesus’ death has been an enigma – even for his first followers. Yet during the course of his ministry he had foreshadowed both it and his resurrection. Indeed, in his public ministry he revealed that he had not come as a political Messiah to bring in God’s kingdom through force.

Rather, he came as a savior to address our greatest need – our broken relationship with God. He alone could deliver us from God’s just judgement and open the doors of God’s new age.

This theme infuses Luke’s gospel. At Jesus’ birth the angel announced that God’s savior had been born. And when he met with Zacchaeus, Jesus summed up his ministry saying, “The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10).

Furthermore, his words at the Last Supper are key to the meaning of his death: “This is my body given for you…”  “This is my blood shed for you…”  These words are amongst the oldest statements of Christianity. We find them in 1 Corinthians, written around 50AD, as well as in Matthew, Mark and Luke, which were written no later than the 60s.

In fact when we read Luke as a whole we come to see that Jesus’ death is about God’s love and justice – central aspects of God’s character. Some say that Jesus’ crucifixion was a form of child abuse – a father punishing a son for someone else’s wrongs. But we need to remember Jesus’ words in John 10 where he said he would lay down his life voluntarily.

The movement of the Bible tells us that without the shedding of blood there can be no forgiveness of sins (Leviticus 17:11; Hebrews 9:22). God, the wronged party, entered the world and bore the punishment that we wrong-doers deserve. God, as the judge, paid in full, once and for all time, the fine owed by the accused who have been found guilty.

When we understand in this way Jesus’ words at his Last Supper: “My body given for you,” it is no wonder that the cross, once an instrument of Roman brutality, became, and remains today, the symbol of God’s extraordinary love for the world.

© John G. Mason – www.anglicanconnection.com

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Note 2: Material for today’s ‘Word’ is adapted from my commentary, Luke: An Unexpected God (Aquila: 2019, 2^nd Edition).