Doubt, Mercy, and Evidence

John 20:19-29

What reasons do we have to believe Jesus actually rose from the dead? FACT 1: After His crucifixion, Jesus was buried in a tomb by Joseph of Arimathea. FACT 2: On the Sunday following the crucifixion, Jesus’ tomb was found empty by a group of His women followers. FACT 3: On multiple occasions and under various circumstances, different individuals and groups of people experienced appearances of Jesus alive from the dead. “It may be taken as historically certain that Peter and the disciples had experiences after Jesus’ death in which Jesus appeared to them as the risen Christ.” Gert L¸demann, leading German critic of the resurrection FACT 4: The original disciples believed that Jesus was risen from the dead despite their having every predisposition to the contrary. John 20:19-20 19 When it was evening of that first day of the week, the disciples were gathered together with the doors locked because they feared the Jews. Jesus came, stood among them, and said to them, "Peace be with you." John 20:19-20 20 Having said this, he showed them his hands and his side. So the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. John 20:24-25 24 But Thomas (called "Twin"), one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. John 20:24-25 25 So the other disciples were telling him, "We've seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "If I don't see the mark of the nails in his hands, put my finger into the mark of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will never believe." 1. Thomas was skeptical. John 20:24-25 24 But Thomas (called "Twin"), one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. John 20:24-25 25 So the other disciples were telling him, "We've seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "If I don't see the mark of the nails in his hands, put my finger into the mark of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will never believe." “Jewish beliefs about the afterlife precluded anyone’s rising from the dead to glory and immortality before the general resurrection at the end of the world. All the disciples could do was to preserve their Master’s tomb as a shrine where his bones could reside until that day when all of Israel’s righteous dead would be raised by God to glory.” Dr. William Lane Craig Thomas’ Thought Process: a. Jesus is dead. Thomas’ Thought Process: a. Jesus is dead. b. A dead Jesus ‘proved’ the Pharisees right. “According to Jewish law, Jesus’ execution as a criminal showed him out to be a heretic, a man literally under the curse of God (Deut. 21.23). The catastrophe of the crucifixion for the disciples was not simply that their Master was gone, but that the crucifixion showed, in effect, that the Pharisees had been right all along, that for three years they had been following a heretic, a man accursed by God!” Thomas’ Thought Process: a. Jesus is dead. b. A dead Jesus ‘proved’ the Pharisees right. c. A dead Jesus meant they had no purpose. Matthew 16:21 21 From then on Jesus began to point out to his disciples that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and scribes, be killed, and be raised the third day. Luke 22:14-22 14 When the hour came, he reclined at the table, and the apostles with him. Luke 22:14-22 15 Then he said to them, "I have fervently desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. Luke 22:14-22 16 For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God." Luke 22:14-22 17 Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks, he said, "Take this and share it among yourselves. Luke 22:14-22 18 For I tell you, from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes." Luke 22:14-22 19 And he took bread, gave thanks, broke it, gave it to them, and said, "This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me." Luke 22:14-22 20 In the same way he also took the cup after supper and said, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you. Luke 22:14-22 21 But look, the hand of the one betraying me is at the table with me. Luke 22:14-22 22 For the Son of Man will go away as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed!" Luke 24:23-24 23 So they began to argue among themselves which of them it could be who was going to do it. Luke 24:23-24 24 Then a dispute also arose among them about who should be considered the greatest. Luke 24:23-24 24 Then a dispute also arose among them about who should be considered the greatest. And Jesus said unto them, “You guys are the worst friends in the history of the world.” 2. Thomas came to believe Jesus physically rose from the dead. John 20:26-29 26 A week later his disciples were indoors again, and Thomas was with them. Even though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." John 20:26-29 27 Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and look at my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Don't be faithless, but believe." John 20:26-29 28 Thomas responded to him, "My Lord and my God!" John 20:26-29 29 Jesus said, "Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe." What did Thomas believe? John 20:28 28 Thomas responded to him, "My Lord and my God!" How convinced was Thomas that Jesus physically rose from the dead? Andrew Died in western Greece in 69 AD. He was scourged, and then tied rather than nailed to a cross, so that he would suffer for a longer time before dying. Andrew lived for two days, during which he preached to passersby. James Acts 12:1-19 says that James was killed with a sword by the order of Herod Agrippa. John John was the only one of the original disciples not to die a violent death. Instead, he passed away peacefully in Patmos in his old age, sometime around 100 AD. Philip Philip, the first of Jesus’ disciples, became a missionary in Asia. Eventually, he traveled to the Egyptian city of Heliopolis, where he was scourged, thrown into prison, and crucified in 54 AD. Bartholomew He was skinned alive and then beheaded in Ethiopia. Thomas Thomas preached the gospel in Greece and India, where he angered local religious authorities, who martyred him by running him through with a spear. Matthew Matthew the tax collector and writer of a Gospel, ministered in Persia and Ethiopia. He was stabbed to death in Ethiopia. James (James the Less) At the age of 94, James was beaten and stoned by persecutors, and then they killed him by hitting him in the head with a club. Thaddaeus According to several stories, he was crucified at Edessa (the name of cities in both Turkey and Greece) in 72 AD. Simon the Zealot Simon preached the gospel on the west coast of Africa, and then went to England, where he ministered. Later in Persia he was killed after refusing to sacrifice to the sun god. Matthais Matthais was the apostle chosen to replace Judas. Tradition sends him to Syria with Andrew and to death by burning. Peter Peter asked to be crucified upside down so that his death would not be the equal of Jesus, and the Romans supposedly obliged. He was killed in Rome about 66 AD, by the order of the emperor Nero. Paul Died in Rome about 66 AD, during the persecution under Emperor Nero. Paul was beheaded. “Some sort of powerful, transformative experience is required to generate the sort of movement earliest Christianity was.” Luke Johnson, New Testament Scholar, Emory University How do you explain Christianity without the Resurrection? Theories: a. Stolen Body Theory Theories: a. Stolen Body Theory b. Hallucination Theory Theories: a. Stolen Body Theory b. Hallucination Theory c. Twin Brother Theory “But if we admit God, must we admit Miracle? Indeed, indeed, you have no security against it. That is the bargain.” - CS Lewis “There is a gap between the probable and the proved. How was I to cross it? If I were to stake my whole life on the risen Christ, I wanted proof – I wanted certainty. I wanted to see him eat a bit of fish. I wanted letters of fire across the sky. I got none of these. And I continued to hang about on the edge of the gap. But then came my second breakthrough the position is not, as I had been comfortably thinking all these months that there is only a gap before me. My God, there was also a gap behind me now too. There might not be certainty that Christ was God so that would require a leap, but by God I had no certainty or proof anymore that he was not God and so therefore to go back would now require a leap of faith as well. This was not to be born. I saw that I could not now reject Jesus without a great leap of faith, and once I saw that leap of faith behind me I flung myself over the gap towards Jesus.”

Sheldon Vanauken, A Severe Mercy Why does it matter whether or not Jesus rose from the dead? Implication: If Jesus rose from the dead, everything the Bible says about Jesus is true, and if Jesus did not rise from the dead, the very essence of the Bible is false. John 17:3 3 This is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and the one you have sent – Jesus Christ.