Original subtitles

we have now reached the tenth session in

a 14 part series called the God who is

there my name is Don Carson somewhat

hesitantly for reasons that will become

clear in the address itself I've called

this session the God who dies and lives

again the stunning reality is that the

Bible ultimately brings to a focus

everything else it says and refracts all

its light down into Jesus death and

Jesus resurrection from the dead

if you rummage through the Bible to

uncover whatever you can about say

economics and social justice or about

bioethics and the nature of human beings

or about personal and corporate ethics

but fail to integrate whatever you find

with the ways in which the Bible makes

Jesus death and resurrection absolutely

central to all faithful Christian

understanding and teaching in life you

end up distorting the Bible if you want

to understand what the Bible means by

the word gospel or good news you must

grasp why Jesus death and resurrection

constitute such spectacularly good news

these events are at the heart of the

whole Bible this one talked rightly

absorbed into your life with repentance

and faith will change you forever

when you think of the biographies of

important people whether artists or

football hunks an Einstein political

figure doesn't matter when you think of

these Bogg Rafi z-- never is there any

suggestion that they were born in order

to die if the party is no longer living

then there is some mention of the

person's death no doubt which may be

heroic or ordinary prolonged or quick

accidental it may be all kinds of things

but never do we speak of someone being

born in order to die that's true for

Muhammad it's true for Gautama the

Buddha there may be stories of their

deaths but no one suggests that the

purpose of their coming was to die which

is why the four Gospels that is the four

first books of the New Testament Matthew

Mark Luke and John are so hard to

classify people have written learned

tomes on what God of literature it is is

it a tragedy well Jesus rises from the

dead is it literally speaking a comedy

but it's of a different species it's too

serious for that and the centrality of

the Cross and what's achieved and the

barbaric awfulness of it all amidst its

splendor it can't be reduced to one word

terms is it a biography but that's as

close as you can get it somewhat akin to

first century Hellenistic biographies I

suppose

but there aren't any other first century

Hellenistic biographies where the

plotline says that the reason the bloke

came was to die it feels different

have you been exposed to some of this

literature that gets promoted oh roughly

every Easter season around about Easter

the press loves to drag out the latest

scholar who's written something on the

Gospel of Judas or the Gospel of Thomas

or any other of these Gospels and

various people are trying to say you

know these are as authoritative as the

Gospels in the New Testament and we

should incorporate them again - and

originally Christianity was much broader

and then a god narrow and Orthodox and

and me but originally it was much much

broader there were a lot of Gospels well

let's get one or two things straight

even they're the earliest of these other

so-called Gospels is about mid-second

century and they dragged on for another

century and a half or two centuries none

of them is connected with the first

generation of eyewitnesses the way the

canonical Gospels are that is the

Gospels in our Bible not one of them but

there's more to it than that

consider the so called Gospel of Thomas

it's a short book of a hundred and

fourteen sayings ostensibly sayings of

Jesus they're sayings ascribed to Jesus

and two tiny tiny tiny little historical

snippets that's it in other words

they're commits completely unlike what a

gospel is in the New Testament in fact

in the first century people didn't speak

of four Gospels Matthew Mark Luke and

John do you know what they said in the

first century there's one gospel the

gospel of Jesus Christ the one gospel of

Jesus Christ according to Matthew

according to Mark according to Luke

according to John one gospel with

various witnesses describing what this

good news about Jesus Christ is really

about this spectacular invasive news and

only later did people start referring to

them rather loosely as the Gospel of

Matthew or the Gospel of Mark but even

then it's really important to see that

all four of these books Matthew Mark

Luke and John they say something about

the forerunner the one who announces

Jesus John the Baptist they say

something about his origins they talk

extensively about his ministry what he

did what he said how he preached some of

his miracles his parables is saying some

of his sermons and then at the end all

along the story has been driving toward

his death and at the end he is crucified

and he rises again part of a plotline in

each book a huge part of a plotline is

how Jesus starts talking about how he is

going to die in Matthew 16 when Peter

confesses that Jesus really is the

promised Messiah the one who comes from

David's line the one that that they were

expecting Jesus goes on to say yes and

you know I must go to Jerusalem and

suffer many things and be crucified and

the third day rise again and the

disciples said no way that can't be the

promised Davidic figure the promised

Messiah he's so strong and someone like

you who can do miracles I mean how are

you gonna stop you hmm

you can do miracles but Jesus keeps

insisting again and again and again part

of the plotline of each of the Gospels

is how he keeps insisting he's going to

die and then he says some very strange

things - I'm not gonna die as a martyr

he says no one can take my life from me

I lay it down of myself I have the power

to lay it down and I have the power to

take it again

he doesn't classify himself as a martyr

but as a sacrifice he's not simply the

vicious victim of a nasty historical

mistake

he's a willing sacrificing

that's why these books sounds so strange

to anybody who reads a lot of

biographies there's no one quite like

him and even when he is being arrested

and dragged away his disciples wonder if

the place of courage now is to pull out

a sword and slash at one of the

attackers Jesus responses don't you

understand I could in theory called 12

legions of angels do you really think a

few Roman troops are gonna stand up to

12 legions of angels but he didn't come

to be rescued he came to be butchered he

came to die moreover in ordinary

biographies once you do have them safely

in the ground they stay there but Jesus

comes to die and rise again it is so

central to everything the Bible says

about Jesus and all the purpose of his

coming that the Apostle Paul writing a

couple of decades after Jesus rose from

the dead says let me tell you the

matters of first importance Christ Jesus

died he died to save sinners and he

spends much of the rest of the chapter

then talking about the resurrection

these are matters of first importance

they are at the basis of everything in

Christian belief and conduct and

structure and power we have to get this

right or we have no part of Christianity

right now there'd be many ways to go

about studying Jesus death and

resurrection we could go through all of

the accounts of his death for example

all the allusions to his death what I'm

going to do is direct your attention

rather quickly to one of the actual

accounts of his death found in Matthew

27 the first book of the New Testament

the second last chapter of Matthew when

seven and then in a few minutes I'll

switch to one passage in John that talks

about his resurrection now much more can

be said about these passages and there

are many other passages but let me focus

on these two so we have some focus to

what we're saying let me begin by saying

this the account we have here of Jesus

death is carefully shaped by matthew

matthew is a God inspired spill skillful

writer of the New Testament writers the

two that are most given to the use of

irony to explain something are Matthew

and John in some sense Matthew is simply

describing what happens but he relates

it in such a way that what he shows you

are the irony's of the cross now by

irony I mean words that convey in their

context

the exact opposite of what they formerly

say that's irony and what you'll

discover is that in each of several

paragraphs here mark Matthew lays out

for us the ironies of the cross he shows

what happens when Jesus dies but he

doesn't with such a delicious dipping

into irony that we begin to see what God

is really doing in this death instead of

reading this section right through I'll

read it section by section as we go

along

first chapter 27 27 to 31 then the

governor's soldiers took Jesus under the

potato to humans gathered the whole

company of soldiers around him they

stripped him and put a scarlet robe on

him and they twisted together a crown of

thorns and set it on his head they put a

staff in his right hand as a scepter

then they knelt in front of him and

mocked him hail King of the Jews they

said they spit on him and took the staff

and struck him on the head again and

again

after they had mocked him they took off

the robe and put his own clothes on him

then they led him away to crucify him

now already Jesus has been savagely

beaten as part of the interrogation

process that was standard procedure then

after sentence was passed he was

savagely beaten again that too was

standard procedure once you were

condemned to be crucified you were

beaten again before you were taken out

and crucified he's already suffered all

of that what takes place here is not

standard procedure

this is barracks room humor they put

some sort of robe on him as if he's an

emperor and they twist one of these vine

spikes that they have in the Middle East

with thorns about this long they twisted

into some sort of crown and Ram it down

on his head they put a stick in his hand

as if it's a scepter and pretend that

he's a great monarch hail King of the

Jews they say bowing down slapping his

face laughing hahaha they take this

stick that is supposed to be the symbol

of his power and fashion against his

head again and again and again great fun

barracks room humor but every time they

say hail King of the Jews they mean the

opposite

in the context the words actually convey

nothing but derision and scorn they

think that their humor is deeply deeply

ironic and it's very funny but there's a

deeper irony Matthew knows and the

readers know and God knows that Jesus is

the king

the man who is mocked as king is the

king that's the first deep irony

after all how does the book begin we saw

that already a couple of sessions back

the origins of Jesus Christ the son of

Abraham the son of David he's in the

Davidic line he has the legal right to

the throne and all through the book

there are allusions to Jesus being the

king he tells some parables in which for

those with eyes to see the king in

question is Jesus himself in fact part

of the procedures during the trial had

Pilate the Roman governor asking are you

the king of the truth from pilots

perspective if Jesus says yes then he

could be condemned it could be an act of

treason setting himself up against the

Herod family or setting himself up even

against Caesar in Rome a usurping King

Jesus answers with a kind of affirmation

it is as you say you have said this but

he doesn't want simply to come flat out

and say yes because what Jesus means by

King is not exactly what they mean by

King but he is the king of the Jews in

fact when you read the whole New

Testament he's always the King of the

Jews he's the king of you and me how

does Matthew end his gospel in the last

verses of Matthew chapter 28 Jesus once

risen from the dead says all authority

is given to me in heaven and on earth

quite frankly he claims to be king of

the universe he's certainly the king of

these soldiers that are laughing at his

kingdom inion the man who was mocked as

king is king

but what sort of a kingdom is it it is

bizarre most Kings surely would want to

go out and fight

Jesus refuses to do so in fact there's

one remarkable passage a few chapters

back where Jesus actually talks about

the nature of his kingdom just a wee bit

I've made allusion to it before the

mother of Zebedee's sons James and John

Matthew 20 22 of Jesus disciples come to

Jesus and what they want is to sit one

on the right and one on the left in

Jesus Kingdom that's what they want they

want political power but Jesus goes on

to say you know the rulers of the

Gentiles lord it over them and their

high officials exercise authority over

them not so with you instead whoever

wants to become great among you must be

your servant and whoever wants to be

first must be your slave just as the son

of man did not come to be served but to

serve and to give his life as a ransom

for many

Jesus is not recommending that you adopt

the stance that makes you everybody's

carpet to wipe their feet on that's not

the point

or that you lose any sort of authority

when you're put in a position of

authority that's not the point the

problem is that in this world when we

gain authority we start learning at over

people we start thinking that it's our

due but Jesus is the sort of God he's

the God who is there and he loves

because he's that kind of God his aim is

to serve he does not come to be fond

over but to serve to serve finally by

giving his life a ransom for many

that's why he comes that's the kind of

Kingdom it is and he

his followers to exercise authority in

exactly that way there's the first irony

the man who is mocked as king is king

and then secondly in verses 32 to 40 the

man who was utterly powerless is

powerful as they were going out they met

a man from Cyrene named Simon and they

forced him to carry the cross they came

to a place called Golgotha which means

the place of the skull there they

offered Jesus wine to drink mixed with

gall but after tasting it he refused to

drink it when they had crucified him

they divided up his clothes by casting

Lots and sitting down they kept watch

over him there above his head they

placed their written charge against him

this is Jesus the King of the Jews

more irony to rebels were crucified with

him one in his right and one on his left

those who passed by hurled insults at

him shaking their heads and saying you

who are going to destroy the temple and

build it in three days save yourself

come down from the cross if you are the

son of God now here is a horrible

picture of the most abject weakness

possible when sentence was passed

you were beaten again then you were

forced to carry the cross member the

horizontal member of the cross on your

shoulder out to the place of execution

where the upright was already in the

ground and there you were either nailed

or tied to the cross member was hoisted

up and you were stripped and you hung

there not with a convenient loin cloth

when men and women were crucified they

were crucified naked it was meant to be

shameful as well as painful

in former times there had been occasions

when the soldiers had left somebody

hanging there and friends that actually

managed to come along and take the

person down and they'd survived at this

point in Roman history that was

impossible because it was Imperial

policy now to leave a quaternion of

soldiers there to guard the body until

it was unambiguously dead and you pulled

with your arms and you push with your

legs to open up your chest cavity so

that you can breathe and the muscle

spasms would start so you collapse and

you couldn't breathe then you pull with

your arms and you pushed with your legs

so that you could breathe and then the

spasms would start and you'd collapse

that could go on for hours and sometimes

days and the soldiers would keep

watching that's why if they wanted to

finish you off for any reason a little

faster

what they'd do is just come along and

smash your shin bones then you couldn't

push with your legs anymore you

suffocate in a few minutes

listen at this point Jesus is as

powerless as you can imagine there is no

way out there is no hope and he's so

weak from his repeated beatings he isn't

even strong enough to hoist the cross

member on his shoulder and take it out

to the place of execution Jesus by trade

a carpenter can't lift a piece of wood

so they have to Shanghai somebody else

to do it for them

and then the mockery begins

you who are going to destroy the temple

and build it in three days save yourself

come down from the cross if you are the

son of God now where does this charge

come from seems strange in our ears but

it too showed up in the trial not the

trial before Pilate but at the previous

chapter chapter 26 the trial before the

high priests the reason it could be

entered was this the Roman Empire was a

highly diverse place religiously

speaking so one of the things that the

Romans did to try to keep peace was to

make it a capital crime to desecrate a

temple any temple

if you desecrate a temple under Roman

law you die so if someone heard Jesus

saying destroy this temple in three days

I'll raise it again then maybe that

could be worked into conspiracy for a

capital crime that is destroying a

temple

do you see but they couldn't get their

story straight and it didn't work out to

be the crime that they actually charged

him with they charged him finally with

treason being a king over against Caesar

but now as some people heard this debate

and charged at the trial they look at

Jesus in this most abject weakness

without any strength at all and they say

yeah big mouth

you're so strong aren't you gonna

destroy a temple and build it in three

days look at you now huh and again

they're being ironic if you work for

Habitat for Humanity with a decent

foundation a lot of planning a good

engineer and 40 strong back to

volunteers you can put up a house in a

day but you couldn't put up one of the

ancient temples in a day you couldn't

put up one of the cathedrals of Europe

in a lifetime not one of the original

architects of the great cathedrals of

Europe ever saw the finished product it

took more than one lifetime to do it and

the Temple in Jerusalem just this

current beautification had already been

going on for 46 years more by

slaw you are not allowed to hammer a

stone within ear distance of the temple

all those stones had to be measured and

cut and brought in without hydraulics

and fit into place

no wonder the temple took a long time to

build and Jesus says destroy this temple

in three days I'll build it again what

kind of power is that so when they say

you who destroy this temple and build it

in three days what they really mean is

this is a lovely piece of ironic humor

you're actually just hopelessly weak

dying and Damned on a cross

but Mathew gnosis and God knows and the

readers know that by his death and the

resurrection around the corner

Jesus is destroying the temple and

rising again Jesus did use these words

destroy this temple in three days I'll

rise it again I'll raise it again he

used them early on in his ministry you

can find them if you want to look them

up later in John chapter two and at the

time the disciples didn't have a clue

what he was talking about Jesus is

saying something deep again very

enigmatic but then John comments after

Jesus had risen from the dead then they

remembered his words and they believed

the scriptures the point is the temple

in the Old Testament as we have seen

earlier was the great meeting place

between God and human beings was the

place of sacrifice now Jesus comes along

and referring to his own body says

destroy this temple and in three days

I'll raise it again by the destruction

of his own life and its resurrection

again he becomes the great meeting place

between God and human beings he becomes

the great temple with all the power that

is required in resurrection the great

meeting place between God and human

beings is not some sacrificial system in

Jerusalem or elsewhere

as Jesus himself thus while the mockers

see some cheap irony we cannot help but

see an even deeper irony for the man who

was utterly powerless is in fact

powerful

he's the temple of the Living God and

third the man who can't save himself

saves others the mockery continues in

4142 in the same way the chief priests

the teachers of the law

the elders mocked him he saved others

they said but he can't save himself he's

the king of Israel let him come down now

from the cross and we will believe in

him he trusts in God let God rescue him

now if he wants them for he said I am

the son of God what do we mean when we

say to save the verb to save what does

it mean on the streets of Minneapolis or

the streets of Chicago on the streets of

London England well it depends who's

saying it if you're a banker saving is

something that you're supposed to do if

the market doesn't wipe it all out to

protect your investments to prepare for

retirement if you're gifted in sports

the saving is what the goalie does to

stop a goal whether in soccer or in ice

hockey if you're a geek saving is what

you're supposed to do so that you don't

lose too much data before your hard

drive crashes so we use the verb to save

in a variety of different contexts don't

we

what does Matthew mean again we've

already had a glimpse of this haven't we

a couple of weeks a couple of sessions

back when Joseph is told that Mary is

pregnant he is told that he must give

the baby the name Jesus Yahweh say

for he will save his people from their

senses saving in Matthew's Gospel means

saving from sin from its guilt its

consequences

it's eternal effects its effects and

power in this life that's why Jesus came

now the mockers are saying he saved

others that is he helped them he cure

them he was such a good Savior you know

but himself he can't say look at him

he's completely

melete li tied down there there is no

way he can save himself which shows he's

not much of a Savior at all so when they

are saying he saved others again they

mean with cheap irony he's no Savior to

be respected at all but Mathew gnosis

and God knows and the readers know that

it's by staying on that cross that he

saves others and strictly speaking he

can't save himself and save others if he

saves himself he won't be able to save

others when they say he can't save

himself they mean that he is so attached

to the cross so nailed to the cross that

physically he can't get down but Matthew

knows that he could get down he could

still call his twelve legions of angels

as Matthew puts it elsewhere but he

can't save himself if he is to save

others because the very function of his

hanging on that cross is to bear my sin

in his own body on the tree if he does

save himself I'm damned it's only by not

saving himself that he saves me

there's this deep irony behind the cheap

irony unlike what the critics thought

their words are true he saved others he

can't save himself

I suspect that part of the reason why we

have initial trouble absorbing this is

because we live at a time in Western

culture where an awful lot of conduct is

constrained by force of law or just by

force in other words we don't have much

place left for a kind of internal moral

imperative did you see the film Titanic

when it came out decade and a half ago

as the great ship is going down people

are scrambling for the lifeboats of

which there are too few there were a lot

of fat cats on the boat wealthy people

and they start scrambling there and

shoving the women and children aside so

they can reserve their own places

the sailors pull out handguns and fire

in the air and say women and children

the boats are for women and children do

you remember the scene historically of

course that's rubbish all the survivors

say that it's rubbish there were a lot

of fat cats on that boat John Jacob

Astor was there the bill gates of 1912

the richest men he got his wife to the

boat shoved her in and when others said

to him you get in too sir he said no

this is for women and children and he

stepped back and he ground him Simon

Guggenheim was there he was pulled apart

from his wife and yelled to someone

between tell my wife that Guggenheim

knows his duty and he stepped back in he

drowned she was safe there is not one

single report of fat cats scrambling for

the boats and leaving the women and the

children out isn't that stunning

when a writer calls Zakariya reviewed

the film for the New York Times he asked

the obvious question why did the

producer and director distort history

and say what isn't true why didn't they

tell the truth about what happened at

this point and then he answered his own

question because he said if they had

told the truth today nobody would have

believed them

because of the time you saw that there

were so many more Christians around but

there was enough of a Christian heritage

that drove a moral imperative that made

people from within want to do something

self sacrificial for others that's what

drove Jesus supremely doing his father's

will and that's the way it is once you

and I become a disciple of Jesus that is

it changes us from within so that our

moral categories change it's not that

there's force of law upon us or a

constraint or a big policeman with a

stick waiting to bash us if we step

aside somewhere there's a transformation

of heart a pale reflection of Jesus but

in the same line wanting to sacrifice

for the sake of others and then of

course finally the man who cries out in

despair actually trusts God the people

are still mocking in verse 43 he trusts

in God let God rescue him now if he

wants and Bree said I am the son of God

and then Jesus cries out in despair my

God my God why have you forsaken me so

is Jesus actually giving up at this

point caught up in the web of miserable

circumstances drowning and despair is

that the message we are to learn push me

far enough and I too will collapse oh

it's much deeper than that because of

Jesus death because of his willingness

to stay there in the very next verse

verse 51 as Jesus dies the veil of the

temple is torn aside the veil of the

temple that set off the very presence of

God from the rest of the people then the

most holy place roni the high priest

could enter once a year now the veil

is torn aside as if to indicate that you

and I ordinary human beings can actually

get into the presence of God because

Jesus sacrifice really has paid the debt

that paid all the debt that the blood of

bulls and goats could never ever pay for

along those sacrificial lines we saw a

few sessions back now Jesus dies and in

his cry my God my God why have you

forsaken me oh he he is crying in the

bleakest and and darkest most pitiable

despair but not because he does not know

he is doing his father's will but

precisely because he does know he is

doing his father's will he is trusting

God and that Father's will is to bear my

sin in his own body on the tree

absorbing the curse discharging the debt

paying the guilt tearing the veil so

that I can get into the most holy place

now I titled this the God who dies in

some ways that's a bit slippery by and

large the New Testament does not talk of

God dying

it speaks of God and of Jesus being the

god man and of Jesus dying never ever is

there a hint that the father dies of

course not but once in a while there are

passages that come so close to this when

the Apostle Paul for example is giving a

speech to some church elders who belong

to the church in Ephesus he says in Acts

chapter 20 he they are to look after the

flock of God the Church of God in

Ephesus which God has purchased with his

own blood isn't that remarkable God with

his own blood now of course he could

parse that he could tease that out just

a bit more that is to say he could say

of course is not the heavenly father but

it is the son of God it is Jesus who is

himself God and because he's God and

because he does give his life and shed

his blood therefore it is appropriate to

say God sheds his life

oh if you have to unpack it that that's

what is meant but nevertheless don't let

the shock of the language stop you this

is God's actually in Christ Jesus in the

Godman this is not the death of one

human individual and no more it is a

human individual who is also the Living

God who hangs on that cross

not because he's forced to do so by

circumstances but because he's bringing

in himself all of those strands of the

Old Testament sacrificial system that

temple system bringing them in his and

in himself all the strands

from the fall the promise of the seed of

the woman coming to crush the Serpent's

head by his own death baring sin and

scoffing rude in my place condemned he

stood sealed my pardon with his blood

hallelujah what a savior

it is appropriate to speak of the God

who dies

at the end of world war one that

bloodiest and most senseless and stupid

of wars several English poets Wilfred on

Rupert Brooke one or two others wrote

some very moving poetry about the sheer

savagery of the war one of the more

minor pieces was called Jesus of the

scars and the poet ends up by saying the

other gods were strong but thou wast

weak

they rode without it's stumbled to thy

throne and to our wounds only God's

wounds can speak and not a God has

wounds but thou alone

so when we face the ravages of

uncertainty when there is suffering and

agony in our lives or in the world and

we wonder what God is doing and we have

no answers and we reread the book of Job

that wisdom literature we saw three or

four sessions back and and we hear God

saying you don't understand it all we

can actually add something more now to

our wounds only God's wounds can speak

and not a God has wounds but thou alone

you can trust a God who is not only

sovereign but bleeding for you

and sometimes when there are no other

answers for your guilt or your fears or

your uncertainties or your anguish there

is one a movable place on which to stand

it's the ground right in front of the

cross

yet and yet as important as the cross is

this is not the end of the story for all

of the New Testament writers focus

equivalently on the resurrection of the

Lord Jesus the stories are told in many

different ways there is no way they can

be reduced to mass hallucination

he appeared too many times over a period

of 40 days or so he appeared to one

since twos he appeared to as many as

five hundred at a time here appeared to

the Apostles more than once he appeared

in locked rooms

he appeared on the seashore ate some

fish that he was cooking for them and

that the witnesses multiplied and and he

shows up when they're not expecting him

he shows up when they are he cannot be

categorized or or dismissed or or

domesticated the resurrection

appearances are simply too frequent too

diverse and with too many witnesses what

do you do with them the fact of the

matter is if you think that the early

Christians made this up or were somehow

hoodwinked or fell victims to mass

psychology of some sort it's hard to

explain why they were willing to die for

their faith

resurrection is a fairy story a bit like

Hansel and Gretel well my question is

how many have offered to die for Hansel

and Gretel but the early Christians were

willing to die for their conviction that

Jesus had risen from the dead they had

seen him touched him

handled him and they were transformed by

him and they were promised by him

resurrection bodies of their own one day

they believed that he was Lord one of

the most moving scenes is describing

what takes place on the second Sunday

the first Sunday Resurrection Sunday

Jesus appeared to some women to Peter

and John he appeared to a couple walking

to the little town of Emmaus he appeared

to 10 of the Apostles and now on the

second Sunday we read these words John

chapter 20 that's the fourth gospel

Matthew Mark Luke and John chapter 20

beginning at verse 24 now Thomas also

known as didymus one of the twelve was

not with the disciples when Jesus came

so the other disciples told him we have

seen the Lord but he said unless I see

the nail marks in his hands and put my

finger where the nails were and put my

hand into his side I will not believe

now this is the kind of doubt that

Springs from hurt he did not want to be

duped he had believed that Jesus was the

Messiah and then Jesus had died it made

no sense he was lonely and scared he was

still a pious Jewish monotheism going to

talk himself into believing that Jesus

was back after all he was going to have

to see for himself he was not going to

have an easy faith just believing

somebody else's account he wasn't going

to do that in other words he wanted in

his own sights to distinguish between

faith and gullibility so he

for laid out the most extreme test he

could imagine he wanted to be sure that

the body that went into the tomb was the

same as the extensible body that came

out or had some sort of genuine organic

connection so he specifies unless I can

put my hands in the wounds I chair the

Gospel Coalition our executive director

is a chap called Ben pace Ben is an

identical twin

and when I say identical twin I mean

identical twin they look alike generally

but the same little smirks and smiles

and so on they they are spitting images

of each other I'm sure if you know them

well enough you can tell them apart I

can't so last year when we had our

council meeting Ben was around of course

but of course we didn't tell anybody on

the council that his butt brother was

showing up to to help so at one point in

the council meeting I said guys I should

tell you that our executive director has

been working so hard with so much work

to do we decided to clone him and get

two of them and I pointed the other one

well maybe Jesus has a twin maybe he can

come out of the tomb maybe he can be the

new Jesus but then where are the wounds

not only the wounds from the nails but

the shaft that went up under his ribcage

into the pericardium and pierced pierced

the flesh such that blood and water

flowed out where are the wounds unless I

put my hands in the wounds I will not

believe that was the test

a week later his disciples were in the

house again and Thomas was with them

though the doors were locked Jesus came

and stood among them and said peace be

with you

then he said to Thomas put your finger

here see my hands reach out your hand

and put it into my side stop doubting

and believe Thomas said to him my Lord

and my god

now on first reading Thomas's response

is strange it's almost as if he's saying

too much

why doesn't he simply say you are alive

or oops I was wrong or something more

modest why does he infer so much from

the fact that Jesus is now alive my lord

and my god

after all some chapters earlier ret

Lazarus had been raised from the dead

and nobody said to Lazarus after he came

back from the dead my lord and my god

so why are they saying it to Jesus what

you have to do is put yourself into the

very account put yourself so far as it's

possible in Thomas's place you've got a

whole week between the first reports of

Jesus resurrection and this second

appearance the fellow apostles are

coming along and saying we did see him

Peter saw him on his own Peter and John

saw the empty tomb the two on the road

to Emmaus saw him together we saw 10 of

us all at once and then there the

reports of the women we have all seen

him so now all week long he's saying

can't be I just can't believe it I know

the tomb is empty but we who know

somebody grave-robber might have come

maybe we got the wrong tomb who was dark

when they put him in but supposing he is

alive what would that mean oh no I can't

he doesn't really make any sense but he

did do some strange things in his life I

mean after all he said the very night

that he was going to the cross have I

been with you such a long time and have

you not known me he who has seen me has

seen the father and there was that

strange assurance from Jesus some some

time back it's recorded in in John

chapter 8 where Jesus said before

Abraham was

I am now that's not just bad timing

Abraham had been dead by two millennia

why didn't he say before he bruh ham was

ayah I was which would be claiming some

sort of pre existence may be hard enough

to believe but still that's just pre

existence but before Abraham was I am

that's taking the name of God do you

recall how God discloses himself in

Exodus 3 what is your name tell the

people I am has sent you I am what I am

and now Jesus says before Abraham was I

am

God has named what are you two good

passages like that all during the years

of Jesus ministry

I'm sure the disciples scratched their

heads and smiled devotedly and been

thought more enigma

maybe we'll understand it someday and

then Jesus had insisted that it was the

father's determination that all should

honor the son even as they honor the

father you don't say that about a mere

human being all these indications and

then maybe he's thought through some of

those Old Testament texts a bit more and

then of course historically speaking

there are the events in which he's he's

a a participant recorded in the other

Gospels let me let me mention just one

and I'll close there's a spectacular

account in the other Gospels is not in

John where Jesus is preaching in a

packed house no chairs down people have

just packed him and by this time he's

got quite a reputation as a preacher as

a teacher but also as a healer and some

friends bring along a paralyzed friend

he can't even walk so he's on some sort

of palette and the four helpers are

carrying this thing and they try to get

into the house where Jesus is preaching

and and they they can't get

people are saying ahsha shush shush the

Masters preaching wait your turn he's

busy don't don't bother him but they

won't be stopped so they go up the

outside stairs so many houses had these

outside stairs in those days because

people would would actually cool down in

the evening on the flat roofs with a the

breeze is wafting over the the city of

Jerusalem so they went up on the flat

roof and they listened carefully for

where Jesus was was speaking and they

they found the right air and they

started taking off the tiles they got

some of the tiles off and then they

lowered this friend down on ropes in

front of Jesus

if the crowd won't make room for him

through the doorway they'll make room

for him because the bed is coming down

on their heads and then this bed is in

front of Jesus and Jesus says my son

your sins are forgiven and the

theologians present are indignant who

can forgive sins but God alone that's a

good observation isn't it supposing god

forbid

supposing on your way home tonight

you're brutally attacked by a gang of

thugs you're viciously beaten up left

half dead

maybe gang raped you get into the

hospital and I go and visit you two days

from now you're all bandaged up your

legs on pulleys you can barely talk and

somehow events have taken place that I

can share with you you know be of good

cheer I found the thugs and I have

forgiven them what would you say to me

wouldn't you be outraged who do you

think you are you're not the one that

was gang-raped you're not the ones lying

in a hospital how can you possibly

forgive them the only person who can

forgive is the offended party

only the offended party can forgive at

the end of World War two

there was a Jew by the name of Simon V's

and tall in Auschwitz all of his

extended family was wiped out in the

Holocaust at this point it was only

weeks from the end of the fright and

horror of Auschwitz the Russians were

moving in from the east he was on a work

party and as he was on this party

suddenly he was pulled out by the German

guards and shoved into a room there was

a young German Nazi soldier there maybe

19 years old he had suffered Grievous

wounds and was clearly going to die and

before he died he wanted to see a Jew he

wanted to talk with a Jew and in God's

peculiar Providence the Jew that was

pulled out of the line and shoved into

that room with Simon Wiesenthal the

young Nazi explained why he wanted to

see him gasping for breath not long to

live he acknowledged that the Nazis had

treated the Jews horribly that he

himself had had been engaged in horrible

things now he wanted the Jews

forgiveness

v's and tall reasons in his mind he

later writes it up in a little book

called

the sunflower and about 60 pages of that

85 page book give or take are devoted to

what flashes through reason tall's mind

the reasoning is this who can forgive

but those who have been offended the

most offended parties of the Holocaust

are dead in Auschwitz they've already

been burned in the ovens

how can a survivor like v's and tall

pronounced forgiveness he has not

suffered what the others have suffered

how can he speak for the dead if the

most brutalized victims of the Nazis are

dead then there is no one qualified to

pronounce forgiveness so there is no

forgiveness to the Nazis without saying

a single word reason to listen to the

young man then turned and walked out of

the room

you

after the war was over eventually he

wrote this up as I've said in this

little book called the sunflower and he

sent it to ethicists all around the

world Christian and Jewish various

backgrounds asked him to read the

manuscript and simply answer the

question did I do what was right

he kicked off a furious exchange amongst

ethicists all over the world did I do

what was right you see visa Hall almost

got it right he almost got it right he

was surely right to insist that only the

offended party can forgive that's right

but the most offended party is always

God that's what we saw a couple of

sessions back in the Psalms when David

dares right against you only have I

sinned and done this evil in your sight

and now when this young man comes down

before Jesus a young man who has not

offended Jesus in the flesh not not man

to man person to person Jesus looks at

him and he says your sins are forgiven

you and the theologians ask who can

forgive sins but God alone just so and

Thomas remembered that too

and he bowed before the resurrected

Jesus and he said my lord and my god

that's what each of us supposed to

recognize that what Jesus accomplished

on the cross was suffering for the sake

of his own people who put their faith in

Him who recognized that what he bore was

their sin as the god man only he could

forgive that's what we must have to be

reconciled to God we must have it and we

bow before him and cry with joy and

thankfulness and mystery and adoration

and all my Lord and my god

let us pray

we rejoice Heavenly Father in the truth

that Jesus rose from the dead yet this

is not simply a truth in the public

arena of history to be absorbed quickly

and then pass by on one side for if

indeed your dear son the God men rose

from the dead then everything has

changed his victory over death is

confirmed the sacrifice he provided has

been vindicated he already is the head

of a new humanity that will one day

share in his resurrection likeness and

his people Heavenly Father rejoiced to

bow before him and cry my Lord and my

god

grant that each one here tonight from

the inmost recesses of our being may cry

forgive my sin as you forgave the sin of

that paralyzed man for you alone have

the authority to forgive sin in this

spectacular glorious absolute sense my

Lord and my God in Jesus name Amen you