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we have now reached the tenth session in
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a 14 part series called the God who is
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there my name is Don Carson somewhat
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hesitantly for reasons that will become
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clear in the address itself I've called
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this session the God who dies and lives
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again the stunning reality is that the
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Bible ultimately brings to a focus
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everything else it says and refracts all
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its light down into Jesus death and
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Jesus resurrection from the dead
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if you rummage through the Bible to
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uncover whatever you can about say
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economics and social justice or about
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bioethics and the nature of human beings
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or about personal and corporate ethics
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but fail to integrate whatever you find
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with the ways in which the Bible makes
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Jesus death and resurrection absolutely
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central to all faithful Christian
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understanding and teaching in life you
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end up distorting the Bible if you want
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to understand what the Bible means by
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the word gospel or good news you must
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grasp why Jesus death and resurrection
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constitute such spectacularly good news
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these events are at the heart of the
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whole Bible this one talked rightly
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absorbed into your life with repentance
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and faith will change you forever
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when you think of the biographies of
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important people whether artists or
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football hunks an Einstein political
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figure doesn't matter when you think of
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these Bogg Rafi z-- never is there any
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suggestion that they were born in order
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to die if the party is no longer living
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then there is some mention of the
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person's death no doubt which may be
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heroic or ordinary prolonged or quick
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accidental it may be all kinds of things
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but never do we speak of someone being
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born in order to die that's true for
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Muhammad it's true for Gautama the
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Buddha there may be stories of their
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deaths but no one suggests that the
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purpose of their coming was to die which
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is why the four Gospels that is the four
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first books of the New Testament Matthew
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Mark Luke and John are so hard to
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classify people have written learned
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tomes on what God of literature it is is
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it a tragedy well Jesus rises from the
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dead is it literally speaking a comedy
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but it's of a different species it's too
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serious for that and the centrality of
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the Cross and what's achieved and the
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barbaric awfulness of it all amidst its
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splendor it can't be reduced to one word
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terms is it a biography but that's as
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close as you can get it somewhat akin to
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first century Hellenistic biographies I
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suppose
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but there aren't any other first century
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Hellenistic biographies where the
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plotline says that the reason the bloke
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came was to die it feels different
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have you been exposed to some of this
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literature that gets promoted oh roughly
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every Easter season around about Easter
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the press loves to drag out the latest
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scholar who's written something on the
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Gospel of Judas or the Gospel of Thomas
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or any other of these Gospels and
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various people are trying to say you
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know these are as authoritative as the
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Gospels in the New Testament and we
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should incorporate them again - and
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originally Christianity was much broader
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and then a god narrow and Orthodox and
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and me but originally it was much much
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broader there were a lot of Gospels well
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let's get one or two things straight
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even they're the earliest of these other
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so-called Gospels is about mid-second
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century and they dragged on for another
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century and a half or two centuries none
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of them is connected with the first
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generation of eyewitnesses the way the
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canonical Gospels are that is the
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Gospels in our Bible not one of them but
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there's more to it than that
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consider the so called Gospel of Thomas
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it's a short book of a hundred and
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fourteen sayings ostensibly sayings of
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Jesus they're sayings ascribed to Jesus
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and two tiny tiny tiny little historical
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snippets that's it in other words
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they're commits completely unlike what a
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gospel is in the New Testament in fact
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in the first century people didn't speak
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of four Gospels Matthew Mark Luke and
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John do you know what they said in the
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first century there's one gospel the
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gospel of Jesus Christ the one gospel of
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Jesus Christ according to Matthew
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according to Mark according to Luke
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according to John one gospel with
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various witnesses describing what this
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good news about Jesus Christ is really
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about this spectacular invasive news and
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only later did people start referring to
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them rather loosely as the Gospel of
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Matthew or the Gospel of Mark but even
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then it's really important to see that
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all four of these books Matthew Mark
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Luke and John they say something about
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the forerunner the one who announces
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Jesus John the Baptist they say
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something about his origins they talk
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extensively about his ministry what he
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did what he said how he preached some of
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his miracles his parables is saying some
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of his sermons and then at the end all
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along the story has been driving toward
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his death and at the end he is crucified
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and he rises again part of a plotline in
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each book a huge part of a plotline is
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how Jesus starts talking about how he is
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going to die in Matthew 16 when Peter
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confesses that Jesus really is the
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promised Messiah the one who comes from
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David's line the one that that they were
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expecting Jesus goes on to say yes and
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you know I must go to Jerusalem and
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suffer many things and be crucified and
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the third day rise again and the
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disciples said no way that can't be the
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promised Davidic figure the promised
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Messiah he's so strong and someone like
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you who can do miracles I mean how are
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you gonna stop you hmm
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you can do miracles but Jesus keeps
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insisting again and again and again part
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of the plotline of each of the Gospels
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is how he keeps insisting he's going to
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die and then he says some very strange
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things - I'm not gonna die as a martyr
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he says no one can take my life from me
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I lay it down of myself I have the power
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to lay it down and I have the power to
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take it again
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he doesn't classify himself as a martyr
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but as a sacrifice he's not simply the
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vicious victim of a nasty historical
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mistake
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he's a willing sacrificing
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that's why these books sounds so strange
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to anybody who reads a lot of
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biographies there's no one quite like
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him and even when he is being arrested
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and dragged away his disciples wonder if
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the place of courage now is to pull out
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a sword and slash at one of the
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attackers Jesus responses don't you
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understand I could in theory called 12
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legions of angels do you really think a
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few Roman troops are gonna stand up to
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12 legions of angels but he didn't come
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to be rescued he came to be butchered he
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came to die moreover in ordinary
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biographies once you do have them safely
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in the ground they stay there but Jesus
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comes to die and rise again it is so
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central to everything the Bible says
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about Jesus and all the purpose of his
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coming that the Apostle Paul writing a
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couple of decades after Jesus rose from
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the dead says let me tell you the
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matters of first importance Christ Jesus
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died he died to save sinners and he
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spends much of the rest of the chapter
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then talking about the resurrection
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these are matters of first importance
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they are at the basis of everything in
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Christian belief and conduct and
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structure and power we have to get this
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right or we have no part of Christianity
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right now there'd be many ways to go
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about studying Jesus death and
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resurrection we could go through all of
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the accounts of his death for example
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all the allusions to his death what I'm
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going to do is direct your attention
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rather quickly to one of the actual
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accounts of his death found in Matthew
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27 the first book of the New Testament
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the second last chapter of Matthew when
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seven and then in a few minutes I'll
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switch to one passage in John that talks
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about his resurrection now much more can
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be said about these passages and there
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are many other passages but let me focus
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on these two so we have some focus to
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what we're saying let me begin by saying
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this the account we have here of Jesus
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death is carefully shaped by matthew
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matthew is a God inspired spill skillful
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writer of the New Testament writers the
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two that are most given to the use of
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irony to explain something are Matthew
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and John in some sense Matthew is simply
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describing what happens but he relates
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it in such a way that what he shows you
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are the irony's of the cross now by
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irony I mean words that convey in their
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context
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the exact opposite of what they formerly
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say that's irony and what you'll
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discover is that in each of several
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paragraphs here mark Matthew lays out
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for us the ironies of the cross he shows
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what happens when Jesus dies but he
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doesn't with such a delicious dipping
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into irony that we begin to see what God
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is really doing in this death instead of
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reading this section right through I'll
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read it section by section as we go
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along
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first chapter 27 27 to 31 then the
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governor's soldiers took Jesus under the
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potato to humans gathered the whole
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company of soldiers around him they
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stripped him and put a scarlet robe on
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him and they twisted together a crown of
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thorns and set it on his head they put a
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staff in his right hand as a scepter
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then they knelt in front of him and
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mocked him hail King of the Jews they
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said they spit on him and took the staff
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and struck him on the head again and
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again
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after they had mocked him they took off
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the robe and put his own clothes on him
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then they led him away to crucify him
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now already Jesus has been savagely
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beaten as part of the interrogation
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process that was standard procedure then
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after sentence was passed he was
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savagely beaten again that too was
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standard procedure once you were
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condemned to be crucified you were
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beaten again before you were taken out
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and crucified he's already suffered all
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of that what takes place here is not
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standard procedure
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this is barracks room humor they put
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some sort of robe on him as if he's an
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emperor and they twist one of these vine
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spikes that they have in the Middle East
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with thorns about this long they twisted
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into some sort of crown and Ram it down
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on his head they put a stick in his hand
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as if it's a scepter and pretend that
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he's a great monarch hail King of the
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Jews they say bowing down slapping his
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face laughing hahaha they take this
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stick that is supposed to be the symbol
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of his power and fashion against his
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head again and again and again great fun
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barracks room humor but every time they
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say hail King of the Jews they mean the
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opposite
274
00:14:17,700 --> 00:14:22,150
in the context the words actually convey
275
00:14:22,150 --> 00:14:25,210
nothing but derision and scorn they
276
00:14:25,210 --> 00:14:28,230
think that their humor is deeply deeply
277
00:14:28,230 --> 00:14:34,900
ironic and it's very funny but there's a
278
00:14:34,900 --> 00:14:41,680
deeper irony Matthew knows and the
279
00:14:41,680 --> 00:14:46,450
readers know and God knows that Jesus is
280
00:14:46,450 --> 00:14:48,750
the king
281
00:14:51,710 --> 00:14:57,420
the man who is mocked as king is the
282
00:14:57,420 --> 00:15:02,660
king that's the first deep irony
283
00:15:02,660 --> 00:15:06,900
after all how does the book begin we saw
284
00:15:06,900 --> 00:15:09,080
that already a couple of sessions back
285
00:15:09,080 --> 00:15:11,640
the origins of Jesus Christ the son of
286
00:15:11,640 --> 00:15:15,870
Abraham the son of David he's in the
287
00:15:15,870 --> 00:15:19,290
Davidic line he has the legal right to
288
00:15:19,290 --> 00:15:23,760
the throne and all through the book
289
00:15:23,760 --> 00:15:26,010
there are allusions to Jesus being the
290
00:15:26,010 --> 00:15:28,800
king he tells some parables in which for
291
00:15:28,800 --> 00:15:30,570
those with eyes to see the king in
292
00:15:30,570 --> 00:15:35,340
question is Jesus himself in fact part
293
00:15:35,340 --> 00:15:37,590
of the procedures during the trial had
294
00:15:37,590 --> 00:15:39,870
Pilate the Roman governor asking are you
295
00:15:39,870 --> 00:15:44,550
the king of the truth from pilots
296
00:15:44,550 --> 00:15:47,310
perspective if Jesus says yes then he
297
00:15:47,310 --> 00:15:49,170
could be condemned it could be an act of
298
00:15:49,170 --> 00:15:51,150
treason setting himself up against the
299
00:15:51,150 --> 00:15:53,040
Herod family or setting himself up even
300
00:15:53,040 --> 00:15:58,370
against Caesar in Rome a usurping King
301
00:15:58,370 --> 00:16:02,220
Jesus answers with a kind of affirmation
302
00:16:02,220 --> 00:16:06,600
it is as you say you have said this but
303
00:16:06,600 --> 00:16:08,310
he doesn't want simply to come flat out
304
00:16:08,310 --> 00:16:10,890
and say yes because what Jesus means by
305
00:16:10,890 --> 00:16:13,380
King is not exactly what they mean by
306
00:16:13,380 --> 00:16:16,920
King but he is the king of the Jews in
307
00:16:16,920 --> 00:16:18,600
fact when you read the whole New
308
00:16:18,600 --> 00:16:19,710
Testament he's always the King of the
309
00:16:19,710 --> 00:16:22,170
Jews he's the king of you and me how
310
00:16:22,170 --> 00:16:24,660
does Matthew end his gospel in the last
311
00:16:24,660 --> 00:16:27,660
verses of Matthew chapter 28 Jesus once
312
00:16:27,660 --> 00:16:30,540
risen from the dead says all authority
313
00:16:30,540 --> 00:16:34,310
is given to me in heaven and on earth
314
00:16:34,970 --> 00:16:37,200
quite frankly he claims to be king of
315
00:16:37,200 --> 00:16:40,890
the universe he's certainly the king of
316
00:16:40,890 --> 00:16:42,620
these soldiers that are laughing at his
317
00:16:42,620 --> 00:16:48,360
kingdom inion the man who was mocked as
318
00:16:48,360 --> 00:16:50,990
king is king
319
00:16:52,450 --> 00:16:57,380
but what sort of a kingdom is it it is
320
00:16:57,380 --> 00:17:02,180
bizarre most Kings surely would want to
321
00:17:02,180 --> 00:17:03,050
go out and fight
322
00:17:03,050 --> 00:17:06,199
Jesus refuses to do so in fact there's
323
00:17:06,199 --> 00:17:08,390
one remarkable passage a few chapters
324
00:17:08,390 --> 00:17:10,910
back where Jesus actually talks about
325
00:17:10,910 --> 00:17:15,220
the nature of his kingdom just a wee bit
326
00:17:15,339 --> 00:17:20,900
I've made allusion to it before the
327
00:17:20,900 --> 00:17:22,880
mother of Zebedee's sons James and John
328
00:17:22,880 --> 00:17:26,750
Matthew 20 22 of Jesus disciples come to
329
00:17:26,750 --> 00:17:30,980
Jesus and what they want is to sit one
330
00:17:30,980 --> 00:17:32,330
on the right and one on the left in
331
00:17:32,330 --> 00:17:34,850
Jesus Kingdom that's what they want they
332
00:17:34,850 --> 00:17:38,960
want political power but Jesus goes on
333
00:17:38,960 --> 00:17:42,200
to say you know the rulers of the
334
00:17:42,200 --> 00:17:44,090
Gentiles lord it over them and their
335
00:17:44,090 --> 00:17:45,890
high officials exercise authority over
336
00:17:45,890 --> 00:17:48,260
them not so with you instead whoever
337
00:17:48,260 --> 00:17:49,970
wants to become great among you must be
338
00:17:49,970 --> 00:17:51,650
your servant and whoever wants to be
339
00:17:51,650 --> 00:17:54,110
first must be your slave just as the son
340
00:17:54,110 --> 00:17:55,970
of man did not come to be served but to
341
00:17:55,970 --> 00:18:00,440
serve and to give his life as a ransom
342
00:18:00,440 --> 00:18:02,920
for many
343
00:18:04,870 --> 00:18:09,140
Jesus is not recommending that you adopt
344
00:18:09,140 --> 00:18:11,870
the stance that makes you everybody's
345
00:18:11,870 --> 00:18:13,850
carpet to wipe their feet on that's not
346
00:18:13,850 --> 00:18:14,470
the point
347
00:18:14,470 --> 00:18:17,210
or that you lose any sort of authority
348
00:18:17,210 --> 00:18:18,230
when you're put in a position of
349
00:18:18,230 --> 00:18:20,530
authority that's not the point the
350
00:18:20,530 --> 00:18:24,350
problem is that in this world when we
351
00:18:24,350 --> 00:18:26,000
gain authority we start learning at over
352
00:18:26,000 --> 00:18:28,370
people we start thinking that it's our
353
00:18:28,370 --> 00:18:32,090
due but Jesus is the sort of God he's
354
00:18:32,090 --> 00:18:36,410
the God who is there and he loves
355
00:18:36,410 --> 00:18:38,750
because he's that kind of God his aim is
356
00:18:38,750 --> 00:18:40,910
to serve he does not come to be fond
357
00:18:40,910 --> 00:18:43,130
over but to serve to serve finally by
358
00:18:43,130 --> 00:18:44,480
giving his life a ransom for many
359
00:18:44,480 --> 00:18:50,390
that's why he comes that's the kind of
360
00:18:50,390 --> 00:18:54,200
Kingdom it is and he
361
00:18:54,200 --> 00:18:56,450
his followers to exercise authority in
362
00:18:56,450 --> 00:18:59,900
exactly that way there's the first irony
363
00:18:59,900 --> 00:19:03,410
the man who is mocked as king is king
364
00:19:03,410 --> 00:19:08,750
and then secondly in verses 32 to 40 the
365
00:19:08,750 --> 00:19:10,970
man who was utterly powerless is
366
00:19:10,970 --> 00:19:14,630
powerful as they were going out they met
367
00:19:14,630 --> 00:19:16,670
a man from Cyrene named Simon and they
368
00:19:16,670 --> 00:19:19,160
forced him to carry the cross they came
369
00:19:19,160 --> 00:19:21,170
to a place called Golgotha which means
370
00:19:21,170 --> 00:19:23,870
the place of the skull there they
371
00:19:23,870 --> 00:19:26,030
offered Jesus wine to drink mixed with
372
00:19:26,030 --> 00:19:29,180
gall but after tasting it he refused to
373
00:19:29,180 --> 00:19:31,790
drink it when they had crucified him
374
00:19:31,790 --> 00:19:33,170
they divided up his clothes by casting
375
00:19:33,170 --> 00:19:35,450
Lots and sitting down they kept watch
376
00:19:35,450 --> 00:19:37,220
over him there above his head they
377
00:19:37,220 --> 00:19:38,660
placed their written charge against him
378
00:19:38,660 --> 00:19:41,090
this is Jesus the King of the Jews
379
00:19:41,090 --> 00:19:44,270
more irony to rebels were crucified with
380
00:19:44,270 --> 00:19:45,980
him one in his right and one on his left
381
00:19:45,980 --> 00:19:48,770
those who passed by hurled insults at
382
00:19:48,770 --> 00:19:50,690
him shaking their heads and saying you
383
00:19:50,690 --> 00:19:52,160
who are going to destroy the temple and
384
00:19:52,160 --> 00:19:54,080
build it in three days save yourself
385
00:19:54,080 --> 00:19:56,300
come down from the cross if you are the
386
00:19:56,300 --> 00:20:01,250
son of God now here is a horrible
387
00:20:01,250 --> 00:20:04,780
picture of the most abject weakness
388
00:20:04,780 --> 00:20:09,470
possible when sentence was passed
389
00:20:09,470 --> 00:20:12,020
you were beaten again then you were
390
00:20:12,020 --> 00:20:13,760
forced to carry the cross member the
391
00:20:13,760 --> 00:20:15,470
horizontal member of the cross on your
392
00:20:15,470 --> 00:20:17,620
shoulder out to the place of execution
393
00:20:17,620 --> 00:20:19,940
where the upright was already in the
394
00:20:19,940 --> 00:20:22,400
ground and there you were either nailed
395
00:20:22,400 --> 00:20:25,010
or tied to the cross member was hoisted
396
00:20:25,010 --> 00:20:27,470
up and you were stripped and you hung
397
00:20:27,470 --> 00:20:29,690
there not with a convenient loin cloth
398
00:20:29,690 --> 00:20:31,730
when men and women were crucified they
399
00:20:31,730 --> 00:20:33,650
were crucified naked it was meant to be
400
00:20:33,650 --> 00:20:36,940
shameful as well as painful
401
00:20:40,460 --> 00:20:43,460
in former times there had been occasions
402
00:20:43,460 --> 00:20:45,230
when the soldiers had left somebody
403
00:20:45,230 --> 00:20:47,419
hanging there and friends that actually
404
00:20:47,419 --> 00:20:48,799
managed to come along and take the
405
00:20:48,799 --> 00:20:51,200
person down and they'd survived at this
406
00:20:51,200 --> 00:20:52,429
point in Roman history that was
407
00:20:52,429 --> 00:20:55,009
impossible because it was Imperial
408
00:20:55,009 --> 00:20:56,990
policy now to leave a quaternion of
409
00:20:56,990 --> 00:21:00,950
soldiers there to guard the body until
410
00:21:00,950 --> 00:21:05,960
it was unambiguously dead and you pulled
411
00:21:05,960 --> 00:21:07,369
with your arms and you push with your
412
00:21:07,369 --> 00:21:09,499
legs to open up your chest cavity so
413
00:21:09,499 --> 00:21:12,289
that you can breathe and the muscle
414
00:21:12,289 --> 00:21:14,299
spasms would start so you collapse and
415
00:21:14,299 --> 00:21:17,659
you couldn't breathe then you pull with
416
00:21:17,659 --> 00:21:19,009
your arms and you pushed with your legs
417
00:21:19,009 --> 00:21:21,590
so that you could breathe and then the
418
00:21:21,590 --> 00:21:23,259
spasms would start and you'd collapse
419
00:21:23,259 --> 00:21:27,110
that could go on for hours and sometimes
420
00:21:27,110 --> 00:21:30,799
days and the soldiers would keep
421
00:21:30,799 --> 00:21:35,570
watching that's why if they wanted to
422
00:21:35,570 --> 00:21:36,830
finish you off for any reason a little
423
00:21:36,830 --> 00:21:37,519
faster
424
00:21:37,519 --> 00:21:38,749
what they'd do is just come along and
425
00:21:38,749 --> 00:21:41,840
smash your shin bones then you couldn't
426
00:21:41,840 --> 00:21:42,919
push with your legs anymore you
427
00:21:42,919 --> 00:21:44,499
suffocate in a few minutes
428
00:21:44,499 --> 00:21:48,860
listen at this point Jesus is as
429
00:21:48,860 --> 00:21:52,610
powerless as you can imagine there is no
430
00:21:52,610 --> 00:21:55,820
way out there is no hope and he's so
431
00:21:55,820 --> 00:21:58,460
weak from his repeated beatings he isn't
432
00:21:58,460 --> 00:22:01,580
even strong enough to hoist the cross
433
00:22:01,580 --> 00:22:03,830
member on his shoulder and take it out
434
00:22:03,830 --> 00:22:07,519
to the place of execution Jesus by trade
435
00:22:07,519 --> 00:22:12,460
a carpenter can't lift a piece of wood
436
00:22:12,460 --> 00:22:14,720
so they have to Shanghai somebody else
437
00:22:14,720 --> 00:22:18,039
to do it for them
438
00:22:22,299 --> 00:22:25,830
and then the mockery begins
439
00:22:29,790 --> 00:22:31,650
you who are going to destroy the temple
440
00:22:31,650 --> 00:22:33,350
and build it in three days save yourself
441
00:22:33,350 --> 00:22:35,850
come down from the cross if you are the
442
00:22:35,850 --> 00:22:38,700
son of God now where does this charge
443
00:22:38,700 --> 00:22:41,550
come from seems strange in our ears but
444
00:22:41,550 --> 00:22:44,790
it too showed up in the trial not the
445
00:22:44,790 --> 00:22:46,980
trial before Pilate but at the previous
446
00:22:46,980 --> 00:22:48,810
chapter chapter 26 the trial before the
447
00:22:48,810 --> 00:22:51,420
high priests the reason it could be
448
00:22:51,420 --> 00:22:55,290
entered was this the Roman Empire was a
449
00:22:55,290 --> 00:22:58,800
highly diverse place religiously
450
00:22:58,800 --> 00:23:01,230
speaking so one of the things that the
451
00:23:01,230 --> 00:23:04,200
Romans did to try to keep peace was to
452
00:23:04,200 --> 00:23:06,540
make it a capital crime to desecrate a
453
00:23:06,540 --> 00:23:07,590
temple any temple
454
00:23:07,590 --> 00:23:09,960
if you desecrate a temple under Roman
455
00:23:09,960 --> 00:23:16,050
law you die so if someone heard Jesus
456
00:23:16,050 --> 00:23:17,940
saying destroy this temple in three days
457
00:23:17,940 --> 00:23:20,550
I'll raise it again then maybe that
458
00:23:20,550 --> 00:23:22,620
could be worked into conspiracy for a
459
00:23:22,620 --> 00:23:24,780
capital crime that is destroying a
460
00:23:24,780 --> 00:23:25,260
temple
461
00:23:25,260 --> 00:23:28,950
do you see but they couldn't get their
462
00:23:28,950 --> 00:23:31,470
story straight and it didn't work out to
463
00:23:31,470 --> 00:23:33,780
be the crime that they actually charged
464
00:23:33,780 --> 00:23:36,120
him with they charged him finally with
465
00:23:36,120 --> 00:23:40,280
treason being a king over against Caesar
466
00:23:40,280 --> 00:23:44,580
but now as some people heard this debate
467
00:23:44,580 --> 00:23:46,830
and charged at the trial they look at
468
00:23:46,830 --> 00:23:49,620
Jesus in this most abject weakness
469
00:23:49,620 --> 00:23:52,560
without any strength at all and they say
470
00:23:52,560 --> 00:23:54,060
yeah big mouth
471
00:23:54,060 --> 00:23:56,190
you're so strong aren't you gonna
472
00:23:56,190 --> 00:23:57,420
destroy a temple and build it in three
473
00:23:57,420 --> 00:24:01,680
days look at you now huh and again
474
00:24:01,680 --> 00:24:06,930
they're being ironic if you work for
475
00:24:06,930 --> 00:24:09,390
Habitat for Humanity with a decent
476
00:24:09,390 --> 00:24:11,520
foundation a lot of planning a good
477
00:24:11,520 --> 00:24:13,440
engineer and 40 strong back to
478
00:24:13,440 --> 00:24:15,000
volunteers you can put up a house in a
479
00:24:15,000 --> 00:24:18,330
day but you couldn't put up one of the
480
00:24:18,330 --> 00:24:21,330
ancient temples in a day you couldn't
481
00:24:21,330 --> 00:24:23,670
put up one of the cathedrals of Europe
482
00:24:23,670 --> 00:24:26,550
in a lifetime not one of the original
483
00:24:26,550 --> 00:24:28,050
architects of the great cathedrals of
484
00:24:28,050 --> 00:24:29,430
Europe ever saw the finished product it
485
00:24:29,430 --> 00:24:32,390
took more than one lifetime to do it and
486
00:24:32,390 --> 00:24:34,650
the Temple in Jerusalem just this
487
00:24:34,650 --> 00:24:36,510
current beautification had already been
488
00:24:36,510 --> 00:24:42,580
going on for 46 years more by
489
00:24:42,580 --> 00:24:48,309
slaw you are not allowed to hammer a
490
00:24:48,309 --> 00:24:52,090
stone within ear distance of the temple
491
00:24:52,090 --> 00:24:53,919
all those stones had to be measured and
492
00:24:53,919 --> 00:24:56,049
cut and brought in without hydraulics
493
00:24:56,049 --> 00:24:58,320
and fit into place
494
00:24:58,320 --> 00:25:00,700
no wonder the temple took a long time to
495
00:25:00,700 --> 00:25:03,519
build and Jesus says destroy this temple
496
00:25:03,519 --> 00:25:04,990
in three days I'll build it again what
497
00:25:04,990 --> 00:25:09,330
kind of power is that so when they say
498
00:25:09,330 --> 00:25:12,010
you who destroy this temple and build it
499
00:25:12,010 --> 00:25:14,340
in three days what they really mean is
500
00:25:14,340 --> 00:25:17,919
this is a lovely piece of ironic humor
501
00:25:17,919 --> 00:25:21,100
you're actually just hopelessly weak
502
00:25:21,100 --> 00:25:25,409
dying and Damned on a cross
503
00:25:26,909 --> 00:25:33,279
but Mathew gnosis and God knows and the
504
00:25:33,279 --> 00:25:39,850
readers know that by his death and the
505
00:25:39,850 --> 00:25:41,789
resurrection around the corner
506
00:25:41,789 --> 00:25:44,309
Jesus is destroying the temple and
507
00:25:44,309 --> 00:25:49,389
rising again Jesus did use these words
508
00:25:49,389 --> 00:25:51,130
destroy this temple in three days I'll
509
00:25:51,130 --> 00:25:54,100
rise it again I'll raise it again he
510
00:25:54,100 --> 00:25:55,510
used them early on in his ministry you
511
00:25:55,510 --> 00:25:56,620
can find them if you want to look them
512
00:25:56,620 --> 00:25:58,570
up later in John chapter two and at the
513
00:25:58,570 --> 00:25:59,980
time the disciples didn't have a clue
514
00:25:59,980 --> 00:26:01,809
what he was talking about Jesus is
515
00:26:01,809 --> 00:26:03,130
saying something deep again very
516
00:26:03,130 --> 00:26:08,649
enigmatic but then John comments after
517
00:26:08,649 --> 00:26:11,559
Jesus had risen from the dead then they
518
00:26:11,559 --> 00:26:13,659
remembered his words and they believed
519
00:26:13,659 --> 00:26:16,779
the scriptures the point is the temple
520
00:26:16,779 --> 00:26:18,549
in the Old Testament as we have seen
521
00:26:18,549 --> 00:26:20,289
earlier was the great meeting place
522
00:26:20,289 --> 00:26:23,049
between God and human beings was the
523
00:26:23,049 --> 00:26:25,899
place of sacrifice now Jesus comes along
524
00:26:25,899 --> 00:26:28,480
and referring to his own body says
525
00:26:28,480 --> 00:26:30,789
destroy this temple and in three days
526
00:26:30,789 --> 00:26:33,730
I'll raise it again by the destruction
527
00:26:33,730 --> 00:26:37,299
of his own life and its resurrection
528
00:26:37,299 --> 00:26:40,450
again he becomes the great meeting place
529
00:26:40,450 --> 00:26:42,909
between God and human beings he becomes
530
00:26:42,909 --> 00:26:45,039
the great temple with all the power that
531
00:26:45,039 --> 00:26:49,389
is required in resurrection the great
532
00:26:49,389 --> 00:26:50,980
meeting place between God and human
533
00:26:50,980 --> 00:26:53,350
beings is not some sacrificial system in
534
00:26:53,350 --> 00:26:55,100
Jerusalem or elsewhere
535
00:26:55,100 --> 00:27:01,820
as Jesus himself thus while the mockers
536
00:27:01,820 --> 00:27:07,160
see some cheap irony we cannot help but
537
00:27:07,160 --> 00:27:10,549
see an even deeper irony for the man who
538
00:27:10,549 --> 00:27:12,830
was utterly powerless is in fact
539
00:27:12,830 --> 00:27:13,490
powerful
540
00:27:13,490 --> 00:27:18,590
he's the temple of the Living God and
541
00:27:18,590 --> 00:27:22,120
third the man who can't save himself
542
00:27:22,120 --> 00:27:25,400
saves others the mockery continues in
543
00:27:25,400 --> 00:27:28,400
4142 in the same way the chief priests
544
00:27:28,400 --> 00:27:29,330
the teachers of the law
545
00:27:29,330 --> 00:27:31,880
the elders mocked him he saved others
546
00:27:31,880 --> 00:27:34,159
they said but he can't save himself he's
547
00:27:34,159 --> 00:27:36,200
the king of Israel let him come down now
548
00:27:36,200 --> 00:27:37,850
from the cross and we will believe in
549
00:27:37,850 --> 00:27:40,520
him he trusts in God let God rescue him
550
00:27:40,520 --> 00:27:42,260
now if he wants them for he said I am
551
00:27:42,260 --> 00:27:48,740
the son of God what do we mean when we
552
00:27:48,740 --> 00:27:57,110
say to save the verb to save what does
553
00:27:57,110 --> 00:27:58,909
it mean on the streets of Minneapolis or
554
00:27:58,909 --> 00:28:01,159
the streets of Chicago on the streets of
555
00:28:01,159 --> 00:28:06,110
London England well it depends who's
556
00:28:06,110 --> 00:28:11,000
saying it if you're a banker saving is
557
00:28:11,000 --> 00:28:12,409
something that you're supposed to do if
558
00:28:12,409 --> 00:28:15,260
the market doesn't wipe it all out to
559
00:28:15,260 --> 00:28:17,120
protect your investments to prepare for
560
00:28:17,120 --> 00:28:22,659
retirement if you're gifted in sports
561
00:28:22,659 --> 00:28:25,669
the saving is what the goalie does to
562
00:28:25,669 --> 00:28:29,690
stop a goal whether in soccer or in ice
563
00:28:29,690 --> 00:28:34,970
hockey if you're a geek saving is what
564
00:28:34,970 --> 00:28:36,409
you're supposed to do so that you don't
565
00:28:36,409 --> 00:28:39,380
lose too much data before your hard
566
00:28:39,380 --> 00:28:42,860
drive crashes so we use the verb to save
567
00:28:42,860 --> 00:28:44,690
in a variety of different contexts don't
568
00:28:44,690 --> 00:28:44,990
we
569
00:28:44,990 --> 00:28:49,280
what does Matthew mean again we've
570
00:28:49,280 --> 00:28:50,570
already had a glimpse of this haven't we
571
00:28:50,570 --> 00:28:52,400
a couple of weeks a couple of sessions
572
00:28:52,400 --> 00:28:57,490
back when Joseph is told that Mary is
573
00:28:57,490 --> 00:29:02,000
pregnant he is told that he must give
574
00:29:02,000 --> 00:29:06,680
the baby the name Jesus Yahweh say
575
00:29:06,680 --> 00:29:09,860
for he will save his people from their
576
00:29:09,860 --> 00:29:17,960
senses saving in Matthew's Gospel means
577
00:29:17,960 --> 00:29:21,320
saving from sin from its guilt its
578
00:29:21,320 --> 00:29:22,460
consequences
579
00:29:22,460 --> 00:29:24,680
it's eternal effects its effects and
580
00:29:24,680 --> 00:29:29,080
power in this life that's why Jesus came
581
00:29:29,590 --> 00:29:33,320
now the mockers are saying he saved
582
00:29:33,320 --> 00:29:35,150
others that is he helped them he cure
583
00:29:35,150 --> 00:29:37,150
them he was such a good Savior you know
584
00:29:37,150 --> 00:29:39,380
but himself he can't say look at him
585
00:29:39,380 --> 00:29:41,980
he's completely
586
00:29:42,550 --> 00:29:44,840
melete li tied down there there is no
587
00:29:44,840 --> 00:29:46,580
way he can save himself which shows he's
588
00:29:46,580 --> 00:29:48,920
not much of a Savior at all so when they
589
00:29:48,920 --> 00:29:50,900
are saying he saved others again they
590
00:29:50,900 --> 00:29:53,300
mean with cheap irony he's no Savior to
591
00:29:53,300 --> 00:29:58,850
be respected at all but Mathew gnosis
592
00:29:58,850 --> 00:30:05,590
and God knows and the readers know that
593
00:30:05,590 --> 00:30:10,700
it's by staying on that cross that he
594
00:30:10,700 --> 00:30:17,930
saves others and strictly speaking he
595
00:30:17,930 --> 00:30:21,680
can't save himself and save others if he
596
00:30:21,680 --> 00:30:23,210
saves himself he won't be able to save
597
00:30:23,210 --> 00:30:26,690
others when they say he can't save
598
00:30:26,690 --> 00:30:29,450
himself they mean that he is so attached
599
00:30:29,450 --> 00:30:31,820
to the cross so nailed to the cross that
600
00:30:31,820 --> 00:30:37,910
physically he can't get down but Matthew
601
00:30:37,910 --> 00:30:42,740
knows that he could get down he could
602
00:30:42,740 --> 00:30:44,390
still call his twelve legions of angels
603
00:30:44,390 --> 00:30:49,550
as Matthew puts it elsewhere but he
604
00:30:49,550 --> 00:30:51,410
can't save himself if he is to save
605
00:30:51,410 --> 00:30:54,860
others because the very function of his
606
00:30:54,860 --> 00:30:57,620
hanging on that cross is to bear my sin
607
00:30:57,620 --> 00:31:00,560
in his own body on the tree if he does
608
00:31:00,560 --> 00:31:05,960
save himself I'm damned it's only by not
609
00:31:05,960 --> 00:31:10,540
saving himself that he saves me
610
00:31:17,320 --> 00:31:20,170
there's this deep irony behind the cheap
611
00:31:20,170 --> 00:31:26,440
irony unlike what the critics thought
612
00:31:26,440 --> 00:31:34,900
their words are true he saved others he
613
00:31:34,900 --> 00:31:37,380
can't save himself
614
00:31:41,230 --> 00:31:43,330
I suspect that part of the reason why we
615
00:31:43,330 --> 00:31:48,460
have initial trouble absorbing this is
616
00:31:48,460 --> 00:31:50,919
because we live at a time in Western
617
00:31:50,919 --> 00:31:53,700
culture where an awful lot of conduct is
618
00:31:53,700 --> 00:31:57,820
constrained by force of law or just by
619
00:31:57,820 --> 00:32:02,830
force in other words we don't have much
620
00:32:02,830 --> 00:32:06,460
place left for a kind of internal moral
621
00:32:06,460 --> 00:32:11,350
imperative did you see the film Titanic
622
00:32:11,350 --> 00:32:14,399
when it came out decade and a half ago
623
00:32:14,399 --> 00:32:18,639
as the great ship is going down people
624
00:32:18,639 --> 00:32:20,620
are scrambling for the lifeboats of
625
00:32:20,620 --> 00:32:23,980
which there are too few there were a lot
626
00:32:23,980 --> 00:32:27,130
of fat cats on the boat wealthy people
627
00:32:27,130 --> 00:32:29,679
and they start scrambling there and
628
00:32:29,679 --> 00:32:31,779
shoving the women and children aside so
629
00:32:31,779 --> 00:32:33,789
they can reserve their own places
630
00:32:33,789 --> 00:32:36,880
the sailors pull out handguns and fire
631
00:32:36,880 --> 00:32:38,919
in the air and say women and children
632
00:32:38,919 --> 00:32:44,139
the boats are for women and children do
633
00:32:44,139 --> 00:32:48,130
you remember the scene historically of
634
00:32:48,130 --> 00:32:51,340
course that's rubbish all the survivors
635
00:32:51,340 --> 00:32:55,269
say that it's rubbish there were a lot
636
00:32:55,269 --> 00:32:59,679
of fat cats on that boat John Jacob
637
00:32:59,679 --> 00:33:02,460
Astor was there the bill gates of 1912
638
00:33:02,460 --> 00:33:07,539
the richest men he got his wife to the
639
00:33:07,539 --> 00:33:09,309
boat shoved her in and when others said
640
00:33:09,309 --> 00:33:11,139
to him you get in too sir he said no
641
00:33:11,139 --> 00:33:12,580
this is for women and children and he
642
00:33:12,580 --> 00:33:16,240
stepped back and he ground him Simon
643
00:33:16,240 --> 00:33:19,690
Guggenheim was there he was pulled apart
644
00:33:19,690 --> 00:33:21,909
from his wife and yelled to someone
645
00:33:21,909 --> 00:33:24,279
between tell my wife that Guggenheim
646
00:33:24,279 --> 00:33:26,110
knows his duty and he stepped back in he
647
00:33:26,110 --> 00:33:28,120
drowned she was safe there is not one
648
00:33:28,120 --> 00:33:31,299
single report of fat cats scrambling for
649
00:33:31,299 --> 00:33:32,860
the boats and leaving the women and the
650
00:33:32,860 --> 00:33:36,779
children out isn't that stunning
651
00:33:40,139 --> 00:33:42,940
when a writer calls Zakariya reviewed
652
00:33:42,940 --> 00:33:45,940
the film for the New York Times he asked
653
00:33:45,940 --> 00:33:48,340
the obvious question why did the
654
00:33:48,340 --> 00:33:50,830
producer and director distort history
655
00:33:50,830 --> 00:33:52,870
and say what isn't true why didn't they
656
00:33:52,870 --> 00:33:54,730
tell the truth about what happened at
657
00:33:54,730 --> 00:33:57,639
this point and then he answered his own
658
00:33:57,639 --> 00:34:01,120
question because he said if they had
659
00:34:01,120 --> 00:34:03,759
told the truth today nobody would have
660
00:34:03,759 --> 00:34:06,149
believed them
661
00:34:11,739 --> 00:34:13,270
because of the time you saw that there
662
00:34:13,270 --> 00:34:14,859
were so many more Christians around but
663
00:34:14,859 --> 00:34:16,389
there was enough of a Christian heritage
664
00:34:16,389 --> 00:34:22,929
that drove a moral imperative that made
665
00:34:22,929 --> 00:34:27,580
people from within want to do something
666
00:34:27,580 --> 00:34:31,510
self sacrificial for others that's what
667
00:34:31,510 --> 00:34:33,668
drove Jesus supremely doing his father's
668
00:34:33,668 --> 00:34:36,159
will and that's the way it is once you
669
00:34:36,159 --> 00:34:38,710
and I become a disciple of Jesus that is
670
00:34:38,710 --> 00:34:40,810
it changes us from within so that our
671
00:34:40,810 --> 00:34:42,969
moral categories change it's not that
672
00:34:42,969 --> 00:34:44,889
there's force of law upon us or a
673
00:34:44,889 --> 00:34:46,510
constraint or a big policeman with a
674
00:34:46,510 --> 00:34:48,879
stick waiting to bash us if we step
675
00:34:48,879 --> 00:34:51,280
aside somewhere there's a transformation
676
00:34:51,280 --> 00:34:55,480
of heart a pale reflection of Jesus but
677
00:34:55,480 --> 00:35:01,780
in the same line wanting to sacrifice
678
00:35:01,780 --> 00:35:08,560
for the sake of others and then of
679
00:35:08,560 --> 00:35:14,170
course finally the man who cries out in
680
00:35:14,170 --> 00:35:22,450
despair actually trusts God the people
681
00:35:22,450 --> 00:35:24,730
are still mocking in verse 43 he trusts
682
00:35:24,730 --> 00:35:28,690
in God let God rescue him now if he
683
00:35:28,690 --> 00:35:30,070
wants and Bree said I am the son of God
684
00:35:30,070 --> 00:35:34,869
and then Jesus cries out in despair my
685
00:35:34,869 --> 00:35:42,660
God my God why have you forsaken me so
686
00:35:42,660 --> 00:35:45,310
is Jesus actually giving up at this
687
00:35:45,310 --> 00:35:47,650
point caught up in the web of miserable
688
00:35:47,650 --> 00:35:49,750
circumstances drowning and despair is
689
00:35:49,750 --> 00:35:53,619
that the message we are to learn push me
690
00:35:53,619 --> 00:35:56,970
far enough and I too will collapse oh
691
00:35:56,970 --> 00:36:01,859
it's much deeper than that because of
692
00:36:01,859 --> 00:36:04,540
Jesus death because of his willingness
693
00:36:04,540 --> 00:36:07,869
to stay there in the very next verse
694
00:36:07,869 --> 00:36:12,190
verse 51 as Jesus dies the veil of the
695
00:36:12,190 --> 00:36:15,849
temple is torn aside the veil of the
696
00:36:15,849 --> 00:36:18,099
temple that set off the very presence of
697
00:36:18,099 --> 00:36:20,920
God from the rest of the people then the
698
00:36:20,920 --> 00:36:22,660
most holy place roni the high priest
699
00:36:22,660 --> 00:36:25,660
could enter once a year now the veil
700
00:36:25,660 --> 00:36:28,509
is torn aside as if to indicate that you
701
00:36:28,509 --> 00:36:30,849
and I ordinary human beings can actually
702
00:36:30,849 --> 00:36:32,460
get into the presence of God because
703
00:36:32,460 --> 00:36:36,009
Jesus sacrifice really has paid the debt
704
00:36:36,009 --> 00:36:37,990
that paid all the debt that the blood of
705
00:36:37,990 --> 00:36:40,210
bulls and goats could never ever pay for
706
00:36:40,210 --> 00:36:43,269
along those sacrificial lines we saw a
707
00:36:43,269 --> 00:36:48,130
few sessions back now Jesus dies and in
708
00:36:48,130 --> 00:36:50,410
his cry my God my God why have you
709
00:36:50,410 --> 00:36:53,710
forsaken me oh he he is crying in the
710
00:36:53,710 --> 00:36:56,259
bleakest and and darkest most pitiable
711
00:36:56,259 --> 00:37:00,549
despair but not because he does not know
712
00:37:00,549 --> 00:37:03,279
he is doing his father's will but
713
00:37:03,279 --> 00:37:05,079
precisely because he does know he is
714
00:37:05,079 --> 00:37:07,960
doing his father's will he is trusting
715
00:37:07,960 --> 00:37:12,099
God and that Father's will is to bear my
716
00:37:12,099 --> 00:37:15,190
sin in his own body on the tree
717
00:37:15,190 --> 00:37:19,109
absorbing the curse discharging the debt
718
00:37:19,109 --> 00:37:22,900
paying the guilt tearing the veil so
719
00:37:22,900 --> 00:37:27,059
that I can get into the most holy place
720
00:37:34,290 --> 00:37:41,480
now I titled this the God who dies in
721
00:37:41,480 --> 00:37:46,380
some ways that's a bit slippery by and
722
00:37:46,380 --> 00:37:48,240
large the New Testament does not talk of
723
00:37:48,240 --> 00:37:50,570
God dying
724
00:37:50,570 --> 00:37:55,230
it speaks of God and of Jesus being the
725
00:37:55,230 --> 00:38:02,010
god man and of Jesus dying never ever is
726
00:38:02,010 --> 00:38:03,390
there a hint that the father dies of
727
00:38:03,390 --> 00:38:09,270
course not but once in a while there are
728
00:38:09,270 --> 00:38:14,040
passages that come so close to this when
729
00:38:14,040 --> 00:38:17,310
the Apostle Paul for example is giving a
730
00:38:17,310 --> 00:38:20,820
speech to some church elders who belong
731
00:38:20,820 --> 00:38:22,950
to the church in Ephesus he says in Acts
732
00:38:22,950 --> 00:38:27,300
chapter 20 he they are to look after the
733
00:38:27,300 --> 00:38:28,890
flock of God the Church of God in
734
00:38:28,890 --> 00:38:36,690
Ephesus which God has purchased with his
735
00:38:36,690 --> 00:38:43,500
own blood isn't that remarkable God with
736
00:38:43,500 --> 00:38:45,870
his own blood now of course he could
737
00:38:45,870 --> 00:38:47,880
parse that he could tease that out just
738
00:38:47,880 --> 00:38:50,730
a bit more that is to say he could say
739
00:38:50,730 --> 00:38:53,010
of course is not the heavenly father but
740
00:38:53,010 --> 00:38:55,410
it is the son of God it is Jesus who is
741
00:38:55,410 --> 00:38:57,390
himself God and because he's God and
742
00:38:57,390 --> 00:38:58,770
because he does give his life and shed
743
00:38:58,770 --> 00:39:00,450
his blood therefore it is appropriate to
744
00:39:00,450 --> 00:39:02,730
say God sheds his life
745
00:39:02,730 --> 00:39:05,850
oh if you have to unpack it that that's
746
00:39:05,850 --> 00:39:11,010
what is meant but nevertheless don't let
747
00:39:11,010 --> 00:39:17,820
the shock of the language stop you this
748
00:39:17,820 --> 00:39:20,430
is God's actually in Christ Jesus in the
749
00:39:20,430 --> 00:39:24,270
Godman this is not the death of one
750
00:39:24,270 --> 00:39:26,790
human individual and no more it is a
751
00:39:26,790 --> 00:39:29,610
human individual who is also the Living
752
00:39:29,610 --> 00:39:32,100
God who hangs on that cross
753
00:39:32,100 --> 00:39:34,290
not because he's forced to do so by
754
00:39:34,290 --> 00:39:38,040
circumstances but because he's bringing
755
00:39:38,040 --> 00:39:41,430
in himself all of those strands of the
756
00:39:41,430 --> 00:39:43,440
Old Testament sacrificial system that
757
00:39:43,440 --> 00:39:45,540
temple system bringing them in his and
758
00:39:45,540 --> 00:39:47,650
in himself all the strands
759
00:39:47,650 --> 00:39:49,270
from the fall the promise of the seed of
760
00:39:49,270 --> 00:39:51,940
the woman coming to crush the Serpent's
761
00:39:51,940 --> 00:39:59,020
head by his own death baring sin and
762
00:39:59,020 --> 00:40:06,040
scoffing rude in my place condemned he
763
00:40:06,040 --> 00:40:12,450
stood sealed my pardon with his blood
764
00:40:13,410 --> 00:40:19,530
hallelujah what a savior
765
00:40:23,230 --> 00:40:25,270
it is appropriate to speak of the God
766
00:40:25,270 --> 00:40:27,690
who dies
767
00:40:36,770 --> 00:40:40,960
at the end of world war one that
768
00:40:40,960 --> 00:40:43,369
bloodiest and most senseless and stupid
769
00:40:43,369 --> 00:40:50,170
of wars several English poets Wilfred on
770
00:40:50,170 --> 00:40:55,340
Rupert Brooke one or two others wrote
771
00:40:55,340 --> 00:40:58,100
some very moving poetry about the sheer
772
00:40:58,100 --> 00:41:02,210
savagery of the war one of the more
773
00:41:02,210 --> 00:41:05,390
minor pieces was called Jesus of the
774
00:41:05,390 --> 00:41:12,440
scars and the poet ends up by saying the
775
00:41:12,440 --> 00:41:16,190
other gods were strong but thou wast
776
00:41:16,190 --> 00:41:18,190
weak
777
00:41:18,190 --> 00:41:23,270
they rode without it's stumbled to thy
778
00:41:23,270 --> 00:41:28,310
throne and to our wounds only God's
779
00:41:28,310 --> 00:41:32,810
wounds can speak and not a God has
780
00:41:32,810 --> 00:41:36,160
wounds but thou alone
781
00:41:43,240 --> 00:41:46,089
so when we face the ravages of
782
00:41:46,089 --> 00:41:48,930
uncertainty when there is suffering and
783
00:41:48,930 --> 00:41:53,470
agony in our lives or in the world and
784
00:41:53,470 --> 00:41:55,660
we wonder what God is doing and we have
785
00:41:55,660 --> 00:41:58,480
no answers and we reread the book of Job
786
00:41:58,480 --> 00:42:00,490
that wisdom literature we saw three or
787
00:42:00,490 --> 00:42:03,070
four sessions back and and we hear God
788
00:42:03,070 --> 00:42:06,369
saying you don't understand it all we
789
00:42:06,369 --> 00:42:12,220
can actually add something more now to
790
00:42:12,220 --> 00:42:15,010
our wounds only God's wounds can speak
791
00:42:15,010 --> 00:42:20,339
and not a God has wounds but thou alone
792
00:42:26,849 --> 00:42:30,970
you can trust a God who is not only
793
00:42:30,970 --> 00:42:38,549
sovereign but bleeding for you
794
00:42:41,920 --> 00:42:43,960
and sometimes when there are no other
795
00:42:43,960 --> 00:42:47,920
answers for your guilt or your fears or
796
00:42:47,920 --> 00:42:53,470
your uncertainties or your anguish there
797
00:42:53,470 --> 00:43:00,510
is one a movable place on which to stand
798
00:43:00,720 --> 00:43:02,799
it's the ground right in front of the
799
00:43:02,799 --> 00:43:05,010
cross
800
00:43:12,750 --> 00:43:16,080
yet and yet as important as the cross is
801
00:43:16,080 --> 00:43:19,770
this is not the end of the story for all
802
00:43:19,770 --> 00:43:22,440
of the New Testament writers focus
803
00:43:22,440 --> 00:43:25,140
equivalently on the resurrection of the
804
00:43:25,140 --> 00:43:28,710
Lord Jesus the stories are told in many
805
00:43:28,710 --> 00:43:31,530
different ways there is no way they can
806
00:43:31,530 --> 00:43:33,420
be reduced to mass hallucination
807
00:43:33,420 --> 00:43:35,880
he appeared too many times over a period
808
00:43:35,880 --> 00:43:39,660
of 40 days or so he appeared to one
809
00:43:39,660 --> 00:43:42,180
since twos he appeared to as many as
810
00:43:42,180 --> 00:43:45,060
five hundred at a time here appeared to
811
00:43:45,060 --> 00:43:47,190
the Apostles more than once he appeared
812
00:43:47,190 --> 00:43:48,180
in locked rooms
813
00:43:48,180 --> 00:43:50,520
he appeared on the seashore ate some
814
00:43:50,520 --> 00:43:52,380
fish that he was cooking for them and
815
00:43:52,380 --> 00:43:55,050
that the witnesses multiplied and and he
816
00:43:55,050 --> 00:43:56,460
shows up when they're not expecting him
817
00:43:56,460 --> 00:43:59,040
he shows up when they are he cannot be
818
00:43:59,040 --> 00:44:02,070
categorized or or dismissed or or
819
00:44:02,070 --> 00:44:03,750
domesticated the resurrection
820
00:44:03,750 --> 00:44:06,450
appearances are simply too frequent too
821
00:44:06,450 --> 00:44:10,830
diverse and with too many witnesses what
822
00:44:10,830 --> 00:44:16,470
do you do with them the fact of the
823
00:44:16,470 --> 00:44:17,970
matter is if you think that the early
824
00:44:17,970 --> 00:44:20,520
Christians made this up or were somehow
825
00:44:20,520 --> 00:44:24,210
hoodwinked or fell victims to mass
826
00:44:24,210 --> 00:44:28,770
psychology of some sort it's hard to
827
00:44:28,770 --> 00:44:30,180
explain why they were willing to die for
828
00:44:30,180 --> 00:44:32,480
their faith
829
00:44:36,450 --> 00:44:38,190
resurrection is a fairy story a bit like
830
00:44:38,190 --> 00:44:43,260
Hansel and Gretel well my question is
831
00:44:43,260 --> 00:44:46,290
how many have offered to die for Hansel
832
00:44:46,290 --> 00:44:52,140
and Gretel but the early Christians were
833
00:44:52,140 --> 00:44:53,820
willing to die for their conviction that
834
00:44:53,820 --> 00:44:56,040
Jesus had risen from the dead they had
835
00:44:56,040 --> 00:44:57,480
seen him touched him
836
00:44:57,480 --> 00:45:03,180
handled him and they were transformed by
837
00:45:03,180 --> 00:45:05,430
him and they were promised by him
838
00:45:05,430 --> 00:45:07,910
resurrection bodies of their own one day
839
00:45:07,910 --> 00:45:14,190
they believed that he was Lord one of
840
00:45:14,190 --> 00:45:19,619
the most moving scenes is describing
841
00:45:19,619 --> 00:45:22,320
what takes place on the second Sunday
842
00:45:22,320 --> 00:45:24,150
the first Sunday Resurrection Sunday
843
00:45:24,150 --> 00:45:26,490
Jesus appeared to some women to Peter
844
00:45:26,490 --> 00:45:29,730
and John he appeared to a couple walking
845
00:45:29,730 --> 00:45:31,589
to the little town of Emmaus he appeared
846
00:45:31,589 --> 00:45:33,990
to 10 of the Apostles and now on the
847
00:45:33,990 --> 00:45:36,810
second Sunday we read these words John
848
00:45:36,810 --> 00:45:39,180
chapter 20 that's the fourth gospel
849
00:45:39,180 --> 00:45:42,150
Matthew Mark Luke and John chapter 20
850
00:45:42,150 --> 00:45:46,109
beginning at verse 24 now Thomas also
851
00:45:46,109 --> 00:45:48,060
known as didymus one of the twelve was
852
00:45:48,060 --> 00:45:50,010
not with the disciples when Jesus came
853
00:45:50,010 --> 00:45:52,200
so the other disciples told him we have
854
00:45:52,200 --> 00:45:55,020
seen the Lord but he said unless I see
855
00:45:55,020 --> 00:45:56,790
the nail marks in his hands and put my
856
00:45:56,790 --> 00:45:58,589
finger where the nails were and put my
857
00:45:58,589 --> 00:46:02,930
hand into his side I will not believe
858
00:46:03,710 --> 00:46:07,410
now this is the kind of doubt that
859
00:46:07,410 --> 00:46:11,849
Springs from hurt he did not want to be
860
00:46:11,849 --> 00:46:13,950
duped he had believed that Jesus was the
861
00:46:13,950 --> 00:46:16,980
Messiah and then Jesus had died it made
862
00:46:16,980 --> 00:46:22,589
no sense he was lonely and scared he was
863
00:46:22,589 --> 00:46:28,859
still a pious Jewish monotheism going to
864
00:46:28,859 --> 00:46:30,420
talk himself into believing that Jesus
865
00:46:30,420 --> 00:46:32,339
was back after all he was going to have
866
00:46:32,339 --> 00:46:34,200
to see for himself he was not going to
867
00:46:34,200 --> 00:46:36,810
have an easy faith just believing
868
00:46:36,810 --> 00:46:39,839
somebody else's account he wasn't going
869
00:46:39,839 --> 00:46:43,829
to do that in other words he wanted in
870
00:46:43,829 --> 00:46:46,170
his own sights to distinguish between
871
00:46:46,170 --> 00:46:49,780
faith and gullibility so he
872
00:46:49,780 --> 00:46:53,590
for laid out the most extreme test he
873
00:46:53,590 --> 00:46:56,110
could imagine he wanted to be sure that
874
00:46:56,110 --> 00:46:58,810
the body that went into the tomb was the
875
00:46:58,810 --> 00:47:01,300
same as the extensible body that came
876
00:47:01,300 --> 00:47:03,760
out or had some sort of genuine organic
877
00:47:03,760 --> 00:47:08,770
connection so he specifies unless I can
878
00:47:08,770 --> 00:47:15,570
put my hands in the wounds I chair the
879
00:47:15,570 --> 00:47:19,180
Gospel Coalition our executive director
880
00:47:19,180 --> 00:47:24,580
is a chap called Ben pace Ben is an
881
00:47:24,580 --> 00:47:25,510
identical twin
882
00:47:25,510 --> 00:47:29,460
and when I say identical twin I mean
883
00:47:29,460 --> 00:47:32,710
identical twin they look alike generally
884
00:47:32,710 --> 00:47:35,290
but the same little smirks and smiles
885
00:47:35,290 --> 00:47:37,960
and so on they they are spitting images
886
00:47:37,960 --> 00:47:39,130
of each other I'm sure if you know them
887
00:47:39,130 --> 00:47:40,300
well enough you can tell them apart I
888
00:47:40,300 --> 00:47:43,780
can't so last year when we had our
889
00:47:43,780 --> 00:47:45,750
council meeting Ben was around of course
890
00:47:45,750 --> 00:47:49,360
but of course we didn't tell anybody on
891
00:47:49,360 --> 00:47:50,770
the council that his butt brother was
892
00:47:50,770 --> 00:47:54,640
showing up to to help so at one point in
893
00:47:54,640 --> 00:47:58,120
the council meeting I said guys I should
894
00:47:58,120 --> 00:47:59,920
tell you that our executive director has
895
00:47:59,920 --> 00:48:03,520
been working so hard with so much work
896
00:48:03,520 --> 00:48:05,050
to do we decided to clone him and get
897
00:48:05,050 --> 00:48:07,950
two of them and I pointed the other one
898
00:48:07,950 --> 00:48:12,190
well maybe Jesus has a twin maybe he can
899
00:48:12,190 --> 00:48:13,360
come out of the tomb maybe he can be the
900
00:48:13,360 --> 00:48:19,630
new Jesus but then where are the wounds
901
00:48:19,630 --> 00:48:22,270
not only the wounds from the nails but
902
00:48:22,270 --> 00:48:25,120
the shaft that went up under his ribcage
903
00:48:25,120 --> 00:48:28,290
into the pericardium and pierced pierced
904
00:48:28,290 --> 00:48:31,000
the flesh such that blood and water
905
00:48:31,000 --> 00:48:34,540
flowed out where are the wounds unless I
906
00:48:34,540 --> 00:48:36,400
put my hands in the wounds I will not
907
00:48:36,400 --> 00:48:39,630
believe that was the test
908
00:48:42,290 --> 00:48:46,430
a week later his disciples were in the
909
00:48:46,430 --> 00:48:48,250
house again and Thomas was with them
910
00:48:48,250 --> 00:48:50,840
though the doors were locked Jesus came
911
00:48:50,840 --> 00:48:54,080
and stood among them and said peace be
912
00:48:54,080 --> 00:48:56,290
with you
913
00:48:56,320 --> 00:48:58,970
then he said to Thomas put your finger
914
00:48:58,970 --> 00:49:01,730
here see my hands reach out your hand
915
00:49:01,730 --> 00:49:03,500
and put it into my side stop doubting
916
00:49:03,500 --> 00:49:09,530
and believe Thomas said to him my Lord
917
00:49:09,530 --> 00:49:11,920
and my god
918
00:49:16,770 --> 00:49:23,760
now on first reading Thomas's response
919
00:49:23,760 --> 00:49:28,260
is strange it's almost as if he's saying
920
00:49:28,260 --> 00:49:29,570
too much
921
00:49:29,570 --> 00:49:34,460
why doesn't he simply say you are alive
922
00:49:34,460 --> 00:49:39,450
or oops I was wrong or something more
923
00:49:39,450 --> 00:49:42,810
modest why does he infer so much from
924
00:49:42,810 --> 00:49:45,360
the fact that Jesus is now alive my lord
925
00:49:45,360 --> 00:49:46,110
and my god
926
00:49:46,110 --> 00:49:48,690
after all some chapters earlier ret
927
00:49:48,690 --> 00:49:50,369
Lazarus had been raised from the dead
928
00:49:50,369 --> 00:49:52,350
and nobody said to Lazarus after he came
929
00:49:52,350 --> 00:49:54,740
back from the dead my lord and my god
930
00:49:54,740 --> 00:50:02,010
so why are they saying it to Jesus what
931
00:50:02,010 --> 00:50:03,869
you have to do is put yourself into the
932
00:50:03,869 --> 00:50:08,010
very account put yourself so far as it's
933
00:50:08,010 --> 00:50:12,630
possible in Thomas's place you've got a
934
00:50:12,630 --> 00:50:15,840
whole week between the first reports of
935
00:50:15,840 --> 00:50:17,340
Jesus resurrection and this second
936
00:50:17,340 --> 00:50:19,440
appearance the fellow apostles are
937
00:50:19,440 --> 00:50:22,080
coming along and saying we did see him
938
00:50:22,080 --> 00:50:24,480
Peter saw him on his own Peter and John
939
00:50:24,480 --> 00:50:27,300
saw the empty tomb the two on the road
940
00:50:27,300 --> 00:50:30,060
to Emmaus saw him together we saw 10 of
941
00:50:30,060 --> 00:50:31,650
us all at once and then there the
942
00:50:31,650 --> 00:50:33,990
reports of the women we have all seen
943
00:50:33,990 --> 00:50:41,030
him so now all week long he's saying
944
00:50:41,030 --> 00:50:46,590
can't be I just can't believe it I know
945
00:50:46,590 --> 00:50:48,570
the tomb is empty but we who know
946
00:50:48,570 --> 00:50:50,960
somebody grave-robber might have come
947
00:50:50,960 --> 00:50:53,190
maybe we got the wrong tomb who was dark
948
00:50:53,190 --> 00:50:55,980
when they put him in but supposing he is
949
00:50:55,980 --> 00:50:59,520
alive what would that mean oh no I can't
950
00:50:59,520 --> 00:51:02,700
he doesn't really make any sense but he
951
00:51:02,700 --> 00:51:04,940
did do some strange things in his life I
952
00:51:04,940 --> 00:51:08,670
mean after all he said the very night
953
00:51:08,670 --> 00:51:11,550
that he was going to the cross have I
954
00:51:11,550 --> 00:51:13,080
been with you such a long time and have
955
00:51:13,080 --> 00:51:14,970
you not known me he who has seen me has
956
00:51:14,970 --> 00:51:17,910
seen the father and there was that
957
00:51:17,910 --> 00:51:22,080
strange assurance from Jesus some some
958
00:51:22,080 --> 00:51:24,090
time back it's recorded in in John
959
00:51:24,090 --> 00:51:28,260
chapter 8 where Jesus said before
960
00:51:28,260 --> 00:51:29,820
Abraham was
961
00:51:29,820 --> 00:51:37,370
I am now that's not just bad timing
962
00:51:37,370 --> 00:51:41,180
Abraham had been dead by two millennia
963
00:51:41,180 --> 00:51:43,470
why didn't he say before he bruh ham was
964
00:51:43,470 --> 00:51:45,870
ayah I was which would be claiming some
965
00:51:45,870 --> 00:51:47,850
sort of pre existence may be hard enough
966
00:51:47,850 --> 00:51:49,290
to believe but still that's just pre
967
00:51:49,290 --> 00:51:53,160
existence but before Abraham was I am
968
00:51:53,160 --> 00:51:56,190
that's taking the name of God do you
969
00:51:56,190 --> 00:51:58,380
recall how God discloses himself in
970
00:51:58,380 --> 00:52:03,510
Exodus 3 what is your name tell the
971
00:52:03,510 --> 00:52:06,540
people I am has sent you I am what I am
972
00:52:06,540 --> 00:52:11,750
and now Jesus says before Abraham was I
973
00:52:11,750 --> 00:52:14,750
am
974
00:52:16,880 --> 00:52:23,010
God has named what are you two good
975
00:52:23,010 --> 00:52:26,070
passages like that all during the years
976
00:52:26,070 --> 00:52:27,120
of Jesus ministry
977
00:52:27,120 --> 00:52:29,460
I'm sure the disciples scratched their
978
00:52:29,460 --> 00:52:31,440
heads and smiled devotedly and been
979
00:52:31,440 --> 00:52:32,760
thought more enigma
980
00:52:32,760 --> 00:52:36,800
maybe we'll understand it someday and
981
00:52:36,800 --> 00:52:39,630
then Jesus had insisted that it was the
982
00:52:39,630 --> 00:52:41,670
father's determination that all should
983
00:52:41,670 --> 00:52:43,800
honor the son even as they honor the
984
00:52:43,800 --> 00:52:47,010
father you don't say that about a mere
985
00:52:47,010 --> 00:52:53,090
human being all these indications and
986
00:52:53,090 --> 00:52:55,410
then maybe he's thought through some of
987
00:52:55,410 --> 00:52:57,360
those Old Testament texts a bit more and
988
00:52:57,360 --> 00:52:59,610
then of course historically speaking
989
00:52:59,610 --> 00:53:01,980
there are the events in which he's he's
990
00:53:01,980 --> 00:53:05,790
a a participant recorded in the other
991
00:53:05,790 --> 00:53:07,470
Gospels let me let me mention just one
992
00:53:07,470 --> 00:53:11,460
and I'll close there's a spectacular
993
00:53:11,460 --> 00:53:14,760
account in the other Gospels is not in
994
00:53:14,760 --> 00:53:17,100
John where Jesus is preaching in a
995
00:53:17,100 --> 00:53:19,110
packed house no chairs down people have
996
00:53:19,110 --> 00:53:23,040
just packed him and by this time he's
997
00:53:23,040 --> 00:53:25,200
got quite a reputation as a preacher as
998
00:53:25,200 --> 00:53:28,470
a teacher but also as a healer and some
999
00:53:28,470 --> 00:53:31,680
friends bring along a paralyzed friend
1000
00:53:31,680 --> 00:53:35,040
he can't even walk so he's on some sort
1001
00:53:35,040 --> 00:53:37,620
of palette and the four helpers are
1002
00:53:37,620 --> 00:53:39,360
carrying this thing and they try to get
1003
00:53:39,360 --> 00:53:40,680
into the house where Jesus is preaching
1004
00:53:40,680 --> 00:53:42,599
and and they they can't get
1005
00:53:42,599 --> 00:53:43,920
people are saying ahsha shush shush the
1006
00:53:43,920 --> 00:53:45,930
Masters preaching wait your turn he's
1007
00:53:45,930 --> 00:53:49,109
busy don't don't bother him but they
1008
00:53:49,109 --> 00:53:52,049
won't be stopped so they go up the
1009
00:53:52,049 --> 00:53:54,420
outside stairs so many houses had these
1010
00:53:54,420 --> 00:53:56,279
outside stairs in those days because
1011
00:53:56,279 --> 00:53:58,859
people would would actually cool down in
1012
00:53:58,859 --> 00:54:01,259
the evening on the flat roofs with a the
1013
00:54:01,259 --> 00:54:03,599
breeze is wafting over the the city of
1014
00:54:03,599 --> 00:54:05,670
Jerusalem so they went up on the flat
1015
00:54:05,670 --> 00:54:07,170
roof and they listened carefully for
1016
00:54:07,170 --> 00:54:09,150
where Jesus was was speaking and they
1017
00:54:09,150 --> 00:54:10,499
they found the right air and they
1018
00:54:10,499 --> 00:54:13,200
started taking off the tiles they got
1019
00:54:13,200 --> 00:54:14,460
some of the tiles off and then they
1020
00:54:14,460 --> 00:54:17,729
lowered this friend down on ropes in
1021
00:54:17,729 --> 00:54:18,690
front of Jesus
1022
00:54:18,690 --> 00:54:20,940
if the crowd won't make room for him
1023
00:54:20,940 --> 00:54:22,979
through the doorway they'll make room
1024
00:54:22,979 --> 00:54:24,239
for him because the bed is coming down
1025
00:54:24,239 --> 00:54:28,200
on their heads and then this bed is in
1026
00:54:28,200 --> 00:54:33,170
front of Jesus and Jesus says my son
1027
00:54:33,170 --> 00:54:37,319
your sins are forgiven and the
1028
00:54:37,319 --> 00:54:40,559
theologians present are indignant who
1029
00:54:40,559 --> 00:54:48,269
can forgive sins but God alone that's a
1030
00:54:48,269 --> 00:54:54,210
good observation isn't it supposing god
1031
00:54:54,210 --> 00:54:55,009
forbid
1032
00:54:55,009 --> 00:54:57,890
supposing on your way home tonight
1033
00:54:57,890 --> 00:55:00,809
you're brutally attacked by a gang of
1034
00:55:00,809 --> 00:55:04,799
thugs you're viciously beaten up left
1035
00:55:04,799 --> 00:55:05,460
half dead
1036
00:55:05,460 --> 00:55:10,650
maybe gang raped you get into the
1037
00:55:10,650 --> 00:55:13,049
hospital and I go and visit you two days
1038
00:55:13,049 --> 00:55:16,229
from now you're all bandaged up your
1039
00:55:16,229 --> 00:55:20,029
legs on pulleys you can barely talk and
1040
00:55:20,029 --> 00:55:22,469
somehow events have taken place that I
1041
00:55:22,469 --> 00:55:26,849
can share with you you know be of good
1042
00:55:26,849 --> 00:55:31,319
cheer I found the thugs and I have
1043
00:55:31,319 --> 00:55:37,099
forgiven them what would you say to me
1044
00:55:39,670 --> 00:55:43,520
wouldn't you be outraged who do you
1045
00:55:43,520 --> 00:55:45,170
think you are you're not the one that
1046
00:55:45,170 --> 00:55:46,760
was gang-raped you're not the ones lying
1047
00:55:46,760 --> 00:55:48,500
in a hospital how can you possibly
1048
00:55:48,500 --> 00:55:50,120
forgive them the only person who can
1049
00:55:50,120 --> 00:55:51,740
forgive is the offended party
1050
00:55:51,740 --> 00:56:02,480
only the offended party can forgive at
1051
00:56:02,480 --> 00:56:04,160
the end of World War two
1052
00:56:04,160 --> 00:56:06,410
there was a Jew by the name of Simon V's
1053
00:56:06,410 --> 00:56:09,740
and tall in Auschwitz all of his
1054
00:56:09,740 --> 00:56:11,360
extended family was wiped out in the
1055
00:56:11,360 --> 00:56:15,560
Holocaust at this point it was only
1056
00:56:15,560 --> 00:56:19,460
weeks from the end of the fright and
1057
00:56:19,460 --> 00:56:22,160
horror of Auschwitz the Russians were
1058
00:56:22,160 --> 00:56:24,620
moving in from the east he was on a work
1059
00:56:24,620 --> 00:56:28,400
party and as he was on this party
1060
00:56:28,400 --> 00:56:30,350
suddenly he was pulled out by the German
1061
00:56:30,350 --> 00:56:34,910
guards and shoved into a room there was
1062
00:56:34,910 --> 00:56:38,750
a young German Nazi soldier there maybe
1063
00:56:38,750 --> 00:56:41,690
19 years old he had suffered Grievous
1064
00:56:41,690 --> 00:56:44,020
wounds and was clearly going to die and
1065
00:56:44,020 --> 00:56:48,050
before he died he wanted to see a Jew he
1066
00:56:48,050 --> 00:56:50,300
wanted to talk with a Jew and in God's
1067
00:56:50,300 --> 00:56:52,640
peculiar Providence the Jew that was
1068
00:56:52,640 --> 00:56:54,410
pulled out of the line and shoved into
1069
00:56:54,410 --> 00:57:00,920
that room with Simon Wiesenthal the
1070
00:57:00,920 --> 00:57:03,290
young Nazi explained why he wanted to
1071
00:57:03,290 --> 00:57:06,440
see him gasping for breath not long to
1072
00:57:06,440 --> 00:57:09,410
live he acknowledged that the Nazis had
1073
00:57:09,410 --> 00:57:11,090
treated the Jews horribly that he
1074
00:57:11,090 --> 00:57:14,330
himself had had been engaged in horrible
1075
00:57:14,330 --> 00:57:17,030
things now he wanted the Jews
1076
00:57:17,030 --> 00:57:19,900
forgiveness
1077
00:57:23,940 --> 00:57:28,559
v's and tall reasons in his mind he
1078
00:57:28,559 --> 00:57:29,970
later writes it up in a little book
1079
00:57:29,970 --> 00:57:30,420
called
1080
00:57:30,420 --> 00:57:34,079
the sunflower and about 60 pages of that
1081
00:57:34,079 --> 00:57:36,869
85 page book give or take are devoted to
1082
00:57:36,869 --> 00:57:39,799
what flashes through reason tall's mind
1083
00:57:39,799 --> 00:57:44,930
the reasoning is this who can forgive
1084
00:57:44,930 --> 00:57:50,339
but those who have been offended the
1085
00:57:50,339 --> 00:57:53,730
most offended parties of the Holocaust
1086
00:57:53,730 --> 00:57:58,109
are dead in Auschwitz they've already
1087
00:57:58,109 --> 00:58:01,549
been burned in the ovens
1088
00:58:01,549 --> 00:58:04,200
how can a survivor like v's and tall
1089
00:58:04,200 --> 00:58:06,150
pronounced forgiveness he has not
1090
00:58:06,150 --> 00:58:07,619
suffered what the others have suffered
1091
00:58:07,619 --> 00:58:11,670
how can he speak for the dead if the
1092
00:58:11,670 --> 00:58:13,769
most brutalized victims of the Nazis are
1093
00:58:13,769 --> 00:58:16,680
dead then there is no one qualified to
1094
00:58:16,680 --> 00:58:19,890
pronounce forgiveness so there is no
1095
00:58:19,890 --> 00:58:26,609
forgiveness to the Nazis without saying
1096
00:58:26,609 --> 00:58:30,329
a single word reason to listen to the
1097
00:58:30,329 --> 00:58:32,730
young man then turned and walked out of
1098
00:58:32,730 --> 00:58:35,029
the room
1099
00:58:38,150 --> 00:58:40,049
you
1100
00:58:40,049 --> 00:58:42,119
after the war was over eventually he
1101
00:58:42,119 --> 00:58:43,469
wrote this up as I've said in this
1102
00:58:43,469 --> 00:58:45,209
little book called the sunflower and he
1103
00:58:45,209 --> 00:58:47,339
sent it to ethicists all around the
1104
00:58:47,339 --> 00:58:49,769
world Christian and Jewish various
1105
00:58:49,769 --> 00:58:52,199
backgrounds asked him to read the
1106
00:58:52,199 --> 00:58:54,359
manuscript and simply answer the
1107
00:58:54,359 --> 00:58:59,689
question did I do what was right
1108
00:59:05,360 --> 00:59:08,630
he kicked off a furious exchange amongst
1109
00:59:08,630 --> 00:59:12,020
ethicists all over the world did I do
1110
00:59:12,020 --> 00:59:19,250
what was right you see visa Hall almost
1111
00:59:19,250 --> 00:59:23,810
got it right he almost got it right he
1112
00:59:23,810 --> 00:59:27,110
was surely right to insist that only the
1113
00:59:27,110 --> 00:59:32,410
offended party can forgive that's right
1114
00:59:36,740 --> 00:59:39,140
but the most offended party is always
1115
00:59:39,140 --> 00:59:44,960
God that's what we saw a couple of
1116
00:59:44,960 --> 00:59:48,020
sessions back in the Psalms when David
1117
00:59:48,020 --> 00:59:50,270
dares right against you only have I
1118
00:59:50,270 --> 00:59:51,800
sinned and done this evil in your sight
1119
00:59:51,800 --> 00:59:55,640
and now when this young man comes down
1120
00:59:55,640 --> 00:59:57,920
before Jesus a young man who has not
1121
00:59:57,920 --> 01:00:00,950
offended Jesus in the flesh not not man
1122
01:00:00,950 --> 01:00:03,710
to man person to person Jesus looks at
1123
01:00:03,710 --> 01:00:07,760
him and he says your sins are forgiven
1124
01:00:07,760 --> 01:00:11,810
you and the theologians ask who can
1125
01:00:11,810 --> 01:00:20,680
forgive sins but God alone just so and
1126
01:00:20,680 --> 01:00:24,460
Thomas remembered that too
1127
01:00:30,040 --> 01:00:32,200
and he bowed before the resurrected
1128
01:00:32,200 --> 01:00:38,340
Jesus and he said my lord and my god
1129
01:00:46,390 --> 01:00:50,760
that's what each of us supposed to
1130
01:00:51,360 --> 01:00:53,920
recognize that what Jesus accomplished
1131
01:00:53,920 --> 01:00:57,880
on the cross was suffering for the sake
1132
01:00:57,880 --> 01:01:02,140
of his own people who put their faith in
1133
01:01:02,140 --> 01:01:07,480
Him who recognized that what he bore was
1134
01:01:07,480 --> 01:01:11,020
their sin as the god man only he could
1135
01:01:11,020 --> 01:01:14,890
forgive that's what we must have to be
1136
01:01:14,890 --> 01:01:20,620
reconciled to God we must have it and we
1137
01:01:20,620 --> 01:01:22,870
bow before him and cry with joy and
1138
01:01:22,870 --> 01:01:26,170
thankfulness and mystery and adoration
1139
01:01:26,170 --> 01:01:32,040
and all my Lord and my god
1140
01:01:33,060 --> 01:01:36,390
let us pray
1141
01:01:47,590 --> 01:01:51,930
we rejoice Heavenly Father in the truth
1142
01:01:51,930 --> 01:02:02,770
that Jesus rose from the dead yet this
1143
01:02:02,770 --> 01:02:04,900
is not simply a truth in the public
1144
01:02:04,900 --> 01:02:09,130
arena of history to be absorbed quickly
1145
01:02:09,130 --> 01:02:16,270
and then pass by on one side for if
1146
01:02:16,270 --> 01:02:19,960
indeed your dear son the God men rose
1147
01:02:19,960 --> 01:02:21,610
from the dead then everything has
1148
01:02:21,610 --> 01:02:26,770
changed his victory over death is
1149
01:02:26,770 --> 01:02:32,530
confirmed the sacrifice he provided has
1150
01:02:32,530 --> 01:02:39,970
been vindicated he already is the head
1151
01:02:39,970 --> 01:02:42,040
of a new humanity that will one day
1152
01:02:42,040 --> 01:02:48,180
share in his resurrection likeness and
1153
01:02:48,180 --> 01:02:52,870
his people Heavenly Father rejoiced to
1154
01:02:52,870 --> 01:02:56,620
bow before him and cry my Lord and my
1155
01:02:56,620 --> 01:02:58,650
god
1156
01:03:04,650 --> 01:03:10,320
grant that each one here tonight from
1157
01:03:10,320 --> 01:03:16,050
the inmost recesses of our being may cry
1158
01:03:16,050 --> 01:03:19,770
forgive my sin as you forgave the sin of
1159
01:03:19,770 --> 01:03:25,290
that paralyzed man for you alone have
1160
01:03:25,290 --> 01:03:27,440
the authority to forgive sin in this
1161
01:03:27,440 --> 01:03:38,280
spectacular glorious absolute sense my
1162
01:03:38,280 --> 01:03:45,620
Lord and my God in Jesus name Amen
1163
01:03:56,680 --> 00:00:00,000
you
88436
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