Passover or the Feast of Freedom is the foundational feast of the Jewish people. In it, we remember God’s loving kindness in saving his people from bondage in Egypt and creating Israel as a nation. All that so that God himself would dwell among His people
And give us His Word in order to bless all nations. But could it be that this feast actually alludes to an even greater salvation yet to come? In the story of the crossing of the Red Sea. Moses encourages his nation to trust God. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord.
Then, after God saves them from the Egyptians, it says. When Israel saw the great power which the Lord had used against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and they believed in the Lord and in His servant, Moses. But this would not be the
Last time at which God was gracious towards his people. God spoke to the Prophet Isaiah in Chapter 52 about a totally new exodus. Be cheerful, shout joyfully. Together you ruins of Jerusalem for the Lord has comforted His people. He has redeemed Jerusalem.
The Lord has buried His holy arm in the sight of all nations so that all the ends of the earth may see the salvation of our God. Isaiah prophesied that God would restore the nation of Israel, that He would save them from their enemies, grant them peace and security.
However, this time the salvation will not only include a physical redemption. Rather, it will include a spiritual redemption reaching the whole world. And this is what Isaiah talks about in the next chapter. Chapter 53. All of us, like sheep, have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way.
But the Lord has caused the wrongdoing of us all to fall on Him, just like the Passover lamb. Isaiah prophesied that the servant of the Lord would give his life to save his people. In chapter 53, The Salvation that the servant of the Lord brings to
Israel is not from Egypt or from the plague of the first born. Rather, it is the salvation from our personal sinfulness. The salvation God offers to us is from our guilt. After Isaiah describes the death of the servant, he continues to prophesy that he would prolong his days.
How can it be the only way the servant of the Lord can prolong his days after his death is through His resurrection? No wonder that when we quote these verses to our Jewish brethren, they think we quote from the New Testament. But the Hebrew Bible states clearly
That the Messiah had to suffer and die to redeem his people. But he doesn’t remain in the grave. He rises and grants forgiveness of sins and justifies the sinner by the knowledge of the righteous one. My servant will justify the many. In first Corinthians 15, Paul boldly declares
That if the Messiah has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain. Your faith also is in vain. If the Messiah has not been raised, in other words, since the beginning of the faith in Yeshua, the Messiah, his resurrection stood as the cornerstone, the very foundation
Upon which the truth of Yeshua stands or falls. If you’re sure did not rise up from the dead, then his death is meaningless. We are still in Egypt without a savior. Guilty before God and slaves to sins, bondage. The disciples did not expect the resurrection of Yeshua.
They thought and hoped that he would free Israel from the Egyptians of that time, the Romans. They thought he would strike them and drive them out of the land. They missed part of the message of the prophets. They thought that the idea of a crucified
Messiah is a failing Messiah at best, or worse, a false messiah whom they would need to replace with another Moses who would deliver them from the Romans against all odds. And in contrast to their initial expectations after Yeshua’s death. Something happened. The disciples began to insist that
Yeshua, in fact, rose from the dead and conquered death. They began to proclaim their message in Jerusalem, in the very place where Yeshua was crucified and buried, where everyone could go and check if the tomb was in fact empty. Not only did they proclaim the message boldly,
But they were ready and willing to suffer and even die for it. And most of them did. The significance of the resurrection is that it validates Yeshua’s message. His gospel is true. Yeshua claimed to be God himself, who came to free us from sin, to cleanse us from our guilt and justify us.
The resurrection is the proof that his radical claims about his identity and work were true. Moreover, his resurrection gives us hope and assurance that this life is not all that there is. The death is not the end. On the basis of Yeshua’s resurrection, the New Testament proclaims that anyone
Who puts his faith in him will rise up from the dead to everlasting life. But the fact is, Messiah has been raised from the dead. The first fruit of those who are asleep for since by a man death came, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead.
Four as in Adam all die. So also in Messiah, all will be made alive. The gift of salvation is given freely. We receive it through faith, through putting our trust in the Savior of Israel. Yeshua, notice that in the story of the Exodus.
Or more specifically in the crossing of the Red Sea, the nation of Israel did not need to do anything to merit their salvation from the Egyptians. Their own power could not stop the Egyptian army God alone, granting them freedom and salvation. They only needed to step in faith towards the water.
As the author of Hebrews puts it by faith, they pass through the Red Sea as through dry land. All people, Jews and Gentiles, are guilty before God and find themselves separated from Him due to their personal sinfulness. In Hebrew, the word sin comes from the same root
As missing the mark in our inherent sinfulness as humans. We miss God’s mark, but through Yeshua, as death and resurrection, he opened a new way to enter into an eternal relationship with God through faith. Yeshua was delivered over because of our wrongdoings and was raised for our justification.
This relationship cannot be broken since it is established upon the perfect sacrifice of the ultimate Passover lamb. The sacrifice of Yeshua. Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world for by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. So what about you?
Have you put your faith in Yeshua? If not, today is the day of salvation. If you want to receive forgiveness of sins, eternal life and a living relationship with your loving creator, simply talk to your Heavenly Father in your own words. He listens and that is the meaning of prayer. Rejoice with us.
– Would you take out your message notes inside your Easter bag. I want us to look at how the resurrection gives us hope. How the resurrection gives us hope. When Jesus Christ was crucified in 33 AD, there were only about 120 followers that were true to his message at that time.
They were meeting in upper room, about 120 followers. Today, 2,000 years later, 2.3 billion people in the world, billion, claim to be a follower of Christ, 2.3 billion. Now let me put that in perspective. That means one out of every three people on this planet, one out of every three would say
I am a follower of Jesus Christ. The Christian church is by far, by far, the largest organization on planet Earth. Nothing else comes close to the size of the Christian church, nothing else comes close, 2.3 billion followers of Christ. The church is bigger than China.
The church is bigger than China and Europe put together. The Christian church, followers of Christ, is bigger than China and Europe and the United States put together. Nothing is bigger on planet Earth than the church of Jesus Christ. How in the world did that happen?
Why did Christianity spread so far and so fast? How did a little band of 12 poor fishermen, the people that Jesus chose to be his first followers, how did that expand into one out of every three people on planet Earth? In a word, the resurrection. That changed everything.
When God said I’m gonna come to Earth and die for the sins of all mankind and then I’m gonna prove that I’m God by coming back to life three days later, that is the single most significant event in history, nothing comes close. It split history into AD and BC.
Every other event in history is dated by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, either before or after. Even your birthday is dated by the day, the month, and the year on how many years it’s been since the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is the single most significant event in history. Because Jesus was resurrected.
Now let me explains the difference between resurrection and resuscitation, they are not the same. People get resuscitated all the time. If you faint, we’ll resuscitate you. If you go in a coma, you can be resuscitated. People will die for 15 minutes or 20 minutes,
Or my heart stopped for a certain number of time and then they go write a book about how they went to heaven and back in 20 minutes. You can throw all those books away, those are resuscitation. Resurrection means you’ve been buried in the ground
For three days and then you come back to life. Only Jesus Christ has done that. That’s not resuscitation, folks. That’s resurrection, and that single event changed all of history. And what it did is it turned these first followers of Christ from being disconsolate and depressed and disillusioned
And in despair and defeated into courageous and contagious people filled with hope. And they began to spread the message of hope everywhere. Because when they saw Jesus had come back to life, it changed everything. What I wanna do this Easter is I want us to look at
The six reasons why followers of Jesus Christ are the most hopeful people on the planet. We have more hope than anybody else, there’s no contest. We have far more hope than anybody else in the world because of what Jesus Christ did at the resurrection. Why do we have hope?
Six reasons, if you’re writin’ these down, here’s the first one. Number one, the first reason Jesus’s resurrection gives us hope is we have been completely forgiven. We have been completely forgiven. Jesus repeatedly said over and over, I’m gonna die on the cross to pay for all your sins.
He said it over and over and over. And then he said, and then I’m gonna come back to life three days later to prove that I am who I say I am. Now, if he hadn’t done the second part, the first part doesn’t really matter. If he didn’t come back to life,
Then I have every reason to doubt that he died for my sins. The two go together. Now let me give you some good news. There on your outline, the Bible says this. Ephesians chapter one, verse seven, In Christ we are set free by the blood of his death.
And so we have forgiveness of sins because of God’s rich grace. Now we’re all imperfect, so we all carry regrets and we all carry remorse and we always wish we had done things differently, we all have sins and things that we feel bad about, guilty about.
God doesn’t want you carrying guilt through life. God doesn’t want you carrying a load of shame through life. The whole reason he died on the cross was so that you could be free from all of that guilt, all of that shame. Guilt wastes an awful lot of energy.
It fatigues you, it tires you, it robs you of peace of mind. But Jesus said, I came to die for your sins so you don’t have to die for them. I was hung on the cross so you’d quit hangin’ yourself on the cross. I don’t know if you’ve ever asked the question
Or thought about it, who really killed Jesus? Who put Jesus on the cross? Who is to blame for Jesus bein’ on the cross? Well, it wasn’t Judas, and it wasn’t Caiaphas the high priest, and it wasn’t Pilate the governor, and it wasn’t the Romans, and it wasn’t the religious leaders,
And it wasn’t even the crowd. The answer is two fold, who put Jesus on the cross, and this is may shock you, this may shock you, but the answer is two fold. The first answer is this, God did. God did, God put Jesus on the cross.
It was his plan from the very beginning. It’s why Jesus came to Earth, to die for our sins. That’s the whole reason, it was God’s plan before any of us were ever born. Here’s what the Bible says in Isaiah chapter 53, in the Bible. All of us have strayed away like sheep.
In other words, we’ve all done our own thing. We’ve all left God’s plan to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him, talkin’ about Jesus, the guilt and sins of us all. From prison and trial, they led him away to his death. But who among the people realized
That he was dying for their sins, that he was suffering for their punishment. Nobody realized that at the time. He had done no wrong, he had never deceived anyone, but he was buried like a criminal. He was put in a rich man’s grave. But it was God’s plan that he should suffer,
It was God’s plan. Yet, now notice the chance in tense here, when his life is made an offering for sin, he will have a multitude of children. In other words, they’ll be people who will follow him. I don’t know if you noticed in this passage the change in tense.
The first part is in past tense and then it goes to future. When his life is made in offering for sin, he will have a multitude of children. You know why that change in tense, past tense to future? Because this was written 700 years before Jesus Christ. This is a prophecy.
And Isaiah, 700 BC is telling and predicting exactly what’s gonna happen to the Messiah, the Savior, the Son of God who comes to Earth, and this happened exactly how it happened. It was part of God’s plan. But the second one may surprise you too. Who put Jesus on the cross?
We did, I did, you did. If none of us had ever sinned, Jesus wouldn’t have to die for our sins. The Bible says this in Romans chapter four. Jesus was handed over to die because of our sins, and he was raised from the dead to make us right with God.
Circle the world us. He was raised from the dead, this what Easter’s all about. He was raised from the dead to make us right with God. Who’s included in us? You, me, us, we are made right with God. So we’ve been completely forgiven. That gives me hope, I’m not facing any judgment.
I have hope because I have been completely forgiven. Number two, second reason Jesus’s resurrection gives us hope, we’re no longer afraid to die. We are no longer afraid to die. Now, I mentioned this in the Good Friday services, that when Jesus Christ got on the cross,
One of the things he did is he broke the power of death and he broke the power of the fear of death. The fear of death is a universal fear, everybody has it. I’ve traveled all around the world. One time I went 46,000 miles in 40 days, literally circled completely the Earth,
And I found the fear of death everywhere. Because it’s unknown, we don’t know. But what did Jesus do? He came back to life. Let me explain this. If Jesus Christ hadn’t resurrected from the dead, you wouldn’t even know that there’s life after death. You wouldn’t even know it. You might guess at it.
You might say, well I hope there’s life after death. But you’d have nothing to prove it, but Jesus Christ came back and said, I’ve conquered death, there is greater life after death. And that’s good news, that gives us hope. Here’s what Jesus said, John chapter 11, verse 25.
Jesus promised, I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, even though they die like everyone else, they will live again. That’s a reason for hope, that’s a reason for hope. If Jesus Christ hadn’t resurrected on Easter Sunday, we’re all helpless and all hopeless,
Death is the end, it’s over, that’s it. Now, when Jesus died, they buried him in a tomb. In those days, they didn’t bury people under the ground as much as they buried them in caves, kind of like mausoleums. And they would put a stone in front of the cave
And they would roll it away and put somebody in then roll it back. And they did this because entire families for generations would have a family tomb and there’d be a lot of people buried in the same cave. And so after Jesus died, Joseph of Arimathea volunteered his tomb
And they rolled a huge stone in front of it. But then Pilate had it sealed so it couldn’t be moved back and he posted Roman guards on either side. Now, the 12 disciples who were followers of Jesus at this time, they’re scared to death.
They run, they turned tail and they run, they’re scared. None of them believed the resurrection would happen. And so they’re hiding in fear. They’re disillusioned, they’re depressed, they’re afraid they’re gonna be executed next as the followers of Jesus. And so they’re runnin’ away and they’re hiding.
Now three days later, on Easter Sunday morning, one of the women who’s traveling with the disciples, Mary Magdalene, decides she’s gonna go to the tomb to be there. So she goes to the tomb and when she gets there, she finds the seal has been broken, the stone has been rolled away,
There’s no body there, and the grave clothes that Jesus had been wrapped in are folded and sitting there on a step in the tomb. By the way, some people say, well maybe they stole the body. If you ever steal a body, leave the clothes on him. There would be no reason to take the clothes off of a person and steal the body. If you’re gonna steal, you may as well steal it with the clothes on it. But they’re left there. And so Mary thinks the body’s been stolen. That’s the logical conclusion.
And then all the sudden she hears a voice and so she turns around and Jesus is standing there, the risen Jesus Christ. And he says to her, Mary. And when she calls out his name, as she’d heard her name called many times, she knew it was the Lord.
And he says, Jesus says, go tell all my brothers, go tell all the disciples that I’m alive and I’m comin’ to see him. So Mary runs to this house where the disciples are inside with the locked for fear. She bangs on the door, they let her in and she says,
You guys aren’t gonna believe this, Jesus is alive. And you know what these great men of faith did? They doubted her, none of ’em believed her. They said, Mary you’ve either seen a ghost, you’ve had a hallucination, you’re just in deep grief. They don’t believe her at all.
What this clip on the screens. – Peter! Peter! Everyone, the tomb is open, he’s alive, I saw him! – That’s not possible. – I saw him. – Mary, maybe it was someone else. – You think I’m mad? Peter, see the tomb for yourself. – A cup, I need a cup and some wine. – What happened? – His body. His blood. I’m the way. The truth. And the life. – No. No, this isn’t real. – Thomas… Stop doubting. And believe. – It is you. – Because you see me, you believe. Blessed are those who have not seen me, but yet have believed. – So the point is this, even the disciples, none of Jesus’s followers actually believed he’d come back to life until they became eye witnesses of it.
It wasn’t just hearsay, they said I’ve got to see him. Now, let me ask you a question. If you saw someone walkin’ down the street that you had just buried three days earlier, how would you feel about that? Maybe confused, maybe scared to death, frightened, fearful, excited.
Do you think you would ever forget that experience? Not likely. Would it change your worldview about life and death? Oh yeah. Would it give you new hope? Oh yeah. That there might be life after death? Oh yeah, absolutely. One of the things that’s difficult to explain without the resurrection is the sudden change
In the disciples because at the crucifixion, they’re all scared to death, they’re running, they’re defeated, they’re demoralized, they’re in despair, they’re disillusioned, they’re depressed. Three days later, they’re ready to take on Nero and the Roman empire. What happened? They had seen Jesus, they were eye witnesses. They knew physically something had happened.
Not just them, but a lot of other people did too. But now they’ve got courageous confidence, now they’ve got contagious hope. Why? They are eyewitnesses. Here’s what Peter wrote down in his book. When we told you about the powerful coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, we were not telling
Made-up stories that someone invented, rather we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. And not only these original 12, but Jesus came and stayed on Earth for another 40 days, walked around Jerusalem for 40 days. That’s why literally tens of thousands of people became believers in a very short time,
Because there were so many eyewitnesses. Here’s what the Bible says, Acts chapter one, verse three. For 40 days after his death, Jesus appeared to people many times in many ways that proved beyond doubt that he was alive. They saw him, and he talked with them about the kingdom of God.
Can you imagine being one of the executors who put Jesus on the cross, one of the soldiers and you saw that guy die and all the sudden he’s walkin’ down the street? And you go, he’s back. That would be strange. Paul lists just a few of the eyewitnesses.
This isn’t even an entire list. First Corinthians 15 he says, Christ died for our sins, just as the scriptures said. Then he was buried, and then he was raised from the dead on the third day. Then he says, he was seen by Peter, and then he was seen by the 12 apostles.
After that, he was seen by more than 500 of his followers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died by now. He sits on a hillside and teaches 500 people. Then he was seen by James. Later he was seen by all the apostles.
Last of all, I saw him too. This isn’t even an entire list. For 40 days he has multiple meetings with a lot of different people. Friends, this is what’s called conclusive proof. This is what’s called definitive evidence. Having 900 eyewitnesses would stand up in any court anywhere in the world.
If I were to tell you that this afternoon over at Starbucks I saw the queen of England, you might have a reason to doubt that. ‘Cause it’s just one guy sayin’ it. But if there were 900 different people who said, oh no, she’s been here for 40 days,
She’s stayin’ at the Quality Inn. And we had dinner with her the other night and somebody says, oh well, we had breakfast. Another guy goes, well we went fishing with her. And I said, oh no, well we had her over for dinner. Another said, well we heard her with 500 people at a symposium.
And you had 900 eyewitnesses right off the bat, friends, now you’ve got a problem with your doubt. ‘Cause it’s not just me sayin’ it, it’s eyewitness and after eyewitness after eyewitness for 40 days. This is why the church exploded and within years, there were 30,000 members of the church just in Jerusalem.
And then it had grown to nearly a half a million and it exploded all over the Roman empire. And what had been persecuted, within 300 years is now the official religion of the Roman empire. Why? Because of the resurrection, there were so many eyewitnesses.
Now there’s a third reason we have hope and it’s this. We now have God’s spirit in us. We now have God’s spirit inside us. His spirit of power, his holy spirit, his spirit of love. The night before Jesus went to the cross, before he dies, he says, guys, I’m gonna be leavin’,
I’m goin’ back to heaven, but I’m gonna send my spirit to be inside you. Now at the end of 40 days, Jesus ascends back up to heaven. But before he did he tells ’em, he says, don’t do anything until I send your spirit. Don’t try to do anything on your own power.
Wait for my spirit, he’s gonna give you power. And in Acts chapter one, verse eight, Jesus says this, before he goes back to heaven. When the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you will receive power and you’ll tell people everywhere about me; in Jerusalem, throughout Judea,
In Samaria, and to the ends of the Earth. And so 10 days later, after 40 days of resurrection, this is 50 days, God sends his Holy Spirit to live in every believer. I want you to watch these last words of Jesus to his disciples, watch this. – When the Holy Spirit comes to you, you’ll receive power. The power of the Holy Spirit can be with you all wherever you are. Go into the world and preach the gospel to all creation. Peace be with you. – My brothers, my sisters… we have work to do. – This is the third reason why Christianity spreads so fast after the resurrection. They had seen Jesus face to face, and then he says, I’m gonna send my spirit to be in you and he’s gonna give you power
To do things you couldn’t do on your own. So now they’ve gone from fearful to fearless. They’ve gone from hopeless to hopeful. They’ve gone from being cowards to being courageous. Let’s take on the Roman empire. Nothing is gonna stop them now. They’ve seen Jesus alive, he said what he said he is,
And now he’s saying I’m putting my spirit in you, and they’re empowered by God’s spirit. Do you know that God never intended for you to go through life just on your own power? God wants to have a personal connection with you. He wants to put his love, his power,
And his spirit inside you. That gives you a supernatural advantage. It gives you additional power that you don’t have on your own. When you don’t have that power, you say things like this. I’m at the end of my rope. I’m barely hangin’ on. I’m ready to throw in the towel.
I’m sick and tired of bein’ sick and tired. I’m runnin’ on fumes, I’m out of gas. I don’t feel like I can make it to the weekend. Why? Because you were never meant to live your life just on your own power. God wants you to be plugged into the power.
Until you’re plugged into the power, you can’t fulfill your purpose. A blender can’t fulfill its purpose unless it’s plugged into the power. A vacuum cleaner can’t fulfill its purpose unless it’s plugged into the power. You can’t fulfill your purpose unless you’re plug into God’s power. Now here’s the amazing thing.
The same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead, split history into AD and BC, that same power is available to you on a daily basis. You go, come on, Rick. No, I’m serious, look at this next verse. Ephesians chapter, verse 19 and 20. I pray that you will begin to understand,
This is the Bible talking, how incredibly great his power is, that’s God’s power, to help those who believe him. It is the same mighty power that raised Jesus, raised Christ, from the dead. What is this power? It’s the power of God’s spirit in your life.
Now listen, you say, well what does that mean to me? If God’s spirit can raise a dead Jesus, he can raise a dead marriage. If God’s spirit can raise a dead person, he can raise a dead career. If God’s spirit, resurrection power, can raise a dead man, he can raise a dead dream.
He can do anything in your life. He can do anything in your life, it’s all easy. What is this power? It’s the power to be free from your past. It’s the power to break those memories that have been holdin’ you back. It’s the power to start over when you feel like givin’ up.
It’s the power to change things you think you could never ever change and you can’t on your own. It’s the power to overcome habits and hurts and hangups that hold you back. It’s the power to keep goin’ when you feel like givin’ up. That power is available to you, that’s resurrection power.
That gave them hope, it’s the reason we have hope today. Number four, the fourth reason we live with the most hope, why we have more hope than anybody else is because God will never stop loving us. God will never, never, never stop loving us. Jeremiah chapter 31 in the Bible,
Verse three, God says this. I have loved you with an everlasting love. Did you know that? God says, I love you with an everlasting love. How long is everlasting? Forever, it’s everlasting, duh. God has never made a person he doesn’t love. In fact, you can’t make God stop loving you.
You can try but you’ll fail because God’s love is based on who he is not who you are. God will never stop loving you, and this is the fourth reason why Christianity spreads so fast, is because they carry not just the message of hope, but they carry the message of love.
God doesn’t wait for you to love him before he starts loving you. God loved you first. In fact, the only reason you’re breathing is ’cause God made you to love you. And the most famous verse in the Bible is John 3:16 and 17, it’s that next verse.
God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that’s Jesus, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send him son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. God wants you to know his love.
God not only wants you to know his love, he wants you to feel his love. Because when you feel God’s love, it transforms you and then you know what? He expects you to pass it on to other people. I’ve seen God turn hateful men into loving men.
I’ve seen God turn bigots and racists into gentlemen and gentlewomen. Because when God’s love hits your heart, it changes you. Now you’re saying, well I know God. Let me ask you, has your life changed? Well not really. Then you don’t know God. Because somebody as big as God
Can’t come into your life and it not change you. When God’s love comes into your life, it changes the way you react to everybody else. In fact, Jesus said it like this, John 13, it’s on the screen. I’m givin’ you a new commandment; love each other.
Just as I’ve loved you, you should love each other. And your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples. Years later, John, one of the original 12 guys, would reemphasize this, and in First John chapter three he wrote this.
This is how we know who the children of God are. Anyone who doesn’t obey God’s command and doesn’t love others is not a child of God. This is the message we’ve heard from the beginning; we must love each other. That’s the kind of thing that God changes in your life.
You start even lovin’ your enemies when God comes into your life. The most amazing conversion in the Bible is the guy named Paul, he later became St. Paul. Paul was a religious terrorist. His job was to kill Christians. And he traveled all around the Palestine area killing Christians.
That was his job, he was a religious terrorist. And one day he’s goin’ to Syria, to Damascus, to kill a bunch of Christians there, and on the road to Damascus he encounters the resurrected Jesus Christ. And Jesus says to Paul, why are you persecuting me?
Paul falls to his knees and says, my Lord and my God. And the man who had been a religious terrorist becomes the apostle of love. And Paul wrote the most beautiful words on love ever written, First Corinthians 13. They are read at weddings literally every single day around the world.
Listen to Paul, the religious terrorist who became the apostle of love, listen to him talking about love. – But then Jesus came to me. Not in righteous anger or in judgment, but… in love. Without love we are nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, it does not boast.
It is not proud, it keeps no records of wrongs. It rejoices with the truth. It bares all things, it believes all things, it hopes all things, it endures all things. When everything else disappears, faith, hope, and love remain. But the greatest of these… is love.
– Now, the fifth reason why we who are followers of Jesus Christ have more hope than anybody else is this. We know the purposes that we’re created for. We know the purpose of life. I’ve traveled all around the world and I’ve discovered most people don’t have the slightest idea
What is the purpose of their life. You say, what’s the purpose of your life? I don’t know. You can have success without having significance. Significance comes from knowing your purpose. Why am I here, what on Earth am I here for? Why does my life exist? What is the purpose of my life?
Does my life have any meaning? These are the fundamental questions of life. You could fill your life with popularity and power and possessions and all pleasures and not know your purpose, and there’s still the emptiness. When you don’t know your purpose in life, when you don’t know why you’re here on Earth,
Then there’s this big hole in you and you try to fill that emptiness with a lot of other stuff; money, sex, achievement, success, travel, pleasure, sports, hobbies. Those are all good things, but they’re never gonna take the place of knowing why in the world are you here, why do you exist,
Why are you even alive, what is the purpose of your life. There are thousands of verses about the purpose of your life in this book, but if you’ve never read it, you don’t know it. You don’t know what on Earth am I here for.
And at some point, even if you’re livin’ the good life, you put your head down on the pillow at night and you go, there’s gotta be more to life than this. Because there is, you were wired by God for much, much more.
You were made for so much more than simply the good life. You’re made for the better life. I don’t have time today, on Easter Sunday, to explain to you the five purposes of your life, but let me just quickly show you just a few of the thousands of verses
About God’s purpose for creating you. Psalm 138 says this, verse eight. The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me because his love endures forever. What is that verse saying? It’s saying the reason there’s a purpose for your life is because you have a creator who loves you.
God always acts in love towards you, and because he loves you, he made you for a purpose. You were made by God and you were made for God and until you figure that out, life’s never gonna make sense. It’s just not gonna make sense. The next verse, Jeremiah 29, says this.
I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans to prosper you, not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. He’s sayin’ that Gods’s purpose for your life is a good plan. You’re not gonna run from it, it’s not a bad thing.
It’s a good thing, it has hope and purpose and future. In the next verse, Jesus says in John chapter 10, Jesus says, My purpose is to give life in all it’s fullness. You’re not really livin’ until you’re connected to God, you’re just existing. You were made for so much more
Than to get up in the morning, go to work, come home, watch TV, go to bed, party on the weekend. Jesus said, you’re not really living. I came to give you life in its fullness. The key to your fulfillment in life is knowing your purpose in life.
The next verse, Romans 8:28, the Bible says this. We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who’ve been called according to his purpose. When you’re living out the purpose you were created for, that God made you for, God says,
I’m gonna bring good even out of the bad stuff in your life. I’ll take all of it, even the dumb stuff, even the bad decisions I make, even my mistakes, even my sins, he says, I’ll figure that all out. I’ll work it all out for good in your life
Because you’re going for my purpose. That’s a great thing, that’s a great news. And then the says this, in Mark chapter eight Jesus says, If you insist on saving your life, you’re gonna lose it. In other words, are you gonna go with your plan or are you gonna go with God’s plan?
If you insist on saving your life, you’ll lose it. Only those who give away their lives for my sake and the good news will ever know what it means to really live. He’s saying, your plan is gonna lead you to frustration, you’re gonna lose. And by the way, how’s that goin’ for ya?
You’ve been goin’ on your plan for your life, how’s that workin’ out for ya? You totally fulfilled, you totally satisfied? Life’s everything you want it to be? God says, no, no, you go with my plan, then you’re gonna know how to really live. But you can’t go with your plan
And God’s plan at the same time. You gotta decide which one you’re gonna go for, your purpose in life or God’s purpose in your life. You were made for so much more. And he says, only if you give your life away will you ever know what it means to really live.
What’s he sayin’ there? You’re not ready to live til you know what’s worth dyin’ for. Do you know what you’d die for in life? If you don’t, you’re not really ready to live. After the resurrection, first tens of thousands, then hundreds of thousands, then millions of people because followers of Jesus Christ.
Of course as I said, now billions today. This scared the Roman empire because millions of people were becoming followers of the resurrected Jesus Christ. There were just too many eyewitnesses and it scared her to death. So the Roman empire started what was called the great persecution.
And for the first 300 years of Christianity, it was illegal to be a Christian. And if you made the decision to say I’m gonna become a follower of Christ, you were more likely to be fed to lions in the Colosseum, or crucified yourself, or beheaded. It meant ultimately, probably certain death.
People were signing their own death warrant by saying I’m gonna become a follower of Christ. Why did they become followers? Because of the hope, all the things we’ve just covered. All but one of the original 12 guys, original disciples, every one of those guys were murdered except one, John.
Steven was stoned to death, James was beheaded, Peter was crucified upside down, Paul was in prison in Rome and then he was executed. I want you to listen to the last words of Paul. Right before he goes to execution he says, I’ve fought the good fight,
I’ve finished the race, I’ve kept the faith. This is the kind of attitude, Christians were fearless in the face of death, why? Because they knew there was more to life than just here and now, watch this. – I’ve fought a good fight. I finished the race. And I kept the faith. – What baffled the Roman empire was how unafraid Christians were to die. Paul says it like this. For me to live is Christ, and dying is even better. He says, either way I win. If I’m alive, I’m just gonna live my purpose, the purpose that God created me for.
If I die, I just get to go to heaven sooner, I can’t lose. What do you do with a guy like that? Now, today American media doesn’t report this, but about a quarter of a billion, about 250 million of those Christians live in lands where they are persecuted for their faith.
In fact, about 90,000 Christians are killed every year right now. In fact, for the last 10 years, it’s been over a million believers, Christian believers, have been killed in the last 10 years, over one million. This morning in Sri Lanka a church was bombed and over 200 people died and 450 were wounded.
There is persecution going on today. But people go, why am I a Christian? Because I know there’s more to life than just here and now. That leads me to the sixth thing of hope and it’s this, here’s the sixth reason we have the most hope.
Because we have an eternal home waiting for us. We have an eternal home waiting for us. We know, as followers of Jesus, that death is not the end, it’s just the transition to better things. In fact, you’re gonna spend far more time on that side of eternity than on this side.
Here on this planet, you get 60, 70, 80, at the most you’re gonna get 100 years on this planet. But on the other side, those who know the Lord, who’ve accepted salvation, it’s trillions and trillions and trillions and trillions of years of freedom.
The last of the 12 disciples to die was a guy named John. Actually, the Romans tried to poison him. He was the only one not martyred, the poison didn’t work. So they exiled John to a prison colony on an island called Patmos in the middle of the Mediterranean.
And he actually lived to be quite an old man on the island of Patmos, in this prison. And by himself there, in his old age, he wrote the last book of the Bible, which is called the Revelation, and it is a vision of what heaven is like. What this, on the screen.
– I am the alpha and the omega, the first and the last. The beginning and the end. – I knew it, I’ve been expecting death to come. – There will be no more death or mourning or crying… Or pain. I am making everything knew. Yes. I am coming soon. May the grace of the Lord be with all God’s people. – Amen. – What is heaven gonna be like? Well, in a word, it’s indescribable. It’s indescribable, you and I trying to understand what heaven is like would be like a mosquito trying to understand the internet. We don’t have the brain capacity. Here on planet Earth, we’re limited by three dimensions.
There are far more than three dimensions. There are dimensions we don’t even know about. But we know it’s gonna be incredible, it’s gonna be beautiful, it’s gonna be amazing. Why? Because look at the Earth. This is a broken planet, this is a fallen planet. Nothing works perfectly on this planet,
And yet there’s still a lot of beauty; sunrises and sunsets, and skis, and mountains, and trees, and these beautiful flowers, and the beaches, and all of the beauty that God created on Earth and this is an imperfect planet. Imagine what a perfect place is gonna be like
With all the sights and the sounds and the colors and the smells, where it’s absolutely perfect, and the tastes that are there. The problem with most people and heaven is because you have a TV vision of heaven, and on television and movies, they always show heaven as, first place, it’s totally white.
Now why would God, who created all the colors, make heaven so boring as all white? And then you’re walking around in fog up to about your knees and you’re wearing a white robe and you’ve got angel’s wings and you’re playing a harp. That would be hell. (audience laughing)
If that’s heaven, I don’t wanna go. I’d rather just stay here and serve, thank you. That’s not at all what heaven’s like, but the devil wants you to have this vision of heaven like it’s so boring, we’re all the same. The Bible says this about heaven, First Corinthians chapter two;
No eye has ever seen, no ear has ever heard, and no mind has ever imagined the wonderful things that God has prepared for those who love him. For those who love him. I’ll be honest with you folks, I’ve been a pastor here for four decades, I have walked tens of thousands of people
Personally through their pain and their sorrow and their suffering and their sadness and their sickness, and the more that I see the Earth with all of its abuse and the affairs and the assaults and the rapes and the violence and the racism and the prejudice and the war, all of the bad things
That we see, the evil, the terrorism, the more that I see of that in the world, in our broken planet and the more that I have friends and family that have gone ahead of me into heaven, my mother and father are there, my older brother’s there,
I have a son in heaven, the older I get, the more heaven sounds like a good deal and the more I look forward to it and the more I’m ready for it. I’m certainly not afraid to die. Now this is why the resurrection gives us hope,
These six things, why we have more hope than anybody else on the planet. First, I am completely forgiven of everything I’ve ever done wrong. I’m gonna go to bed tonight with a clear conscience knowing that even the sins that I commit tomorrow and next year and in 10 years, if I’m still here,
That they’ve already been forgiven and paid for by Jesus Christ, I am completely forgiven. Then I know that I’m not afraid to die, ’cause I’m just not afraid to die. Then I have God’s spirit inside me, who gives me the power to make changes in my life
That I could never do on my own; habits and hurts and hangups and stuff that I don’t like about myself that I never could change before. Now I have God’s spirit inside of me to give me strength to make these changes. I know that God will never stop loving me.
It doesn’t matter what happens in my dazed head, I know one thing for sure; God will never, never, never stop loving me. I know that I’m living the purpose that I was created for and I know that one day I’m going to heaven without any doubt. I don’t have any question about that,
I’m absolutely certain I’m going to heaven. You know what my prayer is for you? Is that you would have that confidence. If you were to die tonight, are you certain you’d go to heaven? You go, well, I kind of hope so. Hope isn’t enough, you need to be certain.
You need to be certain, and God wants you to be certain. I could help you develop that certainty today. I guarantee ya I can. And if you were to stand before God tonight and God says to you, why should I let you into my house?
Why should I let you into my home for eternity? Do you know the password? You say, well I tried to be a nice person. Uh, wrong answer. You can’t be good enough to get into a perfect place. Heaven’s perfect and I’m not and neither are you.
You need a savior, that’s what Jesus came to do. If Jesus didn’t need to die on the cross for you, then it was a total waste of his blood. There’s only one way. Before Jesus went back to heaven, he said to his followers, let not your heart be troubled.
In other words, don’t get discouraged. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my father’s house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I’m going to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you,
I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am, there you may be also. And Thomas said, Lord, we don’t know where you’re goin’ and we don’t know the way. And Jesus said, I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life.
No one comes to the father except through me. I’m betting my life that Jesus Christ, who rose from the dead, is not a liar. What are you bettin’ your life on? My prayer for you is that you will simply open your eyes, that you will today have a moment of clarity
That maybe you’ve never ever seen before. I want you to listen to this song before I finish, and during this song, I wanna challenge you to pray a simple prayer to God. Just say, God, open my eyes. Do you have enough courage to pray that prayer? Or does that even scare you?
God, open my eyes. If you’re really real, make yourself real to me. God, open my eyes, give me a moment of clarity. Help me to see the truth. – Thanks for checkin’ out this message on YouTube. My name is Jay and I’m Saddleback’s online pastor. I wanna invite you to take your next step by checking out our online community or help get you connected to a local Saddleback campus. Three things we have to offer you right now.
First, learn more about belonging to our church family by taking class 101. Second, don’t live life alone and get into community with others by joining an online small group or a local home group in your area. Third, join our Facebook group to be more engaged with our online community throughout the week.
Take your next step and learn where a local campus is near you by visiting Saddleback.com/online or email online@saddleback.com, hope to hear from you soon.
[MUSIC PLAYING] About the year A.D. 30, outside the walls of Jerusalem, an extraordinary man named Jesus of Nazareth was cruelly executed along with two thieves. It was an event that would change the world, and very few understood. If thou be Christ, save thyself and us.
Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss. My name is John. And indeed, it could be well said of this man Jesus, He did nothing amiss.
I was with Him for the last years of His life. I watched Him give sight to the blind, heal the sick and the lame. I was a witness as He raised the dead back to life. [SPEAKING ARAMAIC] Talitha cumi. [WOMAN CRYING] Arise. And yet He was rejected by those who
Should have rejoiced at His coming. What think ye? He is guilty of death. [ALL SPEAKING] Death! As I and my fellow disciples followed Him through the cities and hills of Judea, we came to know for ourselves a miraculous truth that the Apostle Peter expressed for us all:
Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. The Christ, the Anointed One, had the power and authority to forgive mankind of their sins. Son, thy sins be forgiven thee. Arise.
In our possession, we had the writings of ancient prophets who prophesied about this Messiah, the Son of God, but we did not fully comprehend. For the last week of His life, I was an eyewitness. As the prophet Zechariah foretold centuries before, many welcomed His return to Jerusalem as the Messiah, their King.
As we dined with Him on His last night, He tried to warn and prepare us for His impending death. A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.
Ye are my friends. Take this, and divide it among yourselves: for I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God shall come. As we left this upper room, Jesus was greatly troubled, yet He spoke to us words of comfort.
Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Still, we did not understand what lay ahead. All ye shall be offended because of me this night:
For it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad. Peter, James, and I followed Him further into the garden. My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death; tarry ye here, and watch with me. Abba, Father,
all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. Indeed, our spirits were willing, but our flesh was weak, for we were heavy with sleep. Sleepest thou? couldest not thou watch one hour?
We did not comprehend that the Son of God, who we saw had the power to forgive sins, was now offering Himself as payment for the misdeeds of all mankind. Unaware, we slept on. He was in great agony. “He prayed more earnestly: and his sweat
Was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” Whom seek ye? Jesus of Nazareth. One of our own betrayed our Lord to the rulers of the Jews. [KISSES CHEEK] Master. Ye have brought this man unto me, as one that perverteth the people.
I have examined him before you, and find no fault with this man touching those things whereof you accuse him. I have sent him to Herod. He has found that nothing worthy of death has been done. I will therefore chastise him, and release him. [CROWD MURMURING]
According to your custom at this time of year, one prisoner shall be released. Barabbas. Free Barabbas. [CROWD CHEERING] What shall I do then with Jesus who is called the Christ? Crucify him. [CROWD CHANTING] Crucify him! No! Please, spare my son! [CROWD CHANTING]
I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it. [WOMEN CRYING] [HAMMER POUNDING] Even in His intense suffering, as He paid the final price for us all, His thoughts were on others. His final request of me was to care for His beloved mother.
Behold thy mother! [THUNDER RUMBLING] Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. It is finished. [THUNDER RUMBLING] The darkness is past, and the true light now shineth. This is the promise that He had promised us, even eternal life. Mary. Rabboni.
For we beheld His glory. Because of Him, we all shall live again, for He is risen.
>> NARRATOR: In a backwater of the ancient world, a newborn child heralds new hope for mankind. It is a birth riddled with paradox. A virgin has become a mother; God has become human; a child is King. The biblical account of Jesus’ birth has enraptured millions. But the passage of 2,000 years
Has obscured the historical events that inspired it. What really happened? The answers, though elusive, may still be within our grasp– in clues contained in the Bible, in ancient historical documents and in recent new discoveries by scholars and scientists. Join us as we try to reconstruct the true story of a birth as
Mysterious as it was momentous. [Captioning sponsored by A&E TELEVISION NETWORKS] >> NARRATOR: For many, the search for the truth begins here. This sanctuary in Bethlehem was built in 326 A.D. at the behest of the mother of the most powerful man on Earth. A decade earlier, Constantine
The Great had altered history by declaring Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire. His mother Helena became convinced by local residents that his newfound faith began on this spot. Visitors to the Church of the Nativity can descend to a grotto below, where Jesus is said to have been born.
Many share Helena’s belief. Others, who do not, still acknowledge the site’s symbolic if not historic value. Here, both can find satisfaction. Here, they can touch Christmas. For Christians, the birth of Jesus marks the moment when the world was transformed by the arrival of humanity’s savior. To others, it is an epochal
Turning point: the dawn of the dominant figure of Western culture. The mystery of Jesus’ birth is contained in two books of the New Testament: the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. But many scholars believe that they are works concerned not so much with facts than faith. To extract history from their pages is problematic.
>> DANIEL SMITH-CHRISTOPHER: The Hebrews knew that some truths are more profoundly communicated by telling a story than simply narrating historical events. That presents us an interesting difficulty. Sometimes we have to take a biblical passage and decide how much of this is the narration of events and how much of this is
Story and how do we tell the difference? >> ELIZABETH McNAMER: Our idea of history is different from writers who were writing then. We’re interested in the facts and only the facts. People writing at that point were interested not just in what happened, but in the interpretation of what happened.
It didn’t disturb them at all to add things to put forward their own theology, and it didn’t disturb their readers, either. >> JUDY YATES SIKER: They weren’t historians and they weren’t biographers. They were people whose communities had been impacted by the life of one they called Jesus of Nazareth, and it was
Imperative that they tell the story. >> NARRATOR: But did Matthew and Luke base their accounts of Jesus’ birth on actual events? Or did they merely invent the story after Jesus rose to prominence? The answers are all the more elusive because the narrative known to millions is in fact a fusion of two strikingly
Different tales. It begins when God chooses an obscure young virgin named Mary to carry his son. He tells her of his plan in an extraordinary encounter known as the Annunciation. >> “The angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in
Your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus.’ And Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be since I am a virgin?’ And the angel answered, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you and for that reason the holy offspring shall be called the Son of God.'”– LUKE 1:30.
Roman world, including the Hebrew people, return to their ancestral homes in order to be taxed. >> “Now it came about in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, that a census be taken of all the inhabited Earth. And all were proceeding to register for the census,
Everyone to his own city.”– LUKE 2:1. >> NARRATOR: Joseph, originally from Bethlehem, must escort the pregnant Mary on an arduous journey to his home city, 90 miles away. >> SMITH-CHRISTOPHER: One of the realities that we must always keep in mind in thinking about the Christmas story is that Palestine was Roman- occupied Palestine.
This was not a time or a place when the Hebrew people were in control of their own fate. Rome was very much in control of the fate of these people. So, there’s a human drama: There’s the drama of a father and a mother protecting their child and of trying to do the
Right thing. There’s a larger drama, and that is, this is a Hebrew family trying to do the right thing under the brutal occupation of Palestine by a foreign entity– the Roman Empire. >> NARRATOR: When Mary and Joseph arrive, they discover that Bethlehem is crowded to capacity. With no lodging available, the
Couple’s dilemma worsens. Mary goes into labor. >> “And she gave birth to her newborn son, and she wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.”– LUKE 2:7. >> NARRATOR: The setting where Jesus was born is not specified.
But the presence of a manger– a feeding trough for livestock– has led many to believe it was a stable. Both Matthew and Luke describe how God makes known the miraculous birth to a receptive few. But they differ about who was informed and how. According to Matthew, God conveys the news through a
Wondrous morning star. It serves as a beacon for foreign dignitaries, who travel hundreds of miles to pay homage to the infant Jesus. >> “The star, which they had seen in the east, went on before them until it came and stood over where the child was. And they came into the house and
Saw the child with Mary, his mother, and they fell down and worshipped him. And opening their treasures, they presented him gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh.”– MATTHEW 2:9. >> NARRATOR: In Luke’s version, the message of the birth is carried by an angel. It is delivered not to powerful
Foreigners, but to the local area’s most humble inhabitants. >> “There were shepherds in the fields keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which shall be for all the people.
For today, in the city of David, there has been born for you a savior, who is Christ the Lord.'”– LUKE 2:8. >> SMITH-CHRISTOPHER: The birth of Jesus represents one of those shining moments in human history when there seems to be a kind of sunrise in human darkness.
The birth of Jesus and the life and teachings of Jesus provide us with a level of hope, a message of trust and of just the human possibilities, and I think even non-Christians can come to appreciate that in Jesus as well. >> SIKER: Whether you are a person of faith or not, you have
Echoes of the story in art, in literature, and you can’t avoid it. And so, one needs to be aware of what this story is and what the significance of this story is in order to survive in Western culture. >> MARVIN MEYER: There’s something about the birth of any child that is a wonderful
Moment. It’s a wonderful moment for a family, but in the case of the story of the birth of Jesus, the point of it is, here is a birth that may have some meaning for a bigger family, for the family of Israel, for the family of humankind. >> NARRATOR: One man’s birth
Would turn the world upside down. A new faith would challenge the old order. Jesus, claiming to be the Son of God, would be seen as a threat to Caesar, who claimed to be a god himself. Two charismatic leaders, each asserting their divinity, would offer a revolutionary choice for the future.
>> JOHN DOMINIC CROSSAN: For millions of people, Caesar as divine made sense. He owned the legions, he controlled the Mediterranean world, he brought peace to it and he lived in a huge palace over there on the Palantine Hill in Rome. Now, over here is another story, a counter-story, an anti-story,
Which says, “No, God is not the god of power and violence incarnate in Caesar; God is the Jewish god of justice and righteousness incarnate in a little child who was born in a tiny country, an occupied colony of the Roman Empire, born just about as low as you can imagine.
So you hear of the clash of two gods.” And the question of the story– and it is the Christmas question– “Where is your god? Is your god in power or in justice? Take your choice.” >> NARRATOR: For two people, the choice is never in doubt. The virgin and the carpenter who
Bring Jesus into the world are the first to love him and all he represents. Surprisingly, however, the Gospels tell us little about them. All efforts to trace the historical roots of Christmas lead back to two pivotal figures. The human drama in the story belongs to Mary and Joseph.
They are the parents of God’s only Son, responsible for bringing up the Savior of the world. Yet the Gospels provide little information about them. Today, we think of them simply as a virgin mother and a humble carpenter. Mary’s identity has been obscured by centuries of idealization, encouraged by the Catholic doctrine of the
“Immaculate Conception.” >> SIKER: The phrase the “Immaculate Conception” is often misunderstood as a reference to the immaculate conception of Jesus, when, in fact, it is a reference to Mary. There was a sanctifying grace that preserved her from the stain of original sin. It was important that Mary’s pureness be preserved.
And so, I think that in order for this young woman to be the mother of one who was later, in Christianity, considered God, that it was important that we not have original sin stain this family. >> NARRATOR: For a less romanticized, more accurate portrait of Mary, scholars take
A deeper look into the Gospels. According to Luke, she is neither meek nor mild, but driven by a sense of purpose. She reveals herself in a powerful proclamation now known as the “Magnificat.” >> “My soul exalts the Lord. He has brought down rulers from their thrones, and has exalted those who were humble.
He has filled the hungry with good things, and sent away the rich empty-handed.”– LUKE 1:46. >> SMITH-CHRISTOPHER: What is the image that Luke portrays for us of the young Mary? It is not an image of this kind of glowing, white, virginal woman floating in the air. It’s the image of a
Revolutionary young woman in Roman-occupied Palestine, who sees the implications of the coming of her child to be expressed in those powerful words that the rich will be sent away, the poor will be fed, and the powerful will be pulled down from their thrones. This is a very politically savvy young woman.
>> NARRATOR: If Luke saw Mary as a revolutionary, he also saw her as a virgin. For historians, the virgin birth defies analysis. They are not equipped or inclined to discuss miracles. In their quest to understand the Christmas story, they must confine themselves to a conventional approach. In recent years, they have
Discovered other possible explanations for Mary’s dual role as virgin and mother. Advances in reproductive biology have focused attention on a phenomenon called parthenogenesis. It is a rare process in some plants and animals in which an egg can develop into a new organism without being fertilized. No instance of the process
Occurring in a human female has ever been recorded. Still, it leaves open the possibility that a virgin birth could have a basis in science. Some scholars, however, believe the Gospel authors did not base the virgin birth on a real event, but were inspired by an Old Testament prophecy.
>> “The Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call his name Immanuel.”– ISAIAH 7:14. >> NARRATOR: According to some scholars, the Gospel authors likely claimed Jesus was born of a virgin to remain consistent with Isaiah’s prophesy of the
Coming Messiah. >> ROHALD F. HOCK: Isaiah himself, so far as we know, had no intentions of looking that far ahead, but the standard procedure throughout the ancient world was to make connections between the present and the past, and Christians are doing that with Jesus by connecting him with the past Scripture– in
This case, the prophecy of Isaiah. >> NARRATOR: Ironically, however, some claim it is possible that Isaiah never intended to predict that the Messiah would be born of a virgin. His words, written originally in Hebrew, may have taken on an erroneous new meaning when translated into the Greek version available to Matthew and Luke.
>> MEYER: In the original Hebrew of Isaiah, the word that is used for, well, “virgin” is actually ” alma,” the Hebrew word that means “a young woman”– a young woman of the age when women can conceive and bear children. And there is no more baggage than that that is connected to
That particular term. >> SIKER: When this gets translated into the Greek, which is what the early Christians would have been using– the text that they would have had– is ” parthenos,” which is more heavily nuanced as “virgin.” >> MEYER: The fact of the matter is, the doctrine of the virgin
Birth works better with the Greek than it does with the original Hebrew. >> SIKER: I don’t think that the speculation that the whole idea of Mary’s virginity comes from this “mistranslation” is one that argues very well. For one thing, it’s not a mistranslation. It is one of several words that
Is perfectly acceptable as a translation. But it does have a more heavy nuance of virginity. >> NARRATOR: Scholars who scrutinize the virgin birth focus not only on Isaiah’s prediction in the Old Testament, but also the Gospels themselves. In an apparent contradiction, the same biblical authors who celebrate Mary’s virginity also
Write that Jesus had several siblings. >> “Is this not the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James and Joseph and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters with us?”– MATTHEW 13:54. >> McNAMER: The orthodox tradition on this is that they were children of Joseph by an earlier marriage.
The Roman Catholic tradition is that these were simply cousins of Jesus. >> NARRATOR: Matthew and Luke, however, provide no information supporting this interpretation. >> MEYER: If one will insist, theologically, upon the perpetual virginity of Mary, then there are some great problems when it comes to the brothers and the sisters of Jesus.
And then some creative theological and historical work has to be done. The spin doctors have to go to work. I think that the simplest way to read those accounts is to understand that Jesus had real brothers and real sisters. It was that kind of an ordinary family. >> NARRATOR: If Jesus had
Biological siblings, it would negate only the notion that Mary was a virgin her entire life– not necessarily her virgin birth of Jesus. >> “Joseph knew her not until she had borne a son, and she called his name Jesus.”– MATTHEW 1:25. >> NARRATOR: Some scholars argue that this verse implies that Mary conceived Jesus
Miraculously, and later lost her virginity as she and Joseph assumed a conventional sexual relationship. For skeptics, the question remains: “If Mary was not a virgin, and God was not the father of Jesus, who was?” The most likely candidate, predictably, is Joseph. But in the first century, a rumor surfaced of another possibility.
It was chronicled by the Christian theologian Origen, who taught in Egypt in the second century. He wrote of an allegation that Jesus was the offspring of Mary and a Roman soldier. >> “The Jew, speaking of the mother of Jesus, said that she was guilty of adultery, and that
She bore a child to a certain soldier named Panthera. It was to be expected, indeed, that those who would not believe the miraculous birth of Jesus would invent some falsehood.”– ORIGEN, AGAINST CELSUS, CHAPTER 33. >> SIKER: Origen argues that they had to create this lie– this lie of Mary and the Roman
Soldier– because they knew, and they unwittingly admitted in their lie that Jesus’ birth was not a usual birth. And so, if they couldn’t accept the miraculous nature of this birth, what else would they do but create such a lie? >> CROSSAN: The accusation that Mary was raped by a Roman
Soldier and produced a child, therefore out of wedlock, seems to me to be the obvious rebuttal that I would make if I didn’t accept the virginal birth. This is the nasty, within-the- family, and therefore very nasty name-calling that goes on between Christian Jews and non-Christian Jews in the first
Century, each sort of saying rather nasty things about the other. >> NARRATOR: But could this accusation have any basis in fact? One clue scholars have examined is the name of the Roman soldier mentioned by Origen– Panthera. >> MEYER: Lo and behold, it turns out that a tombstone of a
Certain “Panther” has been found in Germany– the tombstone of a Roman soldier whose name was Tiberius Julius Abdes Panther. And it is said that he was a Sidonian archer who was based in Palestine. And so, that leads then to the speculation: Could it be the case that Mary was actually
Raped by, seduced by– but, at her age, we would call that rape– raped by a Roman soldier? And it is one of the historical possibilities. >> NARRATOR: The tombstone, discovered in 1859 in the city of Bingerbruck, is an intriguing yet inconclusive piece of evidence. Some scholars have argued that
Panthera was likely a common name among the ancient Romans. So, finding it etched on an ancient tombstone should not seem surprising. The discovery has become part of a 2,000-year-old theological debate over Jesus’ parentage. But the issue was once a private crisis for one humble carpenter. After Joseph learns Mary is
Pregnant, say the Gospels, he naturally assumes she has betrayed his trust. Under the laws of his time, he could have Mary stoned to death for her perceived infidelity. Instead, he quietly breaks their engagement. God intervenes. He sends an angel to Joseph in a dream, who tells him that her child has been miraculously
Conceived. Joseph accepts the divine explanation. He and Mary resolve to carry out God’s miracle. In 1997, archaeologists make a remarkable discovery three miles from Bethlehem. The pinkish limestone appears utterly ordinary, except it is located precisely in the center of the ruins of a 5th-century church. The church, it seems, was built
Purposefully around it. The diggers believe they have found the fabled kathisma– the Greek word for “the seat.” According to an apocryphal text, Mary rested on it on her way to give birth to Jesus. Ancient Christians gathered here to commemorate her journey to Bethlehem. The find renews debate over an age-old historical question:
Where was Jesus born? >> McNAMER: I believe that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, just as the stories tell us. The reason I believe this is that there were very early traditions in the church of the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. These would have surfaced very soon after his death, when
People still remembered things, that he was born in Bethlehem. >> MEYER: I think it was likely Nazareth. Jesus was known as Jesus of Nazareth. And, typically, people were known by their birthplace. This is where the family lived. The way in which Matthew and Luke go through some contortions
To get the family to Bethlehem in order for Jesus to be born there seems to indicate that there’s something that is theologically motivated about this kind of account. >> NARRATOR: Some scholars believe that the Gospel authors knew Jesus was born in Nazareth, but altered the truth in the name of faith.
Their inspiration, once again, may have been a prophecy from the Old Testament. >> “But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you one will go forth for me to be ruler in Israel.”– MICAH 5:2. >> NARRATOR: From Bethlehem,
Predicts Micah, will arise a Messiah for God’s chosen people. If Luke and Matthew wished to exalt Jesus as the awaited King, no other city would suffice as his birthplace. Whether inspired by facts or faith, Luke’s account of the journey to Bethlehem is complex and colorful. His story begins in Nazareth,
Where Mary and Joseph await the birth of Jesus. But the Roman Emperor, Caesar Augustus, orders a census of his empire. >> HOCK: A census involved essentially finding out the numbers of people, the wealth of people, for purposes of taxation. So you had to have figures. You had to have concrete data
About what a province could generate in terms of taxes so that when the Empire decided what its tribute should be, they would be able to raise those funds. And, presumably, the reason Joseph and Mary traveled to Bethlehem is because Joseph has property there and, for that reason, is required to register
Himself there rather than at Nazareth. >> NARRATOR: Luke does not specify their means of transportation. But since donkeys were commonly used to move both goods and people, the popular image of Mary riding one is entirely plausible. The roads in Palestine, even by ancient standards, were primitive. The food commonly taken on an
Extended journey was bread and water. Scholars imagine the 90-mile trek would have been grueling. Slowed by Mary’s condition, they would have traveled perhaps ten miles a day. The entire journey would have lasted more than a week. The question remains whether Joseph and Mary really endured such a journey.
The key to the answer may lie in the census that Luke says motivated it. >> “This was the first census taken while Quirinius was Governor of Syria.”– LUKE 2:2. >> NARRATOR: Independent historical sources confirm that a Roman census did occur during the reign of Quirinius. But it occurred in 6 A.D., long
After Jesus was born. It has been suggested that Luke misidentified the Governor; he may have meant to specify the similarly named Quintillus. His reign began in 6 B.C., around the same time that another Roman census was conducted. Even if this is true, however, paradox persists. Roman records indicate that
Every census ordered by Caesar Augustus over a 42-year span involved only Roman citizens. Mary and Joseph would not have participated. Also suspect is a census that required registrants to return to the city where they were born. >> CROSSAN: If everyone goes back to their ancestral home to be recorded and then goes back
To wherever they live, that’s a bureaucratic nightmare. It’s not the way the Romans did it. They wanted you recorded where you were working. “We want to know where you are to pay your taxes.” So, it’s a story which Luke creates in order to get Mary and Joseph and Jesus, of course to
Be born yet, to Bethlehem. But it is not factual. It’s fictional. >> DR. RICHARD HORSLEY: For a long time, we thought that this was just a story, and that this was just a literary device. Well, we’ve discovered papyri in Egypt, now, that put a whole different slant on this.
The Romans required peasants who had found themselves unable to both pay their taxes to Caesar and provide for their families to return to their villages precisely in order to be down on the farm where they would raise crops and pay the Roman taxes. Then that puts some great credibility back in this legend
That Joseph and Mary journey to Bethlehem on the occasion of Caesar having decreed a tax. >> NARRATOR: Whether Luke’s story of the census is credible or not, there may be a completely different scenario that compelled Mary and Joseph to journey to Bethlehem. Some scholars suggest it is possible that Mary was aware of
The Old Testament prophecy in Micah. They believe she may have purposely delivered her baby in the predicted city to bolster his role as the Messiah. >> SMITH-CHRISTOPHER: Let’s remember Luke’s portrayal of Mary as a socially and politically very sophisticated young woman who sees her role as part of the resistance of the
Hebrew people to Roman-occupied Palestine. For this woman to associate the coming of this messianic child with the line of David and to make a move to Bethlehem to emphasize that association would be a politically very savvy move on her part. Is it possible? Absolutely, I think it’s possible.
>> NARRATOR: If Jesus was born in Bethlehem, it is still a mystery as to the precise setting. One passage, however, may hold the answer. >> “And she gave birth to her newborn son, and she wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there
Was no room for them in the inn.”– LUKE 2:7. >> McNAMER: Luke says to us, “There was no room at the inn.” Actually that can be translated: “It was not the place for them in the inn.” You know, an inn was simply an open field, surrounded by a wall
Where travelers could go to be safe from the animals and robbers, and there was a huge fire in the middle where they could do their own cooking, and many travelers would have been staying there. It probably would be the last place in the world you would want to have a baby.
>> NARRATOR: Luke’s mention of a manger implies Jesus was born in a stable, where it would most likely be found. But it is doubtful it would have been a freestanding structure. The more likely setting is a cave, as caves were commonly used to house livestock in the Holy Land.
Wherever Jesus was born, Matthew and Luke call attention to the modest nature of the setting. Though they decree Jesus a King, they make clear that he was not born in a palace. >> SMITH-CHRISTOPHER: Virtually all of the Gospel accounts want to emphasize the humble beginnings of Jesus– the poor beginnings of Jesus.
Look at the setting for the arrival of God’s Messiah. God chose the least, God chose the powerless as the stage upon which salvation shall be worked out. That’s a very profound and important point. >> NARRATOR: For Christians, Jesus’ birth signifies a new beginning for mankind. 2,000 years later, the centuries
Themselves are measured from this pivotal moment in history. But when it occurred still remains a mystery.ou a merry Christmas We wish you a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year… ♪ >> NARRATOR: Every December 25, millions embrace Christmas with reverence and revelry. >> ♪ Navidad, Navidad, hoy es Navidad… ♪
>> ( chanting in Latin ) >> NARRATOR: But unconsciously, the entire world celebrates it every day. In theory, every minute and second that ticks by is measured from the moment Jesus drew his first breath. On New Year’s Eve, the number emblazoned above Times Square declares how many years we believe have passed since Jesus was born. The only problem is that we are almost certainly wrong. The answer was a mystery even in Jesus’ own time. For the early Christians, the defining moment of his life was not its beginning, but its end. The question of when Jesus was born was not an issue until the second century. Christians found themselves
Challenged by a splinter group of believers who claimed Jesus had never been born in the conventional sense. >> McNAMER: I believe that the birth of Jesus only became important in the second century with Gnosticism. Gnostics were an heretical group within the church who were suggesting that Jesus never had a real body.
They essentially did not believe that matter was good. The only thing that was good was spirit. They did not believe in the incarnation. They believed in what we call the Docetic Christ– he only appeared to have a body– and I believe that the infancy narratives were written to counteract this heresy.
>> NARRATOR: When the early Christians became more curious about the circumstances of Jesus’ birth, they began to speculate about the date it occurred. In Egypt, a bishop named Clement determined that Jesus was born on November 18. Elsewhere in North Africa, an anonymous scholar of the same era declared it to be March 28.
Why they chose these dates is unknown. By the fourth century, Christians were no closer to finding the truth. But they decided which day seemed most appropriate– at least symbolically. December 25 had long been celebrated as the pagan holiday honoring the Sun God, Mithras. It was part of a two-week
Festival of the winter solstice, when the days began to lengthen. For the first several centuries of Christianity, the church found itself in fierce competition with popular pagan religions. What better way to challenge them than to usurp their holidays? >> CROSSAN: In the same way that you might take a pagan temple
And put a Christian shrine right on top of it, you put a Christian feast, the birth of Jesus, right on top of the winter solstice, right on top of a pagan feast. You sort of obliterate the pagan layer with the Christian layer. >> NARRATOR: Beyond the practical motivation was the symbolic.
>> McNAMER: I suppose we could say that Jesus was the light of the world, and this was a wonderful time to have the celebration, when there is darkness and then there is light– this light suddenly appearing. >> NARRATOR: In the year 349, Pope Julius formally designated December 25 as Christmas.
Believers now had an official date on which to celebrate, but the declaration extinguished whatever curiosity remained to discover the actual date of Jesus’ birth. Throughout the centuries, few clues have surfaced to solve the mystery. One is provided by Luke in one of the best-known passages from his Gospel.
>> “There were shepherds in the fields keeping watch over their flocks by night.”– LUKE 2:8. >> NARRATOR: In ancient Israel, shepherds guarded their flocks at night only during the season when the ewes gave birth to their lambs. It happened in the spring. In December, sheep were generally kept in corrals, unwatched.
Some scholars believe Luke’s reference suggests we may be celebrating Christmas eight months too late. Ultimately, determining the month and day Jesus was born may be impossible. But determining the year offers scholars more hope. The effort began some 500 years after his birth. By then, the Christian Church had expanded its influence to
All dimensions of life. Perhaps the only untouched dimension was the most intangible of them all: time. To that point in history, calendars measured time beginning with the founding of Rome or the reign of some of its rulers. For Christians, this was no longer acceptable. >> Meyer: As Christians were contemplating a calendar, they
Thought, “Wouldn’t it be wonderful if there would be a calendar that would be geared into Christian values? Wouldn’t it be remarkable if there could be a Christian calendar that would begin with Jesus?” And then it becomes important to find out: “Well, when did Jesus begin?” >> MOSLEY: The question of the
Nativity– the date of the birth of Jesus– has puzzled people for 1,500 years. >> MOSLEY: Church Fathers decided that rather than count years from the beginning of the reign of an impious, non- Christian Roman emperor, that they should count the years with the birth of Jesus. And so Dionysus Exiguus, a monk
Within Rome, was given the project of determining when precisely Jesus was born. >> NARRATOR: For reasons known only to Dionysus, he decided to place Jesus’ birth in the year 753 of the old Roman calendar. He then invented a new calendar, decreeing that Jesus was born on December 25 in the year 1 B.C.,
With the year 1 A.D. beginning a week later. Today, many scholars believe Dionysus made a critical error. They say he failed to take into account a key piece of information from the Gospels. >> SIKER: One of the details in Matthew and Luke’s infancy stories is that his birth took
Place during the reign of Herod. So, if we can determine the reign of Herod and the death of Herod, then we can more closely determine the date of Jesus’ birth. >> HORSLEY: The question of the timing of Herod’s death is not in question. We’re fairly sure that Herod died in what would be
Chronologically 4 B.C., and then that provides the symbolic if not the actual point at which Jesus must have been born: just before that happened. >> NARRATOR: 4 B.C. Perhaps a few years earlier. Until additional evidence is discovered, this range is as close as we can come to the answer. This renowned astronomer
Believes he may have found the answer. For several years, he has been investigating yet another mystery of the Christmas story. >> NARRATOR: The search for Christmas transcends the bounds of Earth. Light years away might be one of the tale’s greatest mysteries: the Star of Bethlehem. >> “Behold, there came wise men
From the east to Jerusalem, saying, ‘Where is he that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east, and have come to worship him.'”– MATTHEW 2:2. >> NARRATOR: For centuries, the star has endured as a mesmerizing symbol of Christianity– almost as powerful as the cross.
But did it truly exist, or was it created after the fact to make Jesus’ birth seem more miraculous? >> McNAMER: Generally, after people died, it was often said that a star had proclaimed their birth. This was said for Alexander the Great. It was said for the Emperor Augustus himself, that a star
Appeared at his birth. In fact, Shakespeare tells us the heavens themselves tell forth the birth of princes. I don’t believe there was a star. I don’t believe that there were magi who came from the east. >> SIKER: I don’t know what that Star of Bethlehem was, but I do
Think that it’s highly likely that there was an astrological event that occurred in that region that was brought into the legend, brought into the story, brought into the tradition of the birth of Jesus. >> NARRATOR: For centuries, astronomers have tried to determine if the Christmas star was more than a myth, and what
Celestial phenomenon could have accounted for it. >> MOSLEY: The first astronomer to speculate on what the Star of Bethlehem might have been was the great Johannes Kepler, 400 years ago– the man who worked out why it is that the planets move the way they do– and when Johannes Kepler saw an exploding
Star in 1604, he thought, “Aha! That might have been what the Magi saw. What could be more glorious?” And we can look at the old Chinese records and they recorded all stars that exploded that they saw, but none appeared at the time of the birth of Jesus. So, despite the charm of the
Idea, and despite Kepler’s enthusiasm for it, apparently it was not an exploding star. >> MICHAEL MOLNAR: Some astronomers have proposed comets, or in particular, Halley’s Comet, which is probably the most famous comet of all, and it appeared at around the time that we believe Jesus was born. However, if you look at the
Ancient texts and try to understand what the people of ancient times believed in, they feared comets. Comets didn’t indicate the birth of a king. It really meant, usually, the death of a king or the start of a war. So, we really cannot propose that a comet, or in particular
Halley’s Comet, was the Star of Bethlehem. >> NARRATOR: For some modern astronomers, the key to unraveling the truth lies in understanding the point of view of the magi. The term “magi” is the root from which we derive the word “magic.” They were a respected class of advisors in the ancient Near
East who used astrology to predict the future. >> MOSLEY: The magi thought the planets moved because the gods were causing them to move. The gods were making them go this way and that way, and when one planet happened to line up with another planet, that that was because the gods had
Something in mind for us, and there was some correspondence between what happened in the sky and what happened down below. They believed in magic, and they believed in the magic of the sky. >> NARRATOR: In the ancient Near East, belief in astrology began several centuries before the birth of Christ.
It was almost universally accepted throughout the region. The only place where it had little influence was the nation in which Jesus was destined to be born. >> MOLNAR: We find that tiny Judaea is sort of an island in a sea of astrology believers. That is, all the countries, the
Cultures in and around Judaea, they believed that astrology did predict the future, that it was a science, and that it really helped them to understand their own lives. But only when we go to Judaea, we find that it is not practiced or believed in. >> NARRATOR: Judaea’s lack of astrological insight is evident
In a key passage from Matthew that may help explain what the Star of Bethlehem was. >> “Then Herod secretly called the magi, and inquired of them diligently what time the star appeared.”– MATTHEW 2:7. >> MOSLEY: An important clue in Matthew is that only the magi saw this star, whatever it was.
Herod and his advisors didn’t know about it. They had to inquire diligently of the magi what they’d seen, so that tells us it wasn’t something spectacular in the sky, like a bright comet, that everyone cave seen. >> NARRATOR: Some astronomers believe that what the magi saw, and the Hebrews did not, was a
Visually subtle conjunction of planets. It happens when one heavenly body appears to cross the path of another. It is a common occurrence. But many scholars believe that 2,000 years ago, a specific conjunction may have been viewed as a sign that the Old Testament prophecy had been fulfilled– that the Messiah had finally
Been born. John Mosley, of the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, has had an avid interest in the Star of Bethlehem for 20 years. He believes he has discovered the celestial phenomenon that attracted the magi. >> MOSLEY: I think that what the magi saw was a series of conjunctions. There were three conjunctions of
The planet Jupiter and the star Regulus, and two very close conjunctions of Jupiter and Venus over a ten-month period of time during the years 3 and 2 B.C., and the final of these conjunctions was really spectacular. It’s the sort of thing that I would love to see. Jupiter and Venus were so close,
They almost touched. So, if you were looking for something of great astrological interest– and after all, the magi were astrologers– then I think you could do nothing better than to look at these conjunctions– this series of events– as the sort of thing that would have made the magi think, “Aha, this is important.
The prophecies were fulfilled.” >> NARRATOR: Michael Molnar, an astronomer formerly of Rutgers University, has a different theory. His interest in the Star of Bethlehem began when he discovered a clue on an ancient coin at a New York collector’s show. It was minted in Syria in 13 A.D. His findings represent perhaps
The most significant recent insight into the Christmas story. >> MOLNAR: One side had the god Zeus on it, or our Jupiter. I’ve seen lots of coins with that god on it. But I flipped it over and the other side was a beautiful picture of Aries the Ram, a sign of the zodiac.
There was the ram, leaping across the sky, looking backwards at an overhead star. Aries the Ram is key to the whole puzzle. We astronomers were looking in the wrong part of the sky for the Star of Bethlehem. The star had appeared in Aries the Ram. >> NARRATOR: Molnar’s research into ancient astrological texts
Reveals that each sign of the zodiac represented a particular kingdom. Aries represented Judaea. Molnar discovered that a specific set of conditions occurring in Aries would have convinced the magi that a person of cosmic importance was to be born there. >> MOLNAR: The most important star that would confer
Kingships– make a young boy a king– was the star of Zeus, which we call the planet Jupiter today. So I knew that the star was most likely the planet Jupiter. I found that the moon played a very important role, and that the closer the moon was to Jupiter, the better were the
Conditions to have the birth of a young king. But most important was that Jupiter had to be in the east. Well, “in the east” means, according to the beliefs and practices of stargazers of 2,000 years ago, that it was about to emerge as a morning star– that is, in the eastern morning sky.
>> NARRATOR: Molnar’s challenge was to find the precise moment when this particular set of conditions occurred in the constellation of Aries. >> MOLNAR: Well, to make a long story short, I ran my computer program for a huge swath in time that biblical scholars believe Jesus was born, and we find that
In 6 B.C.– on April 17 to be exact– these events happened. Jupiter was in the east, in Aries the Ram, and at the same time, the moon came extremely close to Jupiter. The moon came so close, in fact, that it eclipsed Jupiter, and these celestial objects in Aries the Ram indicated, according to
The astrologers, that there was the birth of a great king. >> NARRATOR: Molnar’s findings are perhaps the most compelling evidence that the Star of Bethlehem was a genuine phenomenon. His theory is all the more intriguing in that it places the star’s appearance in the very year that many scholars believe Jesus was born.
The magi, whose belief in astrology compelled them to follow the star, are as much of a mystery as the star itself. Tradition holds that there were three wise men, but Matthew never specifies how many there were. Matthew also never tells from what nation they came, but many scholars think they were from
Babylonia– the site of modern- day Iraq. Outside of Israel, no other country was as aware of the tale of a coming Jewish Messiah. 500 years before Jesus’ birth, the Babylonians conquered the Hebrews and exiled tens of thousands of Jews back to their kingdom. Scholars believe that it was therefore inevitable that the
Ancient prophecy became common knowledge among the Babylonians. Ironically, their astrological interpretation of the star would compel them to believe that their true king had emerged from a nation they had vanquished. >> SMITH-CHRISTOPHER: The Babylonians were one of the most brutal ancient regimes to have ever conquered the Hebrew people, and here come the
Babylonian descendants, subservient to the birth of a Hebrew Messiah, so deeply impressed with the significance of this birth that they come on bended knee to this child. There is a wonderful irony in this story, almost as if the Gospel writers are saying to us, “Remember the people who thought
That they were so powerful and who conquered us so many centuries ago? Even they now are on their knees before the birth of our humble Messiah.” >> NARRATOR: According to Matthew, the magi present the infant Jesus gifts of gold and two aromatic resins: frankincense and myrrh. The gifts held deep symbolic
Significance for the readers of Matthew’s day. >> McNAMER: Some believed that the Messiah, when he came, would be a king. Some believed that he would be a great prophet. Some believed that he would be a priest. Gold is for a king, frankincense for a priest, myrrh would signify a prophet.
So, what Matthew is doing in this little story is simply telling his audience, “Whatever you were expecting in the way of a Messiah has been born.” >> NARRATOR: Although every nativity scene depicts the magi honoring a newborn, many scholars believe they arrived when Jesus was as old as two.
The Greek word Matthew uses to describe Jesus is one the Greeks attached not to a baby, but a toddler. For 2,000 years, the comforting images of the Christmas story have warmed the hearts of millions. But the search for the tale’s historical roots leads to one of the most horrifying incidents
Described in the Bible. The birth of Jesus triggers an event that bathes the streets of Bethlehem in blood. It begins when the Magi, led by the star, pause in Jerusalem. They seek an audience with King Herod the Great. For more than 30 years, Herod has ruled despotically over
Judea as a loyal ally to the Roman Empire. His power is matched only by his unpopularity. The Magi hope that Herod can help them find the infant destined to be king. But their questions inadvertently imperil Jesus’ life. >> “The Magi arrived in Jerusalem, saying, ‘Where is he
Who is born king of the Jews?’ And when Herod, the king, heard it, he was troubled.”– MATTHEW 2:1. >> NARRATOR: According to Matthew, Herod regards Jesus as a dangerous political rival. Fate has pitted an innocent child against one of history’s most ruthless and vengeful leaders. >> HORSLEY: This fellow was the
Very epitome of a tyrant. He had secret police. He had informers sort of spying on the people, especially in Jerusalem. The minute he would hear of any resistance, he’d send out the troops first and ask questions later. He was suspicious of his own sons, and he killed his own sons.
He put to death his own sons that would have been his heirs. >> McNAMER: He murdered so many of his own family, including his mother, his favorite wife, Marianna. He was unscrupulous and extraordinarily cruel. >> NARRATOR: Herod’s paranoia is ignited by the Magi’s news of the Messiah’s birth. His thoughts turn instantly to
Murder. But he keeps his intentions secret from the Magi, hoping that they will lead him to his target. >> “And he sent the Magi to Bethlehem and said, ‘Go and make careful search for the child, and when you have found him, report to me, that I, too, may come and worship him.'”–
MATTHEW 2:8. >> NARRATOR: After the Magi honor Jesus, writes Matthew, an angel informs them of Herod’s scheme. They defy his order to return to his palace and hastily leave Judea. By taking a different route than the one they used to arrive, they avoid capture by Herod’s soldiers and interrogation as to Jesus’ whereabouts.
Enraged, Herod hatches an alternate plan. Estimating Jesus’ age from the time the Magi first saw the star, he orders that all boys in Bethlehem aged two and under be killed. From Jerusalem, the Christian Era’s first death squad approaches. At this moment, according to Matthew, the unsuspecting Mary, Joseph and Jesus are asleep.
But God sends an angel to alert them to the danger. >> “The angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, ‘Arise, and take the young child and his mother and flee into Egypt.'”– MATTHEW 2:13. >> NARRATOR: As the family escapes, Herod’s soldiers sweep into Bethlehem. The king’s cold-blooded order is
Carried out. The incident becomes known as “The Slaughter of the Innocents.” Matthew’s account of what occurred in these streets is the most dramatic episode of the Christmas story. But many scholars contend it never happened. They cite a lack of any corroboration from other sources. >> SIKER: If this event was indeed as horrific as Matthew
Described it, it seems that it would appear in Luke’s Gospel. It seems that it would have appeared in the writings of one such as Josephus, a significant Jewish historian of the first century. I think that those things indicate to us– especially the absence in Josephus– indicate to us that… Matthew may have
Been up to something else. >> NARRATOR: Some scholars say the lack of corroboration is not by itself proof that the slaughter is simply Matthew’s invention. They point out that the population of Bethlehem was then perhaps 1,000, and that there could have been as few as 20 infants under two.
The limited scope of the slaughter may have kept it from entering the history books. >> CROSSAN: It would certainly have been awful, but it would probably not have been a huge number. And yes, of course, it could easily have escaped Josephus. So I couldn’t argue that it didn’t happen because Josephus does not mention it. It’s quite possible he wouldn’t have heard of it, or he could
Have heard of it and not thought it was important. >> SMITH-CHRISTOPHER: Could the Slaughter of the Innocents have happened? Was Herod the kind of ruler capable of this kind of brutality? The answer to that question is, absolutely yes, he was capable of that kind of brutality. We have account after account of
Ancient rulers terrified of the idea amongst their captive population that a ruler was going to come, that a deliverer was going to come, and their attempts to try to deal with it. This is not at all an unbelievable element to the story. >> NARRATOR: Whether fact or fiction, the Slaughter of the
Innocents is reminiscent of another horrific episode from the book of Exodus. It describes how the Egyptian pharaoh tries to murder another messenger of God– the infant Moses– by ordering the execution of all Israelite boys. Some scholars believe Matthew’s account is an invention based on the older story, and an effort
To reinforce Jesus’ role as the deliverer of his people. >> CROSSAN: In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus is the new Moses. So the same way that Pharaoh tried to kill all the children and almost killed Moses but Moses escaped by divine power, bad Pharaoh becomes bad Herod. This is Matthew working the
Parallelism between Jesus, the new Moses in his life, so Jesus must be born, as it were, and almost killed like the old Moses was. >> NARRATOR: In Egypt, writes Matthew, the young Jesus finds safety from Herod’s wrath. But Matthew provides no details about how Mary and Joseph endure
The 250-mile trek to bring him here. Some scholars speculate that they finance the journey by selling the gold, frankincense and myrrh given to them by the Magi. But other scholars doubt they ever venture here. No historical evidence has been found to support Matthew’s account. And Luke’s Gospel contradicts it, describing how Mary and
Joseph travel uneventfully with the newborn Jesus back to Nazareth. Where the holy family lived and how long they stayed in Egypt, Matthew does not say, but a number of legends have survived. In Cairo, the Church of Saint Sergius is built upon the site where it is believed that they stayed for three months.
Outside Cairo, Christians since the fifth century have gathered at this ancient sycamore. They call it the Tree of Mary… for here they believe she sought shade beneath its branches. >> McNAMER: I have visited those sites in Cairo, and they are fun to go to, and if they help people’s piety, that’s fine, but
I don’t think they have any, uh… have any basis in history. >> NARRATOR: One reason that scholars believe Jesus never visited Egypt is that his teachings many years later bear no sign of Egyptian influence. >> CROSSAN: I don’t find anything that Jesus would have learned in Egypt, even if I take
Literally the idea that he went there as a young child and lived there for a length of time. I do not find anything in the teachings of Jesus or the life of Jesus that does not come straight out of the Hebrew Scriptures, the Jewish tradition. >> NARRATOR: Despite the lack of
Any Egyptian nuance to Jesus’ ministry, some scholars believe he may have indeed spent time in Egypt. >> SMITH-CHRISTOPHER: Jesus would’ve been a member of a minority in Egyptian culture. It could very well be that the Egyptian influence on Jesus was exactly the opposite of what some people speculate.
In other words, it may have solidified his Hebrew identity and not so much made him open to Egyptian influence. After all, we know that living in exile, living in Diaspora, sometimes makes people intensely more interested in their cultural tradition, and so less interested in the influences of the majority culture around them.
>> NARRATOR: After an unspecified time in Egypt, writes Matthew, Mary and Joseph receive a message from God that it is safe to return. >> “When Herod was dead, an angel appeared, saying, ‘Arise and take the child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel, for those who sought the
Child’s life are dead.'”– MATTHEW 2:19. >> NARRATOR: Joseph escorts his family back to Judea to the city of Nazareth. There, some 30 years later, Jesus will begin his earth-shaking ministry. Reconstructing the history of Jesus’ birth begins by examining the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. But there is another version of
The first Christmas unknown to millions of believers: The Infancy Gospel of James. It was purportedly written soon after Herod the Great died, which scholars believe happened in 4 B.C. The author claims to be James, one of the brothers of Jesus alluded to several times in the New Testament.
James is identified as Jesus’ brother in the books of Matthew, Mark and Galatians. And Josephus, the first-century historian, corroborates James’ identity when he writes of James’ death at the hand of a treacherous high priest. >> “So he assembled a council of judges and brought it before James, the brother of Jesus,
Known as Christ, and several others, on a charge of breaking the law and handed them over to be stoned.”– JOSEPHUS, THE JEWISH ANTIQUITIES. >> NARRATOR: Although The Infancy Gospel of James was accepted by early Christians, the church never authorized it as scripture. As such, it has been relegated
To the biblical literature known as the Apocrypha. It presents many of the same elements as the traditional story. There is the census, the trek to Bethlehem, the Magi and the Star. But there, the similarities end. James writes that Mary goes into labor not in Bethlehem, but before they are ever able to
Reach the city. >> “When they came to the middle of their journey, Mary said to him, ‘Joseph, take me off the donkey, the child is pushing from within me to let him come out.’ So he took her off the donkey and said to her, ‘Where will I take you and shelter you?
This area is a desert.’ And he found a cave and led her there while he went to find a Hebrew midwife in the land of Bethlehem.”– THE INFANCY GOSPEL OF JAMES 17:10. >> NARRATOR: In contrast to Matthew and Luke, James specifies that Jesus is born in a cave which coincides with what
Many scholars believe to be the true setting. While Joseph is away searching for a midwife, Mary begins to deliver the baby Jesus. At the same moment, a bizarre phenomenon occurs. Joseph is stunned as time literally stands still. >> “With utter astonishment, I saw the birds of the sky were not moving.
And I looked at workers picking food up and they were not picking it up. And I saw sheep being driven, but the sheep were standing still.”– THE INFANCY GOSPEL OF JAMES 18:4. >> HOCK: He is suddenly struck by everything in nature– the heavens, the stars, the birds, the workers, the animals all
Around him stopping right in their tracks, and then suddenly, everything returns to the way it was, and life goes on as it had formerly. And presumably in the context of that story, the moment of the suspension of time, Jesus himself is being born. >> NARRATOR: Joseph returns to the cave with two midwives.
But Mary has already given birth. One of the midwives believes Mary’s claim that she is a virgin. But the other, named Salome, is skeptical. >> “The midwife said ‘Mary, position yourself, for not a small test concerning you is about to take place.’ When Mary heard these things, she positioned herself.
And Salome inserted her finger into her body. And Salome cried out and said, ‘Woe for my lawlessness and the unbelief that made me test the living God. Look, my hand is falling away from me and being consumed by fire.'”– THE INFANCY GOSPEL OF JAMES 20:1. >> NARRATOR: Salome begs
Forgiveness for her lack of faith. God hears her prayer and sends an angel to heal her. James’ account reaches its dramatic peak with a version of the slaughter of the innocents that differs slightly from Matthew’s. >> HOCK: You do have the murder of the infants with Herod attacking the babies.
Mary, who had given birth to Jesus in a cave, now hides Jesus by placing him in the manger so the familiar manger from Luke is now used in a different way in The Infancy Gospel of James. >> NARRATOR: Is it possible this intricate tale is the most accurate version of the Christmas story?
Although James’ Infancy Gospel was supposedly written just after the death of Herod in 4 B.C., scholars believe it was produced as much as 150 years later after the books of Matthew and Luke. They note that it is written in a literary style not invented until the second century.
The style is known as an encomium, which follows strict rules of composition to praise virtuous persons– in this case, the Virgin Mary. And James, they argue, could not possibly have been the author. The historian Josephus records that he died in 62 A.D., a hundred years before the document was apparently written.
>> HORSLEY: One of the reasons why The Infancy Gospel of James seems to have less credibility, perhaps, than the stories contained in Matthew and Luke is it doesn’t seem to be quite as familiar with local color in Palestine– the thought being that maybe whoever put this together, didn’t really have
Much direct knowledge of Palestine. >> SIKER: It was also probably not someone who was Jewish, because there are errors in the understanding of Jewish customs and traditions. >> NARRATOR: Many scholars believe that the only knowledge the author had of Jesus’ birth was what had been recorded several decades earlier in the
Gospels now familiar to millions. >> CROSSAN: The major source that the author of The Infancy Gospel of James has is Matthew and Luke. There is not any clear evidence that he has any other real information. It does not seem that he has any sort of raw, unfiltered traditions that Matthew and Luke
Didn’t know about, but somehow this author has found out about. It’s possible, of course, but that doesn’t seem to be what the author has. What the author has simply is two sources and a very, very good imagination. >> NARRATOR: Although its value as an historical source is questionable, the Gospel of
James still provides valuable insight. Many scholars believe it represents the earliest effort to idealize Mary– an effort that centuries later would culminate in the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception. >> SMITH-CHRISTOPHER: The significance of these writings is often that they give us a picture into the concerns and
The cares of the time they come from. So sometimes these writings give us very interesting insights in what were Christians thinking and worried about in the 200s, in the 300s, in the 400s. For that question, these writings are very important and very valuable. But for missing historical information, not very important.
>> NARRATOR: The Infancy Gospel of James is ultimately more intriguing than it is enlightening. Rather than holding any key to the truth about Christmas, it is perhaps the earliest effort to speculate on what that truth may be. To what degree the Christmas story should be considered historical fact may never be known.
To Christians, the Christmas story is an imponderable miracle– God’s invasion of human history in a stable 2,000 years ago. The miracle, however, lies dormant for some 30 years. Then, as told by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, Jesus emerges with a message that redefines man’s purpose. The man born in the most humble
Setting imaginable teaches that the poor are imbued with as much dignity as the most powerful king. The man born beneath a shining star teaches that hope will burn brightly as long as men love each other as brothers. The man born of a virgin teaches that the world can be
Transformed by the pure in heart. >> McNAMER: The message of Jesus was the most powerful and the most idealistic message ever. I mean, to stand on that mountain and say, “Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are you when you forgive your enemies. Be good to them that hurt you.”
>> MEYER: “To do unto others as you would have them do unto you. To turn the other cheek. To go the extra mile.” To do those sorts of things that may make our world a better place for all of us to live in. >> SMITH-CHRISTOPHER: Suddenly we’re presented with an
Incredible hope that burns brightly, a hope that there is a god who cares about us, a hope in the possibility that we can live with each other differently than the way we so often have, a hope that there’s a different way of being a human society, and the very coming of Jesus
Embodies that hope in a profound sense. >> HORSLEY: Not only was he understood as the Savior and Christ by the new religion Christianity that developed, but Jesus was the one who really defined and articulated the agenda for ordinary people who were struggling for independence from domination by foreign powers and their own unjust
Rulers, and laid out an idea of what a life of justice and mutual caring could be. >> NARRATOR: Jesus’ revolutionary ministry is but a continuation of the Christmas story– as the Son of God carries out his plan to save mankind from sin and death. It continues further with his arrest, trial and execution.
The significance of his birth in the manger can be understood only by recognizing his sacrifice on the cross. Still, it is Jesus’ resurrection that marks the ultimate fulfillment of God’s plan. 30 years after a miracle brings Jesus into the world, another enables him to rejoin his heavenly Father.
From the empty tomb emerges the faith destined to transform the world. >> SIKER: There are those who would argue that it’s based on a lie, that’s it’s based on false rumors of disciples who stole the body of Jesus to make a good story, and yet, somehow, this story has made its way through
History and time in a way unequaled. >> NARRATOR: Beginning as a fringe faith, Christianity receives widespread acceptance after the Roman Emperor Constantine accepts Jesus as his God and Savior. 300 years after Jesus’ birth, Christianity becomes the official religion of the Roman Empire. As the centuries pass, its influence becomes immeasurable:
Art and science, politics and economics, self and society– all are transformed by Christianity. But Christianity’s impact on history is not always positive. During the crusades, medieval Christians try to recapture the Holy Land from the Muslims. In the name of Jesus, they kill thousands of innocent men, women and children. During the Inquisition, the
Church supports torture as a means of coercing confessions from those considered heretics. By the 16th century, the church grows so powerful, it becomes corrupted by its own success. One measure of its decline is that salvation, once only earned by the faithful, can now be purchased by the rich. A German monk, Martin Luther,
Declares his outrage. Inspired by Jesus, who cast the moneychangers from the temple, he fights for reform. The Reformation splits its believers into Catholics and Protestants. Today, millions of Christians still struggle to live up to the high standards of their own faith. >> SMITH-CHRISTOPHER: We have had a very checkered history as
Christians of trying to embody the teachings of a peaceful Messiah who calls on us to care for each other rather than dominate each other, to share with each other rather than hoard from each other. And it’s unfortunate that the first 2,000 years of our attempt as humans to embody the
Teachings and example of Jesus have not been terribly successful. >> McNAMER: Gandhi once said about Christianity, “It is so magnificent. What a pity it’s never been tried.” I do believe it has been tried. There are just hundreds and hundreds of wonderful people in the pages of history of Christianity that show that
It has been tried and has made a difference. >> CROSSAN: Christianity has done many things in the name of Jesus for which I, as a Christian, am ashamed. It has also done many good things in the name of Jesus for which I am very glad as a Christian, and which makes me
Very glad to be a Christian. >> NARRATOR: 2,000 years after Jesus was born, a third of the world’s population professes to be followers of the faith he inaugurated in a manger. For Christians, Christmas celebrates how God gave the world a gift it never deserved but needed more than anything. To accept the gift is to acknowledge the responsibility of giving something back. >> SMITH-CHRISTOPHER: The Christmas story is intended to question us on the deepest levels of being a human being.
Here was the coming of a new way of living. Here was the coming of a new hope. Here was a profound challenge to how we as humans think that the world has to run, as opposed to our belief that the only way that we can live together is to
Be armed to the teeth and to be ready to fight. Here was one who brought a message: “No, that’s not the way. We can care for each other; we can take care of each other; we can live justly; we can live at peace.” If we miss that profound challenge, then we miss the
Significance of the Christmas story. >> SIKER: For me, the Christmas story is an account of the recollections of people like you and I who had an experience of God’s presence that was so powerful that they couldn’t hold it in. It’s a story of mystery and a story of hope replete with the
Possibilities of peace and goodwill in a world where both are in short supply. >> NARRATOR: For generations to come, the search for the historical truth of the day it all began– the search for Christmas– will continue. No matter what is discovered along the way, millions will always find comfort in the story.
They will find fulfillment in the images of an infant’s gentle smile and a virgin mother’s loving glance. [Captioning sponsored by A&E TELEVISION NETWORKS Captioned by The Caption Center WGBH Educational Foundation]
– The word proofs is a loaded term in philosophy and in many cases people will push back at us for using that in the Christian faith, but the Bible itself, Acts 1:3 says that with many convincing proofs Jesus appeared to his disciples for 40 days after his resurrection.
In fact, the apostles were faced with this accusation that they had actually stolen the body of Jesus. And so as early as the New Testament all the way to this present day there have been attacks on the notion that Jesus was raised from the dead. And through the next almost 2000 years,
If we were to come up to today, there are a series of what we call counter theories to the resurrection. The resurrection of Jesus through the centuries has responded to these counter theories such as, well his body was stolen, or maybe he wasn’t really dead
When he was put in the tomb, and so on, have been responded to powerfully such that I’m convinced today the very best answer is, in fact, rationally, that Jesus was historically raised from the dead. Now some of the actual historical evidences that have been discussed through the centuries
Are that Jesus was really dead. That is to say, there is no question that he just swooned when he was put into the tomb, to Romans knew how to kill you when they crucified you. Two, the fact is that his tomb was empty. The early Christians even lost where the actual tomb is,
We don’t know for sure even where you’re taken as a tourist today is actually where he was buried. Why? Because they didn’t care about it, he was raised from the dead. His enemies would have presented his body were he actually still in the tomb. Three, his disciples believed that they were seeing Jesus
After his resurrection, that is in a post mortem raised state, so much so that they were willing to die for this, this is remarkable. And in fact, they changed, four, their belief system. These early believers were Jewish, and so they began to worship on the first day of the week,
That is Sunday instead of the Sabbath day. They celebrated the Lord’s supper, which is a proclamation of his death, and burial, and resurrection until he comes, and baptism, which was a symbol of buried with him in the likeness of his death and raised in the likeness of his resurrection.
Interestingly enough, the various theories like swoon, or conspiracy, or they lost the body, and so on, only a handful of these are still used today by skeptics and the irony is they fail miserably simply to deal with what now the majority of New Testament scholars, even those
Who are not Christians, agree on those historical facts that I presented. The bottom line is the significance of the resurrection of Jesus is intensely personal. The reason is simply that if he’s not raised from the dead then Christianity is silly, there’s no forgiveness for our sins,
My having lived my life believing that he’s raised from the dead was a waste, I could’ve lived it any other of a number of ways. But if he is raised from the dead, then in fact, the hundreds of millions of people who trusted in him through the centuries
Really do have hope for eternal life. I remember 43 years ago when I was not a Christian, 20 year old pagan, hated Christianity, yet woke up on Easter morning with a bad hangover as a hippy with long hair, God has a sense of humor, it seems, I had been told recently by Christians
That on Easter, that was the day they celebrated Jesus having been raised from the dead. And the fundamental question of life that I was facing, like is there a God and could I be forgiven for the evil that I actually was fully caught up in and was convinced I was guilty of,
Could I be forgiven? I didn’t connect all those dots, but something bothered me that morning, this is the day Jesus rose from the dead. And that’s what makes Christianity so very special, the love of God displayed in the death, burial, resurrection of Jesus for us, has been demonstrated
To be true, and that’s what gives me hope, and it should you, too, if you belong to him. – [Narrator] Thanks for watching. You can submit your questions by email, Twitter, or in the comments section below. And don’t forget to subscribe to find out the answer to next week’s question.
We have been looking at the story of Jesus as it is told in Luke’s Gospel. It begins with the arrival of an unlikely king born in poor humble circumstances. Then we saw Jesus as a teacher-prophet. He went through out Israel calling people to a radical way of life. Where enemies become friends,
The poor are cared for, where people find forgiveness for their failures. He went from town to town, inviting people to follow him, and live under God’s reign in this upside down way. And he did many signs and wonders, so many Israelites began to hope that He would rescue Israel from the Romans
And set up a new kingdom of peace and justice. In short, that He would bring the Kingdom of God Now, the religious leaders of the day were also hoping for God’s Kingdom but to them, the message of Jesus was a threat. Yeah, they had expected to gain power
And prestige when all this went down. But Jesus said that God’s kingdom belongs to the poor, to the outsider. And the real power is serving others in love. This conflict intensified when Jesus, while in Jerusalem disrupted the temple’s sacrifices and called Israel’s leaders a gang of rebels So, they arrested Jesus
And they have him accused before the Roman authorities of being a rebel king. He was handed over for execution even though he was innocent. But then he was taken outside the city and put to death on false charges. This brings us to the final section of the Gospel of Luke
There was a religious leader named Joseph, who opposed Jesus’s execution and then requested to be given his body so he could buried Jesus in a nearby tomb. And then a couple of days later some women who had followed Jesus, came to visit that tomb and they found it open, and empty
And they encounter these mysterious figures telling them that Jesus was alive from the dead. So they ran away terrified, nobody believed their report. I mean he can’t be alive they all saw him die. Now, just outside of Jerusalem a pair of Jesus’s followers
Were leaving the city traveling on a road to a town called Emmaus. And they were sad and confused about everything that had happened. Then Jesus shows up walking along side them but they do not know it is him. Yeah, that is weird. Why could not they recognized him?
Yeah, it is odd but a really significant image for Luke. So, they are blind to Jesus for some reason, so Jesus asks them. What are you guys talking about? And they begin telling him about Jesus, a powerful prophet who they expected would rescue Israel; but it was instead executed.
Some women see him alive, which is crazy. It is all too much, we are going home. So Jesus tries to explain that this is what the Jewish scriptures had been pointing to all along. That Israel needed a King who would suffer and die as a rebel
On behalf of those who are actually rebels. And then he would be vindicated by his resurrection, so he could give true life to those who would receive it. But it still not making sense, they are as confused as ever. Which leads to the scene where they sit down for a meal with Jesus
He takes the bread, he blesses it, breaks it and gives it to them just as he did at the last supper. Yeah, this is the image of his broken body, his death on the cross And it is when they take in the broken bread
That is when their eyes are open to see Jesus then he disappears and the episode is over So this is a story about how it is hard is to see Jesus for who he really is Yes, this is brilliant, I mean How could God’s royal power and love be revealed through
This man’s shameful execution? How could a humble man become the King of world through weakness and self sacrifice? It is very hard to see. But this is the message of the Gospel of Luke. It takes a transformation of your imagination to see it and embrace Jesus’s upside down kingdom.
The Gospel of Luke ends with, Jesus and all of his disciples together over another meal and everyone is freaking out about his resurrected body. I mean he is still a human but way more. Yes, He has passed through death and come out the other side, a walking, talking, piece of new creation
And then Jesus tells them that He’s going to give them the same divine power that sustained Him so they can go out and share the Good News of God’s Kingdom with other people. After this, Luke tells us that Jesus was taken up into Heaven
Which is a cool exit and all, but why disappear into the sky? In the Old Testament, the skies are the place of God’s throne, they’re above everything so this is Luke’s way of showing that Jesus has been enthroned as the Divine King of the whole world
His followers stay in Jerusalem, worshipping God and Jesus waiting for this new power and this is where the gospel ends now Luke is going to write about how they receive this power and take the news out into the world and that’s what his second volume, The Book Of Acts, is all about.