The Other Six Days

Luke 24 – the best evidence for the resurrection:

(1) the tomb was empty;

(2) eyewitnesses: many claimed to have seen Jesus in the earliest days after the crucifixion;

(3) multiple witnesses: all four Gospels record stories about the resurrection;

(4) a 1st century Nazareth Decree given by a Roman emperor ordering capital punishment for anyone disturbing tombs –

(5) none of the opponents of the earliest Christians produced a rotting corpse to prove Jesus had not been raised, and had there been one they would have produced it;

(6) experiential: millions witness to their own experience of knowing Jesus as one who is alive speaking to them;

(7) Jesus: he said he’d be raised, which is what Luke tells us in 24:6–8.

At the crucifixion, the criminal mocking Jesus says “save yourself and us”–Jesus is like, “hold my beer.”

The criminal is stuck in physical reality with a limited perspective. Jesus is in the midst of the salvation. He couldn’t be more doing what the criminal was requesting than what he was doing at that moment. Praise Jesus.

Let us set aside our expectations of how things ought to be. Let us suspend judgement and allow things to work out without grumbling and complaining that they should be different. Let us allow that as it is is ok and trust God has not abandoned us. Let us believe he knows what is going on. Is he powerless to change what is uncomfortable for us? Of course not!!! Let us die a little more to self. Let us realize when our anger or bitterness is just giving evidence to the world that we need to connect to a firmer foundation. Let us suspend ego in that moment and release the pride that ties us to self and give it to God. God has so much good to work with if we can be his raw material and be his hands and feet.

Holy Spirit breathe into your church. Burn up all the extra. Consume all the self centered pride, anger, fear, hurt, taking personally, wounds. Leave only focused hearts desiring more of you.

If Jesus is the Messiah, God’s Son and the people’s Savior, then the incidents of the Passion story are nothing less than abuse of God’s agent of redemption.

Jesus was abused relationally, physically, verbally, socially, familial-ly, and legally—by Judas, Peter, Jewish officials, the guards, and by the Roman appointed authorities, Pilate and Herod Antipas. The abuse is so comprehensive we must see that Jesus was utterly alone before God and utterly rejected by his people.

Crowd riled up by officials with an agenda planted in the mob. Crowd-think and unreasonable people. (Do you want a murderer or an innocent person released back into society?) This whole thing makes zero sense.

Terrifying what people accomplish with this kind of mindless momentum.

Also God didn’t stop it. I want to criticize us for being so dumb and cruel. And even that’s useful to God. God’s not wringing his hands: O no! The people really did it this time!

God uses everything to accomplish his purpose. All our imperfections. Still of course it is my effort to give him something good to work with. And when I don’t, I don’t need to despair.

All the Gospels predict and document the betrayal by Judas. It’s easy for us to say, “Well, the betrayal was all part of God’s plan.” It is one thing to think God turned nightmare into Easter, but it is another to brush off a betrayal that led to a brutal, public crucifixion, by claiming this is how God works in the world. No, we must see the betrayal as a diabolical act perpetrated by a greedy man who sold the Savior for money.

We should never dismiss a betrayal by minimizing the act or the wounds. Jesus was betrayed but so were the other eleven and the various circles of Jesus’ followers, not least his mother and brothers. They all felt betrayal.

The disciples ask where passover will happen. Jesus tells them to look for the guy with the water jug. It’s all like Jesus says. There’s room for omniscience and free will both

Same, in the fulfillment of the prophesy v22 that the son of man is going as has been determined– scripture says it will happen. Somehow someone chooses to participate in the fulfilment too. But wow to that one by whom it is fulfilled.

Judas chose. He didn’t have to choose what he chose. He’s not a victim to fate in the story.

It probably didn’t have to happen exactly like it did. I’m of a mind that we act and God acts and there’s a messy order to the dance. God’s always lead, but he works with what we give him.

The image I had this morning is God stacking the building blocks and us knocking them over and God putting them in order and us bumbling them down again and again and again. Let us be aware of our co-creation. Let us participate consciously with what God’s doing in our moments

Satan enters Judas who agrees to find a time when no one is around to betray Jesus.

Free will and spiritual battles: Judas could have not participated in the plot. He chose to

We have the exact same choice regularly throughout our moments: allow greed or bitterness or any other soul poison to dominate our thoughts or surrender our thoughts to God

Thoughts become what we are.

Of course it’s our cooperation with the Holy Spirit to win the battle. And for our minds+the Holy Spirit, it’s no sweat.

Here’s the big scenario for Jesus: Jerusalem will be destroyed by Rome (and it was under the Roman general Titus) and the faithful will survive (some did), but they need to be ready for catastrophe (some were, some were not). Do we have eyes like the prophet Jesus to discern corruptions in our world that will cause institutions and nations to collapse?

The two copper coins.

We are wise to notice when we decide to take Scripture literally and when we don’t. The reminder is we can’t serve two masters and the question is what are we trusting in

Then lots of end time stuff! Big big big precursors.

We don’t look at physical reality as ultimate reality.

V16 they will put some of you to death… But not a hair of your head will perish

That seems contradictory if physical reality is all there is. Of course it’s not.

V21:34 don’t let the worries of this life weigh you down. –be on guard. Moment by moment be aware if there is worry! Let that be a sacrifice in surrender to God

Prophets provoke, and provocateurs expect pushback. A prophet was someone who is called by God, to speak for God to the people of God about redemption and judgment. The prophet often experiences opposition, rejection, and at times martyrdom.

Three questions: Who gave you this authority? (20:2), What shall I do? (20:13), and, Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not? (20:22). Three responses: I won’t tell you, the vineyard will shift to others, and choose God.

These are not dodgy answers for Jesus. Prophets spin words like this in ways that probe in order to provoke. The chapter could have a “Who’s next?” caption at the end of each question.