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Who can you trust these days? It seems as though honesty is a treated
as a luxury that is thrown aside at the first sign that it might not get
you what you want. Take consumer products…If what the advertisers
tell us was really true, we need only buy their product in order to be
really cool or to look younger, or to be healthier, or even totally fulfilled
in life! At the very least their product can make you irresistibly attractive.
I know this promise is not true because I was given a new Gillette Mach
3 turbo razor for my birthday 4 weeks ago and, well, I still don't look
like the man in the adverts. The trick for the Advertisers is to make
us feel we are missing out by not having their product. That it is fairly
crucial that we have their product. So if they can promise it will do
something special for us we might be hooked. Of course we know their promises
are pretty empty and somehow we accept that level of dishonesty. On a
personal level, can I offer a word of advice to any young women here -
in fact, in doesn't have to be young women, romance is possible at any
age. But maybe older women need the advice less - here it is: If a young
man offers you the earth, be careful - he can't deliver - it's not his
to give. His intentions may be honourable, but his ability to deliver
is not honest. At the beginning of His ministry, Jesus got a similar offer;
the devil promised him the earth: "If you worship me, I will give
you all the kingdoms of the world." Now this is the other way round
- the devil's intentions were not honourable, but his ability to deliver
was honest; Scripture describes him as the 'Prince of this world'. Of
course this earth belongs to God, but the powers of darkness have been
allowed to rule, until the Creator claims them back. So it was crucial
that Jesus resisted - and he did. The Devil could not be trusted and Jesus
knew that.
So back to that opening question: Who can you trust these days? Not the
promoters of products trying to get your money.
But sometimes a lack of honesty is more serious than that. The 15 Service
personnel released by Iran this week returned with a very different story
about their treatment than that given by the Iranian govt. They can't
both be telling the truth. You may have a clear idea of whose word you
trust. When lives are at stake, and negotiations underway, being able
to trust the other side is crucial. Even the good guys may not be telling
you the whole truth - the treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay dents
our trust in those we thought were honest. Once again, truth is the casualty
in the propaganda war. And this is similar to the problem people had with
Jesus. He seemed like 1 of the good guys. If you and I had been an ordinary
Jew in Palestine when Jesus was travelling around, what would we have
made of him? We have seen travelling rabbis come and go; many set themselves
up as teachers and many perform wonders and healings. Yes, this carpenters'
son from Nazareth certainly spoke with much more authority; yes, his actions
matched his words - he genuinely seemed to care for those who were in
need; he had time for children and respected women and this was different.
But the idea that he could actually be the Messiah? That he was the long-awaited
'anointed one'? Well, let's reserve judgement. He was making some fairly
big claims for Himself and asking for a pretty uncompromising response
from those his listeners. So trusting what he was promising wasn't going
to be easy. Of course if he was the Messiah, it was crucial not to miss
it. But equally if he wasn't, it would be crucial not to fall for believing
Him. He would have to do something pretty convincing to get me to climb
off the fence and trust him fully. Something new like the prophet spoke
about long ago - the sort of thing that would show it had to be God at
work in Him. Like making a path through the sea (as Moses had done) or
a way in the wilderness, or making rivers to flow in the desert. To really
convince me that here was a man like no other, it would have to be something
that no other man has done, or indeed could do for himself. Such as returning
from certain death, for example…
No wonder the greatest emotion surrounding the events of the Resurrection
(according to the Gospels) was not joy, but fear. Not mild uncertainty,
but body-shaking terror. As human beings we fear what we have no experience
of; we fear what we don't understand and doesn't make sense. The women
were terrified, the men were terrified, which is why Jesus had to say
'Do not be afraid. Peace be with you.'
People who have been dead for 2 days do not come back to life. I have
sat with a 2 year old girl who had been killed in a road accident days
before. I have sat with a 90 year old woman who had died minutes before.
Forgive me for being so blunt, but dead people cannot bring themselves
back to life. Nor can they appear in a locked room speaking with their
friends again. No wonder the disciples were terrified.
So now I can sit on the fence no longer. This teacher seemed to be able
to deliver what he promised in life: Get up and walk, open your eyes,
depart troublesome demon, Be Still! Now he seems to be able to deliver
what he promised after death: 'Destroy this Temple and in 3 days I will
raise it up.' This is something different. This is something which calls
for a response. And it is crucial that I do respond. There's that word
'crucial' again - I have already used it 5 Xs before. Crucial is from
the Latin word 'Crux'. We talk of something being 'at the crux of the
matter'. One dictionary defines crux as 'that on which a decision turns:
the essential point'. And there it is - The Crux, the Crossing point,
the place where a decision is called for. The Cross.
Yes, there had been teachers before; there had been many who had been
crucified before - it was the speciality form of execution of the Romans.
But it is The Resurrection which makes the Cross of Jesus crucial. It
is the place where the vertical meets the horizontal, where the earthly
meets the heavenly, and because of the Resurrection, calls for a response.
From the first Easter Day onwards, nothing can ever be the same again.
Only one man promised he would return from death; and he has kept his
promise. He has spoken truth. He can be trusted. That means it is crucial
we take seriously all the promises he has made. And why would we not want
to? He promises life to the full, life abundantly now, and beyond the
now, to life beyond death. The Resurrection changes everything and it
is crucial that we respond. Let us pray…
'Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.'
Risen Jesus, show us what it means to trust your words & embrace the
promises you made.' Amen.
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