The reason for our Christian hope

Apr 6, 2018 by

by Julian Mann:

This is edited version of an Easter talk at the Oughtibridge Mothers’ Union:

A question for us to think about: if someone were to ask you, ‘Why are you a Christian?’, what would you say? 

The Apostle Peter was one of the first eye-witnesses of Jesus Christ risen bodily from the dead. He saw Jesus alive, spoke with him and ate with him. In his first New Testament letter, written probably about 25-30 years after Jesus’ resurrection, Peter wrote this to Christian believers scattered around the Roman Empire in the 1st Century AD:

‘Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect’ (1 Peter 3v15 – NIV).

Peter wanted these Christians to be prepared to explain to the non-Christian people they lived and worked amongst why they were Christians. Remember the Christian faith was a minority faith at that time – the overwhelming majority of people in the Roman Empire were pagans.

It is significant how Peter phrased his command: ‘Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.’  He is not saying: ‘Thrust it down people’s throats.’ Rather:  ‘Explain when asked. Your beliefs and behaviour as Christians will mark you out, so you are going to be asked why you are Christian.’

Notice also something else about how Peter phrased this command: ‘Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.’ 

The hope of what? Peter was talking about our future Christian hope of a renewed, sin-free, death-free world where we can know God and enjoy him for ever in and through his eternal Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

What is the reason for this hope? Peter has already made that very clear in his letter: ‘Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In his great mercy had given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead’ (1 Peter 1v3).

We have the living hope of heaven because Jesus rose from the dead. His resurrection has opened the door for us to rise bodily after we die and to be with our Lord for ever.

So, we are going to investigate some of the evidence for the historical truth of the bodily resurrection of our Lord from the dead in Matthew’s Gospel. Two female disciples of Jesus have just seen his empty tomb and have spoken with the risen Jesus:

While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money,  telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day’ (Matthew 28v11-15).

You will have noticed from the tomb guards’ report to the chief priests that the anti-Christian propaganda machine was already getting into gear. When confronted with the fact of the empty tomb of Jesus, the religious leaders devised a plan for a made-up story. Jesus’ disciples stole his body – that is the reason for his empty tomb.

The problem for the chief priests was that as far as spin goes it was not very convincing.

We only have to look at Peter himself. Peter, according to the Gospels, was terrified on the night that Jesus was being tried and condemned to death. He denied any knowledge of Jesus when asked by a servant girl. The Gospels present Peter as an utter coward when the crunch came, an odd thing to do to the man who later became the leader of Christian movement if it was not true. The normal thing that human movements do is to present their leaders as heroes from the go.

What is the likelihood of a coward like Peter finding the courage two days later to go down to Jesus’ militarily guarded tomb, arrange for the heavy stone to be rolled away, and then steal his body?

Peter had gone into hiding and was not expecting to see Jesus alive. But after he did he was transformed and became the leading proclaimer of the risen Jesus and was prepared ultimately to die for his faith.

Would he really have been prepared to die for what he knew to be a lie? If he had stolen Jesus’ body, would he really have been prepared to suffer and die for his faith?

That is something we can point out to people when we invite them to think about the truth of Jesus’ resurrection.

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