Watching a 100 Year Old Dead Man Get Out of His Casket

Suggested Reading: Matthew 28:1-20

Several years ago, a man in the church I was pastoring died, and I had the privilege of helping to preach his funeral. This particular gentleman was 100 years old and, even when he was sick and weak, was filled with more life than almost anyone I had ever met. When the funeral home arrived with his body and arranged his casket for the service, I was one of the only people there. For just a few moments I was alone with this man's body and I stood there watching him. For the first time in my life, I had a hard time believing someone was actually dead. I kept watching him and, I swear, it was like watching a twitching body. I just kept picturing him sitting up and leaving that casket and that image in my mind kept trying to superimpose itself on reality. I knew he was dead but I couldn't bring myself to believe it. It just didn't seem possible.

In Matthew 28, Jesus's disciples had a similar reaction at the opposite end of the spectrum. Jesus has been crucified and died but now he had risen and appeared to several of the women who had followed him. Jesus sent a message through those women that the disciples were to meet him at a preordained place in Galilee. So the 11 disciples traveled to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had directed them. When they saw Him, they worshiped, but some doubted (Matthew 28:16-17, HCSB). Jesus was standing right in front of them. Other passages tell us that they had the opportunity to feel the holes where the nails pierced his hands and feet. But they had a hard time believing he was really alive. Jesus was standing right in front of them but they doubted.

Something that always strikes me when I read that passage is that this group of 11 disciples went out and turned the world upside down even though, at one point, they had a hard time believing it themselves. Yes they doubted, but they wrestled with it and talked to others who had seen Jesus raised from the dead, and they eventually came to terms with their doubts and changed the world.

Having doubts does not make you a bad person and it doesn't mean you are useless to God. Some of the most useful people are people who have doubted deeply but wrestled with their doubts fervently and eventually came to terms with them. The process of doubting and wrestling with doubts can produce a person who is firm in the faith and certain why they believe as they do. Just because you have a hard time accepting something doesn't mean you have no faith. it means you are normal. But you have to deal with your doubts. Examine them, test them, see if they have any basis, and talk with other people who have struggled with doubt but continued to believe.

Doubting does not disqualify you from the work of the Kingdom. But don't allow doubt to go unresolved indefinitely. wrestle with your doubts. You might just come through them ready to change the world.

Asking for Trust While Lying Through Your Teeth

Suggested Reading: Matthew 28:1-15

One of the frustrations of the political season is that, unless you completely tune out all forms of media, you have to listen daily to public figures asking for our trust while lying to our faces. From every side during the political season we are lied to and winked at because people are more interested in winning and advancing their own ideas than they are invested in the truth. We're told one candidate didn't really help create jobs (just don't look at the first several years of his tenure, shh). We're told one candidate hated a particular group of people (just don't look at who he actually appointed, ok). We're told one candidate's "scandals" are all phony because there's no proof (just ignore the massive piles of evidence because they were collected by people from a different party).  We're given so many half-truths and outright lies, so much propaganda and spin, so many scare tactics and straw men, that it is hard not to become very angry all the time if you really pay attention. After all, the goal in politics is getting your candidate elected and advancing your political ideology. It's about winning, not the truth.

This tendency to sacrifice the truth for one's own gain is neither new nor confined to politics. We even see an example of it in Matthew 28. The Jewish ruling council had condemned Jesus for blasphemy and convinced Pilate to crucify him, even having an official seal placed on the tomb in which Jesus was buried. But when the soldiers guarding the tomb reported that Jesus had risen from the dead, complete with an earthquake and angel appearances, the priests and elders gave the soldiers a large sum of money and told them, “Say this, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole Him while we were sleeping.’ If this reaches the governor’s ears, we will deal with him and keep you out of trouble” (Matthew 28:12-14, HCSB).

At this point, the priests and elders should have been jumping for joy. Jesus really was the Messiah! God had answered the prayers of his people and sent a savior! They should have been running to Jesus and falling down before him begging for forgiveness. But instead, they disregarded the truth because it didn't fit their agenda and meant they had been on the wrong side. Sadly, they demonstrated that they were more interested in winning, in maintaining their superiority, than in the truth.

But before we start judging the priests and elders, we should take a hard, long look at ourselves. How often do we ignore certain facts because we don't know how to counter them and still be right? How often do we pretend scripture doesn't address a particular activity or attitude because we enjoy it too much or because quitting would be difficult and inconvenient? How often do we only pass on a portion of the truth because the whole truth would makes us look bad or expose our errors?

When we find ourselves engaging in these kinds of activities, we prove ourselves to be more invested in an idea, in winning, or in keeping what we have, than in the truth. As a result, we begin living a lie, knowing that we're wrong, knowing that we simply won't admit it. In the end, living a lie sears our consciences until we no longer care. And that should scare us.

Don't put your ideas, ideologies, politics or position above the truth. If we've been on the wrong side of an issue, it is better to swallow our pride and switch sides than to live a lie.