Christ is risen indeed [John 20]

Christianity is based on two, perhaps three facts. All three offend.

  1. Christ is God incarnate. Truly God, Truly man. He was always with God. This offends the Unitarians
  2. Christ paid the penalty for our sins that we rightly should pay on the cross. This offends the Hindus, Buddhists, and all those who trust in their own knowledge and righteousness
  3. Christ rose again from the dead. This offends the Jews. This really offends the Muslim

But our gospel is not about avoiding giving others offense. It is not about seeing the other religions of this world as equivalent. It is to pray for those trapped in delusion, be they Muslim, Jew, or Hindu: to preach the law, so that all know that they are found wanting, and to point to the cross, which is but the only way forward to salvation.

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And to remind all that there is hope. For as Christ rose from the dead, we will arise, and join him.

When Israel went out from Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language,
Judah became his sanctuary, Israel his dominion.

The sea looked and fled; Jordan turned back.
The mountains skipped like rams, the hills like lambs.

What ails you, O sea, that you flee? O Jordan, that you turn back?
O mountains, that you skip like rams? O hills, like lambs?

Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob,
who turns the rock into a pool of water, the flint into a spring of water.

(Psalm 114 ESV)

On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”

(John 20:19-23 ESV)

Screenshot from 2016-03-27 07-59-56

Christ is risen.

Let those who are offended be offended. It matters not a whit.

He is risen indeed.

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