What if Your Address Had Been Galilee in 32 AD?

My roommate in college had many questions about the Bible and especially why I wasted so much of my time reading it instead of studying my course work.  It was easy for me to explain that without understanding the Bible, none of the courses really made any sense for me.  He was a science major and would try to stump me with conflict questions and many times I would tell him about my limitations in understanding both science and the Bible but that eventually, even the smartest people must rely on “faith”.  As a math major myself, I also explained that even the best systems of mathematics rely on structures that have problems that cannot be explained but require further research and examination.
                        
This would haunt him because the discussion of how he wanted the whole world to be an explainable and pragmatic group of facts would pop up weekly.  His favorite expression was that if he could have lived back then when Jesus walked the earth and if he indeed could have been like Thomas and felt the holes in Jesus’ hands, then he would believe.  I never actually answered Lloyd’s question of whether his faith would have been complete if he had lived then.  The more time that I have observed the way things are in our world today, the less I am inclined to think that first hand experience would automatically bring greater faith.  Suppose you had lived in Jesus’ earthly world and walked where he walked and observed miracles such as healings and feeding of thousands of people from a single lunch basket. 

Can you imagine if the New York Times reporters had covered these events and recorded them for its readers what the story would have been?  Do you suppose that having four unique angles from Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John made for over kill in reporting and recording for historical purposes was an accident?  Could their perspectives have been a cover up for the last 2,000 years?  There is no book in greater circulation that is read less than the Bible.  For many of us, we have God’s recording of history and the keys to His Kingdom revealed in a book that sits on our tables and in our bookcases.  Just like we ignore reading the Bible, we might have dismissed all of those events in Jesus time as a magical trick or setup because we have skeptical minds just like my roommate.

As we zero in on the day we call Easter, I challenge you to read at least one of the gospels in its entirety and think about the context of what an incredible report you have the privilege to read.  In fact, if you read all four gospels in the next few weeks, I believe you will find this years Easter more spiritual and more meaningful than ever.  Since none of these books were written at that time, I am thankful that I live NOW because we have all the data of the last 2000 years to not only read about our Savior, but we have been able to see Him in all of history and thru our heartfelt answers to prayer. 

“Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”  John 20:29 

Sent March 19, 2007

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