UACCCI Ministries

                               BISHOP'S BLOG       April-June 2023

 

 PASSION WEEK

 

 I know this Blog is for this Quarter, however I wanted to address this in my Blog, just not for this 

Quarter, it is a reminder to think about as we go throughout this year & years to come.

 Growing up, as as PK { Pastor's Kid} we had certain traditions that we did every year, that has been past down. I know times has changed, & I know not everyone has the some traditions. However some things I think we have lost to the word systems that we as the Church needs to hold onto. We need to rethink where we are in the Church on some Theological Issues, & start teaching more what the Bible teaches us, then what the world is teaching us. 

 

Matthew 28th. Chapter records the Resurrection Story

 

Every year, growing up, I remember on Christian Holidays that we would read the Bible stories of the events of that Holiday.& would discuss what they meant to us, each Year as we were growing up. 

 

As​ we read the story of the Resurrection in Matthew 28, as well as other parts of the Gospels, we know that Christ, Died, & Rose again as prophesied, & there are many infallible proofs of this, not only in the Bible, however in other historical documents. 

Of all the teachings of Christianity, no Doctrine is more central than the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. The truth of the resurrection has been attacked from every angle. New books and television media regularly appear questioning the resurrection, re-hashing old theories about what happened to Jesus’ body. Since the resurrection is crucial to Christianity, Christians ought to be able to give answers to these inevitable questions with proof and evidence. One of the easiest parts of the resurrection data to establish is the fact that the tomb is empty. Because the location of Jesus’ burial was known to those living in Jerusalem, it is unlikely that they would have believed the apostles’ claims about the resurrection of Christ if there was not an empty tomb. Jesus’ burial is widely attested in early, independent testimonies, both biblical and extra-biblical. The fact that women are primary witnesses of the empty tomb in the Gospel accounts is further evidence of their authenticity. This is because, as is often noted, women were not considered reliable witnesses in first-century Jewish culture, so it would have been foolish for the authors to fictionally construct an account involving women in order to gain credibility.

In 1 Corinthians, an authentic letter composed by a man acquainted with the first disciples, the Apostle Paul claims that numerous people saw Jesus alive after his death (1 Corinthians 1:1).

It is fairly indisputable that Jesus actually appeared to the people that Paul mentions. Even the notorious New Testament critic Bart Ehrman admits, “we can say with some confidence that some of his disciples claimed to have seen Jesus alive.” The gospels all speak of post-resurrection appearances of Christ. It would be quite ridiculous to suggest that each of these events was a hallucination. Few scholars argue, therefore, that on different occasions different groups of people had experiences of seeing Jesus. They therefore question whether the experiences were actual physical, bodily appearances of Christ. However, Paul leaves no room for a merely psychological experience. His theology of the resurrected body ensures that he meant that Christ actually, physically appeared. 

Proof of Key Reasons  the story's told in Jerusalem.

 Where does the preaching start? Jerusalem. Where's the empty tomb? Jerusalem.                            How was the tomb again? Empty. Well, a skeptic sometimes say, "Come on, your book Acts says that they don't start preaching for 50 days. You couldn't tell who the person was after 50 days." And I'd respond, "That's not the teaching. That's not the text. That's not what it says. You have to do justice to what the text says." And here's what the text says. It's empty. Not there's a body in the tomb, don't mind him. We don't know who he is, anyway. Nobody's in the tomb. If there's a body in the tomb, the preaching is false. The New Testament is an empty tomb, no tomb. I mean, nobody buried in the tomb. And so the fact that it was preached in Jerusalem where anybody could get there easily on an afternoon walk and prove it or disprove it, it only works if there's no body in the tomb.

 

Holy Week is observed every year by Christians around the world.                                                                                                          From Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday, believers can take time to remember the events leading up to Jesus’ death          and resurrection.

Traditionally, the days of Holy Week have special names that indicate the type of event that occurred.

Finally, believers need to know that many different churches from a variety of traditions observe Holy Week.      Whether we choose to participate in Holy Week services or not, we can appreciate this historical church practice centered on Jesus’ wonderful gift of salvation.

God Bless:

Rev. Dr. Howard McFarland

Bishop Emeritus UACCCI Ministries