Peter Barnes: ‘Some Mocked’, Luke 24:1-12; Acts 17:16-34 (12 April Sunday Morning)
– Paul emphasises the resurrection of Christ to the Stoic and Epicurean philosophers of Athens – Acts 17:18. ‘Some mocked’. 1. There have always been unbelievers who mock. – Acts 2:13; 2 Peter 3:3-4; 1 Cor.2:14. – The Jerusalem Bible says that ‘some of them burst out laughing’. The ‘god’ Apollos is supposed to have said: ‘But when the earth drinks up a man’s blood once he has died, there is no resurrection.’ Pliny the Elder thought that the resurrection of the body was a mad idea. A. C. Grayling, says the account of the resurrection of Christ requires faith which is ‘ignoble, irresponsible and ignorant’. – There is nothing new about mockery. 2. Reasons for believing Jesus rose from the dead. (a) Is anything too hard for God? (b) It is prophesied in the Old Testament and by Jesus Himself – e.g. Luke 20:14-17 (citing Psalm 118). (c) It fits in with Jesus’ claims about Himself e.g. John 10:30. (d) The disciples all suffered for believing that Jesus is the risen Lord. (e) The tomb was empty. (f) The disciples were transformed from being a group of frightened and confused men into a band of bold proclaimers of the gospel. 3. What does this mean for you? (a) Judgment. This is Paul’s point here – Acts 17:30-31; John 5:28-29. (b) Salvation. John 14:19. Oliver Goldsmith: At church, with meek and unaffected grace,/ His looks adorn’d the venerable place;/ Truth from his lips prevail’d with double sway,/ And fools, who came to scoff, remained to pray. See Acts 17:34.
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