Acts 1:1-11
Jesus Taken Up Into Heaven
1 In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach 2 until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. 3 After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.4 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5 For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
6 Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11 “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
1 Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.
9 For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. 11 Whether, then, it is I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.
John 6:70
Jesus Handpicked His Twelve Disciples for a Reason
70 Then Jesus replied, "Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!"
Jesus Said He was Sinless
46 Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me?
Mark 2:1-5
1 A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home.2 They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. 3 Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. 4 Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
Mark 1:29-34
Jesus Heals Peter's Mother-in-Law and then Many With Various Diseases
29 As soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew. 30 Simon's mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told Jesus about her. 31 So he went to her, took her hand and helped her up. The fever left her and she began to wait on them.
32 That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. 33 The whole town gathered at the door, 34 and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was.
John 15:18-25
People Will Hate Me for No Reason
18 “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. 20 Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. 21 They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 Whoever hates me hates my Father as well. 24 If I had not done among them the works no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. 25 But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason.’
Luke 23:34
Jesus Forgives Us Before He is Hung from the Cross
34 Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."
Mark 14:61-62
Jesus Says He the Son of the Blessed One
61 But Jesus remained silent and gave no answer. Again the high priest asked him, "Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?" 62 "I am," said Jesus. "And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven."
There are some, if not many, non-believers who do not believe that Jesus resurrected and came back to life...They believe that that part of His story is a legend...Jesus' disciples continued to talk about Him after His death, and for the many next years and He became a myth of sorts, and this Great Legend...His resurrection was an exacerbation and exaggeration by His followers...And the part about Him resurrecting made Him more memorable than any other person (no other person has been like Him and taught and spoke like He spoke and then came back to life)...Jesus, admittedly is or was a Great Teacher...Depending on whether you believe He did resurrect and then He still is a Great Teacher...Or if you do not believe in Him, He was a Great Teacher, who just died and never to return...
Why would the death of one's Teacher or your favorite teacher keep you talking about him or her?...Does the normal group of students keep talking and talking about their old teachers when they pass on?...What made Jesus different, and why wasn't Plato or Socrates (who were great teachers and died years earlier) in the same type mode as Jesus?...Were Jesus' students different than those of other teachers, or was He different?...Or is there a little of both -Jesus is different and His handpicked Twelve were different (because He picked them)?...Jesus, with the help of His Father, had handpicked the Twelve students He wanted to follow Him...And basically, they were twelve common and uneducated men, with fishermen and tax collector type backgrounds...
The big question for me is why do people still read about Him through the gospels and New Testament?...Why is He still popular as this Great Teacher?...Why is Jesus still talked about?...
The Messiah had much controversy around Him, even before His resurrection...The common belief at the time of His birth, was that the Messiah would be a great military leader...It was possible the Messiah would lead His nation out of Roman authority and Roman control...The Messiah would possibly be a Royal King, who would lead His country to do great things...But Jesus was neither of these great types of leaders...Instead He came into the world as a poor baby, born in a manger...He would have a poor childhood, with poor parents...He would be a carpenter, because the family had no land to farm...He grew up poor and with no reputation to speak of...Nobody had really heard of Him until He started His ministry and teachings...He teachings taught about God for three years with Twelve Disciples following Him throughout the nation of Israel for these three years...He went around different villages of Israel doing miracles (especially healing miracles), saying He was sinless, and forgiving other people of their sins, that they had sinned (not on Him) but on someone else...This made Him very controversial...So part of my reasoning and still talking about Him (and why we others still talk about Him) is His controversy...He died a young Man, a criminal tragically on a cross for His teachings...He was accused basically of blasphemy, for saying words about His relationship to His Father, who was God (the Blessed One)...I think in many of these things He said (and maybe even did), made people feel uncomfortable...
Jesus is still talked about, I think because He (even today) is still controversial...And He said He would be...I think today, He still makes people uncomfortable to talk about...He said some people would hate Him without any reason...Why would someone hate One who does good, is a Good Teacher, heals so many who are sick, and is always talking and teaching about God, and has their entire life centered around God be hated?...He was one who gave His students and His followers this great hope...We today still seem to Passover His Greatness of His miracles and teachings, just as many did in His time...We fail to see His Glory in what He did...Of course, we read about His things but they seem to have become cliche over time...But we need to reflect and think about His teachings, what He spoke, and His miracles...There has never been anyone like Him, before His time or after His time...
But the resurrection to me is the key...After His death, grief set in and hope was waning on Holy Saturday...If I would have read the whole New Testament without the resurrection stories, I think I would miss much, if not most, of His glory (and that is a problem because He did so many great and glorious things)...I think it is His great passion, His forgiveness of us, and His great LOVE on the cross that is why we still talk about Him...When I write the word cross, I catch myself, and I do not write the words a cross...I catch myself and write the words The Cross...The Cross is His Cross...It is the Only Cross...THE CROSS is the Cross my LORD had to be hung from and die for me and my sins...
The resurrection is one of the main reasons I still want to write about and speak about Him...It is because He is alive...He was risen by His Father...And I think, that is why the disciples talked and talked about Him for the many years after His ascension...His students saw Him for forty more days after He had died...They had much to tell others about Him...No One has ever died and lived forty more days on earth, after their death...His followers had to rethink the Laws of Nature...They had to rethink His death tragically on the cross...This made for great stories, and five hundred people had seen Him...So not only did the Twelve pass His story along the five hundred who saw Him during those forty days would have something to say...Disbelievers surely could find one of the five hundred who had seen Him, if they did not believe the Twelve and put this rumor to an end...It is hard to fool five hundred people...The story was kept alive by His disciples and they continued to talk about Him, because He is still alive...