14^th March 2016

They crucified Him (Jesus) with the criminals!! Which is more amazing, to find Jesus in such bad company or to find the criminals in such good company?... Jesus did not die for the sake of a good world, He died for the sake of an evil world---Karl Barth

The line separating good and evil passes not through States, nor between classes, nor between political parties---but right through every human heart and through all human hearts.---Alexander Solzhenitsyn

The Christian teaching about who crucified Christ is not that the Romans or Jews or whatever people happened to be there did, but that you and I did, and that all human societies without exception are involved in the crucifixion of Christ—Northrop Frye

Gethsemane invites us to consider…what it meant for Jesus to be, in a unique sense, God’s Son. The very moment of greatest intimacy---the desperate prayer to ‘Abba, Father’-is also the moment where…he is set on the course for the moment of God-forsakenness on the cross---Tom Wright

The Christian claim that God’s Son was put to death is deeply offensive to religious groups who cannot believe that a remote and all-powerful deity to whom human beings should yield has Himself submitted to our brutality. Yet it is in this way that God perseveres with his creation without violating it--- Link Cornwall

Any rational sceptic will remind me that ancient rumours of a rabbi’s resurrection make a thin limb on which to hang the hopes of the world. Yes, I would admit, it is a thin limb. But sturdy enough, for all that, to have held up a sign for all these ages that God the Creator has the competence to renew the world He made.---Lewis Smedes

If resurrection happened regularly, there would be nothing different about Jesus being raised from the dead. He would be one among many, just another statistic… If (Jesus’ resurrection) is unique, then by definition, there will be no analogous events. That makes it a lot harder to believe. It also makes it worth believing--- Alister McGrath

Our faith is not based on myth or legend but on the solid historical fact of the risen Christ and the empty tomb. Anyone trying to move the stone from its entrance would have broken the seal and incurred the wrath of Roman law. But the tomb was empty. Paul said, “Jesus appeared to more than 500 at one time,” the majority who were still alive could confirm what he wrote. The dramatic transformation of the dispirited disciples into witnesses no opposition could muzzle, can only be explained by a living Christ. He is alive today to revolutionise our lives this Easter--- Anon.

Of all the things that will surprise us in the Resurrection morning, this I believe, will surprise us most: that we did not love Christ more before we died. --- J.C. Ryle

At the end of St Luke’s Gospel we read that:  they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement” (Luke 24;4) This is highly significant. The gospels do not show us a group of disciples who were in a receptive frame of mind. After the crucifixion, they were in hiding, frightened and scattered. Then suddenly, they came out of hiding and were totally different; excited, joyful. By Pentecost they were confident, with one firm message: “You crucified Jesus, but God raised him up”.  Link- Cornwall

Our friends bring us to the grave and leave us there, but God will not…. Anon 

Jesus’ Appearances after his Resurrection

The following lists post-resurrection witnesses

1 Mary Magdalene……Mark 16:11; John 20:10-18

Other women at the tomb…....Matthew 28: 8-10

1 Peter in Jerusalem…… Luke 24:34; 1 Corinthians 15:5

2   travellers on the road……Mark 16: 12, 13

10 disciples behind closed doors……Mark 16: 14; Luke 24: 36-43; John 20: 19-25

11 disciples with Thomas…… John 20:26-31; 1 Corinthians 15:5

7 disciples while fishing……John 21:1-14

11 disciples on the mountain……Matthew 28:16-20

500 in a crowd ……1 Corinthians 15:7

1 Jesus’ brother - James……1 Corinthians 15:7

Those who saw the Ascension……Luke 24: 44-49; Acts 1: 3-8