Resurrection
and
Meaninglessne
ss
John 20:24-29

Examen

Gratitude
For what are you grateful?

But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was
not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told
him, ‘We have seen the Lord.’ But he said to them, ‘Unless I
see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the
mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.’
A week later his disciples were again in the house, and
Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus
came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’
Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here and see my
hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt
but believe.’ Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’
Jesus said to him, ‘Have you believed because you have seen
me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come
to believe.’

What Does it
Say?
• Emotional reaction
• What’s the setting?
• Who are the characters?
• How would you summarize it?
• What happened before/after?
• What scriptural references do
you pick up?

What
Does it
Mean?

Last Week
• It is possible to believe in the
fact of the Resurrection
without naivety, bad faith, or
fideism
• Resurrection as
transformational knowledge

Saving Knowledge
• Melanchthon C.16th
• Noticia
• Assensus
• Fiducia
• Existentialism (a working
def): How you live is what you
believe

Knowledge
that Requires a
Response
• Can you think of something (that
you’re prepared to discuss) that you
found out that required a response?

Soteriology
• “Classic” Christus Victor –
anxiety of death and fate (Aulen)
• Substitutionary / Latin – anxiety
of guilt and shame “how can I
find a gracious God?”
• Contemporary word: anxiety of
meaninglessness – “what are
people for?”

Meaninglessness
…meaninglessness and and emptiness…. Manifesting itself
in a pervasive sense of purposelessness, superfluity,
boredom, escapism, etc., is so profound and perplexing an
anxiety that few Christians have been courageous enough
to plumb its depths.
J D Hall The Cross in Our Context – p.130

If in the face of the one who suffered, we cannot see a
Redeemer who shares precisely our questions (what is it all
about? What are we for?), then surely we have lost any
theological imagination we might have once had. If, in the
word of dereliction from the cross (Why have you forsaken
me?”) we cannot hear the anguished cry of miliions of our
contemporary abandoned and our own deeply repressed
cries as well, how shall we wever expect to find in this
person one who takes our despair upon himself and in
return gives us hope?
Hall p.132

The Paradox of the Cross
Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by
mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight…
‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the very head of the corner’
1 Peter 2: 4,7b
• Rejected by the people who should have
recognised him, yet somehow triumphant
• “Jesus said, ‘Now the Son of Man has been
glorified, and God has been glorified in him.” John
13:31

Suffering and God
• In the crucifixion of Jesus,
God Godself experiences
suffering and abandonment
• The best of lives ends in
disaster – how can the
universe make any sense
whatsoever?

Vindication
• The way Jesus lived –
pouring himself out for others
– if it ended in his death
would be revealed as
ultimately futile
• Because God raised Jesus
from the dead, it vindicates
his teaching and way of living

What
Does it
Mean to
Me?

Reflective
Questions about
the Resurrection
• Do you really want it to
transform you?
• What would it be like if it
really happened?
• What demands might it make
on you?

Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Save us from the time of trial
and deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours
now and for ever. Amen.

In the deserts of this world, may you find signs
of God. In the wilderness of your lives, may you
be encouraged by God. In your joy and in your
sorrow, may you rejoice in God. a
And the blessing of God, the Father, the Son
and the Holy Spirit be amongst us and remain
with us ever more. Amen