Matthew 20:17-19

This is the third time Jesus warned the apostles of His upcoming death. On this occasion, He is more specific than any of the previous warnings. He specifies that it will be the Jewish leaders who will arrest Him and condemn Him, but it would be the Romans who would actually kill Him. He is also specific about the method. He would be mocked, scourged, and crucified. But the most amazing of all the predictions was His statement that He would raise from the dead on the third day.

Think carefully about these predictions. If an ordinary man said such things we would believe that he was out of his mind, completely delusional. And that is where this short discourse of Jesus places each of us. Was Jesus delusional? Or maybe, did He create the circumstances by which His prediction would actually come to pass? But if this is so, how can we account for this “madman” delivering to us the most wonderful words ever spoken? More importantly, how do we account for the empty tomb three days after His death? How do we account for the hundreds who saw Him alive following that empty tomb scene (1 Cor. 15:6), and His repeated appearances to the apostles and others? If the apostles and their companions stole the body, why was there not a Jewish or Roman investigation into such? Why did they endure years of these same disciples proclaiming a resurrection that never happened? Further, what possibly could have motivated the apostles to be repeatedly beaten and eventually go to their death for their testimony that Jesus lives, if indeed they knew that He had not raised?

There is the choice before us. Either Jesus was completely crazy, on the level of a man who cannot perceive reality, or He is the Son of God. The first alternative is simply not within the realm of reason. The only reasonable answer is that Jesus is God who came in the flesh, died for our sins, and proved His deity by rising from the dead on the third day.

Berry Kercheville