BH Bulletin - Monday 23 August 2021

Thought for the Day by Dave Howarth ​(Lead Pastor Holy Cross Church)

​During a speech in 2002, President George W Bush had the kind of moment he became infamous for. He attempted to recite an old saying…but he completely forgot the punchline! He stumbled through it, saying, “Fool me once, shame on... shame on you. Fool me... You can’t get fooled again!” (The correct aphorism is “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me”.) My point is simply to highlight the importance of the punchline: without it, the whole communication is rendered useless.
Throughout the book of Acts, the apostles never forgot the punchline. Whenever they bore witness to Jesus, they never forgot to mention the resurrection of Jesus. Whether they were speaking from the Old Testament or more generally about God, they always made it their goal to preach the risen Jesus. To leave the reigning Jesus out of the picture was akin to leaving out the punchline.
Take Acts 17. As Paul visited Thessalonica and Berea, again and again, he preached the resurrection of Jesus. It wasn’t enough for him to simply state to his fellow Jews that “it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead”, but also that “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ” (Acts 17:3). It’s the same in Athens: Paul brought before the Areopagus “because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection” (Acts 17:18). He did not hold back from preaching the resurrection, even though it resulted in mocking (see vv31-32). Indeed, he called on the Athenians to repent, for the risen Jesus is proof of the judgement to come (see vv30-31).
We need to tell people today that Jesus is alive today and that he is Lord today. It’s interesting the way people react when the name ‘Jesus’ is used, instead of simply ‘God’: it makes it specific. The resurrection helpfully sharpens things further, because it requires a response: either you believe that Jesus did rise from the dead and is Lord, or that the resurrection is false and Jesus isn’t Lord.
This is different to simply telling those around us that we believe in God, go to church or are Christian. As we meet people who fail to follow Jesus and, like Paul, our spirits are provoked within us (Acts 17:16), let us not forget the punchline that they need to hear. Call on people to repent in light of the coming judgement of the risen Christ (vv30-31).

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