What authority
Two women were approached by two different angels at two different times. Both were told something about themselves and God and they both believed what they were told. For the first woman trusting the fallen angel brought a terrible curse. For the other her faith brought a tremendous blessing. Who should we trust and why should we trust them? Those are very important questions because trusting the wrong person can have devastating consequences. When the stakes are high and we cannot afford to be wrong it is wise to turn to an authority on the subject, someone who knows more about the issue than anyone else and who we can trust absolutely, someone who has the right to have the final word.
I believe that the universe was made by a supreme all powerful being called the Most High aka God. This fact, I believe, is the cornerstone of all reality. This is the framework within which I understand everything. Of course there are many other frameworks held fervently and sincerely by other people of faith or no faith so what makes this particular one especially trustworthy or true? Is God a real being or a myth? Even if we agree that there is such a being, how do we know what he is like or what he says about anything? How do we know which of the many voices that claim to speak for him to believe? There was one man, Jesus of Nazareth, who claimed to know exactly what God is like, and to represent God perfectly. Remarkably he said, "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father" (John 14:8). This man claimed to be the son of God who came from God. He is reported to have backed these claims by doing things only the creator can do. We have a record of his teachings and deeds preserved for us by those who claimed to be eyewitnesses of the things he did. It is worth considering if these things are true.
Eye Witnesses
The story of Jesus of Nazareth has the feel of a well preserved urban legend. So why should we not dismiss it as such? The story, remarkable preserved for centuries, was started by a group of 12 men who claimed to be eyewitnesses of the events they spoke of. They had nothing to gain and everything to lose by telling this story. They were often challenged, opposed, ridiculed and tortured yet on pain of death they maintained that their story was true. At the very least it is highly probable that these men, to the best of their knowledge, were telling the truth about their experiences.
One of these men was Simon the son of Jonah, a simple fisherman who met Jesus after a hard night of fruitless fishing. Jesus borrowed his boat to use as a platform for his teaching and afterward enabled Simon to miraculously catch so much fish it almost sank his boat.
After this Simon, nicknamed Peter, his brother Andrew and their friends James and John, also fishermen, became part of a select group of twelve men called apostles. Jesus loved these men and mentored them for 3 years. Simon, James and John became his closest friends among the 12. By their account they saw him defy all the laws of nature by healing all manner of disease, raising the dead, and controlling the the forces of nature. Most notable about him was how he loved the outcasts in society and welcomed all comers to follow him. Once, he took his three closest friends up a mountain and there was transformed in appearance before them. He was bathed in light and all three of them heard a voice from heaven declaring Jesus to be the son of God who we must all listen to. At the end of an amazing 3 years Jesus was publicly tortured and put to death in a most gruesome manner for claiming to be the son of God and the long awaited Messiah. Many were perplexed that he who had demonstrated such power was so easily killed. His death was confirmed by the Roman authorities. Three days after he died he was seen alive and well by many of his followers, at one time simultaneously by 500 people and then was taken to heaven in broad daylight. Before he left he promised that he would come back to take those who believed in him to be with him forever.
Pretty wild
That is a pretty wild story even for people who might be called superstitious by today’s standards. By their own account the things his disciples saw him do stretched the limits of what they thought possible over and over again. They themselves reported that he often called them men of little faith. Thomas, one of the 12, famously swore that he would not believe that Jesus had been raised from the dead until he had put his finger in the holes left by the nails from his crucifixion. Thomas believed when Jesus showed up in a locked room and asked him to put his hands where the nails had been. Another one of the 12, Judas, actually rejected Jesus’s claims and betrayed him to the religious authorities. These men did not set out to start a world religion and yet when Peter was warned not to speak about this Jesus, his response to those who crucified Jesus was, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:19,20). His fellow apostles felt the same way. James was beheaded not long after Jesus left them, Peter was flogged, imprisoned, and forbidden from speaking of Jesus by the very same people who crucified Jesus. John was persecuted and later exiled to an Island called Patmos. The other apostles were similarly persecuted and all but Judas, who betrayed him and later committed suicide, died defending their claims. This is what these men wrote about their experience with Jesus.
Peter:
For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. 2 Peter 1:16-18
John:
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. 1 John.1:1-3
The Good News, the story of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus and the promise of an eternally restored relationship with God for anyone who believed in him, was not told for entertainment but as a matter of urgency and necessity. Those who told it had nothing to gain and everything to lose by telling it. This story has been faithfully and lovingly preserved and handed down from one generation of believers to the next over two millennia.
The body of people who have believed this incredible message and found it to be true is known as the Church or the body of Christ. It has grown from a handful of scared but devoted disciples into a movement that has endured the test of time. Today countless ordinary people in almost every nation on earth continue to testify that the Jesus Simon, James and John loved, followed and died proclaiming still lives and does what he promised to do. He gives new life to those who trust in him and reconciles them to God the Father.
The Bible presents us with one person among all humans, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of God, who has earned the right to have the final word on any issue. Wouldn't you like to hear what he has to say about womanhood?
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