April 11, 2022 - Not A "Fish Story"

I had the privilege of sharing with a high school fishing team a few nights ago… as I shared the story in John 21 of Jesus telling the boys where to throw their nets, and they caught a haul so big they had to drag it in… (153 large ones to be exact… see vs 11) 

The reality is that I believe every word of that story because in my studies I have found the Word to be true… but taken by itself it could easily sound like a “Fish Story…”

And let’s face it, we live in a world that is very cynical and want proof. I can be that way when I watch things like dunk videos on Instagram… some of these guys are doing things where I am trying to evaluate the setting, gain perspective, to prove if the rim had been lowered… Or we see pictures online and wonder how much is photoshopped or run through a filter…

Well folks have always had a cynical nature. At the time of Christ’s resurrection, there were many claiming things to try to discount it… after all, a guy rising from the grave is a pretty big deal…

Paul heard the talk and he addressed I in 1 Corinthians 15 and eliminate the reasonable doubt that came along with the Easter story.

Verse 3 begins: For I delivered to you first of all (some translations read: as of first importance)…

Paul comes right out of the gate expressing the urgency and importance of this message…

He continues, “…that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,”

He shares the fulfillment of the prophesied story of the SUBSTITUTE in our place!

In verse 4 he shares fulfillment of another prophecy: “…that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,”

Paul shares that we needed not only a death payment for our sins, but also we needed the new life of resurrection!

Those of us that are believers find great joy and comfort in those truths… yet, let’s be honest, an unbeliever hearing of a guy dying and rising again from the grave is prone to think it is a “Fish Story.” So Paul eliminates the doubt to his hearers by reminding them:

Not only was Jesus crucified but He was “buried” (vs 3)… burying a guy in that culture would have been a death sentence in and of itself with the weight of the grave clothes wrapped around him… Burying Jesus gave confirmation of death… which was important since some claimed He didn’t really die and that is why He appeared afterwards. Sharing that He was buried gave perspective to the hearers…

He followed up that proof with another… after Jesus rose, Paul records that “He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. And after that He was seen by over 500 brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present…”

Paul essentially removes all doubts to those cynics as he brought in hundreds of eyewitnesses to verify this account!

As you celebrate Easter this year… also share the story… there is ironclad proof that was verifiable to the recipients of 1 Corinthians… and to this day, that ironclad proof of eyewitness testimony shows that Jesus’s death and resurrection are “No Fish Story!”