Old Town Parish. Hastings

08/06/2026

Sermon June 7th

“As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew, sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’” (Matthew 9.9)
(St. Clement’s, Hastings, First Sunday after Trinity, 7th June 2026)
Not 666, the number of the beast in Revelation. But 66,000. There are 66,000 of them. 66,000 people who work for His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, bringing light and joy to people’s lives. I cannot be the only person here who does not look forward to completing my annual tax return. Tax is so very complicated and even Albert Einstein, doubtless with a wry smile on his lips, is alleged to have said that “the hardest thing in the world to understand is income tax.” I suppose that, depending upon individual financial circumstances, Einstein’s statement must have been relative.
But HMRC is not a manifestation of the beast of the Book of Revelation. My experience of HMRC is that its workers or, more correctly, its “client services managers”, are very helpful and courteous – once you get through to someone on the telephone – and I know a lovely retired HMRC inspector, currently his church’s treasurer. And the 66,000 perform an important public service. We might very well query how some of our tax is spent but, as an American historian once wrote, Taxation is the price which civilized communities pay for the opportunity of remaining civilized.”
Paying tax is a moral obligation as citizens, our contribution to the common good.
But what about St Matthew the tax collector?
Was St. Matthew performing a public service? Was he contributing to the common good? Well, not really. Matthew was not a client services manager.
My head began to ache as I researched Roman tax in the First Century: There was a tax on the value of transported goods, including slaves and animals, an inheritance tax, a sales tax, a business licence fee, a poll tax on men aged fourteen to sixty-five and women from aged twelve to sixty-five. In Jerusalem they may well have been a tax on homes to pay for the maintenance of the city wall. In addition, Jews had to pay a Temple tax. Some tax would have been for the common good – paved Roman roads without potholes and a reliable postal service for example – but much of it would have paid for the occupying Roman army and administration.
Tax collectors like Matthew in the Galilee and Zacchaeus in Jericho did not work for the Roman equivalent of HMRC. Basically, they operated a franchise, leasing the right to collect taxes in a given area. Their pay came through a levy on the tax collected, perhaps adding as much as 25% to an individual’s tax bill. Becoming a tax collector was a career choice of financial self-enrichment rather than working for the common good.
So we can see why Matthew and Zacchaeus were counted amongst the sinners and why people were astonished that Jesus would eat with them.
But tax collectors were unpopular not simply because they collected taxes, and then some. They were unpopular because they were collecting taxes on behalf of the occupying power.
In other words, Matthew and Zacchaeus were collaborators. Just think of the hatred shown to collaborators in occupied Europe at the end of the War.
War films tend to divide occupied people into two categories: Collaborators and resisters. In the post-war France of General De Gaulle, the myth developed that virtually everyone had been in the Resistance. This is nonsense, of course.
There are two helpful French words: collaborateur and collaboriste. The former denotes someone who actively supported the German occupation whereas collaboriste denotes someone who, whilst not actively supporting the occupation, enabled it by simply going along with it.
So where am I going with all this? The obvious sermon here is to contrast the love of money with the love of God and the change in Matthew’s priority when he accepted the call to follow Jesus. But we’ve all heard that one before. I think that there is rather more here in following Jesus than forsaking the worship of material wealth.
Matthew collaborated with the dominant power of his day. The temptation facing us is collaboration, not with Roman culture, but with a culture and societal pressure increasingly opposed to the values of the Gospel.
First, the culture of self-enrichment: As we see with Matthew and Zacchaeus, this is not exactly new. I read recently in The Guardian – and so it must be true – that the current resident at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue has enriched himself by at least $3 billion since his inauguration. Jesus warns, doesn’t he, about the rich fool tearing down his barns to build a bigger barn to store his wealth. I suppose that these days a rich fool might simply tear down the East Wing of a world-famous building and build a much, much bigger one.

Secondly, there is the culture of self-promotion: I was staying in a Berlin hotel last year and one morning visited the gym. A young woman came in wearing her gym kit. She posed by a running machine, took several “selfies” as I think they are called, posted them on her social media and then left without having exercised anything other than her vanity.
She will be one of the many people who measure their self-worth by their number of followers on social media and the number of ‘likes’ for their posts. CVs used to be simply factual. We are now expected to puff ourselves up on our CVs saying how wonderful we are.
Next, there is the assault on truth: Fake News, alternative facts, figures in public life who just lie and lie and lie.
Then we have the culture of rage and hate: Why does almost everyone seem angry about something? Much of this is stoked by social media algorithms and utterly irresponsible public figures, as well as by the less thoughtful newspapers. People are described as slamming or blasting someone else: X slams Y over Z. People can say the most hateful things whilst hiding in the darkness of social media pseudonymity.

And what about what I call the culture of exhaustion: There’s a lot of grabbing going on. We’re told to grab a coffee or grab a bargain with the suggestion that we might miss out if we don’t act swiftly. It’s the cricket season. Bowlers are grabbing wickets in response to batsmen who are hammering or plundering the bowling in return. Arsenal, unlike Tottenham, have grabbed the Premier League title. We are constantly pressured to act quickly, often with automated countdowns, before someone else grabs what should be our special offer or we miss the deadline. It’s all so breathless.
This breathlessness is aligned with the culture of hyperbole: This not just Trump for whom everything is big, bigger or biggest or the greatest or most beautiful or simply “very perfect”. I recently received an automated e-mail from Premier Inn. It reminded me of my date of arrival and check-in time and then told me, and I quote, “We can’t wait to meet you!” This sentenced was concluded, not with a full stop, but with the ubiquitous exclamation mark. Now it's perfectly understandable why the Premier Inn staff at Gatwick couldn’t wait to meet me. I get it. But really? I call this the exclamation mark culture and, again, it reflects the breathless culture of exhaustion. They simply can’t wait to meet me.
Self-enrichment. Self-promotion. The assault on truth. Rage and hate. Exhaustion and breathless excitement.
The questions for us as followers of Jesus are simple. Do we actively collaborate with today’s global culture? Or do we do our best to pretend that it’s nothing to do with us, keep our heads down, and just ‘do our own thing’? Or, as Christians, do we actively challenge and resist?
Do we challenge the worship of wealth and material goods and the increasing social inequality that comes with it?
Do we challenge shameless self-promotion and see it for what it is? Do we seek prayerful and meditative self-understanding in ourselves rather than self-enrichment or self-promotion? What value do we place on truth in a world of fake news and downright lies?
Do we challenge the irrational hatred and bile stoked by irresponsible sections of the media, particularly on-line, and by certain politicians? Do we truly love our neighbour?
Do we challenge the culture of breathless exhaustion and hyperbole by setting time aside to be still and quiet and to rest in the Lord? Thoughtful silence is more truthful than false hyperbole.
Matthew left not only his place of toll but also the dominant culture of his day. Jesus calls us to follow him and not what St Paul refers to as the principalities and powers and darkness of this present age.
Jesus calls us to follow Him.
To follow Him and to resist.

© Paul Hunt 2026

08/06/2026

https://www.sussexexpress.co.uk/news/people/exhibition-showcases-medieval-doom-painting-at-historic-hastings-church-8663487

Worth going to see

A stunning new exhibition brings to life a medieval doom painting which can be seen on the walls of all Saints Church in Hastings Old Town.

23/05/2026

Today we remembered those who died at the Swan Hotel in 1943

11/05/2026

This coming Thursday is Ascension Day. There will be a Eucharist at All Saints at 7.00 pm.

28/04/2026

All Saints, Hastings 10.00am April 26th 2026
Pat Lock

Theme: The Good Shepherd Readings: Acts 2: 42 -47 1 Peter 2 19 – 25 John 10 1 - 10

The Good Shepherd. I used to love using this as an assembly theme as it is so visual but also easy to explain. Now in one class I had a boy called Isa – the Arab translation for the name Jesus. At that point in time the school was still being built and for a few days the plumbers came to connect some heating pipes that ran along the building in the void between the classrooms’ ceilings and the roof. They were sworn to near silence so as not to disturb the children in the classrooms underneath. One day one of the workmen dropped a spanner loudly against the pipes - without thinking he shouted “Oh Jesus” followed by some choice expletives. Isa, the boy, looked up to the ceiling and said “That must be God - he has just called my name”. Well, at least one child had listened to assembly the day before!

But the idea of God being like a Shepherd was one of the oldest descriptions of God, and it was recorded in many books of the Old Testament 2 Samuel 5:2 “You will shepherd my people Israel - The idea of shepherding would come naturally to King David who as a young boy was a shepherd. Micah 5:4 “He will stand and shepherd them in the strength of the Lord, Ezekiel 34:23 “I will establish over them one shepherd, and he will shepherd them. Psalm 23. The Lord’s my shepherd” Isaiah 53:6 “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—everyone—to his own way. The prophets spoke of a coming Shepherd King.
And then the New Testament Matthew 2:6 “And you, Bethlehem … out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people, Israel.” These statements foreshadow the kind of King Jesus would be. Matthew 9:36 “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

Shepherding is all about feeding the lambs and the sheep, bringing them to good pasture lands and water, grooming and clipping them, delivering new lambs, leading them, and teaching them to stay together, going off after wandering lost ones, and protecting the sheep in the field and in the fold.

Every once in a while, a ewe will give birth to a lamb and reject it. If the lamb is returned to the ewe, the mother will even kick the newborn away. Once a ewe rejects one of her lambs, she will never change her mind. These little lambs will hang their heads so low. Their spirit is broken. These lambs are called “bummer lambs.”
Unless the shepherd intervenes, that lamb will die, rejected and alone. So, what does the shepherd do? He takes that rejected little one into his home, hand-feeds it and keeps it warm by the fire. He will wrap it up with blankets and hold it to his chest so the bummer can hear his heartbeat.
Once the lamb is strong enough, the shepherd will place it back in the field with the rest of the flock. But that sheep never forgets how the shepherd cared for him when his mother rejected him. When the shepherd calls for the flock, guess who runs to him first? The bummer sheep. He knows his voice intimately. So many of us are bummer lambs, rejected and broken. But Jesus is the Good Shepherd. He cares for our every need and holds us close to His heart so we can hear His heartbeat. We may be broken, but we are deeply loved by the Shepherd.

But to understand more of this passage we need to start off from an understanding of a Palestinian shepherd. The relationship between sheep and shepherd is nothing like it is in Britain today. In Palestine the sheep were kept predominantly for their wool so that the shepherd would have his sheep for many years, and they would all have a name. They would also be a mixture of ages, young and old mixed together. He had his sling - well known in the David and Goliath story. In Judges we are told that the shepherd “could sling a stone at a hair and not miss.” The Palestinian shepherd had no sheep dog and when he wished to call back a sheep which was straying away, he fitted a stone into his sling and landed it just in front of the straying sheep’s nose as a warning to turn back. The sheep was not hurt at all, but alerted to danger and to a wrong path. The Palestinian shepherd also carried his staff, a wooden club used as a weapon, and his rod - the shepherd’s crook used to catch and pull back sheep. At the end of the day when the sheep were going into the fold, the shepherd would hold his rod across the entrance so that the sheep had to go underneath to enter the fold. Not only could he count them in, but they could be checked for any injury. Always, Jesus seeks to keep his sheep safe and protected. He leaves the 99 and finds the one.

The shepherd went in front and the sheep followed. He went first to see that the path was safe. They weren’t rounded up from behind as happens on our farms and hillsides today. Now to do this the sheep must know and understand the shepherd’s voice as he calls them, and they must trust him and know his voice and follow, but, if a stranger calls, they turn and flee. Every little detail of Palestinian shepherds’ life helps us to understand and light up the picture of Jesus the Good Shepherd whose sheep hear his voice and whose constant care is for his flock. He guides us. He leads us. Sheep apparently have no sense of direction. Where the shepherd leads, the sheep will go. We too depend on following Jesus where he leads and when he calls.

The Jews did not understand the meaning of the story of the Good shepherd so Jesus makes it more simple. “ I am the door” he said. The third of Jesus’ I AM sayings. The sheep folds in the towns were communal folds where all the village flocks were sheltered for the night. These folds were protected by a strong door for which only the guardian of the door held the key. Jesus puts himself as that door. But out on the hillside there was no door simply an enclosed space. At night the shepherd laid himself down across the opening so that no sheep could get in or out unless it went past him. And nor could any wild animal get in that might attack them. The analogy is simple. In verse 9 of our gospel reading, Jesus says “ I am the door. Whoever enters through me will be saved. I am come that they might have life and have it more abundantly.Through Jesus, and him alone, we find access to God. There is no other way. “Through him” said Paul, “we have access to the Father. But there is more - we have perfect freedom to go out and come in as we please - and we will find pasture - rest and peace and the supply of all we need. A place where God protects and nurtures and loves, but where we can move out into the world.

The passage goes on beyond verse 10 “ I am the Good Shepherd; the Good Shepherd gives his life for his sheep”. The faithful shepherd would risk his life to defend his flock from attack. In Matthew, Jesus said to his disciples that he was sending them out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Paul warned the elders of Ephesus that grievous wolves would come, not sparing the flock.

In the parable the flock is the Church of Christ and it suffers from a double danger. It is always liable to attack from the outside and it is always liable to attack from the inside. And the second danger is by far the worst, because the foes from outside can then pe*****te and destroy the flock. The churches first essential is a leadership based on the example of Christ himself. And that leadership should spread down at all levels from Archbishops, Bishops and clergy to leaders of all groups in the church, for we are a flock and that flock needs caring for. We all have a role to play, and we have a role to play to bring back the sheep who have gone astray. We have injured, who need to be tended, and little lambs to be carried. And all the time we need to focus on Jesus who leads and guides us and to come back to the pasture and fold for spiritual food and refreshment. When the storm blows, we can huddle in a corner frightened and alone, or we can work together as a flock, and stay together using all our skills that God has given us. What is God asking you to do in his name - are you prepared to follow his example and love and care for people? This too is the great commission given to Simon Peter after the resurrection on the seashore. Jesus says to him “Feed my sheep”. It is a commission he gives to each one of us now. There are lambs who need feeding to grow strong in the faith; there are those who are lost and need to be sought after and returned to the fold; there are those who are straying who need guidance and there are those who are simply too weak or sick who need care and love. We need to look at our likenesses, not our differences; we need to look at what we have to give, not what we need to receive. The church as a whole must seek the will of God, not the will of the people.
Our flock here is a strong one. Keep to the right paths by listening to the voice of the master - you will know his voice because he will call you by name. In Isaiah we are told “I have called you by name and you are mine. Listen to that voice and follow it. And remember that the good shepherd leads, and the sheep follow. Keep Jesus in sight and you will not go astray. But most important of all, be prepared to lay down your life for your sheep - be prepared to make sacrifices, because that is the way of the cross. It is costly and the price is high.

And so, the message is simple. Be willing to be carried, be willing to be nurtured and fed, and be ready to serve the needs of others. And know and hear the voice of the Good Shepherd for this tells us most vividly of the ceaseless vigilance and the self-sacrificing love of God for us who are his flock. For “We are his people and the sheep of his pasture (psalm 100:3).

27/04/2026

This Sunday May 3rd at 10.00 will be the annual morris dance Eucharist at All Saints. A very joyous event and celebration of Easter and Spring.

22/04/2026

Date: 19 April 2026 at 10:00
Place: All Saints’, Hastings
Preacher: The Revd. Mat Phipps
Season / Theme / Scripture: Easter 3(Year A) – Acts 2:14a, 36-41

You may not have noticed, but on Easter Sunday, and ever Sunday during the Easter season and through to Pentecost, we have a reading from the Acts of the Apostles.

And that’s not just this year. We have a 3 year lectionary cycle, which means that this year is year A, then next years readings will be for year B, and then year C, and in 4 years time, we’ll be back in year A and have these readings again. But, it doesn’t matter which year it is, there is always a reading from Acts. And there is a note in the lectionary saying that whatever other readings may or may not be used, the one from Acts must be included. Why is it so important?

The Acts of the Apostles is a book written by Luke, the author of the third Gospel. We know this for various reasons, but mainly because the beginning of his Gospel he says that he is writing down what Jesus for his reader Theophilus. And then at the beginning of Acts, it says, “In my first book, Theophilus…” I wrote about Jesus’s life until his death, resurrection and ascension. So it’s pretty clear that Acts is a sequel. As a rule, this is one of those cases where it is considered unwise for preachers to offer any opinion as to whether the sequel is better or worse than the original…

But it is certainly different.

The book of Acts, then, begins after the resurrection, and picks up the story where the Gospel left off. It begins with the ascension of Jesus and the next majjor event in it is the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the disciples at Pentecost. “Wait a minute,” you might say, “we haven’t got to Pentecost yet”. So why do we read from Acts in the weeks of the Easter season before Pentecost. The reason is, that Acts is a book about the spread of the Gospel, the Good News about Jesus Christ.

So, there are three things that we could say about this book being called the Acts of the Apostles.

The first is that although the words “disciple” and “apostle” are found in both books, the people (especially the 12) who are normally referred to as disciples in the Gospels, in Acts have become the apostles. This is important – because disciple means “someone who follows”. But apostle is quite different – apostle means “someone who is sent out”. It is almost, not quite, the opposite of follower. So the original disciples of Jesus, in the book of Acts, have become the ones sent out as his messengers, the ones who will share the Good News with others.

And when the word disciple creeps back in at around the 6th chapter, it is not used to refer to those original disciples, but to the hundreds and thousands of people who hear the message of the apostles, and who become followers, disciples – not of the apostles, but of Jesus. This is crucial – Jesus followers weren’t cult leaders. They weren’t trying to get followers for themselves. They actively resisted this. They preached Jesus so that the people that heard them would become followers of Jesus. Every now and again, I hear about a church where a minister moves on to a new church, and some of the people from the first church go with them. I’m not saying it’s always the case, but I always wonder whether Jesus is still the one being followed.

So this is the second thing about this book being called the Acts of the Apostles: that the emphasis isn’t so much upon what they do, as what happens when they do it. Which is to say that this is a book about the spread of the Good News, and the growth of the Christian movement.

And then the third thing about it being called the Acts of the Apostles: it’s not all about them. Beginning with that first main even, the gift of the Holy Spirit, there are recurring references to the work of the Holy Spirit. Of God in them and through them. We will hear more about this at Pentecost, but the point is that it is God who is doing this: they preach - the Holy Spirit gives the words; they heal - the Holy Spirit provides the power; the church grows – it is the Holy Spirit that prompts that response.

And it is to that dynamic that we now turn in today’s reading from the Acts of the Apostles. It starts at chapter 2, verse 14 – where Peter begins a speech to the people around him. And then it skips right to the end of the speech – don’t worry, we’ll hear it at Pentecost – where Peter refers to Jesus being crucified, and to the people’s response.

Do you remember, a few weeks ago, we heard about Pontius Pilate’s conversation with Jesus, and the people shouting for Jesus to be crucified: “may his blood be on us and on our children”. There was a verse in which, after being told that Jesus claimed to be the Son of God, we were told that Pilate was very afraid. Pilate, a Roman, may have been much more open to the idea that Jesus was God, or a god, as the Romans thought of them. He was worried about what would happen if he accidentally executed a god. Ironically, he ended up doing exactly what he was afraid of.

In contrast, the Jewish people in the crows outside had not such qualms. And perhaps some of those people are here in the crowd listening to Peter’s speech. As Peter presents the witness evidence for the resurrection, and explains Jesus’ credentials as Messiah in the fulfilment of Jewish prophecies, he reminds them that they were willing to coopt outsiders, the Romans, to help them crucify their own God’s anointed servant and messenger. What Pilate, the gentile, was afraid of, they now realise that they, God’s chosen people, have done – to kill the Messiah.

It is no wonder, then, that they were “cut to the heart” and ask Peter what on earth the can do to put this right – if anything. And the verses we heard are the most pithy summary of this connection between Holy Week and Easter on the one hand, and the sudden, energetic spread of the message that follows in Acts.

Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.’

In just a few words, the crucifixion of Jesus, and the realisation of personal responsibility for his death by rejection of God, becomes the opportunity to declare that the promise of God is for everyone who is far away from him. The promise accepted by being baptised.

I want to conclude by borrowing the next verse after this reading – because it speaks to us who are recipients of the same promise, by God’s grace, and part of the same community. Verse 42: “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.”

For us, there is nothing particularly surprising about the activities of this new Christian community, the Church. But the word is “devoted”. They devoted themselves to this new life. It was not an add-on. It was not a hobby to be integrated. It was the very centre of their individual and corporate life as those who followed Jesus. May we be so fortunate as to recognise, cultivate and enjoy that devotion.

12/04/2026

The parish celebrating Easter after Easter Carols this evening.

12/04/2026

Sermon 12th April (Low Sunday)
Keith Leech

In some Christian traditions it is customary to take on the name of a saint or Christian leader from the past who you admire. We see this with the Pope. It also happens in monastic orders and during Roman Catholic confirmation. I have often wondered who I may name myself after and decided that it would probably be Thomas.
It may be my scientific training, or that I am questioning by nature, but I am pretty certain if I were walking along the streets of Jerusalem mourning the death of a dear friend and leader and along comes Peter saying ‘amazing news, he has risen from the dead’ I would likely say the same as Thomas. ‘Stop playing around, that’s not funny’…. ‘No honestly’ says Peter…’no I don’t believe you I need a bit of evidence’.
Poor Thomas forever called ‘doubting’ but I don’t think this makes him a bad person. He showed great faith, in John 11.16 Thomas referring to Lazarus, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him. At the Last Supper it is Thomas who asks the question after Jesus said he was going and they would know where to follow “Lord we do not know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
He was an ardent disciple and follower of Jesus. Some say he lacked faith but it was a big ask to believe what he was being told. When he did meet Jesus again Thomas’s faith showed through, when he said to Jesus ‘you are my Lord and my God’.
Legend has it that he went on to found a church in India where he was eventually martyred.
Far from being a man of little faith he had great faith but asked questions. I know that you shouldn’t test God but I think asking questions rather than having total faith without question isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Once again God will find us each in different ways and for some faith without question is what they need, for others questioning becomes something that makes faith stronger.
There is no doubt historically that a man called Jesus existed, preached in Judea and was known as The Christ or Messiah around the first century.
He is mentioned outside the Bible in various historic manuscripts.
Flavius Josephus (c. 37–100 AD): A Jewish-Roman historian who mentions Jesus twice in Antiquities of the Jews. One passage mentions Jesus's followers, while the other refers to James, "the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ.
Cornelius Tacitus (c. 56–120 AD): A Roman historian who wrote that "Christus" was executed by Pontius Pilate during the reign of Tiberius, and that his followers (Christians) were persecuted in Rome.
Pliny the Younger (c. 61–113 AD): A Roman governor who wrote to Emperor Trajan describing how Christians would "sing hymns to Christ as to a god".
The Talmud (2nd–5th century): Mentions "Yishu," who was crucified on the eve of Passover, confirming his reputation as a teacher and his ex*****on date.
Lucian of Samosata (2nd century): A Greek satirist who mocked Christians for worshipping a "wise teacher" who was crucified
Suetonius (c. 69–122 AD): A Roman historian who mentioned that the Emperor Claudius expelled Jews from Rome due to disturbances instigated by "Chrestus"
Then of course we also have the Bible. Including the early Bible there are 25,000 early manuscripts that reference Jesus as opposed to 250 that reference Julius Caesar and nobody questions that Julius Caesar existed, so we can say for sure somebody called Jesus did exist, that the early Church existed and that he was considered to be Christus, The Messiah.
The bigger question is however why did people believe the resurrection? For the disciples and the women who first saw him it was easy, they spoke to him directly. They were not the only ones.
In 1 Corinthians Paul says ‘For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles’
That is over 500 eyewitnesses!
Some will say that these people all conspired to tell a tale. To be honest I find this difficult to believe, I can see no reason why they should, especially as it would have been politically and socially dangerous for them. Furthermore, even if they did why did they then carry on with that idea through persecution and often martyrdom. You just simply don’t suffer death and persecution for a story.
All of the disciples except John were executed, some accounts are in the Bible, some in other accounts.
James (Son of Zebedee): Executed by sword (beheaded) by Herod Agrippa I in Jerusalem, as recorded in Acts 12:2.
Peter: Crucified upside down in Rome under Emperor Nero around 64 A.D..
Andrew: Crucified on an X-shaped cross in Patras, Greece.
Thomas: Speared to death in India.
Philip: Crucified upside down in Phrygia, Asia Minor.
Bartholomew: Flayed alive and beheaded in Armenia.
Matthew: Killed by a sword or stab wound in Ethiopia.
James (Son of Alphaeus): Stoned to death,
Simon the Zealot: Sawn in half or crucified in Persia.
Thaddeus (Jude): Killed with an axe or arrows.
Matthias: Stoned and then beheaded.
John: Believed to be the only apostle to die of natural causes, specifically old age in Ephesus.
Paul: Beheaded in Rome under Nero around 67 A.D..
None of them changed their mind, none said it was a story all stuck to it to the end. This for me is evidence enough that they all believed the resurrection to be true.
I haven’t even touched on the evidence for creation or the reasons why as a scientist I am led towards, not away from God. I think this can be left to another time.
Did you know that recent work using AI has discovered 63799 links across events and prophecies in the books of The Bible? This is extraordinary, even if the writers knew other writings the chances of everything hanging together so well in one library (for the Bible is library) of books written over centuries are small. One would perhaps be led to consider the hand of God might be behind it.
Having examined the evidence where does that leave us today? if we believe these things to be true, that is what is called faith. It isn’t passive it is active, an active trust, it’s not how good our faith is as such, but the trustworthiness of the one in whom the faith is placed. In the affirmation of faith one of the questions is ‘Do you believe and trust in God the Son?’ Are you willing to allow Jesus to take your hand even when fearful?
That isn’t that we should not have doubt. Doubt is the spot on the clean page that shows us the page is there. Doubt and questioning can strengthen faith. Jesus accepted those with honest doubt and here Thomas is the prime example. This is different to stubborn wilful unbelief and rejection of Jesus that is so common in modern society. The refusal to believe or even accept that Jesus existed (despite all the evidence) that I often read on the internet
So I ask you ‘Do you believe and trust in God the Son, who took our human nature, died for us and rose again?’. Are you able to say with Thomas ‘My Lord and my God’
Amen