He's just having this heart wrenching moment, and one of the disciples goes: can I ask a question? Jesus says: yes. When we're in heaven one day, can I sit at Your right hand, instead of Your left? Jesus goes: you don't get it. See none of these people were predisposed. They were surprised when Jesus rose from the dead. As a matter of fact, all the disciples fled when He died. They weren't like: they're sitting there, and there was two guys who buried Jesus - it was Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. Where did they bury Jesus? In a tomb. Why? Because they thought He was going to stay dead. They didn't believe that in three days He was going to rise again; or they'd have taken Him to His house ,and sat Him up at the table like Weekend at Bernie's. A bit awkward, but you have guests over to your house - oh don't mind Him. He's dead, He'll get up in three days - just sort of stretching Him out. Why? Because they believed He was going to stay dead. They weren't predisposed to believe this stuff.
4) All of their writings got them killed or exiled. It wasn't like they became popular because of this. They were either killed or exiled, and in some of their situations, history tells us that they were given a chance to keep their life, if they would just say that they didn't see what they saw. So they believed what they saw so much, that they were willing to die or be exiled for it. Do you see what I'm saying? It's not as simple as saying: I believe it, just because the Bible says so. If you're a Christian here today, and you believe it, it's not just because the Bible says so. It's because there are seven different witness, who in their writings declared: this is true; four businessmen, a Jewish theologian, the Lord's brother, and a medical doctor, gave written testimony that this happened. They weren't predisposed to believe it, and their testimony got them killed. If they would have just recanted, they would live; so the idea that this happened is true.
Now why did it happen? Did it happen just so that you could be forgiven? No. It happened so that we could live a different form of life, so that this church could be a place in this community that shares the light of what the life of the cross is all about. That's what it's about.
Now in that there's some serious imagery that comes around. In John 19:33-34 it says: but when they came to Jesus, and found that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. Instead one of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water - a sudden flow of blood and water. Now there's a lot of imagery here. The first imagery is - you have to understand Passover lambs, which Jesus was. Passover lambs - it's outlined in the Mishnah how they treated them, and when they prepared a Passover lamb, they did so with two stakes - two wooden stakes, a vertical stake and a horizontal stake. They did that - you had to prepare a Passover lamb in a way that broke no bones, so they would put him on the vertical stake in a way that broke no bones. They would then insert a horizontal stake that would spread him out. Why? Because the Torah said that when you cook a Passover lamb, you have to cook it in such a way where the fluid doesn't bubble up on the meat.
So they would spread him out in such a way where the fluid would naturally fall off of him. They would lacerate his side with stripes, so that it would open up his side, so that the extra blood and water would flow out. They would take the entrails of the Passover lamb, and they would make a crown, and put it on the Passover lamb's head. This is all outlined in the Mishnah, way, way, way before Jesus. The last thing they would do, when a Passover lamb was being cooked, is just to make sure that all the extra body fluids were out of its body. They would take a knife, and they would puncture its side in a way that broke no bones. They would puncture its side, and pierce the heart, and any excess stuff in the heart would then fall out.