Tim Keller on Hope in the Face of Cancer from 2003!

Dr. Tim Keller passed away in May, 2023, after a battle with pancreatic cancer. He spoke very openly during his treatment about his hope in the face of death. His ability to articulate that hope has been a comfort to many. 

In the early 2000's, Tim Keller also faced thyroid cancer. Recently, while listening to a sermon of his from 2003, I came across a section where he describes his hope in the face of death. So he had been thinking deeply about this subject for over 20 years at a very personal level! That makes his strength and witness over the long haul even more compelling. 

Here are his remarks from a sermon called "The Glory of Jesus" given on February 2, 2003. The audio is available online HERE.

"You know, a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. My wife this morning told me I should add, in case you don’t know me or anything about this, it was thyroid cancer and they took it out and I’m fine.

Kathy on the way home said, “You know, you didn’t finish the story very well.” When they told me about it, I sat down.… You know, before they told me all of the good news, they told me, “Well, it’s cancer.” I sat down and I spent about an hour thinking to myself, “Will I be able to handle this? Am I ready to die? Will I be able to face death okay, or will I be too afraid to die?” And I started thinking about the Resurrection. I went to the evidence, the stuff I like to get out every Easter. 

If you’ve been around on Easter you know I get it out. I thought about the fact that every gospel says women were the first witnesses of the resurrected
Jesus. Of course, as you’ve heard me perhaps say before, there is no way if you were making up stories about the Resurrection in the first century you ever would have put women in as the first witnesses, because they had such low status.

So if they’re in the stories, the only explanation for why women were the first resurrection witnesses was because women were. That’s the only possible explanation. There must have been all of these women who saw Jesus.

Then I was thinking of 1 Corinthians 15, written only 20 years after the fact. Paul says 500 people saw the resurrected Jesus at once, and he says, “Most of them are still alive. If you want to, you can go talk to them.”

Listen. People do not have group hallucinations. Not only that, that’s too big for a conspiracy. Seven or eight people can say, “We saw Jesus Christ risen from the dead.” But five hundred?

I looked at this, and I thought about this, and I said, “This happened. This is a real thing that happened. This is as well-attested as any historical fact. Therefore, I don’t have to be afraid,” and I wasn’t."