Harmony #46: The Meeting of Misery and Mercy[1] (John 7-8:12)

Jesus moves around the Galilean countryside to avoid Judea, because there were Jews there who wanted to kill him. His brothers try to convince him to do a bunch of public miracle, and Jesus declines. His brothers leave for the Festival of Booths, and eventually Jesus slips in. When he gets there, the Jewish leaders are looking for him and the crowds are divided about who he is. Jesus eventually heads to the Temple (Sadducee territory) and starts to preach. The people are amazed at his ability. Jesus say,

I do not claim ownership of My words; they are a gift from the One who sent Me. If anyone is willing to act according to His purposes and is open to hearing truth, he will know the source of My teaching. Does it come from God or from Me?  If a man speaks his own words, constantly quoting himself, he is after adulation. But I chase only after glory for the One who sent Me. My intention is authentic and true. You’ll find no wrong motives in Me… (7: 16-18)

The people are like: I think this is the guy they want to kill, but nobody is challenging him. Do they think he really is the Messiah? But, he’s from Galilee so….maybe not.

You think you know Me and where I have come from, but I have not come here on My own. I have been sent by the One who embodies truth. You do not know Him.  I know Him because I came from Him. He has sent Me. Some were trying to seize Him because of His words, but no one laid as much as a finger on Him—His time had not yet arrived.  (7: 28-30)

Meanwhile, some of the crowd was thinking he might be the Messiah. So the Pharisees and temple authorities sent officers (Roman-backed muscle) to arrest Jesus. They don’t. We will see why in minute. On the last day of the festival, Jesus speaks again.

If any of you is thirsty, come to Me and drink. If you believe in Me, rivers of living water will flow from within you [a reference to Isaiah 41]  Jesus was referring to the realities of life in the Spirit made available to everyone who believes in Him. But the Spirit had not yet arrived because Jesus had not been glorified…  (7:37-39)

Rumors spread. Some want to arrest him, but no one does. The officers who failed to arrest him say,

We listened to Him. Never has a man spoken like this man. (7:46)

The Pharisees were like, “You are stupid, and this is why we are under God’s curse. (7:49) But Nicodemus (that Nicodemus) said,

Does our law condemn someone without first giving him a fair hearing and learning something about him? (7:51)

 Cue the episode with the woman caught in adultery, which in this context definitely reads like a set-up to find a way to condemn Jesus.

Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.  He awoke early in the morning to return to the temple. When He arrived, the people surrounded Him, so He sat down and began to teach them. While He was teaching, the scribes and Pharisees brought in a woman who was caught in the act of adultery; and they stood her before Jesus.

The Pharisees said, ‘Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery.  Moses says in the law that we are to kill such women by stoning. What do You say about it?’ This was all set up as a test for Jesus; His answers would give them grounds to accuse Him of crimes against Moses’ law. Jesus bent over and wrote something in the dirt with His finger. They persisted in badgering Jesus, so He stood up straight.

Jesus replied, ‘Let those among you who have not sinned cast the first stone.’[2]  Once again Jesus bent down to the ground and resumed writing with His finger. The Pharisees who heard Him stood still for a few moments and thenbegan to leave slowly, one by one, beginning with the older men.

 Eventually only Jesus and the woman remained, and Jesus looked up. Jesus said, ‘Dear woman, where is everyone? Are we alone? Did no one step forward to condemn you?’ The woman replied, ‘Lord, no one has condemned me.’ Jesus said,‘Well, I do not condemn you either; go, and from now on sin no more.’

Again, Jesus spoke to the crowds. ‘I am the light that shines through the world[3]; if you walk with Me, you will thrive in the nourishing light that gives life and will not know darkness.’

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In the story of the Woman Caught In Adultery, we see Jesus embody God’s perspective on how to balance judgment and mercy.[4] We will first look at the context of the story, then at the person of Jesus, and finally why this story matters to us. Let’s start with some background.

·      This happened on the day after thcelebration of the Feast of the Tabernacle/ Feast of Booths. The Jews lived in huts during this time to commemorate how the Israelites lived in tents during the Exodus.

·      Moses had commanded that during the days of this Feast the law be read, so this was an annual, purposeful focus on the Law of God.

·      The main purpose was to thank God for his provision during the past in the wilderness wanderings (Lev 23:39-43) and in the present as seen in the harvest just completed (Deuteronomy 16:13-15).

·      The people were reminded of their profound dependence upon God for provision. They would recite Psalm 118:25 every day: “O Lord, defend/rescue/deliver us, and prosper us.”

·      They had a ceremony in which four different types of plants were brought to the altar. These four plants symbolized four different kinds of Jews.  One plant had a good fragrance and a good taste, symbolizing knowledge of the Torah and good deeds. One only had fragrance (only good deeds); one only had taste (only knowledge of the Torah), and one had neither. 

·      There was a series of water offerings each morning in the temple, commemorating the provision of water in the wilderness. When Jesus tells them to come to him to drink (7:37-38), he is linking himself to God’s provision in the Exodus.

·      Menorahs would be lit in the House of Water Drawing, which was in the Court of Women in the temple. People would dance and sing, “Blessed be he who hath not sinned; and he who sinned and repented, he is forgiven.”[5]

·      Jesus' proclamation that he is the light of the world (8:12) linked him to the feast's lamp-lighting ceremonies that commemorated the pillar of fire during the Exodus. The morning that Jesus is challenged is the morning that four festival lamps in the court in the Temple ("The light of the world") were put out.

So Jesus claimed to be the Water and the Light while quoting a revered Old Testament prophet, Isaiah, all to show that he is the Messiah for whom they have been longing. The good news was that the God whom they worshipped during this feast was with them. Many of the people were starting to believe. The Pharisees want to kill him; they think he was blaspheming. But to kill him they need a formal trial and a Rome-sanctioned execution.[6]

So the next morning, on the Sabbath, they meet Jesus in the temple. The temple area was about 35 acres, and in the middle sat a courtyard surrounded on three sides by a large, covered walkway that connected the temple court to Herod’s garrison. His soldiers patrolled the courtyard by walking on top of the covered walkways in case anything bad developed. Josephus noted that during feast days, an entire legion (over 4,000 men) would patrol the temple area.

Into this venue, the Pharisees bring a woman caught in adultery for judgment. They most likely bring her into the Court of Women. If all went well, they might be able to trick Jesus into ordering capital punishment, and then Rome would take care of their problem because at the time the Sanhedrin needed Rome’s permission for capital punishment. If that didn’t happen, they figured they could show how much more they knew about the law with the hope that this crowd of simpletons would finally reject him as Law Breaker and so reject him as the Messiah.

This seems like a win/win for the Pharisees. Jesus gets arrested or his lack of knowledge of the Law gets him rejected. Things do not go as planned.

·      As has often been noted, they only brought the woman. That’s unusual to say the least. Even then, it took two to tango, and the Law demanded that both be brought to the trial.

·      A formal accusation required two eyewitnesses. There was no circumstantial evidence allowed in a case like this. The eyewitnesses would have warned couple ahead of time about the consequences of their action, the couple had to acknowledge this, and then the witnesses had to watch them do it. Odds are really good those standards were not met. I suspect Jesus (and perhaps the whole crowd) realized this.

·      The death penalty was virtually obsolete in Jewish culture by the time of Jesus[7] (in fact, that sentence was highly unusual ever since the time of Moses). Over the centuries, the Sanhedrin had increasingly made the standards incredibly high because they believed the Law was meant to teach, not kill.[8]

·      Remember: the Sanhedrin needed Rome’s permission.

·      A legit trial had to happen in front of a duly constituted court, which included over twenty Sanhedrin leaders who sat in a semicircle so they could be sure they were all paying attention. If capital punishment happened outside of a court ruling, those who administered the punishment were considered murderers.

·      The Talmudic Sanhedrin trecate (treatise), written before the time of Christ, clarified Deuteronomy’s command that the eyewitnesses should start the stoning (thus the “cast the first stone”).[9] There apparently aren't any eyewitnesses – or at least the text does not record their presence.

·      Capital punishment could not be carried out on a day sacred to religion – and this was a Sabbath.

So, following a celebration in which the people prayed for God to save them, and in which they celebrated the combination of Law and Good Deeds, Jesus will show what it looks like when their longings are fulfilled. He begins by honoring the Law.

When an accusation was brought, a priest was required to write the law that had been broken, along with the names of the accused, somewhere where the marks were not permanent – which was usually the dust on the floor of the temple. Early Armenian translations of this passage claim that is the proper understanding of this passage[10] - that Jesus wrote first the name and crime of the woman in the dust on the temple courtyard floor.

After Jesus writes, he says,  “Let those sinless of the same crime (which should be one of her eyewitness accusers) cast the first stone.”  It’s a brilliant response. First, I suspect it reminded the crowd of the song that had been sung in that very court - “Blessed be he who hath not sinned; and he who sinned and repented, he is forgiven”. If so, Jesus’ comment reminded them of their sin and chastised them for wanting to do something that is at odds with what they just celebrated.

After Jesus says this, He begins writing again; considering the Armenian texts as well as the fact that everyone will eventually leave, it seems reasonable to speculate that he wrote the names and crimes of the Pharisees who broke the law, which was all of them.

Surely his audience remembered Jeremiah 17:13:

"All those who leave your way shall be put to shame (publicly embarrassed), those who turn aside from my ways will have their names written in the dust and blotted out, for they have departed from Yahweh, the fountain of the waters of life."

By writing, he points to himself as the Baptizer of Israel, and to the Pharisees as those whose name will be blotted out.[11]

And that was that. The crowd melts away. Jesus asks, “Where are your accusers? Has no one condemned you?” She replies, “No one, Lord.” Jesus responds, “I don’t condemn you either [that is, I am not an eyewitness against you], but stop your sin.”

No one could say Jesus was a Lawbreaker, but He refused to use the Law as a tool of oppression and shame. Going back to the symbols of the previous week’s festival: He had the fragrance of the Law and the taste of good deeds.

And then, just in case the crowd was missing all the ways Jesus was proclaiming himself to be the Messiah, the Savior they longed for, he immediately says, in a courtyard in which the menorahs and the “light of the world” festival lamps had been lit and then put out,

“I am the light of the world. He who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

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How do we balance judgment and mercy? How should we treat sin – and sinners – in our midst of our church community?[12] This question ought to matter to all of us, because no one in this room is exempt. You will sin; you will have to deal with the sin of others. We are all going to be in the place of either the Pharisees or the woman who sinned at some point in our life. So what do we do? How do we learn from this story?

We look to Jesus for our example.

We must exercise righteous judgment of sin and show mercy and grace to those who sin.

This is not always easy.

If we aren't careful we can get so caught up in condemning the sin that we forget to love to those who sin. Religious Pharisees think mercy is a sign of moral weakness. They think people should get what’s coming to them – especially people whose sins are so visibly public. They appoint themselves as moral watchdogs in the church trained not simply to be truthful and challenging but to tear the sinner to pieces. Their goal is not to point people who deserve judgment toward the mercy found only in Christ. They might never say that out loud, but their goal is suffering, not sanctification; punishment, not restoration.

When we look to Jesus, we see that our goal should be not to shame, humiliate, or drive to despair those around us who are caught in sin; our goal should be to bring to repentance and restoration those who have fallen. We may need to start by calling sin what it is in the lives of those who refuse to see it in themselves (as Jesus did with the Pharisees). But even if we do that so the self-righteous and proud are humbled – even if we are the self-righteous and proud who are humbled by our honest brothers and sisters in Christ - we must never lose sight of the goal of the Great Physician: to heal the sin-sick soul. The great commentator Matthew Henry wrote,

“In this matter Christ attended to the great work about which he came into the world, that was, to bring sinners to repentance; not to destroy, but to save. He aimed to bring, not only the accused to repentance, by showing her his mercy, but the prosecutors also, by showing them their sins; they thought to ensnare him, he sought to convince and convert them.”

If the first thing we have to be careful of is too much judgment of sin, the second thing is becoming so focused on extending mercy to the sinner that we forget there is a just judgment for sin. This story if often cited as an example of why we shouldn’t exercise judgment, That badly misses the point. Jesus absolutely judged. When Jesus wrote in the dust, he (presumably) wrote that they were all lawbreakers. He didn't let the Pharisees off the hook. He didn’t say to the woman, “Hey, it’s no problem. Go do what you want.”  He said, “No one hear can formally accuse you, but…stop sinning.” He didn’t try to contextualize her situation. He didn’t say, “You’re perfect just the way you are.” In his mercy, he gave her the same kind of truth he gave the Pharisees: she had sinned, and she needed to repent.

Telling the truth about sin is not a bad thing. Offering sincere, honest, biblically sound judgment about sinful actions is not a sign that you are mean; it is a sign that you understand the importance of walking in the way of Christ.

Love actually requires honest judgment. Why? Because sin destroys. Someone talked last week in Message+ about people who are the “casualties of sin.” Right. It eats away at your peace with God, with others, and within ourselves. Sin corrodes relationships, it distorts love, it sows something we are going to reap, and “the wages is sin is death.” A holy, loving God must use judgment in the service of justice so that evil does not have the last word. For all of us who have experienced the sin of others crush our lives, it is heaven’s promise that evil will be held to account.[13] 

But we have to be careful. If we don’t confront sin in love, we will be abrasive and mean (see 1 Corinthians 13).  And if we don’t do this with an eye on the sin in our own lives, we will do this with a kind of pride that God despises.

Here’s the reality: all of us have hurt others with our words, our attitudes, our choices, our violence. A holy, loving God cannot let that evil go unaddressed. We long for justice when it’s meant for people who have done us wrong, but if God’s justice were to rain down on us all and give us the justice we deserve right now, we would all beg for mercy. There is no one righteous (Romans 3:10). If Jesus were here, and we all demanded that sin be addressed, we would all walk away as Jesus wrote in the dust on the floor of this church.

Here's the tension we must embrace: We should long for God’s justice (as we see the devastation of sin and the need for someone to hold people to account) but we should also crave God’s mercy (as we see our own sin, condemnation and need for a Savior).

When justice and mercy work together, just judgment drives us to our knees at the foot of the Cross; mercy reaches down from that cross and pulls us to our feet. This is where we look back to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2), the embodiment of God’s justice and mercy.

It is on the cross that God’s holy justice was perfectly satisfied while His holy mercy was perfectly displayed.[14] Someone has to pay the price for sin, and God in his mercy said, “Let it be me.”  This included the woman and her accusers - and all of us. The Israelite prayer, “O Lord, rescue us, deliver us, save us,” has come true; Jesus has come so that the world through him might be saved. 

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[1] This is how Augustine described the story of the woman caught in adultery

[2] “ αναμαρτητος, meaning the same kind of sin, adultery, fornication, c. Kypke has largely proved that the verb αμαρτανειν is used in this sense by the best Greek writers.” (Adam Clarke)

[3] “So in Bamidbar Rabba: "The Israelites said to God, O Lord of the universe, thou commandest us to light lamps to thee, yet thou art THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD: and with thee the light dwelleth."’ (Adam Clarke)

[4] Your Bible may note, “Many early manuscripts omit 7:53–8:11.” Eusebius, the first historian of the Church, claimed to have learned the story from Papias, who lived from about 60 AD to about 130 AD.  Augustine thought the early church removed the story out of fear that adultery would be encouraged by Jesus’ display of mercy. Whatever the reasons, the event is alluded to very early. It appears to have been widely known and accepted in the early church, and it soon appears in the canon.

[5] http://www.agapebiblestudy.com/john_gospel/Chapter%208.htm

[6] At times, Rome allowed the Sanhedrin packed with their picks to use capital punishment. At the time this happened, the Sanhedrin needed Rome’s permission.

[7] (Mishnah Makkot 1:10): “A Sanhedrin that puts a man to death once in seven years is called destructive. Rabbi Eliezer ben Azariah says: even once in seventy years. Rabbi Akiba and Rabbi Tarfon say: had we been in the Sanhedrin none would ever have been put to death. Rabban Simeon ben Gamaliel says: they would have multiplied shedders of blood in Israel.” Read a good article here: http://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/the-death-penalty-in-jewish-tradition/2/

[8] http://www.reformjudaismmag.net/02summer/focus.shtml

[9] “With reference to two offenders subject to this penalty, the Pentateuch says, "Thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people" (Deut. xiii. 10 [A. V. 9]), and again (ib. xvii. 7), "The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people." (Sanh. vi. 4; 45a et seq.; Sifra, Emor, xix.; Sifre, Num. 114; ib. Deut. 89, 90, 149, 151). “https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_and_corporal_punishment_in_Judaism#In_Rabbinic_Law

[10] https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/dsb/john-8.html

[11] The Bible does not connect those dots, but considering the audience and the context, it seems likely.

[12] I realize the ‘church’ had not started yet, but the religious Jewish community is probably the closest comparison we have before the NT church community began.

[13] So is there any place for judgment and justice when God extends mercy? First, the Bible clearly teaches that there will be practical consequences to our actions. Forgiveness does not necessarily negate the fact that we will reap what we sow. The woman’s adultery may still have ruined her marriage even thought the forgiveness of Christ was available to her. Second, there are consequences to our actions within God ordained systems of government. Those harmed by rape may extend forgiveness, but the rapist will still go to jail – and rightly so. Finally, there is an ultimate day of judgment when we will all give an answer to God for what we have done. It’s possible to the first two forms of judgment can be avoided depending on the nature of the sin, but no one will escape the final accounting.

[14] Read “The Only Thing That Counts” for a better understanding of why Jesus needed to die in order for God’s justice to be satisfied. http://clgonline.org/the-only-thing-that-counts-galatians-51-8/

Harmony #28: Wisdom And Her Children (Luke 7:24-35,16:16; Matthew 11:7-19)

Today’s passage contains a number of statements that can make you shrug you shoulders and go, “Well, they sure had an odd way of saying things back then,” and move on.  I will try to explain them as me go through the passage, but we are going to land on the subject of Wisdom and her children.

* * * * *

 When John’s messengers had gone, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?  What did you go out to see? A man dressed in fancy clothes? Look, those who wear fancy clothes and live in luxury are in kings’ courts!  What did you go out to see? A prophet?

Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written, ‘Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’ I tell you the truth, among those born of women no one has arisen greater (Authoritative? Excellent? Weightier?) than John the Baptist.

JOHN WAS ‘BORN OF WOMAN’? AREN’T WE ALL?

Think of what Jesus said to Nicodemus: he had to be born a second time, “of water and the spirit.”[1] It’s a distinction between being a child of humanity and a child of God.

* * * * *

Yet the one who has the lower rank and influence in the kingdom of God is greater than he is.[2]

WHAT’S UP WITH THE GREATER/LESSER LANGUAGE?

We aren’t supposed to created hierarchies in the Kingdom, right? “The first shall be last, and the last shall be first.”[3] The greatest among us are those who serve.[4] So what’s going on here? John introduced a kingdom that he would not get to see inaugurated. And as great as John was, it is greater (think ‘more spiritually formative’) to participate in the kingdom than to announce it. Those who come after John are able to understand and appreciate more fully the mission of the Messiah and participate in this new covenantal community that Jesus’ death and resurrection bring about. To enjoy the blessings of the kingdom is greater than to be the forerunner of the King.[5]

* * * * *

From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and forceful people lay hold of it. For all the prophets and the law prophesied and were in force until John appeared; since then, the good news of the kingdom of God has been proclaimed, and everyone is pressing into it. And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come. Whoever has ears, let them hear.

HOW IS THE KINDOM OF HEAVEN SUFFERING VIOLENCE, AND WHY/HOW DO FORCEFUL PEOPLE TAKE IT?

First, notice the timetable. “From the days of John the Baptist until now.” It’s a very specific block of time. John’s ‘days’ are apparently the time he spent declaring who Jesus was. When he went to prison, that stopped. Also, it’s a little ominous, as if John’s ministry was done (and it was, as he would be executed shortly). Something has been happening in that year or so. Three possibilities, and commentaries are divided on this.

•  First, those opposed to Jesus and His kingdom are doing their best to destroy them both.

• Second, those who were ready for the Messiah and his Kingdom responded vigorously to the announcement and strained every spiritual muscle to enter.[6] Luke 16:16 phrases it,“every one is pressing into it.” It’s as if the Kingdom is being stormed (in a good way). If that’s the case, Jesus may be referring to people who actively followed Jesus rather than waiting for the kingdom to come their way.[7] According to Chrysostom (400s), this is about those who have such earnest desire for Christ that they let nothing stand between themselves and faith in Him.[8]

• Third, it may refer to the Kingdom breaking into the world “violently,” that is, with great power and force. It’s an image from sheep spilling out into the fields when they are released from their pens in the morning.[9]

 I could see making a case for all three; I most favor the idea that “everyone is pressing into it,” which is Luke’s paraphrase. I think the next thing Jesus says, in which he challenges “this generation’s” lack of response to the message of the Kingdom, suggests it’s not about persecution as much as the lack of response to the Kingdom (through Jesus) breaking into the world.

* * * * *

 Now all the people who heard this, even the tax collectors, acknowledged God’s way was just and righteous, because they had been baptized with John’s baptism [of repentance]. However, the Pharisees and the experts in religious law rejected God’s counsel against themselves, because they had not been baptized by John.[10]

[Jesus continued,] “To what then should I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like? They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling out to one another, ‘We played the flute for you, yet you did not dance; we wailed in mourning, yet you did not weep.’

“For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon!’ The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look at him, a glutton and a drunk, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ But wisdom is vindicated/justified by all her children, [shown to be right] by her deeds.”

WHAT’S WITH THE FLUTING AND WAILING?

The basic point is this: they refused to properly mourn when called to repentance, and they refused to properly celebrate when they see the Kingdom of God being offered to all. [11] 

• It was easier to demonize John than to take seriously his message that they were sinners who had broken God’s law and were in need of repentance. #causeformourning

• It was easier to villainize Jesus than to take seriously his message that God values and loves everyone, and that God offers His Kingdom to the outcasts and the law-breakers. #causefordancing

The Pharisees didn’t like how John was bringing others to God, and they didn’t like how Jesus was living out the values of the Kingdom of God.

• They weren’t happy with the somberness of the kingdom, represented by a self-disciplined lifestyle and rhythms of repentance, which suggested they were failing to keep the Law.

• They didn’t like the joyous grace of the kingdom, represented by Jesus’s fellowship with the marquee sinners of their time, in which he modeled grace to the lawless.

WISDOM IS JUSTIFIED BY HER CHILDREN

This is another way of saying, “By their fruit you will know them.” Those who have been given true, life-changing spiritual insight validate it by their actions—their “children.”[12]Wisdom (God’s way, Luke 7:29-30) is vindicated (shown to be right) by the followers of John and Jesus who embraced God’s way. Jesus is challenging their alleged wisdom by asking what kind of children/disciples/people their wisdom produced.

In Matthew 23, Jesus will tell the Pharisees they are making disciples of hell rather than heaven. In his speech to them, he points out what characterizes them and their deeds - the ‘children,’ as it were, of their way:

2 The Pharisees and the scribes occupy the seat of Moses. 3 So you should do the things they tell you to do—but don’t do the things they do. 4 They heap heavy burdens upon their neighbors’ backs, and they prove unwilling to do anything to help shoulder the load. 

 5 They are interested, above all, in presentation: they wrap their heads and arms in the accoutrements of prayer, they cloak themselves with flowing tasseled prayer garments, 6 they covet the seats of honor at fine banquets and in the synagogue, 7 and they love it when people recognize them in the marketplace, call them “Teacher,” and beam at them... 

13 Woe to you, you teachers of the law and Pharisees. There is such a gulf between what you say and what you do. You will stand before a crowd and lock the door of the kingdom of heaven right in front of everyone; you won’t enter the Kingdom yourselves, and you prevent others from doing so. 

14 Woe to you, you teachers of the law and Pharisees. What you say is not what you do. You steal the homes from under the widows while you pretend to pray for them. You will suffer great condemnation for this. 

15 Woe to you Pharisees, woe to you who teach the law, hypocrites! You traverse hills and mountains and seas to make one convert, and then when he does convert, you make him much more a son of hell than you are. 

16 Woe to you who are blind but deign to lead others. You say, “Swearing by the temple means nothing, but he who swears by the gold in the temple is bound by his oath.” 17 Are you fools? You must be blind! For which is greater: the gold or the temple that makes the gold sacred? 18 You also say, “Swearing by the altar means nothing, but he who swears by the sacrifice on the altar is bound by his oath…”

23 So woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees. You hypocrites! You tithe from your luxuries and your spices, giving away a tenth of your mint, your dill, and your cumin. But you have ignored the essentials of the law: justice, mercy, faithfulness. It is practice of the latter that makes sense of the former. 24 You hypocritical, blind leaders. You spoon a fly from your soup and swallow a camel. 

25 Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You remove fine layers of film and dust from the outside of a cup or bowl, but you leave the inside full of greed and covetousness and self-indulgence. 26 You blind Pharisee—can’t you see that if you clean the inside of the cup, the outside will be clean too? 

27 Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like a grave that has been whitewashed. You look beautiful on the outside, but on the inside you are full of moldering bones and decaying rot. 28 You appear, at first blush, to be righteous, selfless, and pure; but on the inside you are polluted, sunk in hypocrisy and confusion and lawlessness.

29 Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build monuments to your dead, you mouth pieties over the bodies of prophets, you decorate the graves of your righteous ancestors. 30 And you say, “If we had lived when our forefathers lived, we would have known better—we would not have joined them when they rose up against the prophets.”  

31 In doing this, you make plain that you descended from those who murdered our prophets. 32 So why don’t you, [the children], finish what your forefathers started? 33 

Yikes. These are some sketchy children.

•  Mean (won’t help other bear their burdens)

• Ignored the heart of the law (justice, mercy, faithfulness)

• Proud

• Hypocritical

• Blind/Confused (not as smart as they thought)

• Greedy/self-indulgent

• Whatever the opposite of love is (Indifference? Hate? Callousness?)

Jesus told them he would send them prophets and teachers to call them to repentance. John the Baptist once called them a brood of vipers who needed to flee from the wrath to come and called them to repent (Matthew 3:7-8). They were having none of it. And… they were known by their spiritual children.

Meanwhile, the writer of Proverbs had already given an image of what Wisdom (and her children) looked like. The book of Proverbs spends a lot time discussing Wisdom and Folly, both personified as women, specifically in chapters 1-9.[13] In Proverbs 31, we see Wisdom personified in its fullness as a woman whose flourishing brings about the flourishing of those around her. Most of her description is found earlier in the book when describing Lady Wisdom. She’s what some have called “Lady Wisdom In Street Clothes.”[14]

Though I grew up in a church tradition that read this as a passage about “the ideal woman,” I don’t believe this is meant to be read that way. See all my footnotes for more information. This is a reminder for all of us to be the groom in this parable, making a covenant to cleave to Wisdom, the wife (and mother) in this poetic image.[15]

[Side note: I suspect a lot of the material imagery functioned as ‘hyperlinks’ to the first audience, as in they often symbolized something more than just the physical thing itself. For example, you will see that she makes different garments out of flax and wool. She knew the Law: “You shall not wear a garment of different sorts, such as wool and linen mixed together." —Deuteronomy 22:11]

Who can find a truly excellent woman of valor and strength? One who is superior in all that she is and all that she does? Her worth far exceeds that of rubies and expensive jewelry. She inspires trust, and her husband’s heart is safe with her, and because of her, he has every good thing.

Every day of her life she does what is best for him, never anything harmful or hurtful. Delight attends her work and guides her fingers as she selects the finest wool and flax for spinning. She moves through the market like merchant ships that dock here and there in distant ports, finally arriving home with food she’s carried from afar.

She rises from bed early, in the still of night, carefully preparing food for her family and providing a portion to her servants. She has a plan. She considers some land and buys it; then with her earnings, she plants a vineyard.

She wraps herself in strength, carries herself with confidence, and works hard, strengthening her arms for the task at hand. She tastes success and knows it is good, and under lamplight she works deep into the night. 

Her hands skillfully place the unspun flax and wool on the distaff, and her fingers twist the spindle until thread forms. She reaches out to the poor and extends mercy to those in need. She is not worried about the cold or snow for her family, for she has clothed them all in warm, crimson coats.

She makes her own bed linens and clothes herself in purple and fine cloth. Everyone recognizes her husband in the public square, and no one fails to respect him as he takes his place of leadership in the community.

She makes linen garments and sells them in the market, and she supplies belts for tradesmen to carry across the sea. Clothed in strength and dignity, with nothing to fear, she smiles when she thinks about the future.

She conducts her conversations with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is ever her concern. She directs the activities of her household, and never does she indulge in laziness. Her children rise up and bless her. Her husband, too, joins in the praise, saying: “There are some—indeed many—women who do well in every way, but of all of them only you are truly excellent.”

Charm can be deceptive and physical beauty will not last (#LadyFolly), but a woman who reveres the Eternal(#LadyWisdom) should be praised above all others. Celebrate all she has achieved. Let all her accomplishments publicly praise her. (#justifiedbyherchildren)

Wisdom is grounded in reverence for God. And in that reverence, we are guided into a life righteousness and goodness. When we covenant with God and thus his wisdom, we flourish as God intended, which is to say for our good, the good of those around us, and for God’s glory.

And our hope is this: that the unfindable wisdom of God (Proverbs 31:10) has been found. In Proverbs, Lady Wisdom is not one the simple seeks. Instead, she seeks the simple, the fool. She shows up at the markets (Prov. 1:20), at the crossroads (Prov. 8:2). She enters the world of man and summons mankind to walk in her ways.

And it is here that this woman first drives us to Christ. Lady Wisdom is not Jesus. But her personified quality drives us to what Jesus Himself incarnates. For Christ “the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Cor. 1:24) has “become to us wisdom from God” (1 Cor. 1:30). He is hope incarnate, He is life incarnate, He is truth incarnate – and He is wisdom incarnate...

And now as believers, we drop all our capacity to ever be Lady Wisdom – to ever be infinite or perfect this side of glory. For wisdom has come. Wisdom has come bringing the way of life, the pathway of hope for sinners and fools, like you and me.[16]

__________________________________________________________________________________________

[1] John 3:5

[2] “Those who are in the kingdom, who are brought nearer to God and have clearer spiritual knowledge of God, have higher privileges than the greatest of those who lived before the time of Christ.” (Cambridge Bible For Schools And Colleges)

[3] Matthew 20:16

[4] Matthew 20:26-28

[5] Believer’s Bible Commentary

[6] HT Believer’s Bible Commentary

[7] HT IVP New Testament Commentary

[8] Orthodox Study Bible

[9] Orthodox Study Bible

[10] “The counsel of God toward them was the solemn admonition by John to "repent" and be baptized, and be prepared to receive the Messiah. This was the command or revealed will of God in relation to them. When it is said that they "rejected" the counsel of God, it does not mean that they could frustrate his purposes, but merely that they violated his commands.” (Barne’s Notes On the Bible)

[11] “John wore camel-hair clothes and ate locusts and honey (Mark 1:6). As a lifelong Nazirite, he didn't drink alcohol (Luke 1:15). The Pharisees and scribes rejected him for his extreme asceticism (Luke 7:33). Jesus eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners (Luke 5:27–32). The Pharisees and scribes reject Him for being a glutton and a drunkard (Luke 7:34). They reject the message that they're sinners, and instead look for faults in the messengers who tell them the truth.” https://www.bibleref.com/Luke/7/Luke-7-30.html

[12] Tony Evans Study Bible

[13]Wisdom claims an origin with Yahweh before creation (Proverbs 8:22-31). She also offers the tree of life (Prov. 3:13-18).

[14] https://www.theologyofwork.org/key-topics/women-and-work-in-the-old-testament/lady-wisdom-in-street-clothes-proverbs-31

[15] An approach similar to mine is to see the “Proverbs 31 woman as a human model of personified Wisdom…that canonized her as a role model for all Israel for all time.” See “The Proverbs 31 ‘Woman of Strength.’” https://www.cbeinternational.org/resource/proverbs-31-woman-strength/

[16] “Proverbs 31, the Incarnation, and Women (and Men) of God.” https://gentlereformation.com/2020/12/22/the-proverbs-31-woman-the-incarnation-and-freedom-for-women-of-god/

Gospel Harmony #2: The Baptism And Temptation of Jesus (Matthew 3:13-4:11; Mark 1:9-13; Luke 3:21-4:15)

Now in those days, when all the people were baptized, Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee to John to be baptized by him in the Jordan River. But John tried to prevent him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and yet you come to me?” So Jesus replied to him, “Let it happen now, for it is right for us to fulfill all righteousness.”[1] Then John yielded to him. After Jesus was baptized, just as he was coming up out of the water and praying, the heavens opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son; in him I am well pleased.”[2]  So Jesus, when he began his ministry, was about thirty years old.

 Why did Jesus need to get baptized? I think Jesus is honoring the system God has in place for humanity. If Jesus would have dismissed it as unimportant, and we are to follow the model of Jesus, well…. So he is first following the pattern God gave to his people. Second, I think he entering into the symbolism of or foreshadowing his death and resurrection.  

“His immersion typified His baptism in the waters of God’s judgment at Calvary. His emergence from the water foreshadowed His resurrection. By death, burial, and resurrection, He would satisfy the demands of divine justice and provide a righteous basis by which sinners could be justified.” (Believers Bible Commentary)

When we take communion, we talk about how it a) ‘remembers Christ’ and b) reminds us of our participation in the story in the sense that we, too, should be ‘broken and spilled’ out for others to point toward the Savior who gave His life so we could live. Baptism is similar. We commemorate what Jesus did for us, and we show our commitment to dying to the old us and rising into the new us, which is made possible through Jesus’ work.  

Temptation of Jesus  (Mt 4:1-11; Lk 4:1-15; Mk 1:12-13)
Then Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan River and was led—driven[3]—by the Spirit into the wilderness with wild animals[4] to be tempted/tested[5]. After he fasted forty days and forty nights[6], eating nothing, Jesus was famished. 

The devil, the tempter, came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become bread.” But Jesus answered, “It is written, ‘Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’“[7]

Then the devil took him to the holy city, Jerusalem, had him stand on the highest point[8] of the temple[9], and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here. For it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you,’ and ‘with their hands they will lift you up, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’ [10]” Jesus said to him, “Once again it is written: ‘You are not to put the Lord your God to the test.’ ” 

Then the devil led him up to a very high mountain and showed him in a flash all the kingdoms of the world and their grandeur.[11] And he said to him, “To you I will grant this whole realm—and the glory that goes along with it, for it has been relinquished to me, and I can give it to anyone I wish.[12] I will give you all these things if you throw yourself to the ground and worship me.”[13] 

 Then Jesus said to him, “Go away, Satan! For it is written: ‘You are to worship the Lord your God and serve only him.’” So when the devil had completed every temptation, he departed from Jesus until a more opportune time. Then angels came and began ministering[14] to his needs.[15]

Three points of note, like every good sermon :)

First, Jesus triumphed in the test. That’s a necessary characteristic for God to deserve our worship and allegiance. In fact, there’s good reason to believe that what Jesus successfully resisted is meant to highlight his ability to do what Israel could never do. Jesus' numerous quotes from Deuteronomy in response to these wilderness temptations recall another time and place where God's chosen people met testing in the wilderness and failed.

• Israel (called “son” in Exodus 4:23) was led into the wilderness after its “baptism” in the Red Sea.

• Forty years vs. forty days (a time of testing)

• Israel demanded physical bread in the wilderness; Jesus offers bread for the souls of those in life’s wilderness.

• The Israelite’s worshipped a nation’s idol for help; Jesus rejects the allure of nations as his worship and service remained true.

• They had tested God at Massah (Ex 17:1-7). Jesus refuses to demand God's protection on his own terms.[16]

As the New Covenant people of God, we will journey into the wilderness of this fallen world after baptism as we struggle towards the Kingdom. We should expect to face what Israel and Jesus faced, but we have the power of the one who overcame the test to strengthen us. 

Second, Jesus dominates Satan. It’s not a narrative full of tension. They aren’t dualistic universal powers evenly matched. When Jesus says, “Alright, time for you to go,” Satan goes. The angels weren’t letting out their breath: “Whew! That was a close one! ” It’s a good reminder for us about where the powers of evil rank in the universe. This is not to say Satan is to be taken lightly. Satan claims to in some sense own the nations, and both Jesus[17] and writers of Scripture refer to Satan[18] and other princes[19] who do indeed have some kind of power in the nations[20] (didn’t Revelation make that clear)? But a prince is not a King.

Immediately after his trial in the wilderness, Jesus begins to proclaim that the kingdom of God is at hand, and He begins casting out demons, the servants of Satan. You can already visibly start to see Satan’s power coming undone in spite of his claim to the kingdoms of the world.

Third, Jesus was tempted as we will be. [21] Because I am working on the assumption that this 40 days mirrors Israel’s 40 years in the wilderness, I am looking to read the temptations through that lenses.

• The Stones/Bread incident has something to do with the importance of valuing God’s spiritual nourishment over physical provision.

• The Temple ‘testing of God’ has something to do with wanting the signs more than the Giver of the signs.

• The Ruling The Nations incident has something to do with what god we turn to when the going gets tough, and because what we worship dictates how we worship, this is going to look at ends and means.

Now, let’s chat. Evil is what happens when Satan (who does not create anything) takes a good thing God created and distorts it. That’s all he can do. He seeks to disorder what God ordered. When we are tempted, we are usually tempted to take a good thing God created and use it in a way that distorts its purpose in us or in the world. Let’s look at these temptation one at a time to see how this works.

Turn Stones To Bread Test

Pleasure is from God; wanting to be free of pain is normal; wanting to be comfortable rather than uncomfortable is understandable. Pleasure isn’t the problem – we are going to have it relentlessly in eternity.[22] I think God’s original intent absolutely included the space for us to simply enjoy His good creation. It’s the disordered love of pleasure, the worship of pleasure, the gnawing fear that I might not be as comfortable as I want to be and so I will do ANYTHING to keep my comfort, even stop doing a spiritually important thing for a physically pleasant thing such that I am choosing happiness over holiness.

Controlling circumstances can be a good thing if we are talking about having agency as people with free will. We can choose good friends; get out of bad situations; be responsible. That’s all good. That kind of agency is a gift from God. It’s the desperate need to control and manipulate so everything around us is always on our terms that becomes the problem.

Rule The Nations Test

Power is not a bad thing. God has power, and that doesn’t count against him. In fact, gentleness is only possible for those who have power. We are told to be gentle, not to become powerless. Having self-control (power over self) is a fruit-of-the-spirit power. Being able to lead is a good thing. If you are a righteous person, having clout in the world gives you opportunity to do amazing things. Think of what Daniel and Joseph and Esther accomplished. Power is not the problem. The problem is when it begins to corrupt – and unless we are God, in inevitably does. Study after study has shown that our brains literally change when we have power: It damages our prefrontal cortex (so we lack empathy), leads toward rule-breaking (“This doesn’t apply to me”); it stifles generosity.[23] What God gave us to steward the world becomes the thing that hurts the world.

Controlling others even has its place (#parents #law enforcement #referees). Anytime we draw boundaries in our lives that determine how people can interact with us, it’s a form of control, and is often very healthy. Proverbs, for example, is full of descriptions of wise rulers.[24] But when that control manifests in our family and friends as bullying, unhealthy coercion, a demand that others ALWAYS SHOW UP ON OUR TERMS and only do things like we want them done – well, now our power has a problem. Jesus called this “lording over others.” [25]

Dive From The Temple Test

As for controlling God – well, there’s not two sides to that coin. Satan’s temptation here was, “Force God to act to prove He’s watching and He cares.” Yeah, that’s not how it works. “Don’t tempt God.” God obviously does miracles. We know this from the Bible, and many of you can testify as to some way in which it has been clear that God has moved miraculously in your life. But these are gifts, not obligations.

• Job shows us: “You give and take away; blessed be your name.”[26]

• Jesus shows us: “Let this cup pass, but not my will, but yours be done.”[27]

• Paul begged for a thorn in the flesh to be gone, but God’s response was, “Check out my grace,” and Paul said he would gladly glory in his infirmities to the power of God grace could rest upon him.[28]

 We pray boldly for God to intervene in the world, but if God never what we think should be done, He would still be God, worthy of our worship.

Anytime we want to test God to make Him prove Himself on our terms, we are in trouble. Anytime we demand the God keep showing up in spectacle, we are missing the point. Israel had miracle after miracle, and it did not strengthen their faith. They just wanted more signs and wonders, as if God had to continuously earn their admiration and loyalty. At some point, the awe of seeing God at work turned into a demand to see God at work in ways that benefitted them – and now we tie back into the sinful flex of power (trying to control God) and the inordinate love of pleasure (to make my life easier).

* * * * *

 I think we have to ask a key question whenever we are tempted or tested: “What will it cost to get and keep what I want?” With Jesus, the cost was obviously right in front of him: he had to acknowledge Satan as the one from whom all blessing flow:

“I will give you all these things if you throw yourself to the ground and worship me.”

Jesus' reply rejects the offer totally: 

"Worship the Lord your God and serve him only."

Jesus is certain that only One deserves his service: God. By putting worship and service together in the verse, Jesus makes it clear that our allegiance and our actions are inevitably intertwined, and both are meant to honor God. So let’s go over the three temptations.

If it costs holiness to get happiness, it’s too much. “I just want to be happy.” I get it. I, too, want to be happy. At what cost?  If you have to stop doing a spiritually important thing for a physically pleasant thing, it’s too much. And…will I really be happy if I am pursuing happiness outside of God’s design? Happiness is a hard taskmaster, giving what C.S. Lewis called “ever increasing craving for an ever diminishing pleasure.” Holiness is demanding also, no doubt about it, but the rewards are real, eternal, and lasting.

If it costs good means to achieve good ends, it’s too much. I noted earlier that the Ruling The Nations incident has something to do with what god we turn to when the going gets tough, and because:

• what we worship (ends) dictates how we worship (means)

• the means will determine who we are in the end.

• We can’t separate where we end up from how we get there. (Perhaps Moses striking the rock to get water is a good example here. He accomplished God’s end goal with disobedient means – and God did not separate those two things. It was an act of disobedience.[29])

“[George] Barrett characterizes this "the old but ever new temptation to do evil that good may come; to justify the illegitimacy of the means by the greatness of the end.”[30]

In Christian circles, there has been a lot of discussion in recent history of a “third way,” which is really just a refocus on 1 Peter 3:15, “Always be ready to offer a defense, humbly and respectfully, when someone asks why you live in hope. Keep your conscience clear so that those who ridicule your good conduct in the Anointed and say bad things about you will be put to shame.” This “third way” has focused on presenting a winsome, engaging faith that stresses the core of the gospel as it walks between political and social polarities. This approach engages and speaks truth, but really tries hard to not throw extra road blocks into the road on the way to the cross. You don’t call names; you don’t insult; you don’t misrepresent others (because you don’t want to be misrepresented); you love and pray for your enemies instead of vilify them.

Recently, a new movement has challenged this because (as the argument goes) the other side it making it really hard to play nice, so it’s time FOR CHRISTIANS to take the gloves off and play mean. It’s too much. We could win a cultural battle and lose a spiritual war. It’s too much.

If it costs the humility and service of the cross to get the glory of the spectacle, it’s too much. Jesus came to serve. When Jesus said he would draw all people to him when He was lifted up, this was about his crucifixion. Jesus told his followers to ‘compel’ people into the kingdom through sacrificial love, not coercive power. We are supposed to be ambassadors who show the richness of a kingdom where everybody totes around a cross, wears a yoke, washes each other’s feet, gives a coat to those who steal our sweatshirt, and ‘esteems others better than themselves.”[31] Christianity was always meant to change cultures the same way God changes people: from the inside out, through radical love and service to “the least of these,” not through lights and glitter from the stage of a church or in the halls of power. 

Israelites demanded signs over and over[32]; the disciples wanted Jesus to call down fire on the Samaritans[33]; the Jewish people expected a Messiah who would overthrow Rome and put them in control. All of these were rebuked. Revelation showed us that the power of the Lion shows up in the sacrifice of the Lamb. If we want to see the glory of God more clearly, I think we are supposed to pray to see the sacrificial love of the Lamb more clearly. If we want those around us to see the glory of God more clearly, I suspect they will see it when the sacrificial love of the Lamb is displayed in our lives.

Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness when he was full of the Spirit. Expect the wilderness. When the Holy Spirit takes us there – and he will – it’s purposeful. Stand on God’s word. Resist the devil. Look to the One who perfectly withstood the test to empower you through the Holy Spirit.

____________________________________________________________________________

[1] Righteousness is ‘a condition acceptable to God (Strong’s) or “what is deemed right by the Lord” (HELPS).

[2] “All three members of the Trinity were evident. The beloved Son was there. The Holy Spirit was there in dove form. The Father’s voice was heard from heaven pronouncing His blessing on Jesus.” (Believer’s Bible Commentary)

[3] “The verb “drove” is strong, giving the idea of divine and scriptural necessity. (ESV Reformation Study Bible)

[4] “This detail emphasizes that the wilderness is [thought to be] a place of curse where the devil is master (Matt. 12:43; cf. Eph. 2:2). (ESV Reformation Study Bible)

[5] Same word as when Jesus showed us to pray, “Lead us not into temptation/testing”.

[6] “Possibly a symbolic reference to the forty years of Israel’s wilderness experience (Deut. 1:3).” (ESV Reformation Study Bible)

[7]  All of Jesus’ quotations in this narrative come from or around Deuteronomy 8.

[8] “Josephus speaks of the dizzying height of this location. A later rabbinic tradition (which may or may not go back to the first century) says that “when the King, the Messiah, reveals himself, he will come and stand on the roof of the Temple.” (Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary Of The New Testament)

[9] The passage quoted (Deut. 6:16) again recalls Israel’s experience in the wilderness. (ESV Reformation Study Bible)

[10] “Ps. 91 is an exhortation to trust in God; Satan attempts to replace trust with a test, casting doubt on God’s faithfulness.” (ESV Reformation Study Bible)

[11] Luke’s oikoumenē (“inhabited world”), often used of the Roman empire, gives this temptation a stronger political flavor and so stresses Satan’s offer of messianic rule over the nations (cf. Ps. 2:8). (Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary Of The New Testament)

[12] “The devil’s claim to possess delegated authority over the world fits Jewish ideas prevalent in Jesus’ day about the devil’s rule over the wicked nations (Jn 14:30; Eph 2:2; 1Jn 5:19;  the spirit of falsehood noted in the Dead Sea Scrolls). Nevertheless, the devil’s authority was limited; authority to delegate ultimately belongs to God (Da 4:32).” (NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible)

[13] “I can give it to anyone I want” (4:6). Similar arrogant boasts were made by the Caesars. The emperor Nero once said, “I have the power to take away kingdoms and to bestow them.” (Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Of The New Testament)

[14] From diakonos, from which we get the word deacons.

[15]  Angels accompanied Israel in the Exodus (Ex. 14:19; 23:20; 32:34; 33:2)

[16] Many have also made correlations with Jesus as the second Adam being successful where Adam failed. https://tabletalkmagazine.com/posts/how-does-jesus-temptation/

[17] Jesus calls Satan the “prince of this world” in John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11.

[18] Ephesians 2:2

[19] Daniel 10:13

[20] 1 John 5:19

[21] The ‘self-empowerment’ list is from https://gralefrittheology.com/2015/05/17/how-the-temptations-of-jesus-relate-to-everthing-about-you-society-and-the-world/

[22] Psalm 16:11

[23] https://www.businessinsider.com/what-power-does-to-your-brain-and-your-body-2017-12#powerful-people-who-make-more-money-live-longer-healthier-less-stressful-lives-8

[24] Proverbs 20:26, 28:16, for example.

[25] Matthew 20:25

[26] Job 1

[27] Matthew 26:39

[28] 1 Corinthians 12

[29] Numbers 20

[30] Wikipedia, of all places, which has a nice summary of this episode in the Biele. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temptation_of_Christ

[31] Philippians 2:3

[32] 1 Corinthians 1:22

[33] Luke 9:51-56

Seeing, Being, Doing, Becoming (1 John 2:28 – 3:3)

So now, my little children, abide and endure in Him, so that when He is revealed when he returns, we will have trusting confidence and not have to shrink back and hang our heads in shame before Him. If you know that He is just and faithful, then you also perceive[1] that everyone who lives faithfully and acts justly in conformity to his will[2] has been born into a new life through Him as one of his children.[3] 

 See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the people of the world do not comprehend us is that they do not know him. 

Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see[4] him (spiritually perceive him) as he is.  All who have this hope in him purify themselves from moral defilement[5], just as he is pure[6].

Seeing – Being – Doing – Becoming

There is something about this pattern embedded in what we know about life starting with when we see something. 

• “I’ve been watching you dad, ain’t that cool. I’m your buckaroo; I want to be like you.” “Watching You,” Rodney Atkins

• “You, I wanna be like you, I want to walk like you, talk like you, too. You’ll see it’s true, and ape like me can learn to be human too.” – “I Wanna Be Like You,” The Jungle Book

• See someone working (fireman, when I was a kid) and we want to be like them (brave, strong, capable) and do what they do (put out fires and save lives).

 We SEE them; we want to BE like them so we can DO what they do and BECOME a particular kind of person. This is the pattern John unfolds in this chapter. 

• We SEE Jesus (the previous verses from last week’s message show us how Scripture allows us to do this with the guidance of the Holy Spirit)

• We want to BE with him by being born into new life in God’s family

• We want to DO things in conformity with his will

• We will increasingly BECOME like him 

 See. Be with. Do. Become like. That’s the order, the progression. So let’s look at these one at a time.

SEEING 

“Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from seeing the end of what was passing away.[7] But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. 

 But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom (from that veil).[8] And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”  (2 Corinthians 3:12-18)

In other words, “the more clearly we see him, the more we become like him.”[9] The Israelites in Paul’s day saw God through the Old Covenant in the Old Testament (“when Moses was read”), but they did not have the Holy Spirit’s illumination for what they were reading. The people of New Covenant do, and as we read “with unveiled faces” we are transformed into his image as we contemplate his glory. Jesus himself established this pattern after his resurrection when he was on the road to Emmaus with two guys who didn’t recognize him:  

“And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself… “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” (Luke 24:27-32)

Of course, Jesus was still there in the flesh, and so while he started with Scripture, he made sure they recognized him in the flesh later.  I mean, when Jesus was here, he was always the finale. But once he ascended, we see the pattern he used continued in Acts when Philip encounters the Ethiopian eunuch: 

“Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus.” (Acts 8:35)

In this case, Jesus was not there in the flesh for the Big Reveal; instead, the Holy Spirit illuminates the Scripture. 

God has ways of making his presence known when there are no Bibles around.[10] But when you have access to a Bible, study the Jesus in Scripture. The Holy Spirit will do the work of turning knowledge of Jesus into an encounter with Jesus, but we need to see the Jesus we are encountering. 

I recommend the Bible (obviously), The Jesus I Never Knew (Phillip Yancey), The Chosen (TV series), the Bible Project videos, and Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes (Kenneth Bailey), The Case For Christ (Lee Strobel) and Advent: The Once and Future Coming Of Jesus Christ (Fleming Rutledge) as starting points.

BEING

Tertullian noted that under the reign of Tiberius, children were sacrificed to Saturn; across the empire, children were killed “by drowning, or by exposure to cold and hunger and dogs.” [11]How different is God the Father, who has “lavished” love on his children (3:1) 

•  “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4)

•  “transformed into the same image from glory to glory” (2 Corinthians 3:18)

•  “children of God” (John 1:12–13; 1 John 3:1-2).

•  brothers and sisters of our Savior (Romans 8:29; Hebrews 2:11-12) 

This is about identity. This is about our new state of being once we are in the family of God. He has lavished us with the privilege of being in his family. We are now a child of God and a spiritual brother or sister of Jesus.  If we have become something new, it’s because we first saw and responded to the One who can make us new. “I see who you are; now I want to be near you. If I am in the family, I want to bear the family resemblance.”

We can’t be another Jesus – there is only one God/Man – but we can be like him through a process called sanctification.  We’ve talked before about the image of baptism as similar to when a cucumber becomes a pickle. A cucumber is immersed in brine and ferments; over time, a cucumber becomes a pickled cucumber, but we just call it a pickle because that’s its primary identity now.  

When we commit our lives to Jesus, we ferment “in Christ” – we read the Word, the Holy Spirit works in us, we are in a family of God’s people, the power of God our Father and Christ our brother does a supernatural work in us.  In this state of being – in this new identity - we find rest, confidence, stability, purpose, dignity, value, hope, love. The first answer to the question, “Who am I?” is, “I am a child of God, invited into His family by great grace and at great cost because God wants me as His child.”

DOING

We do what we are. A cucumber does what a cucumber does (ever seen Veggie Tales?); pickles do what pickles do. We do what we are. 

·      If you fish a lot, it’s because you are a person who fishes a lot.

·      If you watch sports a lot, it’s because you are a person who watches sports a lot. 

·      If you find that you argue a lot…

·      If you give to others generously and quietly…

·      If you say things that tear people down…or build them up…

·      If you pray for your enemies or curse them…

We do what we are. Luke wrote that there is a treasury in our hearts, and we bring forth good or evil things from it.[12]

But now we are children of God. The lavish love of the Father moves God’s children to purify themselves, “just as he is pure” (3:3) because we want to do everything we can to honor the family. If we will do what we are, then if our hearts have been made newly righteous at salvation by God, we will do the things that people who love righteousness and holiness do. This is what it means that by our fruit we will be known.[13]

The Old Covenant Jewish worshipers went through purity rituals before approaching God or entering His temple.[14] Notice how the practice of purification continues in the New Covenant, but in a different way and for a different reason. 

“Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart.”( 1 Peter 1:22)

Now, we don’t purify ourselves in order to be worthy to approach the house of God, because we are already in the family of God. We purify ourselves because we are in the house of God, with his family, and we don’t want to track dirt into his house and get his family grimy.[15]

There is a huge difference between creating our spiritual identity by what we do vs. displayingour spiritual identity by what we do.  We can create a cultural identity by what we do – we can be known for something – but in the Kingdom of God, our identity is given to us, not created by us, and what we do displays that identity.  

•  I don’t try to love my enemies because I want to be a child of God; I do it because I am a child of God. That is what children of God are intended to do. 

• I’m not honest on my taxes, or kind to my wife and kids, or forgiving to those who wrong me, or gentle with my speech, or generous with my money, or careful with my sexual purity because I want to be a child of God; I do those things because I am a child of God, and that is what children of God are intended to do if they want to bear their Father’s image as He intended.

 A word of caution here. We want those outside the family of God to live as if they are in the family of God. Often this is because we see the wages of sin with clarity and our hearts break, or we have so experienced the goodness of the path of righteousness that we want others to experience it. Fair enough.

We want to live in a culture that shares our family values. They don’t. Why? They aren’t in the same family. What is the solution? They must see Jesus. Right now, that’s through His Word and through His people. 

If there is a cucumber side of you that feels like you were born to help bring order to that cultural chaos through politics or activism of some sort, cool.  It’s not like we can’t seek to offset the effects of sin while introducing people to Jesus. But don’t forget that your primary identity is that you have been pickled into the Kingdom (man, I love that I get to use that phrase in a sermon.) 

Right now, if I would ask the people who know you, “Talk to me about that person,” would their first, gut-level response have something to do with the new, pickled you – that is, the child of God soaked in the brine of the Word and the Spirit and the blood of Jesus, who is now characterized by Christ in you – or the cucumber you? 

I can think of a number of things that I increasingly worry characterize how people might identity me. I have been involved in a lot of things I am passionate about as a teacher, a blogger, and pastor who loves engaging the church and the culture in the pursuit of truth. 

But if my legacy among those who know me well starts with anything other than the equivalent of, “That dude loved Jesus and it permeated everything he was and everything he did,” what am I doing? 

You are welcome to say anything else at my funeral eulogy. You can say how much I bugged you, or how I talked about Crossfit too much, or how unorganized I was, or how I picked too many arguments, or how I imperfectly tried to start conversation on politics and ethics and cultural issues. You can say I talked too much instead of listening. You can say that I let you down or failed you, because if I haven’t already I will, and you can be honest in my eulogy. You can be nice, and talk about whatever cucumberish things you admired about me, and I mean, that would be cool too. 

But none of that matters if my legacy as a child of God is not defined by being known primarily as a child of God who saw the Father, and wanted to be in His family, and then lived as a child of God that just kept looking more like his Father.   

Everything else fades away. Only what’s done with Christ and for Christ will last. 

BECOMING

What are we becoming? There is coming a day when Christ will “transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body” (Philemon 3:21) and we will be as fully as possible like him, because we will fully and clearly see him as he is. That is who we are intended to become.  There are a lot of ways to talk about heaven. Here is one way. In heaven,

• We will see God fully and clearly. 

• We will be completely in His unfiltered presence. 

• We will say and do (doxology and worship[16]) whatever we say and do in the New Heaven and New Earth in perfect accordance with what God made us to do.

 The hard, messy work of sanctification will be over because our transformation into the image of Jesus will be complete. Finally J

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[1] There is a change of verb from ‘if ye know’ (ἐὰν εἰδῆτε) to ‘ye know that’ (γινώσκετε ὅτι). The former means ‘to have intuitive knowledge’ or simply ‘to be aware of the fact’ (1 John 2:11; 1 John 2:20-21): the latter means ‘to come to know, learn by experience, recognise, perceive’ (1 John 2:3-5; 1 John 2:13-14; 1 John 2:18). ‘If ye are aware that God is righteous, ye cannot fail to perceive that &c.’ Comp. ‘What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt understand (get to know) hereafter’ (John 13:7); ‘Lord, Thou knowest all things; Thou perceivest that I love Thee’ (John 21:17): and the converse change: ‘If ye had learned to know Me, ye would know My Father also’ (John 14:7; comp. John 8:55).  Cambridge Bible For Schools And Colleges

[2] díkaios (an adjective, derived from dikē, "right, judicial approval") – properly, "approved by God" (J. Thayer); righteous; "just in the eyes of God" (Souter).  See 1343 ("dikaiosynē). ["Righteous" relates to conformity to God's standard (justice). For more on the root-idea see the cognate noun, 1343 /dikaiosýnē ("righteousness").] 1342 /díkaios ("righteous, just") describes what is in conformity to God's own being (His will, standard of rightness); hence "upright."  HELPS Word Studies

[3] gennáō – properly, beget (procreate a descendant), produce offspring; (passive) be born, "begotten." HELPS Word Studies

[4] horáō – properly, see, often with metaphorical meaning: "to see with the mind" (i.e. spiritually see), i.e. perceive (with inward spiritual perception). HELPS Word Studies

[5] 1 John 3:3. The duty which our destiny imposes. ἐπʼ αὐτῷ, “resting on Him,” i.e., on God as Father. Cf. Luke 5:5 : ἐπὶ τῷῥήματί σου, “relying on Thy word”. ἐκεῖνος, Christ; see note on 1 John 2:6. ἁγνός also proves that the reference is to Christ. As distinguished from ἅγιος, which implies absolute and essential purity, it denotes purity maintained with effort and fearfulness amid defilements and allurements, especially carnal.

[6] hagnós (an adjective, which may be cognate with 40 /hágios, "holy," so TDNT, 1, 122) – properly, pure (to the core); virginal (chaste, unadultered); pure inside and out; holy because uncontaminated (undefiled from sin), i.e. without spoilation even within (even down to the center of one's being); not mixed with guilt or anything condemnable. HELPS Word-studies

[7] “Some think that Moses’ veil was to protect the Israelites from being harmed or frightened by the brightness. More likely, the veil was to keep them from seeing that the glory was fading away because of the temporary and inadequate character of the old covenant (Ex. 34:29–35). By contrast, Paul needs no veil, for the glory of the new covenant ministry does not fade away.” (ESV Reformation Study Bible)  The Old Covenant offered transient glory. (King James Study Bible Notes)

[8] “Wherever this Gospel is received, there the Spirit of the Lord is given; and wherever that Spirit lives and works, there is liberty, not only from Jewish bondage, but from the slavery of sin - from its power, its guilt, and its pollution.”  (Adam Clarke)  Charles Stanley adds we are free from struggling to “become righteous through self-effort.”

[9] Expositor's Greek Testament.  The Orthodox Study Bible adds more detail:

The work of the Holy Spirit brings liberty (v. 17), freeing us to behold God and have open access to Him. Created as the image of God, we see His uncreated image, the Son, the glory of the Lord (v. 18; see 4:4–6)… through the Son's deified humanity (see 1Co 13:12; Jam 1:23–25… in the power of the Spirit. As we behold Him, we become what we were created to be. 

[10] “When Muslims Dream Of Jesus.” https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/muslims-dream-jesus/

[11] Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary of the New Testament

[12] Luke 6:45

[13] Matthew 7:15-20

[14] John 11:55 and Acts 24:17-18

[15] “Only he who habitually does righteousness is a true son of the God who is righteous; just as only he who habitually walks in the light has true fellowship with the God who is light (1 John 1:6-7).” Cambridge Bible For Schools And Colleges 

[16] Hat tip to last week’s message :)

The Christ and the anti-Christs (1 John 2:18-27)

I’m going to write today’s passage as if it were a letter –which, uh, it was J This letter draws from the passage, as well as the commentary that helps to unveil things that were written 2,000 years ago. The underlined portions are the heart of the text itself. Once we finish the letter, I will focus on an aspect that seems central to the entire discussion.

Dear friends, I don’t “know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority”[1] but I do know this: we are between the first and the second comings of Christ, so we are in “the last hour”[2]or “the last days”, the last era in God’s spiritual timeline before He wraps up history. And one of the things we know will happen in the last days is the rise of the anti-Christ.[3]

This is the one Paul calls the ‘man of lawlessness,’[4] the person who is the ultimate example of a leader who claims to be God in the flesh and/or leads people away from the church. This will be the greatest enemy to rise against God’s kingdom. Meanwhile, you are going to see a lot of anti-christspaving the way through the course of history (I'm talking to you, Antiochus Epiphanes[5]), some worse than others for sure, but all standing in opposition to Jesus.[6]

But the category of anti-christ is broader than you might think. The reality is that many anti-Christs are already here – and they have been rising from within the church rather than attacking us from the surrounding culture. You know who they are because, like all false teachers (as Paul made clear in his letters to Timothy[7]), they refuse to have their false teaching and corrupt lifestyles reined in. Fortunately, they have left. 

Their desertion tells you they were never truly part of our family. If they were truly our brothers and sisters, they would have  remained until the end with us,[8] accepting accountability and correction as their teaching and lives were held up to the Scripture. They would have endured with us as family members united around the true faith and the teaching of the apostles in spite of our other secondary differences. But when they left, they made it ever so obvious that they were not part of us.

I know it’s hard to go through this, so consider this analogy that I guy people call the Venerable Bede will eventually make in about 700 years. In the body of Christ we all wrestle with a form of spiritual sickness; that is, we all struggle with sin-sickness in these corruptible bodies. We keep opening the door to the sin that crouches outside.[9] However, we have sought and are surrendered to the healing of the Great Physician. 

God has begun a good and transformative work in us so that we increasingly bear the likeness of  Jesus, though that process will not be fully completed until the age to come.[10] But… there are also those who are malignant tumors. They too are sick, but this sickness is not surrendered to the Great Physician, and it is toxic to the spiritual and relational health of the church.  When tumors are removed, the body is spared. The departure of such people is actually of great benefit to the church.[11]

You know how priests and prophets in the OT were anointed to receive the gifts needed for them to perform their offices? You have been given an anointing too. It’s the ongoing reality of the indwelling presence and the gifts of the Holy Spirit, who works in every member of the Church to help us all defend, keep and live in the truth.[12]  You know the truth, because the Holy Spirit guides you into the truth of what is in the Scriptures: the Old Testament, as well as what the Holy Spirit inspired Jesus’ disciples and the apostles to record of his life and teaching.[13]

I am not writing to you in order to correct you because you do not know the truth; I am encouraging you because you do know it. Don’t let that knowledge be compromised. A lot of confusion is generated by false teaching[14] even among those of you who have the Holy Spirit. But the Holy Spirit enables you to discern rightly by leading you to the truth of the Holy Scriptures that have been given to you. There, you will be able to discern good teachers from evil ones.

You are people of the one who said, “I am the Truth.”[15]  No lie belongs to the truth. All anti-Christs are liars[16] and deceivers[17] who deny that Jesus was God in the flesh, fully God and fully man.[18]The liars who left you are saying things like this:

 “Jesus might have had an anointing placed on him, but he wasn’t the Anointed One by nature. He’s just human. We could have been Jesus if we had gotten the same anointing![19] Or (they say) maybe think of his body as just like a shell, hosting the REAL Jesus inside, like a deity ghost in a meat machine. Anyway, I’ve got lot’s of cool alternative ideas about who Jesus could have been. Follow me on Twitter @gnosticandgnarly.”

This is the anti-Christ you should be worrying about: the one showing up in church circles denying or distorting the nature of both the Father and the Son. Yes, that’s right, anyone who denies the nature of the Son does not know the Father.  Because God is revealed in the incarnational Jesus, it is not possible to know God personally and truly without fully acknowledging  Jesus for who he is. Then, the one affirming the Son as He really is enjoys an intimate relationship with the Father as well.

Let the good news, the gospel, the story you have heard from the beginning of your journey following Jesus, live in and take hold of you. If that happens and you focus on the good news, then you will always remain in a relationship with the Son and the Father. This is the beginning of experience what He promised us: eternal life. New life begins now, in this age and hour, and continues into the age to come.

Back to my warning: there are still some attempting to deceive you. But you have an anointing of the Holy Spirit that illuminates the truth you have been given. You received this promised Comforter from Jesus,[20] and His spirit remains on you. If you follow the Holy Spirit into the teaching you have been given, you have no need for another teacher claiming to be an apostle or disciple when they are not, or claiming to have some new, previously unknown revelation from God. 

The anointing you have been given points you toward and instructs you in all the essentials you have been given: the truth of the ‘faith once delivered,’[21] uncontaminated by darkness and lies. If you follow and learn this teaching and let it transform your life, you will remain connected to Him.”[22]

* * * * *

One thing that stands out to me in this passage is the spiritually stabilizing effect of seeing and knowing Jesus as he is truly is. It’s the heart of our faith. When the Holy Spirit guides us into truth about Jesus, it is truth about Jesus that is revealed in Scripture. At the end of the day, as we sort out competing voices, or we stumble through a confusing world, the focal point that sets our eyes and steadies our hearts is Jesus.

The less we know Jesus, the more our lives and our words will detract, distort, or even actively undermine the message of the Gospel. The more we know Jesus, the more our words and our lives will function as a prophetic witness to the world.

Last week, I stumbled my way through a phrase connecting orthodoxy with doxology. I got some of the language wrong, so let me correct that this week. What I should have said was more like this: 

True theology (study and knowledge of God) is necessary for accurate doxology (expressions of praise to God) and righteous worship (lifestyle of loving obedience to God). [23]

God is not concerned with just one of those things. They are all deeply intertwined. 

Theology without doxology and worship is dead. It’s just true stuff in our heads that hasn’t moved into our hearts. True theology is necessary, but not sufficient for godliness. We can be the smartest person in the room when it comes to theology and have the least impact in the world if all we have is knowledge that puffs us up.[24] Even demons believe and tremble.[25] If what we know of Jesus does not lead to the fruit of the Spirit in our words and our lives, what’s the point? 

True theology (the study of God) is necessary for right doxology (expressions of praise to God) and righteous worship (lifestyle of loving obedience), but it is not automatically sufficient.

True theology must be accompanied by surrender to the Lordship of Christ (salvation) and the embrace of the work of the Holy Spirit (sanctification) in the community of the church (fellowship) so that we display the fruits of righteousness as we are transformed into the image of Christ. 

Doxology (expression of praise to God) without good theology can very quickly drift toward idolatry. Why do I say this? Because we can sing an expression of praise or repeat a teaching not informed by the truth of who God is. When we do, it’s worship – but not the kind of worship we think it is. And it will be formative in our thoughts about God. Let me give an example from a popular CCM song.

There is a song called “The Devil Is A Liar” (true) which contains this lyric: “Don't be dancing with the devil, don't believe a single word, 'Cause when we get to Heaven, we gon' sing and watch him burn.” No, friends, we will not do that. We will not take pleasure in heaven from the punishment of Satan. Even God says, “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked.”[26] This distorts who God is. This doxology trains you to believe that God will reward the faithful by entertaining them for eternity with the punishment of others. That is not an accurate representation of God. That is the beginning of an idol that shares a name (God) bot not a nature.

 This example highlight my concern about drifting toward idolatry that isn’t just true about music. It’s true about any verbal expression that claims to make true statements about God but distorts and re-creates in some way.

 I know idolatry is a strong word, but surely a false God includes a false image of God. It’s why we offer criticism of the theology of groups like Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses. As well intentioned as they may be in their attempt to worship the God of the Bible, it’s not the same. They are sincere believers with a false image of God. And if you are not worshiping God in truth, it’s not enough. It’s why at times we will talk about false teaching that is becoming popular in the American church. 

 The Psalmist says we become like our idols.[27] It is possible to fill ourselves with teaching from within the church and slowly begin to look less and less like the Jesus of the Bible and more and more  like the new Jesus we are constructing. 

And now, worship. If worship is a lifestyle of response to the God we serve, a lifestyle in which we walk in the footsteps of Jesus and are transformed into His image by His Spirit and His Word, then the more we know and speak of Jesus rightly, the more we truly worship “in spirit and in truth.” And this is why right theology (the study of God) and true doxology (expressions of praise to God) are sooooo important. If I am called to walk where Jesus walked, and have a heart and mind attuned with the heart and mind of Jesus, I have to know the actual path of Jesus, and what he thought and felt. 

Back to the song to show how what we think (and say) about God will impact our worship (lifestyle of response to God):

If part of our reward for eternity is to gloat over the punishment of Satan, why not take pleasure now in the punishment of those who do evil now? Finding pleasure not in justice but in punishment would just be us snacking right now on a reward that will one day be a feast. But that must mean God even now also enjoys watching the wicked be punished. And we forget about that pesky verse about “no pleasure in the death of the wicked” because we are starting to find pleasure in that exact same thing. I mean, when others experience it for their sin.  

You might think I am exaggerating. I might be J I am trying to make a point. Theology, doxology, and worship are deeply intertwined. Why does all this matter?

The goal as a Christian is relationship and connection with the Father through the Son by the Holy Spirit grounded in God’s Word and experienced in the company of God’s people. 

* * * * *

This brings us full circle back to Jesus as the foundation. The goal is to know Jesus so that we know the Father. Everything centers around knowing, loving, and worshipping Jesus.  

• Does Christianity just feel functional and cold to you? Get to know Jesus as the Bible reveals him.

• Do your prayers feel empty? Get to know the Jesus in the Bible.

• Does your heart feel hard? Get to know Jesus.

• Do you struggle with giving in to temptation? Get to know Jesus.

• Have you given up on life? Get to know Jesus.

• Are you thoughts vile? Get to know Jesus.

• Do you harbor bitterness and unforgiveness? Get to know Jesus.

• Do you think our church family needs more mature believers? Get to know Jesus.

• Do you want to know the heart and mind of Jesus concerning all kinds of cultural controversies? Get to know Jesus.

•  Do you want the worship of people far from Jesus to look more like the worship of Jesus? INTRODUCE THEM TO JESUS.

 This is the start to everything, spiritually. This is the cornerstone[28] on which our faith and our lives are built. 

QUESTIONS FOR CONSIDERATION

Are you confident that you are building true theology? Why or why not?

What does it look like to be conscious of the doxology of our lives - songs, prayers, etc?

Can you think of examples how the worship of your life (a lifestyle of obedience to God) has grown or changed as you have gotten to know Jesus (and understand His Word) better?

_______________________________________________________________________________________

[1] Acts 1:7

[2] Acts 2:17; 1 Corinthians 10:11

[3] A term only John uses in the Bible: 1 John 2:18, 1 John 2:22; 1 John 4:3; 2 John 1:7. 

[4] “Let no one in any way deceive or entrap you, for that day will not come unless the apostasy comes first [that is, the great rebellion, the abandonment of the faith by professed Christians], and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction [the Antichrist, the one who is destined to be destroyed].” (2 Thessalonians 2:3)

[5] He butchered a pig on the altar of the temple. 

[6] 2 Thessalonians 2:3–10; Revelation 13:11–18

[7] Here’s an example: https://www.clgonline.org/sermonblog/2021/1/24/itching-ears-2-timothy-41-5

[8] “The early church obviously had severe debates, with significant differences of opinion being expressed. Yet as far as we know, no one thought that "separation from the congregation" was an option for anyone professing faith in Jesus. Departure, like Judas's going out from the community of disciples, pointed to betrayal, denial of faith, and separation from God's grace. That is why John acknowledges that those false teachers, whom he now designates as antichrists, had been regular members of the congregation. "They went out from us," he says, but hastens to add, "they did not really belong to us." Like Judas, they had been nominal members of the community and had never truly shared its fellowship.” Expositors Bible Commentary

[9] Genesis 4:7

[10] Philippians 1:6

[11] Entire paragraph is a paraphrase from commentary on this passage by the Venerable Bede. 

[12] John 14:26; 16:13–15.  I. H. Marshall defines the anointing as “the Word taught to converts before their baptism and apprehended by them through the work of the Spirit in their hearts (cf. 1 Thessalonians 1:5f).” The Epistles Of John

[13] “This unction, then, predisposes John’s readers to recognize and respond to God’s truth, but not to arrive at it independently of the biblical and apostolic Word. Had the readers been capable of knowing all things apart from written and spoken instruction, 1 John would not need to have been written.” – KJV Study Bible Notes

[14] Mattheew 24:24

[15] John 14:6

[16] 1 John 2:4, 22

[17] 2 John 7

[18] 1 John 4:1–3; 2 John 7

[19] Mormonism, for example, claims that “all the Father’s children (including humans) possess the same potential to become gods (like the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost) since they are of the same species.” https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/9-things-you-should-know-about-mormonism/  “Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that Jesus was created by Jehovah as the archangel Michael before the physical world existed, and is a lesser, though mighty, god... when Jesus was born on earth, he was a mere human and not God in human flesh.”  https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justin-taylor/the-11-beliefs-you-should-know-about-jehovahs-witnesses-when-they-knock-at-the-door/

[20] John 14:16

[21] Jude 1:3

[22] “Ye need not that any man teach you - The Gnostics, who pretended to the highest illumination, could bring no proof that they were divinely taught, nor had they any thing in their teaching worthy the acceptance of the meanest Christian; therefore they had no need of that, nor of any other teaching but that which the same anointing teacheth, the same Spirit from whom they had already received the light of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ. Whatever that taught, they needed; and whatever those taught whose teaching was according to this Spirit, they needed. St. John does not say that those who had once received the teaching of the Divine Spirit had no farther need of the ministry of the Gospel; no, but he says they had no need of such teaching as their false teachers proposed to them; nor of any other teaching that was different from that anointing, i.e. the teaching of the Spirit of God. No man, howsoever holy, wise, or pure, can ever be in such a state as to have no need of the Gospel ministry: they who think so give the highest proof that they have never yet learned of Christ or his Spirit.” – Adam Clarke

[23] This idea comes from black evangelical hip hop artist Shia Linne, “Doxology Intro,” in Lyrical Theology Part 2: Doxology

[24] 1 Corinthians 8:1

[25] James 2:19

[26] Ezekiel 33:11

[27] Psalm 115:8; Psalm 135:18

[28] Ephesians 2:19-22

Advent Ends In The Light (Isaiah 60:1-2)

ADVENT THEME: JOY

The candle we light for Joy is also known as the Shepherd Candle, because of the joy given to the shepherds by the angels (Luke 2:8-20).  When Jesus was born, it was announced as “good tidings that brings great joy.” Jesus was a gift of God incarnate that brought joy into the world; Paul would later write that joy is also a gift from God’s Spirit into us. Because of this, we can say that we are “full of sorrow, and yet rejoicing” (2 Corinthians 6:10).  

Jesus once said, “You have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.” (John 16:22) So if you were to ask me how to find joy, I would say that joy is given by God the Father through the Holy Spirit, but joy is found in the person and presence of Jesus. See Jesus. And that’s what we are going to do today.

* * * * * 

Advent Ends In The Light

December 20, 2020

I discovered chickens cannot see in the dark when I heard one of my bantams squawking loudly from the shed. When I went out, it was fine. It just couldn’t find its buddies, who were about 5 feet away in a part of the shed that was very dark. So now, during the day, I turn on a light. Happy chickens. My chickens need light so that the darkness does not paralyze and terrify them. Simple thing, chickens. Stay with me. I’m establishing patterns J

As a kid, I longed for light in the darkness. I was terrified of the night. I took a running leap into bed; I quivered under the covers. But turn on a night light or leave a door open so some light could get in, I was good. I needed light so that all the imagined fears that could take place in the darkness were dispelled by the light. 

When you have endured a week of gloomy winter, nothing beats a sunny day. I don’t care how cold it is. The whole world feels better. I’ve been known to roll my window down on sunny days when the temp is in the 20s. You start showering again, and think, “Maybe I should start exercising and not eat pancakes every day as a snack.” 

“Light to dark” is an image we know. It’s a pattern ingrained in so many things in the world. No wonder it’s a pattern we see in the Bible constantly, starting in Genesis 1, almost as if God masterminded the whole thing. J

·      The initial command “Let there be light!” was a hint: This God does not settle for darkness.When darkness settles on the deep, the Spirit of God moves.  

·      It was “while shepherds watched their flocks by night” that the glory of the Lord shone around them. This God will not be announced without dispelling some darkness.

·      When the Wise Men from the east needed a sign– the east, the land “East of Eden” (another motif from Genesis for those far from the presence of God)  - they were given a light in a dark sky to guide them to the Light of the World, “the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens everyone.” (John 1:9)  This God will make a way for those who live in darkness. 

 Any advent or arrival in which God is involved may begin in darkness, but it ends in light. 

I am fascinated this year by how the Bible establishes the darkness into which Jesus arrived before introducing the light of his apocalypse (“unveiling”). I think it’s probably the case that our appreciation of the light correlates with how profound the darkness was into which it was introduced. Let’s see why God’s people longed for the light before the first Advent of Jesus, and then we will look at our own lives. 

Isaiah 58: A Timeless Oracle For The People Of God

Eternal One: Tell My people about their wrongdoing…hold nothing back: [my people] have failed to do what is right…They pretend to want to learn what I teach, as if they are indeed a [people] good and true, as if they hadn’t really turned their backs on My directives. They even ask Me, as though they care, about what I want them to be and do, as if they really want Me in their lives. 

People: Why didn’t You notice how diligently we fasted before You? We humbled ourselves with pious practices and You paid no attention. 

Eternal One: I have to tell you, on those fasting days, all you were really seeking was your own pleasure; besides, you were busy defrauding people and abusing your workers… Is a true fast simply some religious exercise for making a person feel miserable and woeful? Is it about how you bow your head (like a bent reed), how you dress (in sackcloth), and where you sit (in a bed of ashes)? Is this what you call a fast, a day the Eternal One finds good and proper?

This isn’t looking good at all. If I can summarize: “Hey, God! How are we doing down here? Check out our fasting!?”[1]  God: “It’s disgusting. It sickens me.” Okay…. However, Isaiah has what looks like good news: a solution!  

No, what I want in a fast is this: to liberate those tied down and held back by injustice, to lighten the load of those heavily burdened, to free the oppressed and shatter every type of oppression. A fast for Me involves sharing your food with people who have none, giving those who are homeless a space in your home, giving clothes to those who need them, and not neglecting your own family.

Excellent. There is a plan. There are action steps. And now, here comes some light!

Then, oh then, your light will break out like the warm, golden rays of a rising sun; in an instant, you will be healed. Your rightness will precede and protect you; the glory of the Eternal will follow and defend you. Then when you do call out, “My God, Where are You?” The Eternal One will answer, “I am here, I am here.” 

If you remove the yoke of oppression from the downtrodden among you, stop accusing others, and do away with mean and inflammatory speech, if you make sure that the hungry and oppressed have all that they need, then your light will shine in the darkness, and even your bleakest moments will be bright as a clear day...

That sound really good! But, uh, notice the “if”. If you do these things, your righteousness will be amazing. Let’s keep reading. 

Isaiah 59

Your persistent wrongdoing has come between you and your God; since you constantly reject and push God away He had to turn aside and ignore your cries... Their thoughts are bent toward injustice; destruction and trouble line the roads of their lives.8 They never travel the path of peace; no justice is found where they have been. They set a course down crooked roads; no one who follows their lead has a chance of knowing peace.

Well, I think that’s pretty clear. It didn’t happen. It looks like they can’t light up the world with their own righteousness. In hindsight, that’s obvious, but don’t we wrestle with that same sense of capability?  How many times do we think we can clean up our lives and this world on our own? 

·      “If you can control your attitude with the customers and get here on time, your job will be safe.” 

·      “Oh, yeah. I got this.”

·      ”If you can curb your addictions, your marriage will survive and maybe even flourish.”

·      “You got it.”

·      “If you can just bounce your eyes, that porn problem will go away.”

·      “Done.”

·      “If you figure out your identity in Christ, that depression, shame negative self-talk, anxiety, loneliness will go away.”

·      “Commencing self-help.” 

 “If…” It’s such a loaded word. “If you can do that, all will be well.” Isn’t this a lesson every Christian has to learn? If our righteous effort is what it takes to fix us, we are in trouble. The people of Israel figured it out. 

People: That’s why we can’t make things right; good and true can’t gain any ground on us. We look earnestly for a bright spot, but there isn’t even a glimmer of hope; it’s darkness all around. We are left to stumble along, grabbing at whatever seems solid, like the blind finding their way down a strange and threatening street.  In broad daylight—when we should have sight—we stumble and fall as in the dark. We are already like the dead among those brimming with health. We growl like bears and moan like doves. We hope that maybe, just maybe, it will all turn out right; But it doesn’t. We look for liberation, but it’s too far away.  

So far, it sounds a bit like complaining: “Do you see what you’ve given us to work with? This world is a hard and terrible place, and “we are left to stumble alone.”  But then there is a very important turn….  

For our wrongdoing runs too deep before You. Our sins stack up against us—sure evidence of our guilt. For our offenses are always with us; they are insidious and lasting, as You know. Our guilt says it all. We know it, too. We took You for nothing, and did just the opposite of Your commands. We broke our promises to You, ignored and rejected You.

We hatched up schemes to oppress others and rebel, to twist the truth for our gain while presenting it as honest-to-God fact. When justice calls, we turn it away. Righteousness knows to keep its distance, for truth stumbles in the public square, and honesty is not allowed to enter.  There is no truth-telling anymore, and anyone who tries to do right finds he is the next target.

Now, Isaiah steps out of the dialogue and makes an observation about how God responds to what started as a complaint and ends as a confession. I think this is key. What starts as self-justification – “God, listen, have you seen the kind of world you’ve given us?” turns into repentance: “Our sins stack up against us…we are the problem in the world.” 

It’s the only “if/then” scenario that has power. “If my people humble themselves and repent.” It’s not us fixing our brokenness. It’s us submitting to God’s work. back to Isaiah.

It’s true. The Eternal One saw it all and was understandably perturbed at the absence of justice. God looked long and hard, but there wasn’t a single person who tried to put a stop to the injustice and lies. So God took action. His own strong arm reached out and brought salvation. His own righteousness—good and pure—sustained Him.  But God’s equipment was that of no ordinary warrior: He strapped on righteousness as His breastplate, and put on the helmet of salvation. Wrapped in vengeance for clothing and passion as a cloak, God prepared for war.

Finally, God determined they must get what they’ve earned: fury to those who oppose Him, vengeance against those who are against Him. To the ends of the known world, God will go to render justice.  This is how people from east to west will come to respect the name and honor the glory of the Eternal. For He will come on like a torrential flood driven by the Eternal’s winds. The Redeemer will come to make Zion right again, to rescue those of Jacob’s holy line who turn their backs on wrongdoing. This is what the Eternal One declares.

Okay, that’s good news and bad news. The good news is that God is going to bring justice. The bad news is that His own people have been the problem. But…the good news is that He is going to rescue those who turn back to him – and He is going to orchestrate this.[2]

Eternal One:  This is My covenant promise to them: My Spirit, which rests on and moves in you, and My words, which I have placed within you, will continue to be spoken among you and move you to action. And not only you, but so it will be for your children and their children too.[3] And so on through the generations for all time.

And now we move into a classic paragraph that is often cited during Advent. 

Isaiah 60
Arise, shine (“be in the light”; “become light”), for your light[4] has broken through! The Eternal One’s brilliance has dawned upon you.  See truly; look carefully—darkness blankets the earth; people all over are cloaked in darkness. But God will rise and shine on you; the Eternal’s bright glory will shine on you, a light for all to see.

 It’s reminiscent of the end of Malachi: “ But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays.” (Malachi 4:2) 

* * * * * * * * * *

“When the prophet says that’ that light is come,‘ he… sees in vision the Messiah… as pouring the light of salvation on a darkened church and world.”  (Albert Barnes’ Notes On The Whole Bible) 

“In the midst of that distressing condition, Jehovah will arise upon Zion in the person of His Son; in Christ, the glory of God will be revealed.”  (Coffmana’s Commentary On The Bible)

Oh! This is fantastic news! God Himself will be the light in the darkness. 

It’s not just God moving into the world, but God moving into our hearts. Advent is more than an ‘unveiling’ in world history; it’s an arrival in our hearts. It’s personal. This is a story about light dispelling darkness, and that while that has profound implications for world history, it also has profound implications for your history. We are all coming out of darkness; we have all contributed the sinful brokenness of the world. Our wrongdoing runs deep too. But…..

Arise, shine, your light has broken through. The Eternal One’s brilliance has dawned upon you. 2 See truly; look carefully—darkness blankets the earth; people all over are cloaked in darkness. But God will rise and shine on you; the Eternal’s bright glory will shine on you, a light for all to see.

This is the joy of the first Advent. That healing and hope is available to all of us. 

 * * * * * * * * * *

 But there is another part to it.

“…the church of God is… called upon to arise… [and] to shine forth in the exercise of grace and discharge of duty…and to diffuse this light to others…” John Gill’s Exposition On The Whole Bible) 

That summons ("Arise, shine!”) is the inevitable result of the dawning of the light. When God is felt to be near [people] in penitence, love, and prayer, [they are]… bound to reflect the glory which has risen in their heart; to bear witness of the light which has pierced and transformed their soul… The glory of the Lord manifests itself in life… It is because the ‘glory of the Lord has risen upon [them],’ that Christians are able to reflect the light which has entered their souls.” E. L. Hull, Sermons

After God was unveiled to the world in the incarnate Jesus, and unveiled in the hearts of those who repent and embrace him as Lord and King, God’s people are unveiled to the world. It’s not because we are amazing. Nothing changed in terms of our ability to light up the world with our righteousness. What changed was our identity. We are now children of God, temples for the Holy Spirit. I love how Thomas Coke, English clergyman, first bishop of the Methodist Church, phrased it: 

“Shew thy native beauty; suffer thyself to be so strongly illuminated by the glory of the Lord, that thou mayest be a light to others." [5]

I have this image of all the solar powered lights I have in my yard. They soak up the light during the day, so they can shine at night. And they don’t shine because they powered themselves up. They shine because the sun filled them with light. 

Do you see this? There is a third apocalypse, a third unveiling taking place between the birth of Jesus and His return. 

It’s his church.

Jesus is revealed through His church. “Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good works and…..glorify your Father in heaven.”

So I am sobered and inspired this Advent season to think about how, between the first apocalypse in a manger that ushered in this present age, and a second that will wrap it up as Jesus is revealed as the Returning King, God plan was to have His Holy Spirit-filled followers be an apocalypse, an unveiling, that absorbs and points back to the light from the first one while shining and like illuminating signposts that point toward the second one. 

We have the light of joy because true joy entered the world through the birth of the incarnate Savior. We ambassadors, filled by God’s Spirit and nourished by God’s Word, soak up this joyful light until it lights the darkness with our words, our attitudes, our actions, our lives.  And we never stop telling everyone that He who has come will come again, and for those whom His light has filled, there will be joy unspeakable, and full of glory. 

Joy to the world. The Lord has come. Let every heart prepare Him room. 

THREE THINGS FOR PONDERING OR DISCUSSING

1. If seeing the darkness for what it is makes the light more glorious, take some time to reminisce on 2020 (and perhaps further back) and mourn the darkness. See it for what it is. Feel it. Don’t look away.

2. Now….what does Jesus offer? What is the hope in front of us? How do the first and second advents shine into the darkness? What is holding us back from ‘arising, and shining’?

3. Pray. There are times that seeing the light feels soooo elusive. “We look earnestly for a bright spot, but there isn’t even a glimmer of hope; it’s darkness all around.” If you are in a group, share stories of God’s faithfulness in your lives, times when the light that seemed so elusive did indeed break through.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

[1] Malachi highlights how much God disliked their sacrifices (Malachi 3).

[2] As Malachi 3: 6; 16-18. “Return to me, and I will return to you….  Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored his name. “On the day when I act,” says the Lord Almighty, “they will be my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as a father has compassion and spares his son who serves him.  And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.”

[3] Malachi says something very similar in the final verses of the Old Testament. God will eventually turn the hearts of the parents to the children, and the children to their parents.

[4] “I am the Light Of The World.” – Jesus, as recorded in John 8:12

[5] 14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”

Jesus and Peter: Why Our History Is Not Our Destiny

John 20 ends with two verses that wrap things up pretty nicely for the book of John.

“Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” (John 20:30-31)

 But then there’s John 21. Peter, the Rock of the early church, is clearly singled out again in a story that is not entirely flattering. It is presented as a story after the big story, and it is very raw and bare.  It’s not like the end of the LOTR when softly glowing happy people hug and smile and cry as they gently say perfect goodbyes.

Why is John wrapped up this way?  What do we learn about Jesus, and why does it matter to us?                                   

After these things Jesus manifested Himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, and He manifested Himself in this way. Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus, and Nathanael of (Cana in Galilee, and (the sons of Zebedee, and two others of His disciples were together.

Only 3 disciples of the 7 who are present are named.  

• Peter had betrayed Jesus; Thomas is the infamous doubting Thomas; Nathanial once said, “Can anything good come our of Nazareth?” 

• All three also offered a clear confession of faith (Peter in John 6:69; Thomas in John 20:28; Nathanael in John 1:49) 

• All three had their confession of faith followed by Jesus expressing his own doubts about the depth of their commitment (John 6:70; John 20:29; John 1:50).

I think this chapter will have something to do with this theme: people of faith who wrestle with doubt, fear and disillusionment.

Simon Peter said to them, "I am going fishing." They said to him, "We will also come with you." They went out and got into the boat; and  that night they caught nothing. But when the day was now breaking, Jesus stood on the beach; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. So Jesus said to them, "Children, you do not have any fish, do you?" They answered Him, "No."

And He said to them, "(Cast the net on the right-hand side of the boat and you will find a catch." So they cast, and then they were not able to haul it in because of the great number of fish.[1]  Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord."  So when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put his outer garment on (for he was stripped for work), and threw himself into the sea. But the other disciples came in the little boat, for they were not far from the land, but about one hundred yards away, dragging the net full of fish. 

So when they got out on the land, they saw a charcoal fire already laid and fish placed on it, and bread. Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish which you have now caught." Simon Peter went up and drew the net to land, full of large fish, a hundred and fifty-three; and although there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast." None of the disciples ventured to question Him, "Who are You?" knowing that it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and the fish likewise. This is now the third time that Jesus was manifested to the disciples, after He was raised from the dead. 

So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?" He said to Him, "Yes, Lord; You know that I love You " He said to him, "Tend My lambs." He said to him again a second time, "Simon, son of John, do you love Me?" He said to Him, "Yes, Lord; You know that I love You." He said to him, "Shepherd My sheep." He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of John, do you love Me?" Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, "Do you love Me?" And he said to Him, "Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You." Jesus said to him, "Tend My sheep.’”

 Darkness and daybreak set the stage for the story.  

The symbolism of daytime and nighttime stands out at various points in scriptures, and it does here as well. In Scripture, Night often represents the downside or chaos of life. Peter denied Jesus in the dark just before daybreak.  Peter went to the tomb “while it was still dark.”  Here, Peter is fishing in the dark, failing to follow Christ yet again, and he took his friends with him. 

John in the first chapter of his gospel wrote that “In him was life, and that life was the light of mankind; but the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it ”  (John 1:5).  Here, “morning was now coming to be.” Something new and beautiful is dawning.

This is the same sea on which Peter had tried to walk on the water and failed.  This time he didn’t even try to walk on the water; he just throws himself in. Maybe he’s not about to test his faith after what happened when he denied Jesus. Peter’s enthusiasm is still there, but his hopeful optimism is not.  Note the account says Peter pulled the net in. Dude is pumped!

Three times before the crucifixion, hiding in the darkness, huddled around a charcoal fire, Peter had not loved Jesus more than anything else.  Three times, now, in the light of the morning, huddled around a charcoal fire, by a sea that represents his lack of faith, as the day is dawning, he is offered redemption. 

The first and second time Peter responds with, “Lord, you know…”  he is referring to knowledge at an every day level, the knowledge based on perception. 

“Lord, you know all things because you have seen my love.  I was the first one called to follow you and the first one named apostle. You saw me jump out of boats into seas that frightened me. You saw me cut off that dude’s ear when you were arrested.  I ran to the tomb when I heard you were alive.  You even nicknamed me the rock, remember? LOOK HOW IMPRESSIVE MY LOVE IS!!!”

But the third time, Peter shifts to a word that means experiential knowledge: “Lord, you perceive ALL things; you have experienced my life; we know each other; you have experienced my love.” I have read a bunch of commentary on this:  Is Peter offended?  Defensive? Exasperated?  Embarrassed? Confused? My sense is that Peter’s last response is a statement of resignation.  Jesus is not letting Peter avoid reality. 

“I’m not asking if you are excited about me; of course you are. I’m not asking how impressive you are in your emotional outpourings and impulsive decisions and your ability to say what you think.  You are clearly excited about me. You just pulled that whole net in.  I’m asking you something different.  I’m asking if you love me.  I’m asking if you will take up your cross and follow me in spite of danger, or the opinions of others, or uncertainty and doubt.  I DO KNOW YOU!!! Last time you didn’t. That’s why I’m asking again if you love me enough to die for me.”

And Peter response is, “Ah. Yes. You do know me, don’t you?” But Peter doesn’t give up.  He continues to insist, “You know I love you.”   

Ever have a conversation with someone when your relationship is at it’s worst?  You have said things or done things that have given the other person every reason to push you away, and when you finally see yourself for the kind of friend or spouse or parent or child that you are, the last thing you have to fall back on is, “I love you, though. I really do.  I have nothing else to say. I’m not very good at it sometimes, and I know when I let you down or hurt you I really let you down and hurt you. But I love you.”  And then you desperately hope that will be sufficient to overcome weeks or months or years of insufficiency.  

If I am understanding this correctly, Peter says, in essence,  “You have experienced that I am cowardly, and impulsive, and self-centered, and doubting…but I love you.” Then Jesus says:

"Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to gird yourself and walk wherever you wished; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will gird you, and bring you where you do not wish to go." Now this He said, signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God And when He had spoken this, He said to him, "Follow Me!"

In John 13: 36-38, Jesus had said to him, “Where I am going, you cannot follow me now; but you will follow afterward.”

What Jesus told Peter he could not do before (follow Him), he tells him he can do now, and that he will do it so effectively that he will be able to lead his church, and then he will die, and John records that this is a “semenon” – a sign.  

 John does not use the world “miracle” in his gospel to describe the actions of Jesus.  He uses the word “sign” every time.  The purpose of the signs were to promote trust and belief in Christ.  Peter’s death will glorify God and be a “sign” to promote trust in Christ.

It turns out that Chapter 21 is a victory song to conclude the gospels.  Here we are shown, through Peter, that our shortcomings and failures can be forgiven, and that Jesus wants us broken and imperfect people to follow Him and build His kingdom anyway.   

Peter stands in for all of us in this story. 

• Peter, who was afraid of servant girls around campfires, will preach to the masses in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit fell like fire. 

• Peter, who cut off a man’s ear, will heal a man crippled from birth. 

• Peter, the coward, will be called by the apostle Paul a "pillar" of the Church. 

• For nine months, in absolute darkness, the Peter who denied Christ out of fear of the fallout will endure monstrous torture manacled to a post.  He will convert his jailers and forty-seven others.

• Peter, who once rebuked Jesus for saying the Messiah needed to suffer, will be crucified upside down, and  (if tradition is correct) will even speak words of comfort to his wife as she goes to her death.

 Peter’s death will be a sign to show to all of us that our history does not have to be our destiny.  Morning is now coming to be, because the Light Of The World has come.

“The world and the church are littered with smashed lives and vessels ground beneath vengeful, judging feet… cross the line of shame (we think) and there is no way back… Not so because of Easter.  The veil of death is parted; through it a hand reaches out to Peter, shamed and probably resigned to former routines.  Wherever and however it happened, Peter was turned from death to life.  The God who had not abandoned Christ in death would not abandon Peter in his.  Against all odds…God proposed to love Peter again…yes, he will follow as once he declared he would.”

“We are called from that night where Peter, giving up and back in his old life, fishing in the dark, could catch nothing.  Now, as the light dawns on us, resurrection means we are able to receive the love God proposes us.” (William Loader)

What do I learn about Jesus?

He calls those of us hiding in darkness into the light.  

We all have a history of which we are ashamed.  It has been this way since Peter.  We didn’t deny Christ in the courtyard of the palace, but we have denied him with our TV’s, and our computers, and our budgets, and our priorities, and dating, and marriages, and family dynamics, and addictions, and words….Jesus meets us in the darkness and calls us into the light of His truth, grace and healing.

He will make us face the deeds we did in that darkness.

It is sometimes easy to put on a front that masks who we know we have been, but Jesus sees through masks.  Anybody can come to church and talk it up, and impress people.  And we might even believe our own PR campaign.  “Hey, I’m pretty good.  Jesus is lucky to have me!”   But Jesus knows us.  He is not interested in our strength. It’s when we are weak that He is strong.  David says God desires a “broken and repentant spirit.”  If we want to fully follow Christ, and truly make an impact in His Kingdom, we must be willing to be broken.  We must be willing to have the deeds done in darkness brought into the light of Christ.  There is no other way.   

He might make this happen in front of other people, by the way. Peter wasn’t alone. Six of his best friends were there. I don’t think this is an accident. God designed His kingdom so that we do life in Christ with others. THIS IS HOW TESTIMONIES WORK. 

He will empower us to follow Him and build His Kingdom.  

That last chapter of John is an encouragement to the church.  History is not destiny when Jesus enters the story.  Your story is not over, because Jesus is working in your life to shine His light into all the dark places, and take your weaknesses and fill them with His strength. 

Jesus After the Resurrection: The Emmaus Road

The Bible presents a real view of life, and I want to be real about life. Today we are going to look at the Emmaus Road story to take a look at life that I hope will both encourage and challenge us.

Scripture: Luke 24:13-35

That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing (reasoning) together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them.  But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. 

And he said to them, "What is this conversation which you are holding with each other as you walk?" And they stood still, looking sad (skuthropos, gloomy, sullen, dark.) Then one of them, named Cle'opas (probably Jesus’ uncle), answered him, "Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?"  And he said to them, "What things?" 

And they said to him, "Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people,  and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. 

Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since this happened. Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. (“Nothing seems to make sense, confuse, amaze, astound.") They were at the tomb early in the morning and did not find his body; and they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb, and found it just as the women had said; but him they did not see. 

And he said to them, "O foolish men, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!  Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?" (“heavy or weighty.”) And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. 

So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He appeared to be going further, but they constrained him, saying, "Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent." So he went in to stay with them.  When he was at table with them, he took the bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he vanished out of their sight.

 They said to each other, "Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the scriptures?"  And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven gathered together and those who were with them, who said, "The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!"  Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread.

What do we learn about Jesus  - and real life - on the road to Emmaus?

1. Life is hard, but Jesus joins us in our journey

Through Jesus, God entered a world He created in which grief and joy cross paths constantly. 

• Jesus’ baptism moves into the temptation in the wilderness

• Jesus does miracles, and people set traps for him

• Lazarus lives/Lazarus dies/Lazarus lives

• Crowds love Jesus/villages hate him

• Triumphal entry/crucifixion/resurrection

This tension continues. Apparently, Jesus’ followers can expect to experience this too because now, on the Emmaus road, despair is followed by great joy. The resurrected Christ did not demonstrate the fullness of His glory by removing all the uncertainty and turmoil from life – He demonstrated the fullness of His glory by redeeming these things. 

You may have noticed that Jesus has not removed all the turmoil and uncertainty from your life. 

• Coronavirus roller coasters…

• Marriages overwhelm us one day with happiness and bury us the next day in anger or frustration…

• Jobs fulfill and crush us, sometimes on the same day…

• Physical health comes and goes…

• Freedom from temptation/overwhelmed by temptation…

• Or, like those on the road to Emmaus, the way in which you sense God near – or far - can change dramatically. 

Jesus walks with us spiritually like he walked with them physically.  That’s the promise of the Holy Spirit, right?  Jesus did not remove his disciples from this tumultuous world, and he does not remove us - yet.  One day He will. He joined them, and he joins us, and he offers redemption and restoration that point the way toward our ultimate reconciliation with Him. In the midst of this ebb and flow of life, look for him. He will show up with his Holy Spirit, his Word, and his people. Read the Bible, pray, and put people on the road next to you. Don’t walk alone. God will open your eyes when the time is right, and you will recognize that Jesus has been walking with you all along.

2. Jesus is content to remain hidden at times even though He is always near.

We do this with kids all the time, especially when they are young.  They have no idea that we are listening or watching, and yet we are. We care; we want them to mature on their own, but we know that can’t mature properly without us. We watch, and wait, and in our imperfect ways we help, and give them distance, and let them figure it out, and intervene, and correct and challenge and encourage…. In our imperfect way, we are trying to figure out how to balance being obvious and being hidden as we let them go and hold them close at the same time.

When Jacob was traveling (Genesis 28:11) he had a dream that he was in the presence of God. God spoke to him there. Jacob said, “Surely God is in this place and I did not know it.” If historians are correct, the Emmaus road revelation happened at the same place that Jacob dreamed he was visited by God.[1]  At the same place, the same thing happens: “Jesus was in this place and we didn’t know it.”

God could have miraculously revealed himself to Jacob at any time.  On the Emmaus road, Jesus could have instantly caught up with those guys and BAM, thrown back his hood and said, “Guys! It’s me!”  But he didn't. 

•  God could have spared me two major breakdowns I’ve had in my life, but he didn’t. 

• God could have healed my father, but he didn’t.

• God could have averted my heart attack and the depression and anxiety that followed, but he didn’t. 

• God could take away my ADD now that I can’t take medication for, but he hasn’t. 

• God could remove the coronavirus with a snap of his fingers, but he hasn’t.

 Does this mean He is absent in these cases? No, and this geographic location in the Bible –with first Jacob’s story and now the Emmaus road walkers –remind us: “Surely, God is in this place, and I didn’t know it.”  

It’s relatively easy to follow Jesus when he is right in front of you casting out demons and raising the dead.  But when you don’t know where He is?  When you can’t sense His presence?   I wondered if God is honored even more when we continue to be His disciple even when we think we are walking alone?

There is no doubt in my mind that in all of these situations, God’s Spirit is present and working. In all these situation, I know that the message of Scripture stabilized and sustained me. (More on both of those in a second). But I’ve been thinking a lot about a third provision of God’s grace: walking with friends.  

It is much easier to keep going when you have a walking buddy. Many times we don’t sense God is near; one way to we find strength is by walking with others.  This is why we stress relationship at our church.  Nobody needs to walk their Emmaus road alone.  

I don’t have a verse for this – this is Anthony, not the Bible – but I suspect that when we want to see God, more often than not God meets that desire by sending us His people, his ambassadors/representatives/ icons. His image-bearers.

3) Jesus will reveal Himself in His time 

    The two disciples did not recognize Jesus on the road. Revelation is required. 

 He reveals His Glory Through His Word. Jesus could have just made them feel it without opening the book – I mean, the book is about Him after all. He could have just skipped that step and popped out.  But they had the Scriptures, so He walked them through the Scriptures as the way of revealing Himself even though He was right there. The early church continued this tradition: pointing to Jesus by pointing toward the Bible.

• Old Testament quotations and allusions found in the Gospel of Matthew (which was written especially for Jewish readers)

• The apostles' sermon material found in the Book of Acts (Genesis 22:18; 26:4; Deuteronomy 18:15-19; Psalm 2:1-2, 7; 16:8-11; 110:1; 118:22; Isaiah 53:7-8; 55:3; and Amos 9:11-12)

 If you are walking the Christian road, and you need to see Jesus….read the Bible.  This is the FOUNDATIONAL revelation. 

He reveals his glory through His suffering. Jesus tells them: “Wasn’t it necessary that the Messiah suffer to reveal His glory?” Then Jesus showed them through the breaking of the bread: At the Last Supper he had said,  “Take, eat, this is my body which was broken for you.” The Messiah must suffer to enter in to his glory.  Jesus was SHOWN through the Bible.  Jesus was KNOWN by them through the breaking of the bread, just as His glory was revealed to the world through His suffering.

Jesus wants us to share in His glory. How will this happen?  Through our suffering.

Romans 8:17-18 (NIV) “Now if we are children, then we are heirs--heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”

 There are all kinds of suffering.  We will never pray in the Garden of Gethsemene while sweating drops of blood, but we will experience our own gardens, where we see death or what feels like a kind of death coming, and we will pray for our cup to pass…and for God’s will to be done.  In our suffering, the glory of Christ revealed in us is heavy. 

Have you ever been around people who have suffered, and in their suffering God brought out a weightiness to them, a maturity, a profound sense of wisdom and godly transformation? That's the glory that is revealed in us, I think. The glory of a faithfully transforming God who corrals all things into the service of transforming us into the image of Jesus.

But that is actually is not the focus of the kind of suffering mentioned in Romans.   This is suffering specifically for the cause of Christ. If mere suffering ushers in God’s glory, imagine what happens when we suffer for the sake of our commitment to Christ. 

• Jesus commands us to be pure, and we suffer in our struggle to remain pure in our thoughts and actions. Saying no to sexual temptation and opportunity can be epic.   But if I want to share in the glory of Christ’s purity, I must be willing to suffer the hardship of sexual restraint.

• Jesus commands us to love people, and we suffer as we taken on the burdens of relationships with others.  But if want to share in the glory of true Christ-like love, I might have to be deeply wounded and still come back for more.  I’m not suggesting there are never times we should walk away. Abuse is a thing. Even the  disciples “shook the dust off their feet” at times and moved on. But in the normal course of life in a fallen world, love demands sacrifice. We will be broken and spilled out for those we love. 

• Jesus wants us live lives of self-sacrifice, and generosity, and patience…and we can suffer as everything within us wants to be selfish, and greedy, and impatient.  But if we want to share in the glory of Christ, we have to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow. 

• You might suffer as you stand for the truth of Scripture, and because you love Christ so much you will not compromise.  But you are sharing in the glory of Christ.

 Can we all agree the world needs to see the glory of Christ?  It was seen in the suffering of Jesus on the cross; today, I suspect it will often be seen when we pay a spiritual price for the cause of Christ. 

2 Cor 4:7-11 (NIV). “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body.”

He was known to them in the breaking of the bread.  “Do this in remembrance of me.“ I think the world will see His glory, as we are broken too. Amy Carmichael, a missionary who worked in India for 55 years, once wrote (and I paraphrase):

‘Have you no scar? No hidden scar on foot, or side or hand? I hear you described as mighty in the land: I hear them hail you as a rising star: Have you no scar? Have you no wound?  As the master is so shall the servant be.  Pierced are the feet that follow me; but yours are whole. Can you have followed far if you have no wound? No scar?’”

We share in God’s glory when His glory fills us – and we display God’s glory when it leaks through the cracks as our lives are broken on his behalf, and for His glory.  But we do not lose heart, because we realize:

1 Peter 5:10 (NIV) “And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.”

Life is hard, but Jesus walks with us. Sometimes He hides, but He always reveals Himself and His glory through His word and His life. If you are willing to be broken for the cause of Christ, God will reveal His glory through you, and will one day restore you. 

And actually, that’s going to be our focus next week: the restoration of Peter, in the final chapter of the record of Jesus’ life on earth. 

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[1] “When Jacob was travelling the sun set (early Jewish legends explained the pointed reference in Genesis 28:11 by saying God had caused it to set prematurely to force Jacob to stop there) and he had a dream that he was in the presence of God. God spoke to him there. And the name of the place was originally known as Luz — in the Septuagint it is Oulammaus. In the Codex Bezae this is the name used for Emmaus in Luke 24. In an early reading of Luke (perhaps the earliest) the Emmaus road revelation happened at the same place that Jacob dreamed he was visited by God.” http://vridar.org/2007/11/17/the-logic-and-meaning-of-the-emmaus-road-narrative-in-luke/

The Passion And Resurrection Of Jesus

There are several ways we can look at Christ’s Crucifixion and Resurrection.

1)   Historically (proofs of the Resurrection of Christ). I posted a video this week on our Facebook page.

2)   Theologically (discussion of what Jesus accomplished spiritually in terms of what we call “substitutionary atonement” – God himself, in the person of Jesus, fulfilled his own judgment on sin and paid the eternal consequences for our sin so that “whoever believes on him will not perish, but have everlasting life.”

     I have preached on both of these before, and I will again, but this morning I want to take a different approach.  Other than making a few comments at the end, I just want to read the story of the passion, the crucifixion, and the resurrection of Christ. It’s a combination of the passages in the gospels, all of which offer something unique to the story, so I can’t give you one passage in which to follow along. 

There are going to be a few points where I stop and just let music play so we have time to meditate on what’s been read. Feel free to post your thoughts on the live stream thread as we go through the morning. 

* * * *

“Early in the morning the leading priests and the elders met again to lay plans for putting Jesus to death. Then they bound him, led him away, and took him to Pilate, the Roman governor. Now Jesus was standing before Pilate, the Roman governor. “Are you the king of the Jews?” the governor asked him. Jesus replied, “So you say.”

     But when the leading priests and the elders made their accusations against him, Jesus remained silent.  “Don’t you hear all these charges they are bringing against you?” Pilate demanded. But Jesus made no response to any of the charges.

    Now it was the governor’s custom each year during the Passover celebration to release one prisoner to the crowd—anyone they wanted.  This year there was a notorious prisoner named Barabbas.  As the crowds gathered before Pilate’s house that morning, he asked them, “Which one do you want me to release to you—Barabbas, or Jesus who is called the Messiah?”

     The leading priests and the elders said, “By our law he ought to die because he called himself the Son of God.” They persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas to be released and for Jesus to be put to death.  When Pilate heard this, he was frightened. 

 He took Jesus back into the headquarters again and asked him, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave no answer. “Why don’t you talk to me? Don’t you realize that I have the power to release you or crucify you?”

Jesus said, “You would have no power over me at all unless it were given to you from above. Those who handed me over to you have the greater sin.”

Then Pilate tried to release him, but the Jewish leaders shouted, “If you release this man, you are no ‘friend of Caesar.’ Anyone who declares himself a king is a rebel against Caesar.”

Pilate saw that he wasn’t getting anywhere and that a riot was developing. So he sent for a bowl of water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood. The responsibility is yours!”

And all the people yelled back, “We will take responsibility for his death—his blood be on us and on our children!”

So the governor asked again, “Which of these two do you want me to release to you?”

The crowd shouted back, “Barabbas!”

Pilate responded, “Then what should I do with Jesus who is called the Messiah?”

“Crucify him!”

“Why? What crime has he committed?”

 “Crucify him!” yelled the crowd.

 Pilate responded, “Take him yourselves and crucify him. I find him not guilty.” 

So Pilate released Barabbas to them. He ordered Jesus flogged with a lead-tipped whip, then turned him over to the Roman soldiers to be crucified.     The soldiers stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him.  They wove thorn branches into a crown and put it on his head, and they placed a reed stick in his right hand as a scepter. Then they knelt before him in mockery and taunted, “Hail! King of the Jews!”  And they spit on him and grabbed the stick and struck him on the head with it.  When they were finally tired of mocking him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him again. Then they led him away to be crucified.

    Along the way, they came across a man named Simon, who was from Cyrene, and the soldiers forced him to carry Jesus’ cross.  They went out to a place called Golgotha (which means “Place of the Skull”).  The soldiers gave him wine mixed with vinegar, but when Jesus had tasted it, he refused to drink it.

       The soldiers nailed him to the cross, then gambled for his clothes while keeping guard. A sign fastened to the cross above Jesus’ head announced the charge against him. It read: “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.” The place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek, so that many people could read it.

    The leading priests objected and said to Pilate, “Change it from ‘The King of the Jews’ to ‘He said, I am King of the Jews.’”

    Pilate replied, “No, what I have written, I have written.”

    The people passing by shouted abuse, shaking their heads in mockery.  “Look at you now! You said you were going to destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days. Well then, if you are the Son of God, save yourself and come down from the cross!”

  The leading priests, the teachers of religious law, and the elders also mocked Jesus.  “He saved others but he can’t save himself! So he is the King of Israel, is he? Let him come down from the cross right now, and we will believe in him!  He trusted God, so let God rescue him now if he wants him! For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’”  

   Two criminals were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left.One of them scoffed and said, “So you’re the Messiah, are you? Prove it by saving yourself—and us, too, while you’re at it!”

    But the other criminal protested, “Don’t you fear God even when you have been sentenced to die?  We deserve to die for our crimes, but this man hasn’t done anything wrong. Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.”

 And Jesus replied, “I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

    At noon, darkness fell across the whole land.  At about three o’clock, Jesus called out with a loud voice, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”

    Some of the bystanders misunderstood and thought he was calling for the prophet Elijah.  One of them ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, holding it up to him on a reed stick so he could drink.  But the rest said, “Wait! Let’s see whether Elijah comes to save him.”

     Then Jesus shouted out again, and he released his spirit.  At that moment the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, rocks split apart, and tombs opened. 

    The Roman officer and the other soldiers at the crucifixion were terrified by the earthquake and all that had happened. They said, “This man truly was the Son of God!”

   The Jewish leaders didn’t want the bodies hanging there the next day, which was the Sabbath.  So they asked Pilate to hasten their deaths by ordering that their legs be broken. Then their bodies could be taken down.  So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the two men crucified with Jesus.  But when they came to Jesus, they saw that he was already dead, so they didn’t break his legs. One of the soldiers, however, pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water flowed out. 

 As evening approached, Joseph, a rich man from Arimathea who had become a follower of Jesus, went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. Pilate issued an order to release it to him. Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a long sheet of clean linen cloth.  He placed it in his own new tomb, which had been carved out of the rock. Then he rolled a great stone across the entrance and left.  

    The next day, on the Sabbath,  the leading priests and Pharisees went to see Pilate.   “Sir, we remember what that deceiver once said while he was still alive: ‘After three days I will rise from the dead.’  So we request that you seal the tomb until the third day. This will prevent his disciples from coming and stealing his body and then telling everyone he was raised from the dead! If that happens, we’ll be worse off than we were at first.”

    Pilate replied, “Take guards and secure it the best you can.”  So they sealed the tomb and posted guards to protect it.

    Early on Sunday morning, as the new day was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went out to visit the tomb.  Suddenly there was a great earthquake! An angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled aside the stone, and sat on it.  His face shone like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow. The guards shook with fear when they saw him, and they fell into a dead faint.

    Then the angel spoke to the women. “Don’t be afraid! I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead, just as he said would happen. Come, see where his body was lying.  And now, go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and he is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there. Remember what I have told you.”

    The women ran quickly from the tomb. They were very frightened but also filled with great joy, and they rushed to give the disciples the angel’s message.  And as they went, Jesus met them and greeted them. They ran to him, grasped his feet, and worshiped him.  Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t be afraid! Go tell my brothers to leave for Galilee, and they will see me there.”

    Then the eleven disciples left for Galilee, going to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go.  When they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted.

    One of the twelve disciples, Thomas, was not with the others when Jesus came. They told him, “We have seen the Lord!”

   But he replied, “I won’t believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound in his side.”

    Eight days later the disciples were together again, and this time Thomas was with them. The doors were locked; but suddenly, as before, Jesus was standing among them. “Peace be with you. Thomas, put your finger here, and look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!”

    “My Lord and my God!” Thomas exclaimed.

     Then Jesus told him, “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.”

The disciples saw Jesus do many other miraculous signs in addition to the ones recorded in this book.  But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him you will have life by the power of his name.

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“For God so loved the world that He gave his only Son, so that whoever believes on Him will not perish, but have eternal life.  For God did not send His son into the world to condemn the world, but so the world through Him could be saved.”

There are plenty of things in this world that deserve condemnation – that deserve to be “brought to trial” (literally).  

•  abusers deserved to be brought to trial

• Mass shooters deserve to be brought to trial

• Meth makers and dealers deserve to be brought to trial

• Depending on who you talk to, apparently everybody in government needs to be brought to trial over what’s happening with the virus, and even some nations

 In each of those cases,  we are convinced that someone needs to answer for these things so that the situation can be made right (if possible) and won’t happen again. 

But let’s make it more personal. 

Maybe we have had things done to us that have damaged us, and we know that what happened needs to be brought to trial in some way.  These are the things that we see or experience and we know deep in our souls, “This is not okay. That is not the way life is supposed to be.”

 On the other hand, maybe we have done things to others that deserve condemnation.  Its’ not meth or murder, so we give ourselves a pass. And yet we have contributed to the brokenness of the world by breaking someone. We have no idea what the ripple effect of that is. We did or said something that was not okay, and honestly, we are the perpetrator, not the victim, and if we could see how our actions ripple out into the world we would be appalled. 

Let’s be honest: we have all done things that deserve condemnation. There is plenty of guilt to go around.  

Jesus did not come to rub it in.

Jesus doesn’t have to add to our shame, guilt, and despair. 

Jesus came to offer redemption for this. He came into the world to literally rescue, heal, and make whole not just the victims but the perpetrators. 

• Jesus came to save those who abuse and who have been abused and all those who feel the ripple effect.  

• Jesus came to save those who abuse and those who have been abused and all who will feel the ripple effect.

• Jesus came to save the meth dealers and the meth users and all who experience the ripple effect. 

• Jesus came to save those who self-destruct, and hate, and judge, and lash out, and hurt others.

• Jesus came to save the proud, the self-absorbed, the cuttingly sarcastic, the stingy and greedy, the petty, the passive-aggressive, the cowards and buffoons, the Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, Constitutional and Green Party, the conservatives and liberals, the deep and shallow state, the poor and the rich, the ugly and the beautiful, the famous and the unknown, the 1% and the 99% because we all need to be saved. Have you seen the world lately?

 We know this is true. We need saving. And if we are honest, we know we need saving because we are part of this.

Jesus came but to save all of us, and that’s great news.  

Jesus said 2,000 years ago that he came to seek and to save all who were lost.  That is still true.All of us are still visited by this God who enters the world to seek us out and save us.

We can respond like the crowd, and try to kill him to get rid of his presence, but He will still be there. 

We can respond like Pilate, and think we can be neutral, but washing our hands so that we don’t have to make a decision won’t resolve it.

We can respond like the women and the disciples who saw Jesus, were filled with awe, and worshiped the risen Christ. 

We can even be full of doubt like Thomas, and Jesus will meet us at the point of our doubt. For some of us, real, genuine faith is hard. “Can I see those wounds again…I just have to know.” And Jesus is faithful.  

But no matter what you have done, or what has been done to you, or what you think of Jesus, it is still true:  That by believing in Him you will have life through the power of the Name of Jesus Christ.

“Since we have been justified through faith in Christ, we are able to experience true and lasting peace with God through our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One, the Liberating King.  Jesus leads us into a place of radical grace where we are able to celebrate the hope of experiencing God’s glory.

But think about this: while we were wasting our lives in sin, God revealed His powerful love to us in a tangible display—the Anointed One died for us.  As a result, the blood of Jesus has made us right with God now, and certainly we will be rescued by Him from God’s wrath in the future. If we were in the heat of combat with God when His Son reconciled us by laying down His life, then how much more will we be saved by Jesus’ resurrection life? In fact, we stand now reconciled and at peace with God. That’s why we celebrate in God through our Lord Jesus, the Anointed.” (Romans 5:1-2; 8-11 - The Voice)

Crucifixion Friday: The Importance Of The Cross

The arrival of God on earth was a pretty disruptive event.

• As if it were not disruptive enough that Jesus was born to an unmarried Mary, Mary was still a virgin.  The former was socially scandalous, but the latter was simply not in accord with the normal order of things. And this wasn’t just about Mary. This reflected on Joseph and both their families.

• The angels announced His birth with these ironic words: "Peace on earth!" to a terrified group of shepherds guarding sheep in the shadow of the Herodian, a monumental construction reminding the Jews that they were a captive people living in occupied territory. 

•  When wise men from the East who had traveled for months to track down the Messiah finally showed up, they had to hide from Herod so that he didn’t kill them.

•  Speaking of Herod, the first recorded political act after the birth of Immanuel— whose name means “God with us”—is the mass murder of infants by King Herod.  Not God’s fault, obviously, but the arrival of “The King of the Jews” scared the Roman king over the Jews so much so that a slaughter commenced.

•  Jesus was only 12 when he stayed behind in Jerusalem to teach in the temple after his parents had started home. That’s like Vincent filling in for me on a Sunday without asking. His parents said, "What on earth are you doing?" which is somewhere close to what I would ask Vince.  But their 12-year-old son rebuked them for not recognizing his mission (Luke 2:41–49). “I must be about my father’s business,” he said to JOSEPH. Ouch.

•  As an adult, in Nazareth, his home town, he had an opportunity to win the favor of family and friends before He began His focused mission the last few years of his life.  Instead, he called them out for their narrow-minded view of the Kingdom of God. It seemed that God loved the Gentiles too. They tried to throw him off a cliff (Luke 4:29). The first act of his public ministry touched off a small riot.

•   He hung out with people of bad reputation – tax collectors, prostitutes, adulterers, and even traitors and backstabbers like Judas.  He did this so often his enemies called him a “friend of sinners” thinking that would bother him – but it didn’t.  

•  At the time when Jewish men would pray and thank God that there were not a Gentile, a slave, or a woman, he welcomed women to participate in his mission, an almost unheard of concession. (see Luke 8 and Mark 15 for more on this)

•   In a time when actions mattered almost without concern for the motivation, He questioned why people were fasting, tithing, and praying the way they were.  Jesus said, “People look on the outside, but God looks on the heart. If you are going to fast, or tithe, or pray to impress people, God’s not interested.”  In other words, why bother doing all those ritual acts of holiness if your heart’s not right?”

•  In a time when there were a TON of obsessive laws about Sabbath observance, he encouraged his disciples to break the Pharisee’s rules about the Sabbath if needed because “People were not made for the Sabbath – the Sabbath was made for people”. 

•  One Sabbath, Jesus was teaching in the synagogue. (Luke 6:6-11)  The "scribes and Pharisees" were present, as was a man whose right hand was withered. The religious leaders had come to catch Jesus healing on the Sabbath. The Bible does not record that the man with the withered hand asked for healing. Jesus didn’t have to deny the request to heal or flaunt religious custom. Jesus could simply have done nothing, or waited a few hours and the healing would have been perfectly legal. The man could have waited one more day after a lifetime of sickness. Jesus could have made everybody happy. But the Bible simply says that Jesus knew they were watching, so he healed him.  

•   Once, Jesus made a whip of cords and chased money-changers and animal merchants off the Temple grounds. He told them their presence made the temple a “den of thieves.”  This is not a chapter in How To Win Friends and Influence People.  That initiated a three-year-long conflict with society's most distinguished religious leaders.  

•   One time, Pilate ordered his men to murder some Galilean Zealots who had come to Jerusalem to worship, and then mingled their blood with the sacrifices they were offering. At about the same time, a tower fell in nearby Siloam and killed eighteen more. Jesus was asked about what the cause was of these back-to-back tragedies. From the nature of his reply, we can assume that people were lobbing what they thought were softballs that Jesus could hit out of the park and make everybody happy. “Oh, yeah, those were exceptional sinners who had what was coming to them. God hated them.” But Jesus said, "Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish" (Luke 13:2-5).

 Jesus was pointedly, deliberately, and dogmatically counter-cultural in almost every way. It’s not that he came to be counter-cultural: He came to save the world. It’s just that the world was so broken – even in the midst of His chosen people – that what He said and did changed everything. He upset expectations about God, about the expected Messiah, about the people’s understanding of what God wanted from them. 

He didn’t come to be a revolutionary; He couldn't help but be revolutionary, because so many things had gone bad or become distorted.  

• He said God did not focus His attention on the self-centered pious and the legalistically pure, but on the poor, the mourner, the meek, those hungry for God, and the pure in heart.

• He said being rich was not necessarily a blessing from God; God is concerned that we might gain the whole world and lose our soul.

• He said that rather than getting vengeance, we should forgive.

• He said that rather than hating our enemies, we should love them.

•  Rather than keeping what we deserve, we should freely give it away.

• Being “good” wasn’t just about out actions; it included thoughts and intents of the heart.

 No wonder the movers and shakers of his generation were so hostile to him. He said, “You’ve got it all wrong.  You believe wrong, you act wrong.  Some of you are making disciples, but they are disciples of hell. You have missed it, and I have to make it right. You need truth.  And all who love truth will listen to me, because I am the Truth.”

 He stepped into a world that had a lot of things wrong, and He confronted it head on, and he claimed he had the power and authority to do so because he was, in fact, God in the flesh, the long awaited Jewish Messiah, the rightful king of the world in ways that had nothing to do with acres of land and gold.  Even the language the Gospel writers use makes clear that Jesus was challenging Rome not because he wanted to be Emperor of Rome, but because the King of all things had come, and there was no way that was not going to step on the toes of the world’s powerful. 

An inscription dated around 9 B.C. shows Augustus being worshiped as a divine savior.  The people of Asia Minor declared him divine and actually changed their calendar to mark his birthday.  Here’s what they wrote:  

“Since the providence that has divinely ordered our existence has applied her energy and zeal and has brought to life the most perfect good in Augustus, who she filled with virtues for the benefit of mankind, bestowing him upon us and our descendants as savior– he who put an end to war and will order peace, Caesar, who by his epiphany exceeded the hopes of those who prophesied good tidings [euaggelia]… and since the birthday of the god first brought to the world the good tidings [euaggelia] residing in him… For that reason, with good fortune and safety, the Greeks of Asia have decided that the New Year in all the cities should begin on 23rd September, the birthday of Augustus.” [1]

•  Lk. 2:10 describes the birth of Jesus as good news [euaggelia].  

• He is the savior of the world (Lk. 2:11)

• He said he was the only perfectly good one (Mark 10:18)

•  Only he can order peace (Luke 19:42)

• N. T. Wright[2] explains that the emperor was kyrios, the lord of the world, the one who claimed the allegiance and loyalty of subjects throughout his wide empire.  That’s a word that gets applied to Jesus in Philippians 2:11 (and numerous other places)

• Augustus was known as the “son of a god” (divi filius) because his adopted father, Julius Caesar, had been declared a god after his assassination. Augustus put this on the coins. Jesus was called dei filius, the Son of God (not a god)

• When he came in person to pay a state visit to a colony or province, the word for his royal presence was parousia (the word used to refer to the coming of Jesus in 1 Thess. 2:19; 3:13; 4:15; 5:23, and elsewhere).

John Dominic Crossan – whom I don’t actually recommend as a good source for information about the Bible,[3]  had at least one important point to make that is noteworthy if for no other reason than that Crossan has a LOT of skepticism about the biblical account of Jesus: 

“Tt)here was a human being in the first century who was called 'Divine,' 'Son of God,' 'God,' and 'God from God,' whose titles were 'Lord,' 'Redeemer,' 'Liberator,' and 'Saviour of the World.'" "(M)ost Christians probably think that those titles were originally created and uniquely applied to Christ. But before Jesus ever existed, all those terms belonged to Caesar Augustus… They were taking the identity of the Roman emperor and giving it to a Jewish peasant. Either that was a peculiar joke and a very low lampoon, or it was what… we call high treason. "[18]

We cannot understand how profound a claim Jesus and his followers were making if we don’t realize Jesus was claiming to be King of King and Lord of Lords in a way that challenged every authority and power in the world. He was THE way, THE truth, THE life.  

 It wasn’t just the Romans, of course. This claim to Kingship was a claim to be God, which scandalized the Jewish leadership. It was blasphemy. It was going to get him killed. Yet over and over, Jesus insists - by dropping hints that his Jewish audience clearly understood - that he was indeed the long awaited and true Messiah, the Savior, the fulfillment of all the prophecies. GOD HAD ARRIVED.

Then God was killed. In an execution designed to be excruciating and humiliating. He appeared to follow the path of so many others who claimed to be the Messiah. His followers were convinced he had failed (more on that next week). 

But He wasn’t.  

 His holy disruption continued. His resurrection changed everything. 

“[Jesus] tilted His head back, pulled up one last time to draw breath and cried, "Tetelestai!" (teh-tell’-es-tie) It was a Greek expression most everyone present would have understood. It was an accounting term. Archaeologists have found papyrus tax receipts with "Tetelestai" written across them, meaning "paid in full." With Jesus' last breath on the cross, He declared the debt of sin cancelled, completely satisfied. Nothing else required. Not good deeds. Not generous donations. Not penance or confession or baptism or...or...or...nothing. The penalty for sin is death, and we were all born hopelessly in debt. He paid our debt in full by giving His life so that we might live forever.” ― Swindoll Charles R.

Now that’s a holy disruption.

The dead can live again. His power over physical death proved He had the power over those whose souls were dead as well. Now, everything that has lost its life—everything that is stale, lifeless, and seemingly dead—can be made vigorous, free, lively, and new.

When God came to earth in the person and life of Jesus Christ, He forced everyone to make a choice: hold on tight to the life lived by our expectations, with our plans/hopes/dreams, with our own power, with us at the center, serving a God made in our image, living a life in which our culture seeps into us until we have absorbed so many incorrect and damaging views of the world that we know longer know what it true, and good … or listen to Jesus, be strong enough to see the brokenness, sinfulness, and deception within ourselves. 

“Unless you see yourself standing there with the shrieking crowd, full of hostility and hatred for the holy and innocent Lamb of God, you don’t really understand the nature and depth of your sin or the necessity of the cross.”― C.J. Mahaney

This is the start of the road to redemption - seeing ourselves in the crowd that needs the same cross we want to ignore at best or rage against at worst.  Coming to grips with this might not be not easy.

• When God had to get Paul’s attention, a blinding light threw him to the ground and left him in darkness for three days and nights. 

• When God had to get Peter’s attention, he sent him a dream which left him sleepless and anxious because God told him to abandon a life-long prejudice against the Gentiles.

 God didn’t deliver messages like a Facebook event notification.  You couldn’t click, “Hmm, maybe I’ll attend,” or “Like.”  It wasn’t an easy message to hear.  

Jesus is not a Muzac Savior, whose goal is to make us feel better about ourselves and comfortable with where we are.  These are okay things, but they are not the mission of Jesus. He's not a tame lion, and he’s not interested in tame people. And sometimes he has to bring a little disruption into our lives to help us become the people he's called us to be. Anne Dilliard once wrote, 

“It is madness to wear ladies' straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews.”

IF JESUS DOES NOT UNSETTLE YOU, YOU HAVEN’T MET JESUS.

This countercultural Jesus of the New Testament is going to bring upheaval into your life too. We are embedded in a culture; it’s going to seep into us. If you are not feeling the challenge Jesus brings to how we think about life, you are not fully experiencing the life-changing nature of what it means to be a follower of Jesus.   

•  If you believe the most important thing is “You’ve got to follow your heart,”Jesus responds with, “For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come – sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly” (Mark 7:21-22, NIV 2011). We need to follow the heart of Jesus, and in that process our hearts conform to his.

•  If you believe that you must “Be true to yourself, ”Jesus responds with, “Take up a cross…you must lose your life in me to find it.” We are most true to our true selves when we are true to Christ, in whom we have our identity.

•   If you believe that the Good Life is the Moneyed Life, Jesus responds with ,“The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil… Seek the Kingdom of God FIRST.” Getting that first is the only way your money won’t destroy you.

•   If you believe that “The good life is a life of self-expression and experimentation. Have fun and be safe!” Jesus responds with,  “The pure are blessed. Our body is God’s temple…the presence of God in your life brings self-control and purposefulness.” 

•   If you agree with reality TV that “I deserve my 5 minutes of fame!  Do you know who I am? My office smells of rich mahogany!” Jesus responds with, “The last shall be first. The people who are greatest among you are the ones whom you think of as the least.  Why don’t you wash somebody’s feet?”

•   If you are content with saying “There is no truth. Question everything.” Jesus responds with, “I am the Truth.  Those who love truth love me.  You will know the Truth, and it will set you free.”

•  To those who say to God, “I’m okay! Spiritually, I feel fine! I don’t need anything from you!”  Jesus says, “You’re spiritually sick; sin has broken you, and you are in need of a physician.  If you don’t get help you will die.”

•  To those who respond, “Okay, fine, I don’t feel so good, but I’ll fix myself,” Jesus says, “You can’t, but good news. I am the Great Physician, and I can.”

 The presence of Jesus brings holy disruption into the unholy places in our life. 

These challenges may leave us uncomfortable, confused and bewildered for a time.  He challenges our self-deceptive existence in which all these competing voices around us sound so good but lead us so badly astray. 

Jesus will destabalize us so that He can re-stabilize us on the solid foundation of Truth.  God is going to lead us toward crucifixion so we can experience resurrection.

“The cross is not the terrible end to an otherwise godfearing and happy life, but it meets us at the beginning of our communion with Christ.”
― Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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[1] According to John D. Crossan, God and Empire: Jesus Against Rome, Then and Now.  

[2] “Paul and Caesar:  A New Reading of Romans”

[3] God and Empire: Jesus Against Rome, Then and Now. Like I said, I don’t recommend you run out and buy his books.