Resurrection 2.6: The Lord of Fresh Starts
Wouldn’t life be better if we could have a fresh start after making a mess of things? Years ago while on vacation, I woke up one morning, took my Bible, grabbed my breakfast, and went outside on the back porch. I wanted to enjoy the breeze and the rustling of the pine trees. As I munched my cereal and read, a couple began to play tennis on the nearby court. Their play was awful! The harder they tried, the worse they played. Eventually, they went to a corner of the court, drank some water, talked a bit, then shifted over one court and started playing considerably better. What made the difference in their play? Was there less wind to influence their shots? Was the sun now at a better angle? Was the court surface better than the previous court? I sure couldn’t see any difference in conditions. I chalked up their improved play to their fresh start. The change in courts was more symbol than substance. This couple had decided they would let the bad play on the previous court die there. They decided they would start fresh. It worked. Wouldn’t life be better if we could have a fresh start after making a mess of things? If you know the good news of Jesus, you know our Lord is the Master of fresh starts. His sacrifice on the cross and his resurrection victory over sin, death, and hell are the foundation for us to have a fresh start in our lives. Jesus’ apostle, John, described it this way: If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9) Notice that John promised us much more than forgiveness; he promised us forgiveness and purification! If we are honest and transparent about our failures, he forgives and removes our sin. Our Lord gives us a fresh, new, clean, start on life! Jesus paid the cost for us to have this fresh start through his atoning sacrifice (1 John 2:1-2). How could John know this? How could he be so sure? John had seen Jesus give Peter that gift on a fishing trip. That trip occurred after Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. He had begun to show himself to his followers to prove to them he was alive (1 Corinthians 15:1-11; Acts 1:1-3). His apostles, however, were not quite sure what to do with themselves. One day, Peter turned to some of his buddies (Thomas, Nathaniel, James, John, and two other disciples — John 21:2) and said, “I’m going fishing.” His buddies went with him. Their fishing trip provided Jesus an opportunity to teach them about love, forgiveness, and fresh starts. Reminiscent of a fishing trip over three years earlier, Peter and his friends fished all night and didn’t catch a thing (John 21:3; Luke 5:5). On this occasion, Jesus called to them from the shore, but his disciples didn’t recognize him. The Lord told them to throw their nets on the right side of the boat, and they did. Like that previous time, they caught so many fish they could barely haul them all into the boat (John 21:6; Luke 5:6-7). With the beloved disciple’s help, Peter recognized that the person on the shore must be Jesus, the one who had made a similar miracle happen at the beginning of his ministry. So, Peter jumped out of the boat and swam ashore to greet his resurrected Lord (John 21:7). The other disciples hauled the fish to shore and joined Jesus and Peter on the beach. Over a breakfast of fish, the Lord gently, but consistently, challenged Peter about his arrogance and failure on the night he denied his Lord. Jesus asked Peter, “Do you love me?” He bluntly reminded Peter of his bragging overstatement that if the other apostles turned away from the Lord, he wouldn’t (John 13:27; Mark 14:29). Around this breakfast cookout fire and before the disciples Peter had bragged and then failed, Jesus asked Peter THREE times, “Do you love me more than these?” (John 21:15). Hmm! And Peter had denied his Lord THREE times! Peter got the message: Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the THIRD time, “Do you love me?” (John 21:17 Emphasis added.). Jesus confronted Peter with his failure in front of the people who knew him and his failure, best. Then — and this is the essential part for you and me — the resurrected Jesus called Peter back to leadership and ministry… THREE times: Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.… Take care of my sheep.… Take care of my sheep” (John 21:15-17). Jesus had provided Peter and his friends a miraculous catch of fish earlier so that he could call them to be his apostles (Luke 5:1-11). Now, after Peter’s failure, Jesus provided a second miraculous catch of fish to give him a fresh start rooted in forgiveness and grace. Jesus didn’t just forgive Peter’s sin, but he also removed it from him so that he could start new. Peter’s breakfast on the beach with Jesus is good news for us. Peter’s failure wasn’t final. The Lord led him to confront his sin and then called him back to ministry. He longs to bless us with a similar restoration no matter our personal failures. The love of Jesus demonstrated at the cross provides forgiveness for us. The empty tomb and the gift of the Holy Spirit guarantee us a fresh start at life and ministry. All that’s left for us is to leave that past behind and follow his call. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:… God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:17-21). Special thanks for
Resurrection 2.5: Sarcastic Ridicule
Jesus knew the sting of sarcastic ridicule and unbelief from his family Sarcastic ridicule! All too often we enjoy it at the expense of others. However, when we are in the crosshairs of its vicious bite, we can find ourselves torn apart emotionally and our confidence shattered. As difficult as painful ridicule feels, we can take comfort that we are not alone in facing this emotionally dismantling tool of Satan. As believers, many of us know how faith feels when you are on the wrong end of an increasingly unbelieving world. Some people today believe their job is to sarcastically ridicule people of faith. For them, this is a great sport. Sometimes, unfortunately, this sarcastic ridicule comes from people we love and people we long to bring to Jesus. This kind of ridicule hurts worst! Thankfully for us, however, Jesus knew the sting of sarcastic ridicule from his family: After this, Jesus went around in Galilee. He did not want to go about in Judea because the Jewish leaders there were looking for a way to kill him. But when the Jewish Festival of Tabernacles was near, Jesus’ brothers said to him, “Leave Galilee and go to Judea, so that your disciples there may see the works you do. No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.” For even his own brothers did not believe in him” (John 7:1-5). Because Jesus knows the pain of family rejection and lack of faith, he understands our hurt, too. After all, unless Jesus had given them some heavenly revelation about his identity, how would they knew who he was. He was their brother. They ate together, played together, and did the things that brothers do. No one around Jesus, except for Joseph and Mary, had any inkling that he was someone special. To his brothers, Jesus was the guy in their family who would take over their father’s carpentry business (Mark 6:1-6). They had seen him in his underclothes, and they didn’t see anything special in their brother! If we pay careful attention to the Jesus story, however, these doubting brothers provide us with a reason for us to believe in the resurrection. James the half-brother of Jesus, became the key leader of Christians in Jerusalem as the apostles dispersed throughout the world carrying out Jesus’ mission for them (Acts 12:17; 21:18). James helped ensure that the Gentiles would be included in the family of God without having to become Jews through circumcision (Acts 15:6-21). However, our first clue that Jesus’ brothers had moved from sarcastic derision of their brother to faith in his identity as the Christ, the Son of God, was very soon after Jesus’ resurrection. As the early followers were gathered in Jerusalem after Jesus’ ascension and while they were waiting for the Holy Spirit to bring them power, Luke tells us: Then the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives [after Jesus’ ascension], a Sabbath day’s walk from the city. When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers (Acts 1:12-14 Bold text added for emphasis.). So, what had happened between the sarcastic ridicule Jesus received from his brothers at home and their gathering with his apostles in Jerusalem waiting for him to pour out the Holy Spirit? What changed James and the half-brothers of Jesus from skeptics to followers? Paul helps us understand: For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born (1 Corinthians 15:3-7 Bold text added for emphasis.). Jesus chose to come to his half-brother, the former unbelieving brother, and reveal himself after his resurrection. James was blessed to see Jesus after his resurrection, and from that point forward, we know that he and Jesus’ other half-siblings believed. Remarkably, James went on to be THE great Christian leader in Jerusalem until its destruction around A.D. 70. I am thankful that the New Testament is honest about the skepticism, unbelief, doubt, and sarcastic ridicule of Jesus’ brothers before his death, burial, and resurrection. I am thankful the resurrection accounts remind us of those who doubted, even those like Thomas who disbelieved until he had proof. Their skepticism, and then their later faith-borne passion to give their lives proclaiming Jesus’ resurrection point to a remarkable conviction built upon their experiences with the resurrected Jesus. In the early decades of the church, Christians could point to people who had known Jesus before his death, been devastated by his crucifixion, and who were ignited with passion proclaiming his resurrection. They shared their testimony even if it cost them their lives. In response to threats of bodily injury and death, they answered: Then they[, the Sanhedrin, the Jewish ruling council that sentenced Jesus to death, called Peter and John] in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John replied, “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges! As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.” (Acts 4:17-20;
Resurrection 2.4: When We Hear His Voice
Mary heard his voice call her name and that one word changed everything for her! “Phil, the first voice I will hear now that I am dead will be Jesus’ voice. He will say to me, ‘Lloyd, it’s time to wake up and come home with me!” Lloyd would get tears in his eyes every time he shared that statement with me. He believed it. He built his life upon his trust in Jesus. Most of all, Lloyd anticipated the day when his two dreams would come true: He would be able to hear again. He would meet Jesus face-to-face. Lloyd loved to joke and tease. He would point to the missing end of one finger and joke that he was the only deaf person he knew who spoke with a lisp. Lloyd also deeply loved sharing Jesus with those in the deaf community. He went all over the world, sharing Jesus. I met him because his daughter interpreted for me to the deaf. I loved it when she would reverse-interpret (be the voice) for her dad when he preached to hearing people. And, I loved that he would repeat that statement of faith about hearing Jesus’ voice every time I saw him. Lloyd lived believing that the first voice he would ever hear would be the voice of Jesus. Lloyd’s faith made me want to live in such a way that I was sure the first voice I would hear after I died would be the voice of Jesus. Maybe my experience with Lloyd and his faith is why Jesus’ appearance to Mary Magdalene at the tomb is so precious to me: Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?” “They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”) (John 20:11-16). Mary was devastated by Jesus’ death. She had no apparent hope in Jesus’ resurrection. Mary and several other women and brought spices to the tomb to anoint Jesus’ dead body. Arriving at the tomb, she discovered that the huge stone over the entrance was rolled away and that Jesus’ body was gone. Frantic, heartbroken, and confused, Mary wanted the person she thought was the gardener to tell her where the body of Jesus had been taken. Then, Jesus said one word to her that changed, everything: “Mary.” Instantly, Mary knew Jesus had called her name. Sheep know their shepherd by the sound of his voice (John 10:4-5, 27). Mary knew that this man was Jesus and that his followers needed to know he was alive. Hearing Jesus’ voice say her name was enough for Mary! Anticipating Jesus’ voice, the first voice he would hear after going deaf, was enough for Lloyd. He knew that as soon as he hard the Lord’s voice, like Mary, he would be ready to fall at his feet and worship him as Lord. Lloyd trusted in Jesus’ promise about our resurrection, a resurrection ensured by Jesus’ triumph over sin, death, and hell through his resurrection: “I speak to you eternal truth: Soon the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who listen will arise with life! For the Father has given the Son the power to impart life, even as the Father imparts life” (John 5:25-26 TPT). I am hoping that you and I are like Lloyd: anticipating Jesus’ voice is enough to sustain us until we fall at his feet in worship, thanksgiving, and praise. One day “soon,” we will hear the voice of the Son of God, and because we are listening for our Shepherd’s voice, we “will arise with life!” Resurrection 2.4 is our reminder to keep listening for the moment our Savior calls our name! Special thanks for the use of images related to Jesus’ ministry from The Lumo Project and Free Bible Images for use on this week’s post, “The Jesus Window”! About the author: Phil Ware has authored 11 years of daily devotionals, including VerseoftheDay.com, read by 500,000 people a day. He works with churches in transition with Interim Ministry Partners and for the past 21+ years, he has been editor and president of HEARTLIGHT Magazine, author of VerseoftheDay.com, God’s Holy Fire (on the Holy Spirit), and aYearwithJesus.com. Phil has also authored four books, daily devotionals on each of the four gospels.
Daily Prayer for May 3
But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. 1 Peter 2:20-21, NIV Dear Father in heaven, we thank you that the Savior has been with us on the earth and that in our day we can still follow him and wait for your will and your rulership. For you are Almighty God, and your kingdom must come, your will must be done, and all promises be fulfilled. Carry out your will, we ask and beseech you. Establish your kingdom among all nations, even if today this is possible with only a few. For through your working, hearts can change so that your name may be praised and all promises may be fulfilled. Thanks be to you for allowing us to live in such great hope. Stay by us in our work on earth so that it may be done in your service. In every situation deepen our longing for the Savior to come and establish your kingdom. Be with us during the night and bless us in your great goodness and faithfulness. Amen. Recent articles on Plough Hunting the Wild Fringe Lily Donal McKernan Searching for an elusive flower in rural Australia, a father and daughter uncover a world of biodiversity. Read now Riding the Greyhound Sarah Ball Long distance bus rides mean being trapped for hours with other people’s troubles. But I’ve found something more. Read now Definition of a Good Farmer Philip Britts Long before regenerative agriculture was a thing, this farmer advocated for respect and care for the land. Read now Jimmy Carter and Servant Leadership Andy Stanton-Henry Even if Jimmy Carter wasn’t the saint some have made him, we could use more examplars of his approach to leadership. Read now Who Will Help a Stranded Manatee? Boze Herrington A. M. Juster’s children’s picture book Girlatee smuggles a timely message into a breezy tale. Read now
Resurrection 2.3: Unless…!
If Jesus was truly raised from the dead, then this new reality would call for Thomas to radically re-orient his life [Let me tell you about] the gospel of God — the gospel he promised before and through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 1:4-5). “Unless…” We must not rush past Thomas’ demand for proof! We must not confuse Thomas’ demand with uncertainty or doubt. His “Unless…” would have never been uttered if he hadn’t demanded to know for certain that Jesus was alive. After all, the Jesus Thomas had loved, the Jesus he had followed, was the Jesus who had died so gruesomely, utterly rejected and humiliated, leaving Thomas and his friends devastated, fearful, and without hope. While some view Thomas as far less than a hero, I love Thomas’ reaction to the other disciples: Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe” (John 20:24-25). For some, belief in Jesus’ resurrection sure seems to be easy for them. For others, trust in Jesus’ resurrection was a faith into which they were born and raised. For others, however, faith in Jesus’ resurrection seems impossible, or at best, very hard to believe. I am so thankful for Thomas. He doesn’t mention doubt. There is nothing said about Thomas doubting in the Bible. “Doubting Thomas” is our title for him. The truth is far harsher: Thomas didn’t doubt. Thomas wouldn’t believe. “Unless…” Don’t rush past Thomas’ demand for proof! He needed more than a few friends getting all excited about an idea before accepting their idea as his reality. He wanted hard evidence that Jesus was raised from the dead before he would have a faith he owned for himself. We live in a day when so few people look at anything critically. We will buy almost any story on the internet if it supports our biases. We want to be part of groups that share our prejudices. We want to connect with ideas and movements that excite us and attach us with others who are like us. Thomas could have acquiesced to the opinion and pressure of his buddies. He didn’t. He wouldn’t! “Unless…” Thomas said. He had to know for sure that Jesus had triumphed over death and was alive. If Jesus had defeated death through resurrection, then this new reality would call for Thomas to radically re-orient his life. The truth of a resurrected Jesus meant that Jesus was even higher than the person Thomas had followed for over three years. This reality — and the resurrected Jesus behind it — would call him to give up everything to help others know Jesus and who he was. He was ready to do that if he could know it was true, but he wouldn’t believe it. “Unless…” We can be thankful that Jesus helped him with his demand! A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop [disbelieving] and believe” (John 20:26-27). I know the word “disbelieving”, that is in brackets in the verses above, is “doubting” in nearly every translation you’ve ever read. But the word Thomas used is not the word for doubt, but the word for unbelief. In fact, the word for believing is pistos, and the word for disbelieving is apistos. That “a” (or alpha in Greek) on the front end of the word makes the word mean the opposite of believing. In my world, there is a big difference between doubters and those who won’t believe. There is a harder edge toward faith when someone has chosen not to believe. Thomas emphatically said he “certainly would not believe” (John 20:25):[NOTE] he had made a choice, a commitment, not to believe. So, Jesus gave Thomas undeniable proof that he was alive after being dead. He gave him similar proof to what he had given the other disciples when he had asked those disciples to touch him and then ate fish with them after his resurrection (Luke 24:36-43). Jesus told Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side.” Why am I making such a big deal about disbelieving and believing? Because of Thomas’ reaction to Jesus who demonstrated that he was alive, triumphant over death and the grave. Once he realized that Jesus was truly alive, this was his reaction: Thomas said to [Jesus], “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28). John had told us at the beginning of his good news story of Jesus that Jesus was God — creator, eternally existent, the source of light and life (John 1:1-13). John also told us that Jesus was God walking among those he created and making known to them how the eternal and almighty God loves us and cares for us (John 1:14-18). John wanted everyone to know that any title given to Jesus, any description of Jesus as a great teacher, a powerful spiritual being, or a great man, is an insult to Jesus. Such depictions fall far short of Jesus and his true identity! The resurrected Jesus demonstrated that he was alive to Thomas. His victory over sin, death, and hell show us that he is both “Lord and God”! So, the real question
Resurrection 2.2: Sometimes, I Doubt!
Do doubts mean I don’t believe? Life is hard. People can let us down. Church people can wound us. Our prayers can feel like they go unanswered and ignored. Our physical health can deteriorate. Aging can steal a loved one’s mind before that precious one’s body gives out. We grow weary and worn by our circumstances or the monotony of our lives or the lack of joy we meet in each day. Before long, we can find ourselves beginning to doubt. We can sometimes doubt God’s goodness or doubt Jesus’ concern for us or doubt the historical reality of Jesus’ resurrection. Unfortunately, we fear to talk to anyone about our doubts. We wrestle with them alone. But why are we afraid to admit our doubts? Have we forgotten that we are not alone in having doubts? When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. But they [the apostles] did not believe the women, because their [the women’s] words seemed to them like nonsense (Luke 24:9-11). The apostles of Jesus doubted the news of his resurrection when they first heard. They were broken, weary, fearful, and shattered by their abandonment of their Lord, the ordeal of his crucifixion, and the horrors of Golgotha. Doubt was much easier to muster than faith or hope. Why do we give Thomas the nickname “Doubting Thomas”? Didn’t he state the obvious? Don’t we all know that dead people don’t rise from the dead and we’re not going to believe resurrection happens until we see it? So, if we watch and listen to the reactions of Jesus’ first disciples to his resurrection — if we linger with them in their doubt — then maybe we can find some peace and hope in our doubts! Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe” (John 20:24-25). The first reaction of nearly all of Jesus’ closest friends to reports that he has risen from the dead was pretty much like our initial reaction would be: “I doubt it!” The women who went to the tomb weren’t expecting him to rise from the dead (John 20:1-2; Luke 24:1-6). The apostles who heard the women’s testimony about Jesus being raised from the dead didn’t believe them (Luke 24:9-11). Peter and John weren’t expecting Jesus to be raised from the dead when they ran to the tomb based on the women’s report (Luke 24:12; John 20:3-9). The disciples on the road to Emmaus weren’t expecting Jesus to be raised from the dead and did not recognize him even as he walked, talked, and taught them (Luke 24:13-35). The rest of the apostles were not believers in Jesus’ resurrection until he appeared to them in the upper room and ate fish to prove he wasn’t merely a vision (Luke 24:36-45). Even as Jesus neared giving his final words to his disciples, some still doubted (Matthew 28:16-17). Skeptics doubting the bodily resurrection of Jesus shouldn’t surprise anyone. In fact, our occasional moments of doubt as Jesus’ followers shouldn’t surprise us. To put the matter simply, our experience makes clear that dead people don’t rise from the dead. Funerals are our final farewell to the bodily presence of those we love, not a prelude to their appearance at a dinner party three days later. A buried person’s body might appear again for exhumation, but not for conversation at a celebration dinner (Luke 24:36-43) or a beachside picnic (John 21:1-14). Doubters are not bad people; they’re just realistic ones. Those early doubters were not faithless, just normal. However, their skepticism followed by their passion become the foundation for the essential conviction of Christian faith: Jesus died, was buried, and was raised never to die again, and, fully alive, Jesus appeared to people who knew him (1 Corinthians 15:1-7). Christianity isn’t a religious philosophy, but a faith built on a historical fact: Jesus rose from the dead. If Jesus did not rise from the dead, then Christianity and Christian faith are futile and pitiable — as the apostle Paul said (1 Corinthians 15:). Those early Christian witnesses of the resurrected Jesus were either liars and lunatics, or they were witnesses to a resurrected Jesus they called Lord. Those early doubters-turned-to-witnesses, however, become one of the foundations on which we can build our faith. They proclaimed a risen Jesus whom God made both Lord and Christ (Acts 2:33-36). They proclaimed this to the people who first had Jesus condemned and executed (Acts 2:32-36; Acts 4:1-13) — people they feared and from whom they hid in a locked room (John 20:19). They openly proclaimed Jesus’ resurrection fifty days after Jesus’ resurrection, allowing for anyone who wanted to try and contradict them (1 Corinthians 15:3-7). They wrote about Jesus’ resurrection while there were still witnesses around to either confirm or deny their claims and in the places where Jesus was known. Even more astonishingly, these once timid and fearful folks were so emboldened after their encounters with the resurrected Jesus that they were willing to give their lives for their testimony (Acts 4:18-34; Acts 12:1-4). This change may be the greatest testimony of all because their message didn’t make sense to their world (1 Corinthians 1:20-25, 30-31; 1 Corinthians 2:1-2). Their proclamation of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead wasn’t easily received by a world that didn’t believe in any form of bodily resurrection (Acts 17:12-16, 30-32; 1 Corinthians 2:3-5). Despite every reason not to proclaim this message of a resurrected Jesus, those early disciples completely reoriented their lives to declare it. Peter
Daily Prayer for April 30
He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” Luke 22:41-42, NIV Dear Father in heaven, we lift our eyes to you. You allow earthly events to follow their own course, and even your own Son had to suffer and die. But your plan is already prepared and you will act in our time according to your will. We pray, “Your will be done, your will!” In the midst of all the suffering let your love be revealed in many places, wherever it is possible for people to understand it. You have always protected us; protect us still. You have done much for us and we want to praise your name. We want to be people who always acknowledge you and praise you, for you will never let any be lost who hope in you. Be with us this night, help us, and send us the strength we need to serve you, also in our everyday life. Amen. Recent articles on Plough Jimmy Carter and Servant Leadership Andy Stanton-Henry Even if Jimmy Carter wasn’t the saint some have made him, we could use more examplars of his approach to leadership. Read now Who Will Help a Stranded Manatee? Boze Herrington A. M. Juster’s children’s picture book Girlatee smuggles a timely message into a breezy tale. Read now “If I Go Back, They Will Kill Me” Sarah Killam Crosby Helping refugees in Greece and Nevada has given me a different perspective on views I hear from many Christians today. Read now The Story of a Controversial Devotional Painting Joseph Michael Fino, CFR Most devotional art is old, formal, and sentimental. The painting I brought to church on Divine Mercy Sunday, a week after Easter, was none of these. Read now Not Just Good, but Beautiful: Complementarity as Divine Harmony Pope Francis Over a decade ago, Pope Francis reflected on the beauty of complementarity between man and woman in marriage. Read now
Resurrection 2.1: In the Breaking of the Bread
What if this song speaks the truth about Jesus’ promise to meet us in our world today? Years ago, one of the songs youth groups sang had these words: Have you seen Jesus my Lord,He’s here in plain view.Take a look, open your eyes;He’ll show it to you. What if these words are much more than cheesy lyrics to an emotional youth group song from long ago and far away? What if this song speaks the truth about Jesus’ promise to meet us in our world today? As we think about Jesus’ resurrection, we must not confine the reality of the risen Christ to a few Sunday appearances after his resurrection (John 20:19-28), a fishing trip with a few of his apostles (John 21:1-14), or the forty days he showed himself alive with many convincing proofs (Acts 1:1-3). As important as Jesus’ historical bodily post-resurrection appearances were to his disciples, Jesus promised more than these appearances. The Christ promised to be present with us as we live as his disciples in an authentic community (Matthew 18:20 and the context of chapter 18), genuine compassion (Matthew 25:40 and the context of chapter 25), and on mission making disciples (Matthew 28:18-20). I believe if we spent more time reading the four gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), we would find many ways Jesus promised to be present with us today. We often overlook one of these times that the Lord assured he would be present: The Lord’s Supper — also called The Eucharist, Holy Communion, and The Supper. Unfortunately, much of our modern church practice has reduced The Supper to an assembly line, get-it-done-in-a-hurry, passing of crackers and juice. Often, this practice drains our holy encounter with Jesus of his anticipated presence and spiritual mystery. This modern celebration of The Supper reduces the body and blood of Jesus to a small crumble of cracker and a quick sip of wine or grape juice. For many churches, it’s a seldom held occurrence. For others, it’s treated almost as a nuisance, or interruption: something to get done in a hurry to keep our worship productions on schedule. Even when churches claim The Supper is cherished and celebrated weekly (cf. Acts 16:20), some allow it to become routine, merely symbolic, and quickly administered. What if Jesus is present in our celebration of The Supper? What if he does meet us as our host in the breaking of the bread?[SONG] What if the sharing of The Supper is a time when Jesus steps through the boundaries of history and fulfills our anticipation of his presence while we await the Kingdom in all its fullness? What if we, too, are supposed to recognize Jesus among us in the breaking of the bread and the sharing of the cup? What if there is as much mystery, Kingdom, and presence in our celebration of The Supper as there is the memory of what he accomplished at Golgotha and the empty tomb? When Jesus shared The Supper with his disciples before his death, he made some compelling claims. The bread is his body — nowhere does Scripture say it represents his body or is an emblem of anything: it is his body, and we are his body as we share in taking the bread. The wine is his blood: it was poured out for many and is the seal of a new covenant that brings grace and the forgiveness of sin. Even more, for early believers, Jesus’ promises to be present and be recognized among them were more than mere echoes from the past. They were opportunities to encounter their living Lord: When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. And he said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the Kingdom of God.” After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among you. For I tell you I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until the Kingdom of God comes” (Luke 22:14-17). When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread (Luke 24:30-35). Let’s challenge each other to more: More than crackers and juice.More than a routine ritual to get done in a hurry.More than an intrusion into our song and sermon filled services designed to entertain and delight. Let’s challenge each other to more: More openness to mystery.More anticipation of the Lord’s presence.More Jesus! Near the close of the first century, Jesus spoke to the believers at Laodicea. These people had never seen him — except for John who sent them this letter. However, Jesus gave them a promise. He promised them, and us: Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me (Revelation 3:20). Jesus’ promise to come in an eat with us was NOT given to unbelievers. This promise was an altar call to believers whose faith had grown stale, whose worship had become routine, and whose discipleship had grown lukewarm (Revelation 3:14-16). That promise remains viable for us today. We need to open our hearts to more: to our living and resurrected Lord. Jesus longs
Daily Prayer for April 25
And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying to me, “Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last. I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death.” Revelation 1:17-18, NIV Lord our God, we thank you with all our hearts that Jesus Christ still lives today and that we may believe in him and call upon him as our Savior. We thank you for him who sees to the depths of our human misery and calls right into the midst of it, “Do not be afraid. I am with you. I live. I am your helper. No matter how insignificant you are, fear not, for I, Jesus Christ, shine into all the darkness, even into the darkness of sin and death, into all the judgment that has fallen or is still to come upon everyone on Earth.” Praise to your name, Lord our God! You are great and almighty and beyond our understanding. But you have sent us the Savior whom we can understand, and we rejoice that we may have community with him in your presence. Amen. Recent articles on Plough Not Just Good, but Beautiful: Complementarity as Divine Harmony Pope Francis Over a decade ago, Pope Francis reflected on the beauty of complementarity between man and woman in marriage. Read now The Freedom to Read Charlie Tyson What is driving the decline of reading? It may not be what you think. Read now Baghardj to Die For Narine Abgaryan, Margarit Ordukhanyan and Zara Torlone In a short story set in war-torn Armenia, a father and his wounded son live for their neighbor’s daily gift – golden, flaky, and tasting like sunlight. Read now The Library of Convicts Dan Grote When an inmate finds the prison library inadequate, he takes matters into his own hands. Read now A Delicious History of a Humble Fruit Hadden Turner Sally Coulthard’s new book The Apple: A Delicious History uncovers the intriguing and sometimes absurd history of this alluring fruit. Read now
Cruciformed #8: The Land of In-between
That unsettling We don’t like being in between anything — not big trucks on the highway, not a rock and a hard place, not jobs, not a hammer and nail, and not feuding neighbors. But that’s likely where we’ll spend much of our time in life, in a place I call that “Land of In-between”! That unsettling “Land of In-between” was where the disciples of Jesus were mid-week after his resurrection. They had seen him, experienced him alive after his death, on that incredible Resurrection Sunday. Based on what we see in the gospels, however, Jesus’ disciples didn’t see him again until the following Sunday a week later. What happened? What were they thinking during that time? How did they survive? What were they supposed to do? If we are honest, we don’t know. We can speculate, but that usually gets one in trouble or sidetracked on our own personal agendas. I believe we need to acknowledge that these early disciples were incredibly blessed with a once-in-a-lifetime experience. They were then left in that “Land of In-between” to contemplate what had happened and anticipate when they might see the risen Lord again. In many ways, they were caught in a situation much like we are: They were convinced the Lord had risen from the grave but were left to face their own failures, faithlessness, excitement and bewilderment with a bit of uncertainty. Mark emphasizes this uncertainty with the way his good news story of Jesus probably concludes: When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body. Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?” But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’” Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid (Mark 16:1-8). “Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb…. because they were afraid.” What? Mark’s shorter ending feels weird, even lacking, to many folks the first time they read it. So much so that after Mark’s gospel was circulated for several decades, faithful Jesus-following people added a longer ending to his gospel, adding material found in Matthew and Luke.[NOTE] If we are honest with our hearts, however, we know a little how they felt — “trembling and bewildered” as we think about proclaiming the resurrected Lord. God had just done something wonderful, something beyond incredible. But, who would have believed it, much less understood it, at their first exposure to this truth? What were the disciples supposed to do in response to such an incredible event like Jesus’ resurrection? They were caught in a strange place between an astounding experience and daily living in the real world. They had experienced the impossible after unbearable grief. Suddenly, they were caught in that “Land of In-between” — and so are we who believe in Jesus’ resurrection so many years later. Matthew, Luke, and John tell us what happened after Jesus’ resurrection in much more detail. They tell us how the women overcame their fear, met Jesus, told the apostles, and were belittled for what they said. They tell us how Peter and John ran to the tomb and discovered Jesus’ body was not there. Luke tells us the beautiful story of how Jesus joined two disciples on the road to Emmaus and opened their eyes as he broke the bread for them. Later, Jesus joined his apostles (except for Thomas) in the upper room where they were hiding in fear. The Lord showed them his scars, comforted them with his peace, and ate fish in front of them to show that he was not a ghost or a vision. Their beloved Jesus had defeated death and risen from the grave. Suddenly, however, Jesus vanished from sight. They believed, but some doubted — especially Thomas who had not experienced Jesus’ appearance to them. What were they supposed to do? Where were they supposed to go? When was he coming back? When were… You get the idea. After that first Sunday night, Jesus’ disciples were all stuck in that “Land of In-between” — a place where many of us have also found ourselves. While life brings us many ups and downs, most of us will spend a lot of our time somewhere in-between. Like being married to someone you love. We enjoy times of absolute and sheer delight. We face times of hurt, sadness, and sorrow. However, most of us spend large chunks of our lives in partnership — not always in a blazing fire of passion but fueled by a constant flame of security, hope, peace, companionship, care, concern, tenderness, anticipation, and love. Those long passages waiting in that “Land of In-between” help us anticipate God’s great moments yet to come for us and prepare ourselves to survive the inevitable lows. In between those first two Sundays after Jesus’ resurrection, the Lord gave his disciples a week to regain their footing, ponder their experiences, re-direct their faith, and think through their future. He gave them time in that “Land of In-between” to prepare for what was yet to come. The Lord didn’t leave them a laundry list of things to do to keep them busy during this time. He provided them