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
Resurrection 2.0: The Empty Tomb
They stood there, stunned and perplexed. Very early that Sunday morning, the women made their way to the tomb, carrying the spices they had prepared. Among them were Mary Magdalene; Joanna; and Mary, Jesus’ mother. Arriving at the tomb they discovered that the huge stone covering the entrance had been rolled aside, so they went in to look. But the tomb was empty. The body of Jesus was gone! They stood there, stunned and perplexed. Suddenly two men in dazzling white robes shining like lightning appeared above them. Terrified, the women fell to the ground on their faces. The men in white said to them, “Why would you look for the living One in a tomb? He is not here, for he has risen! Have you forgotten what he said to you while he was still in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man is destined to be handed over to sinful men to be nailed to a cross, and on the third day he will rise again’?” All at once they remembered his words. Leaving the tomb, they went to break the news to the Eleven and to all the others of what they had seen and heard. When the disciples heard the testimony of the women, it made no sense, and they were unable to believe what they heard. But Peter jumped up and ran the entire distance to the tomb to see for himself. Stooping down, he looked inside and discovered it was empty! There was only the linen sheet lying there. Staggered by this, he walked away, wondering what it meant. (Luke 24:1-12 TPT) No mortal was present when the Spirit of the living God reanimated the lifeless body of Jesus of Nazareth and validated him as Christ, the Son of God, and our Lord (Romans 1:3-4). We sometimes wrongly talk about the early disciples seeing Jesus raised from the dead. The reality of the resurrection leaves us all a bit “stunned and perplexed” because no human personally witnessed how this incredible miracle occurred when GOD was accomplishing it. The exact how of the resurrection remains shrouded in divine mystery. The exact who — Jesus of Nazareth — and the truth that God raised Jesus’ lifeless body from death, however, is not so much a mystery. We can be thankful that the truth of Jesus’ resurrection doesn’t depend upon rumors from self-deluded weirdos. While critics may try to raise questions about the resurrection of Jesus or explain it away, the truth of the early believers’ good news depended upon it being true: And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain (1 Corinthians 15:14). If we label the exact moment of Jesus’ resurrection as Resurrection 1.0, then we can rejoice that those who knew Jesus ensure resurrection 2.0 and 2.1, 2.2, 2.3… 2.500+ (1 Corinthians 15:3-8). The changes in those people, the power behind their message and their fearlessness of faith in Jesus when they had first doubted, all testify that GOD made sure Resurrection 1.0 truly happened in our human history. The empty tomb of Resurrection 1.0 didn’t ensure that Jesus was raised from the dead. Only the physical presence of the resurrected Jesus with people who were devastated and terrified at his execution on the cross ensures Resurrection 2.0. For those of us who believe two-thousand-years later, their testimony becomes our hope and our future. Their energized faith, their bold testimony, and their willing sacrifice of their lives to tell others about what they had seen and heard (Acts 4:19) provides the foundation for our faith. Even their most ardent opponents had to acknowledge that they had been with Jesus (Acts 4:13). These witnesses let everyone know that Jesus was not only their message, but he was also the one who had inaugurated their new movement on Pentecost by pouring out the same powerful Spirit that had given him victory over sin, hell, and death in the resurrection (Acts 2:33-36). Over the next several weeks — as the Lord gives us time — we will look at Resurrection 2.0. We will look at what the earliest believers relied on about the resurrection. My prayer is that this short journey will motivate us to expect in our personal encounter with the resurrected Jesus in ways that he has promised to show himself to us in our day. (The Immanuel Project will be a series of thoughts that will follow our series on Resurrection 2.0.) Today, however, let’s be thankful for the mystery that is the bedrock of our faith. Let’s rejoice that sin, hell, and death could not hold the body of the one who walked as God among us. Let’s be joyful! No grave can hold those whom GOD Almighty loves because it could not keep his beloved Son in death. We choose to find our hope in him! Several decades after Jesus’ resurrection, the impetuous Peter and his beloved churches in Asia minor faced persecution. The faithful apostle shared the following words of hope to forge their commitment to faith for the trials ahead: Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy, he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith — of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire — may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even
Cruciformed #7: He Knew
He knew that people were fickle. They could cry out, “Hosanna!” one day, then cry out, “Crucify him!” a week later. He knew. When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields. Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!” (Mark 11:7-10). He knew. Jesus knew not to place his trust in people because he understood what was inside of people (John 2:24). He knew that people were fickle. They could cry out, “Hosanna!” one day, then cry out, “Crucify him!” a week later. He knew. He knew that as he entered into Jerusalem with cries of adulation by an overjoyed crowd that those shouts of praise were short-lived. He had warned all along his journey to Jerusalem that the religious leaders would reject him, the people who gathered at the cross would ridicule him while he died, and his Father would resurrect him on the third day to the surprise of everyone, even his closest friends who had forsaken him (Mark 8:31-33; 9:30-31; 10:32-34). He knew that his closest disciples would fall asleep on him as he prayed. He knew that his band of apostles would all abandon him and run away when the soldiers arrested him. He knew Judas would betray him. He knew that he would face the torture of his trials alone. He knew that he would endure the humiliation and ridicule of the cross all by himself. He knew. What’s more, he had the power to prevent it. He had the might to stop it. He had the strength to avoid it. He knew, yet he chose the cross. He chose that cross so we would realize that his love could reach us no matter how we had abandoned him. He accepted that cross so we could receive his grace no matter how badly we had fallen. He knew and willed himself to go to that cross to buy our freedom from sin, death, and hell as he served and saved us (Mark 10:45). He knew. And now, so do we. We know that God loved us so much that he would not have eternity without us. We know that Jesus loved us so much he entered the world just as we do, born of a woman so that when our life is over, we could share an immortal body like his and share in his victory. He knew so we could comprehend: Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed — in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” Where, O death, is your victory?Where, O death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:51-57). He knew, yet Jesus chose the cross for us. Over the last few days and journeying through Resurrection Sunday, we have traveled with Jesus to and through his Passion. We remember his journey from his triumphal entry to his conflicts in the Temple and his private moments of prayer in the garden. We walk with Jesus through his betrayal by Judas, onto his denial by Peter, and then to his abandonment by his apostles. We walk with Jesus through his illegal trials before Jewish and Roman leaders and we ultimately arrived at the cross where Jesus was murdered before a bloodthirsty and mocking mob. As Jesus makes this journey, let’s remember that he knew! Jesus knew, yet chose it all, for you and for me! He knew. Special thanks for the use of the Jesus images in Phil’s posts, “The Jesus Window,” to Free Bible Images and The Lumo Project. 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.
Cruciformed #6: The Gamble
As Jesus journeyed into Jerusalem that last time, he had reached the point where he was going to gamble everything on the cross. And they compelled a passerby, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross. And they brought him to the place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull). And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. And they crucified him and divided his garments among them, casting lots for them, to decide what each should take (Mark 15:21-24). Officially, the Roman government executed Jesus on a cross. The Jewish religious leaders had requested his execution after having arranged for his betrayal and arrest with Judas, one of Jesus’ apostles. The crowds who gathered before the Roman governor, Pilate, called for Jesus’ crucifixion and the release of a terrorist named Barabbas. The soldiers beat, mocked, and scourged Jesus. A stranger, Simon of Cyrene, was forced to carry Jesus’ cross because the Lord’s friends had all forsaken him. Soldiers nailed Jesus to the cross to let him suffer before a gawking and mocking mob. These soldiers then callously gambled (casting lots) over Jesus’ clothes while his naked and battered body hung before the mob as he gasped for breath and as his body was slowly drained of life by the torturous ordeal. The soldiers at the cross, however, were not the only ones who gambled at Golgotha. Pilate fearfully bet that Jesus was not whom his followers claimed him to be. He hoped to pacify the Jewish leaders and their mob with Jesus’ crucifixion. The religious leaders risked that they were going to get rid of Jesus once-and-for-all by having him crucified. The crowds gambled that their lust for blood had landed on the right scoundrel. Each of these gambles was wrong: dead wrong. Except, Jesus was the one who was, for a time, dead. The biggest gamble, however, was the one made by Jesus. The Lord knew the swirl of events around the cross was a gamble. Yes, I believe that Jesus is God come in human flesh. Yes, I believe that Jesus has the power to know all things. Somehow, however, Jesus willingly gave up some of those privileges, those powers, to be mortal like us (Philippians 2:5-9). He surrendered those, along with his desire for physical life, in obedience to the Father’s will. He had repeatedly made that choice — first, when he chose to be God-in-human-flesh who was born of woman, born under the Law given to Israel in a world broken by sin, death, and hell (Galatians 4:4). As Jesus journeyed into Jerusalem that last time, he had reached the point where he was going to gamble everything on the cross. His closest followers had just finished their third of three times giving an astoundingly insensitive and ignorant response to Jesus’ statements about his impending death. To their three foolish replies, Jesus captured his mission in a short, clear, summary statement: Jesus called them together and said,… “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). Somewhere along his way into Jericho (Mark 10:46), Jesus knew that the walls that blocked his disciples understanding were not going to fall. They were not going to “get it” — with the “it” being the purpose of his mission, the necessity of his death, the certainty of his rejection by his people, his humiliation at the hands of Roman soldiers, and his ultimate triumph over sin, death, and hell in his resurrection. On the journey to Jerusalem to his cross, Jesus recognized that he was going to die alone. He was fully aware that he was going to be tortured and murdered with no other human who understood what he had to do and what it would cost him. Now despite what folks say today, Jesus believed that the Father would never abandon him in the ordeal of the cross: “Do you now believe?” Jesus replied. “A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me” (John 16:31-32). He trusted that the Father would not abandon him to death (Acts 2:25-29) but would lead him in triumphant procession over the powers of demons, death, and hell (Colossians 2:15; Ephesians 4:8-9; 1 Peter 3:18-22). Despite Jesus’ resolute faith going into his Passion, he later felt desperately alone on the cross. He cried out to God using a Psalm of both desperation and confidence (Psalm 22:1-31 — We must remember Rabbinic practice to recite the first verse of a Psalm to stand for the whole Psalm!). Despite feeling desperately alone when he cried out in his overwhelming feelings of abandonment, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34; cf. Psalm 22:1), Jesus’ faith held on to the promise that victory would ultimately be his — that God would deliver him and his work to bring salvation that would be proclaimed to those not yet born: For he has not despised or scornedthe suffering of the afflicted one;he has not hidden his face from himbut has listened to his cry for help. … All the ends of the earthwill remember and turn to the Lord,and all the families of the nationswill bow down before him,for dominion belongs to the Lordand he rules over the nations. … Posterity will serve him;future generations will be told about the Lord.They will proclaim his righteousness,declaring to a people yet unborn:“He has done it!”(Psalm 22:24, 27-28, 30-31) Jesus felt abandoned, but his trust in God triumphed over his feelings. His faith won out over his fear. He believed God would intervene and bring him victory out of apparent abandonment, torture, and impending death. You and I, dear friend, are
Cruciformed #5: The Power of Small
Jesus’ disciples were clueless. Even worse, they were unwilling to accept that the role of exaltation for Jesus and his followers involved the cross of Golgotha! Jesus’ closest disciples should have already known this particular truth. They had held the proof of it in their hands. Their Lord, the one we love and call Jesus, already had shown great power in small things, small ones, and small faith. Do you remember the small boy with the small picnic lunch of five loaves and two small fish? Do you remember how each of the apostles held the miracle of leftovers in their hands? The feeding of the five thousand had demonstrated the power of small when placed in the hands of Jesus (Mark 6:35-44; cf. Matthew 15:34). Do you recall Jesus’ parables of growth and the mysterious power of seeds? Do you remember Jesus’ parable about the mustard seed, that very tiny seed that grows into something substantial? A little faith, a faith as small as a mustard seed, had incredible power when that faith was directed toward Jesus (Mark 4:30-31; cf. Matthew 17:20). Jesus’ followers should have known him best, but they did not understand him. They had refused to see Jesus’ principle hidden in the mustard seed. They couldn’t grasp that a few loaves and fishes, when shared with Jesus, could feed a multitude. They wouldn’t believe that twelve disciples who had surrendered their will to the Lord could do great things if they were willing to follow him on his way to the cross. They could not understand. Maybe… they chose not to understand. When we read the central discipleship section of Mark’s gospel (Mark 8:22-10:52), Jesus’ disciples were clueless. Even worse, they were unwilling to accept that the role of exaltation for Jesus and his followers involved the cross of Golgotha! You can call them idiots, hard-hearted, ignorant, clueless, or whatever adjective you want. Bottom line, these apostles were loose lug nuts.[NOTE] They were not only noisy, but they were also dangerous. Jesus had known that his apostles soon would be painfully extruded through the battering stress of his crucifixion and their faithlessness to him. The Lord had seen that their confusion would tear them apart and that they would have shattered their faith on their deep disappointment — disappointment in his cross, at their failure, and with the seeming senselessness of it all. Jesus had called these men to a dangerous essential mission. To prepare them, he had chosen to endure the heartbreak of their faithlessness and his agony of the cross. He was determined to awaken them to the power of small! In Mark’s central discipleship section, Jesus had warned his disciples three times that he was going to Jerusalem where he would be rejected, ridiculed, and resurrected. Each of these three times Jesus opened his heart to describe his hard journey, his apostles said something stupid. They displayed their ignorance. They acted insensitively. Peter confessed Jesus as Christ, the Son of God. Jesus said he must suffer, be rejected, killed, and then be raised on the third day. Then, Peter rebuked the Lord for saying that he would die! Jesus was not gentle with his response. He called Peter, Satan, and forcefully told Peter that he had his heart set on the things of mortals and not the will and plan of God (Mark 8:27-8:33). Next, Jesus had withdrawn from the crowds to teach his disciples. He told them that he must go to Jerusalem to be betrayed and killed, then God would raise him three days later. As his disciples had followed him, they had argued about which of them was the greatest among them (Mark 9:30-34). Finally, on their way to Jerusalem, Jesus’ apostles had followed their Master. He had told them that soon, he would be betrayed, tortured, killed, and raised from the dead. James and John, then, cluelessly had asked Jesus to grant them any wish they wanted because they wanted to share in his glory (Mark 10:32-44). Jesus told his closest friends that he was going to be rejected, reviled, and then resurrected in Jerusalem. Three times he had told his disciples that he would be humiliated, beaten, and killed. Astonishingly, these closest friends were little more than loose lug nuts all three times. They had been worried about their importance and wanted to share in Jesus’ glory while he is facing the humiliation, rejection, torture, and death of the cross. Jesus had to go to the cross knowing that those he invested three years of his life to equipping were clueless — even worse than clueless; they were still jockeying for power, position, and prestige. They were clueless about the power of small! Tucked into all of these heart-wrenching misunderstandings, the Lord pointed to his small ones to demonstrate his power in them, through them, and for them: Jesus had healed a boy whom they couldn’t heal. He had demonstrated the power of faith and prayer. He had exercised his power to drive out a terrorizing spirit that controlled this boy. Why? Because small ones matter to the Lord of all things, all powers, and all places. Jesus believed in the power of small (Mark 9:17-29). Jesus had taken a child into his arms. Then, he had told everyone listening that anyone who wanted to share in his kingdom, his all-powerful rule, must welcome people of little or no status, like the child he held (Mark 9:33-37). After a rich man with great resources turned away from following Jesus because of the cost of discipleship, the Lord’s disciples were astounded when he turned and walked away from Jesus. If the rich and powerful wouldn’t follow Jesus, who would?… who could? (Mark 10:35-41). What was Jesus trying to do with his disciples? What was he yearning for them to learn? What should we extract from their experience and the Lord’s words? The power of small! Our future as Jesus’ followers doesn’t depend on our worldly power, position, prestige,
Cruciformed #4: Only by Prayer
Unlike the father of the boy with the tormenting spirit, we don’t confess our unbelief and then ask for help in believing more is possible. Have you ever thought about what it was like for Peter, James, and John coming down from the mountain after Jesus’ transfiguration? Do you ever wonder what stirred inside their hearts? Incredible. Unbelievable. Inconceivable. They had experienced Jesus and the shekinah, the very glory of God as it surrounded Jesus. They had also seen their childhood heroes, Moses and Elijah, visiting with Jesus. Three fishermen who followed an itinerant teacher and prophet from Nazareth and they got to see the most significant leader and lawgiver (Moses) and the greatest prophet (Elijah) in Jewish history. Incredible! Unbelievable. Inconceivable. Suddenly, Moses and Elijah had disappeared, and the voice from heaven told them to listen to Jesus, focus on him and not their heroes because Jesus was God’s Son, the one the Father loved. Their lives should be devoted to his life and re-fashioned by his words. Incredible. Unbelievable! Inconceivable. But then they had come down from this mountain top experience with Jesus only to find reality waiting for them: When they came to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and the teachers of the law arguing with them. As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet him. “What are you arguing with them about?” he asked. A man in the crowd answered, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not” (Mark 9:14-18). “But they could not!” Incredible. Unbelievable. Inconceivable! This episode from Jesus’ ministry with his closest followers is all too real. Most of us have lived it. Sometimes we’ve been those folks who had a mountaintop experience and can’t understand the lame and limp discipleship of those who appear to be placed in front of us to wear the shine off our new-found spiritual passion. Other times, people have been off having a great spiritual retreat while we’ve stayed back and tended to the needs of ministry and found ourselves insufficient to meet them. And we wonder why weren’t those “mountaintop navel gazers” with us when we faced such a hard ministry crisis? Spiritual, real-world, true-to-life, ministry and vibrant faith are hard to accomplish in a world where the evil one tears down what we try to build and our limited abilities smack us in the insecure places of our hearts. So, what is the point of this episode? If it rings with the authentic tones of our troubled world and faulty discipleship, then what are we to take from it? We don’t pray enough, and when we do pray, we pray wimpy prayers. You can dress up the point any way you want, but that’s the truth in cornbread English. Notice how Mark made the point in his story of Jesus: “You unbelieving generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.” … After Jesus had gone indoors [after healing the boy with the tormenting spirit], his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” He replied, “This kind can come out only by prayer” (Mark 9:19, 28-29)> Deep in our hearts, we know it is true: We don’t pray enough, and when we do pray, we pray wimpy prayers. You know it. I know it, and I have thousands of prayers out there in daily devotionals. It’s true of us. We don’t praise and give thanks to God nearly enough for what he is done to bless us. So, we don’t expect much when we do pray because we’ve forgotten all our Father has done for us. Oh sure, most of us have Ephesians 3:20-21 printed on a decorative plaque about God being able to do immeasurably more… yadda yadda yadda. We even want to believe it’s true. The problem is, we fill our hearts with thoughts of our insufficiency for the challenges ahead of us. We hold bitterness in our hearts for our disappointments with our prayers that we feel have gone unanswered. We believe, but unlike the father of the boy with the tormenting spirit, we don’t confess our unbelief and then ask for help in believing more is possible. We believe, but we forget the power of prayer is in its simplicity (Matthew 6:9-13), from hearts filled with expectation (James 1:6-8), and accompanied with our thanksgiving (Colossians 4:2; Philippians 4:6). We forget the thousands of needed things in our lives God has done for us out of his overflowing love and grace. We forget he has chosen to partner with us in HIS kingdom work by HIS power for HIS glory to benefit those HE longs to grace with HIS blessings. So, we say today: Forgive us, Father. We believe, but we need help with our unbelief. You have blessed us with your grace, mercy, and love. You came to us in Jesus and defeated the powers of sin, death, and hell that held us. You have poured your blessings into our lives through your rich mercy and overflowing grace. Forgive us, Father. We pray, but we pray selfish and small prayers. You have repeatedly and graciously answered those prayers. Still, we forget to praise you and thank you. But today, dear Father, please help our unbelief. Trouble us to awaken us to your power available to us in prayer. And, most of all dear Father, thank you for Jesus. We pray by his authority that you defeat the evil one and liberate our loved ones from his tyranny. Break down the walls of our self-doubt and insufficiency. We ask for you to do in our time