How Jesus’ resurrection can give us new life – John 20, Part 5

After assuring doubting Thomas that he, Jesus, truly has a body that is alive, Jesus makes a powerful remark that I love.  Jesus talks about you and me.  Look at John 20, verse 29.

“Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

You and I live in the same place Thomas started at, the place of not having seen Jesus alive.  Jesus knows that there will be many others who will not get the privilege Thomas had of eventually seeing his scars in person.  That’s us. Jesus knows how much more difficult it will be for us to believe without that physical evidence, and therefore Jesus said we have a special blessing.  Not sure what blessing.  But I like the sound of it. 

It is not easy to believe that a dead guy came back to life.  That is what we believe.  Jesus didn’t just come back to life spiritually, he came back to life in his body.  He didn’t fall into a coma, he was really dead, and really came back alive.  His disciples didn’t hallucinate or see a ghost.  They saw the risen physical Jesus. 

He defeated sin, death and the devil, and through his resurrection you and I can receive forgiveness and be reconciled to God, which means that we can experience abundant life now and have the promise of eternal life in heaven.  

Jesus’ resurrection truly changes everything. This is why in the book of Acts, the Apostle Paul constantly talks about Jesus’ resurrection.  This is why when Paul was testifying before the Roman governor Festus in Acts 26, and Paul is talking about Jesus’ resurrection, Festus interrupts Paul and says, “You’re out of your mind, Paul.” 

Paul says, “But I am not.  It is all true.”  Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15 that numerous people saw the risen Jesus.  Then he says this about Jesus’ resurrection:

“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. Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”

You and I can experience this victory too.  I’m not saying that we will have a perfect life because of Jesus’ resurrection.  I’m saying that just as resurrection is new life, Jesus wants us to experience new life.  He wants us to experience abundant life, with the good things of the Spirit flowing freely out of our lives.  This is why I talk about the Fruit of the Spirit so much.  Jesus’ resurrection makes it possible for us to be reconciled to God, makes it possible for us to be transformed people, makes it possible for us to have transformed relationships.  Jesus’ resurrection changes everything.

This is why Paul talked about the resurrection constantly, and so should we.  I encourage you to make it your goal to ask people this week about the resurrection.  Say, “Can I ask you a question? We were talking about something in church this week, and I wonder what you think about it?  Jesus’ resurrection.  What do you think about it?”  And pray that God’s Spirit will be at work in the conversation. 

I think we need to be people who have Jesus’ resurrection always on our minds.  Always forming our lives. 

So as we conclude this week’s series of posts about the new life that is possible for us through the resurrection of Jesus, hear this prayer of Paul in Ephesians 1: “For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.”

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The mission of forgiveness and the faithfulness of doubt – John 20, Part 4

After first appearing to Mary, Jesus next appears to the disciples.  Look at John 20, verse 19,

“On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

I love that twice Jesus declares, “Peace be with you.”  He declares peace probably because of the way he just shows up among them.  This is a supernatural appearing, John tells us, because the doors are locked.  So the disciples would likely have been shocked at his sudden apparition.  They need some peace.  They need to see that it is really him.

Notice what Jesus said to them after he settled them down.  “As the Father sent me, I am sending you.” Then he breathed on them to receive the Spirit.  It seems that this breathing was symbolic of what was going to happen in the near future when the Spirit would arrive as a rushing wind and fill them.  That event happens about a month and a half later on the day of Pentecost.

Jesus’ point here is that they now have a mission.  They are sent by him.  That mission remains to this day.  Every disciple of Jesus, and that means you and me, are sent ones.  We have all been called by Jesus, sent on mission for him.  What mission?

Jesus specifies that his disciples are on mission to invite people to receive forgiveness.  The way the NIV translates this makes it sound like we disciples of Jesus have the power to forgive sin, and that translation is unfortunate.  Only God has that power.  It is far better to translate the passage in line with the original, which is like this: “those whose sins you forgive have already been forgiven.”  Meaning it was Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection that does the work of forgiveness.  Not us.  It is God’s work.  So we invite people to enter into that forgiveness.  What good news that is!  Jesus is alive, and as a result, all people can have forgiveness. People can be reconciled to God and experience the freedom of forgiveness. 

You know how powerful the freedom of forgiveness is.  When people do not forgive us, we can feel locked in a prison.  I’ve written here my story about when I was 17, driving recklessly, hit an Amish buggy, and a women inside died.  The next day my parents and I went to the viewing and there her parents and her husband forgave me.  They freed me.  That was a really intense moment that involved the loss of life.  Most situations requiring forgiveness happen in much smaller ways in our marriages, with our parents, with our kids, with our friends.  We should freely forgive those who hurt us because God has forgiven us.  Jesus points this out, that you and I are on a mission of helping people know, experience and live in the freedom of God’s forgiveness.

Then we learn that one of Jesus 11 disciples wasn’t there to hear about the mission of forgiveness. 

Let’s read starting at verse 24.

“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.” 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 doubting and believe.” Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”

I think Thomas is the best.  He is not afraid to doubt.  We should be like Thomas.  Doubt is often looked down upon as if it means we are faithless and have turned our back on God. I disagree.  Jesus totally welcomes Thomas’ doubt. And Jesus will welcome our doubt.  Doubt is not faithless, it is faithful.  We all have doubts.  Those doubts need to be expressed and discussed.  Yes, those doubts are sometimes scary, but they give God and others the opportunity to respond to the doubts.  Not that every doubt has an easy answer.  Most doubts don’t have easy answers, and some have no satisfying answers.  Otherwise they wouldn’t be doubts.  The nature of doubts is that they are usually tough questions about life, God, fairness and faith.  That is exactly what is going on with Thomas.  “Jesus was dead and is now alive?  Come on, guys. That’s ridiculous. I won’t believe it until I see it.”  I love that.

Jesus shows up again, says, “Peace be with you again,” and then confirms to Thomas that this story is for real.  Now Thomas has no choice but to worship!  He’s Alive!  Everything Jesus said is true, and everything has changed. 

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How Jesus’ resurrection brings new life to female voices – John 20, Part 3

In John 20, right after his resurrection, Mary Magdalene is at the garden tomb, weeping. The past few days have been horrible, with Jesus’ arrest, beating, and crucifixion. Now his body is missing. As we learned in the previous post, Jesus is alive and meets Mary there in the garden, simply saying her name, “Mary.” She looks up, instantly recognizes him, and hugs him.

Then Jesus says that Mary should not hold on to him. Is Jesus being cold to her?  If I were Mary, I would be having one of those moments of emotional whiplash where you think you’ve lost someone, then you realize they are found, and you’re thinking, “I am never letting go of you ever again.”  Perhaps Mary is feeling that or something like it. 

But Jesus isn’t there to stay.  He’s alive, yes!  But he tells Mary that he will soon ascend to the Father.  So don’t hold tightly Mary.  Instead, Jesus says, “I have a mission for you. Go tell the disciples what you have seen and heard.” If Mary holds tightly to his body, she will not be able to fulfill this mission.  This is why we Christians would do well to make a big deal not only about Easter, but also Ascension Day and Pentecost Day.  All three days remind us, as Jesus teachers Mary in this moment, that we are people on a mission.  What that means is that now Mary is the proper evangelist.  She has good news now.  And she tells it, as we read in verse 18.

“Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.”

The first evangelist has now delivered the first evangelistic message.  Jesus wanted Mary to preach good news, and she did it.  Notice the gender.  The woman preached good news to the men.  This is not some minor point.  John places it central to the story of the resurrection.  That is because resurrection is about new life. 

In Jesus’ resurrection he has created a new way of life, and that means he has overturned the old way of life.  Jesus could have said, “It’s good to see you Mary, but I need to talk with the men.” He didn’t do that. He affirms Mary’s voice and role, and he gives her a mission.

John himself supports this by including Mary’s story in the narrative. Think about that. John is likely writing this story about 60 years after it happened. The Roman Empire at that time, around 90 AD, is still highly patriarchal. The story of a woman at the center of the most important event in Christianity could be conceived as detrimental to the mission of the Kingdom. We could make the argument that John would have been more missionally expedient if he included only stories of the men.

But that would not be true to the new life of the resurrection. The new way of Jesus includes the voices of women.  This is striking because Jesus was creating this new life in a time and place during which the voices of women had mostly been silenced.  What Jesus is doing, and what John is pointing out by telling us this, is that the voices of women are equally central to the mission of Jesus.

The voices of women proclaim good news.  We need both male and female voices because both males and females are called by God to tell what they see and hear, so that all people might experience the abundant new life of Jesus. 

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The moment that changes everything – John 20, Part 2

Mary Magdalene has been having a difficult morning. What happens next is nothing short of world-changing. 

“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.”

Think with me for a moment about Mary’s morning so far.  Mary had already visited the tomb, found it empty, then she went back to the room where they were staying, and told the disciples.  Now we learn that when Peter and John ran to the tomb, Mary followed them back.  But when Peter and John return to the room, Mary remains at the tomb. 

Makes you wonder if Mary was doing some investigating.  It seems she is more bold, more curious, and more willing to put herself out there.  Perhaps the male disciples are truly more under the microscope because of their patriarchal culture. The Roman and Jewish authorities would be primarily thinking that only the males mattered.  Mary can fly under the radar a bit.

She’s also crying, weeping really.  Maybe just because Jesus’ body is gone.  Maybe her emotion stems from the whole roller coaster of events of the last week.  No doubt this situation is charged with all sorts of feelings.  

And in the middle of her weeping, she finds angels sitting in the tomb!  That would be astounding.  I hardly know what to say about it.  

I do wonder why Peter and John didn’t see the angels.  Maybe it is simply that only after Peter and John leave that the angels show up. 

Meeting angels probably has Mary, who is already crying, feeling even more emotion.  Usually in Scripture when angels appear, people express fear.  We do not read that Mary is fearful, only that she is weeping.  My guess is that you have been in a situation like Mary.  One of those situations when it’s just one thing after the other.  In a short period of a few days, you experience the loss of a loved one, friends who turn out to be betrayers, issues with government authorities.  It’s a lot.

So I wonder if she hears the angels ask, “Why are you crying?” and thinks, “You guys have no idea.”  Or maybe she knew they were angels and thought, “Uh…you guys are angels…how do you not know what has been going here these last few days?”  Obviously, we’re not really sure about Mary’s theology of angels, what she thinks about how much it is possible for angels to know. 

What we do now is this: the angels know that Mary doesn’t need to be crying.  But Mary doesn’t know that yet.  She is forlorn.  And then it happens.  Look at verse 14.

“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.”

What a moment. Mary, in the middle of weeping, mourning, confusion, seeing angels!, she turns to hear another person ask her why she is crying.  Thinking about it, it is quite normal for people to ask, “Why are you crying?”  If you don’t know the person crying, it is a way of saying, “Are you okay?”  You want to be helpful. 

Mary answers the question.  She’s crying because the body of her Lord has been moved, and she wants to know where, so she can return it.  Maybe, she thinks, someone has mistakenly moved it.  Maybe the religious leaders have stolen it.  So many maybes.  Maybe this gardener knows.

But this person is no gardener.  This person knows her name.  “Mary.”  At that moment we read,

“She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”). Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ”

Instantly Mary is aware.  When Jesus says her name, she immediately knows it is him.  The body hasn’t been moved; the body is moving because he is alive, and she hugs him.

This changes everything.  Not just for Mary, but for all people.  Jesus is alive.  How does this change everything?  Check back tomorrow for the next post, as we begin to learn how the resurrection of Jesus changes everything.

A confusing beginning to Jesus’ resurrection – John 20, Part 1

We make a big deal about Jesus’ resurrection on Easter.  But I wonder how much you have thought about the resurrection since Easter?  Do you think about the resurrection much?  I suspect most of us, me included, think about it around Easter, and maybe every now and then when a song mentions it.  But I would guess it is not a thought that occupies our minds all that much.  Is that a concern? Should we be thinking about Jesus’ resurrection more frequently?  And better yet, should our thinking about the resurrection motivate us to do something?

Last week we studied chapter 19, when Jesus’ death and burial happened on a Friday.  Notice what day of the week chapter 20 begins on.  

“Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”

Chapter 20 begins on the first day of the week.  In the Jewish culture that was Sunday, the day after Sabbath, which was Saturday. The Jewish religious system had all sorts of regulations strictly detailing what could and could not happen on the Sabbath day.  Jesus’ followers abided by Sabbath law and didn’t do anything on Saturday that we know of.

So early Sunday morning, Mary Magdalene, one of Jesus’ followers visits the tomb.  I wish we knew more about her.  All we know is that Jesus healed her of demon possession, and she became one of his followers.  I find it interesting how she, and not one of the 11 disciples, comes to the tomb.  Keep note of that, because John seems to make a point in his telling of the resurrection to feature Mary. 

What she finds at the tomb is shocking.   The stone rolled away from the entrance. She has to tell someone!  So Mary runs to where the disciples were staying and she declares her message, the news of the empty tomb. 

Do you see what that means?  Mary is the first evangelist in Scripture. Evangelist?  What do I mean by that?  Evangelist and evangelism do not refer only to spiritual things like preaching.  The word was used in that era to refer to “the act of declaring good news”.  An evangelist was anyone who told about good news. 

Mary has some news to share, but is it good news yet?  Of course, she doesn’t yet know the whole story. Why Mary jumps to the conclusion that Jesus’ body was moved, we don’t know.  We could speculate a whole host of reasons why.  

Actually, in a way she is right.  His body was moved.  Just not how Mary thinks.  Mary thinks a human must have moved the body.  But we know what really happened.  The body moved all by itself, and that empty tomb is very good news.

Also, it is very interesting that Mary, a female, is the one with the news.  In that patriarchal culture, you’d think it would be Peter or one of the males.  But John makes it very clear that the first one to share news, to testify, to witness, is Mary. 

So let’s keep reading.

“So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.”

Peter hears from Mary that the body of Jesus has moved, and Peter bolts out the door to see for himself.  The other disciple, who we believe is John referring to himself, follows Peter.  I find it hilarious that John includes the detail that as they are running to the tomb John overtakes Peter.  What does this detail add to the story?  Maybe a sense of their urgency?  I suspect John, writing in his old age, is just letting his readers know, “By the way, I am faster than Peter.”  Ha!  What really matters is that they both see the empty tomb. 

John tells us it was at that moment that he believed, but he also tells there is still some confusion because John also tells us that the disciples didn’t understand that Jesus had to rise from the dead.  Maybe John thought Jesus’ body had been taken up to heaven. 

Maybe they are also fearing for their lives, because they do not investigate the missing body.  Belief is messy thing, isn’t it?  We believe, but we also have doubts, which we’ll talk about more in a future post this week. 

Peter and John go back to report to everyone else what they saw. 

What happens next is nothing short of world-changing. We’ll learn about that in the next post.

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Why Paul was out of his mind – John 20, Preview

Imagine you are sitting in a church worship services, and the preacher is preaching.  Suddenly someone stands up, interrupts the preacher, and says out loud, “You are out of your mind!”  That would be dramatic, wouldn’t it?

That’s never happened to me, but it did once to the Apostle Paul.

Paul preached a lot. We can read some of his sermons in the book of Acts, which we studied on the blog in 2020.

For example, see Acts chapter 13 for his sermon in Pisidian Antioch, and especially verses 26-37.  Then glance at Acts 17:2-3, for what Paul preaches in Thessalonica.  Next, look at Acts 17:31 and notice what Paul says during his sermon to the intellectuals in Athens.  Before the crowd in Jerusalem in Acts 22, and before King Agrippa in Acts 26, Paul shares his testimony.  In Acts 26:23, Paul claims that the Old Testament prophets wrote about the Messiah.  What does Paul claim the prophets said?  At that point in his sermon, Festus, the Roman governor, interrupts Paul and accuses Paul of being out of his mind.

Out of his mind? What did Paul say that had this Roman governor making an outburst?

Join us on the blog next week as we study John 20, as that chapter describes what happened that Paul preached about so often.  It’s what Festus thought was ridiculous.  Read it ahead of time. Think about a neighbor, friend or family member who you can share the blog with.  This will be a week of posts especially for people like Festus who did not know Jesus.

Christianity is supposed to be cross-shaped – John 19, Part 5

The cross is the shape of Christianity.  I’m not talking about a symbol that we wear on necklaces or tattoos.  I’m about how the cross should shape our lives, our choices, our actions.  Jesus calls his disciples to die to themselves, take up their cross and follow him.  We follow him, we do what he did, and that means we give our lives for the mission of God just like he did. 

Jesus’ death is victory and freedom for us.  Through his death he makes right what was wrong.  There is hope for us!  Through Jesus’ death we can be reconciled to God.  Through Jesus death, we can have hope of both abundant life now and eternal life after death, because we can be reconciled to God. In response, we do what he did, dying to ourselves.

Dying to ourselves means we don’t assume we know best. Dying to ourselves means are humble learners, learning how to live from Jesus.  We strive to live as he did.  That means we live in close community with others who love him, in regular communication with the Father.  Then showing God’s love in word and deed to those around us, all in a self-sacrificial way. 

This Jesus way, this cross-shaped way of life, will not necessarily be simple or easy.  The cross reminds us that this way of life can include pain and sacrifice.  But it is the way of abundant flourishing life.  As we walk in step with Jesus, we are walking in step with his Spirit who is with us and in us, working to grow his Fruit in us.  Love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and self-control, to ourselves, toward God, toward others.  As we, like Jesus, die to ourselves, take up our  cross, and follow him, we are on mission to make disciples just as he did.

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Penal Substitution is inadequate to understanding Jesus’ death – John 19, Part 4

Why did Jesus have to die?  Isn’t this a strange way for God to save the world?  Isn’t this a strange way for God to make a way to have relationship with us?  Why did he do this?  Why become one of us, live 33 years to show us abundant flourishing way of life, and then die?  It can seem like a waste, a failure.  Why not keep living for a while longer at least?  Why die at all?  What does his birth, life and death accomplish?

In John 19:31-42, Jesus is dead and buried.  Two Jewish leaders, Joseph and Nicodemus, secret followers of Jesus, step in and care for Jesus’ body.  And that is the end of the crucifixion story, as John tells it.

Theologians and Bible scholars through the ages have thought long and hard about this ever since.  In the pages of the New Testament we read lots about it. 

First of all, we cannot talk about the crucifixion without talking about the resurrection.  They are integrally related.  In our blog series we’re going to focus on the resurrection next week. 

Second, Jesus’ death in the last few hundred years, at least in evangelical circles, is described primarily as a penal substitution.  He was punished as our substitute.  It’s this image of God the Father hauling back ready to give us a mighty blow of his wrath for our sin, and Jesus steps in front of us, taking the blow. 

While there are some passages in Scripture that convey Jesus as a sacrificial substitute, my opinion is that the Penal Substitutionary viewpoint is also deeply inadequate.  God the father killing God the son is a terrible, unbiblical picture of what is happening on the cross.  It is far better to see Jesus who is God lovingly giving himself over to death. Jesus chose this, out of love for us.

In his death, he completes the sacrificial system, once for all, so that all human sin is forgiven.  That means all humans have the opportunity of freedom. The sacrificial system was comprised of laws and rules.  Jesus’ choice to become human, live a perfect life, and then give his life as the once-for-all sacrifice puts an end to the sacrificial system, setting us free to live an abundant life in relationship with him.

It is finished!  Jesus defeats sin, death and the devil.  While it seems that his death is a total failure, in the upside-down Kingdom of God, Jesus’ death is a victory.  Next week when we talk about the resurrection we’re going to see that victory in its totality.

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“Born to die” is an inadequate way to describe Jesus – John 19, Part 3

For Jesus the end has come.  His death is now minutes away. Is this what he was born to do? Look at the description of his final minutes in John 19, verses 28-30,

“Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, ‘I am thirsty.’ A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. When he had received the drink, Jesus said, ‘It is finished.’ With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”

God the Son is dead.  As he died, he said, “It is finished.”  Much has been made of this statement by Jesus.  On the purely physical level, it is just a statement of fact. His human life is done.  He stops breathing, he ceases brain function.  He is dead.  But there are other levels of meaning here. 

Jesus has fully and perfectly fulfilled the law of the Old Testament.  That law was an agreement only between God and the nation of Israel, mediated first through Moses and then through the centuries by the Jewish priests and sacrificial system. Jesus has through his perfect life and sacrifice completed that system. It is finished. 

Jesus, likewise has completed the mission for which he was sent.  There is a phrase in evangelical Christianity that we sometimes hear at Christmas and Easter: “Jesus was born to die.”  When he says, “It is finished,” we can think, “There, he said it, he affirms it, he was born to die.  That was his purpose. He did it, he completed his purpose, and it is finished.”  I disagree.  This moment of his death is important, but it is far from the end of the story, as we will see next week.  It is also far from the whole story, as we have seen for the previous 39 sermons in this series. 

Jesus’ life should not be overshadowed by his death, as if his death is so significant that his death is all that matters.  No.  When Jesus says, “It is finished,” he is also indicated that his way of life has been completed.  He is, in just three words, asking us to think back over those 33 years, and especially the previous three of his public ministry, and consider how he lived.  He showed us the way of the Kingdom of God.  He showed us the pathway of abundant life, of flourishing life that God desires for all people.  Yes, that includes eternal life in heaven, but I think more importantly that includes abundant life now. 

Jesus’ own abundant, flourishing life is finished.  He successfully lived how he wants us to live. 

A significant element of his life and death is a reminder to us that God has entered our world, experiencing all that we experience.  Including suffering and death.  One of the most difficult questions in our world is why God allows so much suffering.  Rarely are we satisfied by what I consider to be empty responses like “God has a plan,” or “God is in control.”  I don’t consider those to be helpful. 

Instead, what I think is helpful is to look at Jesus on the cross, and there we see God who enters our world, encounters our suffering, our pain, and says, “I love you. I am with you.”  Jesus on the cross saying, “It is finished,” doesn’t mean the suffering goes away.  It means he is there, he is aware, he is for us, and his Spirit lives with us, in the middle of our suffering.  It is evident as we look at the life of the Jesus that an abundant life does not mean a life without pain.  Instead, abundant life is life with the knowledge of the deep love of God, of living in regular communion and communication with him.

How you can care for others when you are the one in pain – John 19, Part 2

This morning the news reported a story about two boys hugging each other as they looked around their homes destroyed by the fire in Hawaii. When we’re in pain, like the boys, it can be very difficult to think about anyone but ourselves and our pain. Jesus, like the boys, shows us that it is possible, even important, to care for others when we are in pain.

As we saw in the previous post, Jesus’ heart to heart with Pilate seems to reach Pilate, at least somewhat, but the situation is past the point of no return.  There will be no stay of execution.  Look at what happens next in John chapter 19, starting at verse 12,

“From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jews kept shouting, ‘If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.’ When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge’s seat at a place known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic is Gabbatha). It was the day of Preparation of Passover Week, about the sixth hour. ‘Here is your king,’ Pilate said to the Jews. But they shouted, ‘Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!’ ‘Shall I crucify your king?’ Pilate asked. ‘We have no king but Caesar,’ the chief priests answered. Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified. So the soldiers took charge of Jesus.”

Hear what the Jews said, “We have no king but Caesar”?  That’s revealing, isn’t it?  They did have a king other than Caesar.  God is their king.  But they say the Roman Emperor, Caesar, is their king because they are entirely focused on crucifying Jesus.  They have lost sense of perspective, of truth.  They are enslaved to their viewpoint, unwilling to see things any other way.

It is astounding how we can allow the ends to justify the means.  In this case, of course, the Jewish leaders were wrong about the ends and the means.  They certainly didn’t think so, though. They believed they were right, that Jesus needed to die.  So they were willing to do anything to make it happen. For them, their faulty interpretation of Jesus led them to pursue an end goal, his death, and anything justified the means to get there, even saying they have no king but Caesar, when God was their king.

That seals Jesus fate.  Look at verse 17.

“Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). There they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle. Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: jesus of nazareth, the king of the jews. Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews.” Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.” When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. “Let’s not tear it,” they said to one another. “Let’s decide by lot who will get it.” This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled that said, “They divided my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.” So this is what the soldiers did. Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman, here is your son,” and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.”

John is rather sparse in his details of the actual crucifixion.  Jesus carried his cross just outside the city. The soldiers crucified him there. That’s all he tells us.  As I mentioned before, he had already been severely beaten.  Lost lots of blood.  Now they lay him on the wood beams and nail him there.  Large nails hammered through the wrists, and one through both feet.  He would have to push on those nails to raise himself, opening his torso so he could breathe. 

Some people could hang there for days, which is why the Romans would break their legs, making it next to impossible for the crucified person to rise up and breathe, hastening their asphyxiation.  But Jesus had been flogged.  He was already in really bad shape.

In this very intense scene, with Jesus bloody and heaving, John draws our attention to a few specific features. 

First, I love that while the Jewish leaders were adamant that they had no king by Caesar, Pilate unwittingly makes the truth known for all to see, Jesus is the true King.  Pilate posted the sign as a joke or to be sarcastic, or to show that the mighty Roman Empire can easily dispose of any other king.  But Jesus is the one true king.  In his kingdom, death brings life, as we will see.

Second, the soldiers divvy up his clothes. That not only fulfills prophecy, but also means Jesus was likely totally naked.  I doubt he had that little covering around his waist like nearly every image of the crucifixion includes.  His nakedness meant this was a deeply humiliating, painful, awful situation.  It seems the vast power of the Empire is dominating.

Third, John tells us something shocking happens in the middle of the grotesque scene.  Some of Jesus’ followers are there.  Four women and the disciple John.  One of the women is his mother, Mary.  Jesus sees them and tells Mary and John that they are family now.  Jesus is still caring for his mom!  Jesus creates a new family that did not previously exist.  It’s a blended family!  A blended family forms at the foot of the cross.  This is a very Jesus thing to do.  He is literally hanging by a thread.  He is the one who is dying!  His family and friends are there to care for him.  But even in his desperate moment, he is still seeing others and thinking about their needs, and then caring for their needs.