Blog Archives - WELCOME TO THE JOY OF TROY

October 31, 2021

10/31/2021

Failure of the First Christian Sermon

        It was Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and other women that were with them, which told these things unto the apostles. And their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not. Luke 24:10, 11.

    In yesterday's reading an angel commanded the women to tell the disciples about the Resurrection, but they "fled from the tomb, for they trembled and were amazed. And they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid" (Mark 16:8, NKJV).

    It is not difficult to see why. After all, to arrive at a tomb looking for a dead body but finding a living angel would unnerve the strongest of us. What is not so easy to understand is their fear and their silence. After all, they had received a message of hope and joy along with a specific commission to pass it on to the disciples.

    Up to this point the Gospels portray the women as consistently being brave and doing well. But now they fail. Their fear and disobedience demonstrate an apparent inability to truly believe the good news. They are speechless in the face of the command to speak.

    Here we find a paradox. Throughout much of the gospel story Jesus has commanded individuals to remain silent about the truth of who He is, while they shout it out anyway. But now we have a specific directive to tell what they have seen and yet the women remain silent.

    But not for long. It apparently took a while before the truthfulness and importance of what they had seen and heard worked through their astounded minds. Luke records that they eventually do tell the apostles.

    Yet they did not believe the women. And perhaps that is why the women hadn't passed on the message in the first place. In Jewish society women did not count as witnesses. But God didn't see it that way. He chose women to be the first witnesses of the Resurrection. And beyond that, He, through an angel, commanded them to preach the first fully Christian sermon--"He is risen!" Yet the men, good Christians that they were, could not take it from the mouth of a woman.

    That fact tells us two things. One is the stubbornness of some men. And the other is about God's willingness to use all people to spread the good news of salvation accomplished.

    Too many of us are locked up in little boxes of our own making. Like the disciples, we miss blessings when we reject ideas that don't line up with our preconceptions. And, also like the disciples, we refuse even the gospel from people who don't fit "our" model of God's messengers.

October 30, 2021

10/30/2021

Resurrection Grace

        [The angel] said to them, "Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him. But go, tell His disciples--and Peter--that He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him, as He said to you." So they went out quickly and fled from the tomb, for they trembled, and were amazed. And they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. Mark 16:6-8, NKJV.

    The resurrection of Jesus is the hinge of history. It is the transforming event in the lives of the disciples. How important it was that they hear the good news that "He is risen!"

    Thus the command of the angel to tell the disciples. The most interesting aspect of that injunction is the addition of "and Peter."

    Here is immediate grace in its most startling form. After all, the last we heard of the disciples in Mark was that they "all forsook him and fled" (Mark 14:50, RSV). And of Peter that he had cursed and swore that he didn't know Jesus, after which "he broke down and wept" (verses 71, 72, RSV).

    Peter must have gone through utter despair in the three days since he had betrayed Jesus. It is significant that Mark is the only Gospel writer to record Jesus' special invitation to the fallen Peter. Peter himself had collaborated with Mark in the writing of his Gospel. All the other Gospel writers may have neglected the words "and Peter," but Peter never could. Those two words both shattered his despair and renewed his hope. The Jesus who had earlier urged him to forgive 70 times seven was doing that very thing for His fallen disciple.

    Here is grace. Jesus didn't give Peter what he deserved. To the contrary, He offered him what he didn't deserve--forgiveness and restoration to apostleship. As James Edwards points out, "if the word of grace from the resurrected Lord includes a traitor like Peter, readers of the Gospel may rest assured that it includes those of their community who have failed." And that goes for clergy also. We must never forget who Peter was and what he did. Yet Jesus forgave him.

    That is truly "Amazing Grace," grace that stretches the imagination of even the most generous Christian. Could we do what Jesus did? Or, more pertinently, would we want Jesus to do the same for us were in Peter's position?

    "Amazing Grace" has long been my favorite song. If I had my way it would be sung after every sermon that I preach, every lecture that I give, every prayer that I offer, and every day that I live. We need to realize that "and Peter" means "and George," "and Mary," and each of us."

October 29, 2021

10/29/2021

HEARING Versus Hearing

        But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices which they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body. While they were perplexed about this, behold two men stood by them in dazzling apparel; and as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, "Why do you seek the living among the dead? Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of man must be delivered into the hand of sinful men, and be crucified, and on the third day rise." And they remembered his words. Luke 24:1-8, RSV.

    They had a job to do and they knew it. Jesus had died late on Friday afternoon and there had been no time to prepare His body properly for burial before the Sabbath arrived. The body had merely been wound in linen and placed on a shelf, after which someone rolled the stone in front of the door and the Roman soldiers sealed it, with the Jewish leaders standing by to see that it was done correctly.

    But the burial job had not been completed. The linen from the body would have to be unwound and rewound as they placed the spices into the folds of the winding sheet.

    With that task in mind, some of the women arrived carrying the spices, presumably the ones purchased by Nicodemus. The last thing they expected was an empty tomb. Obviously they had not gone to the tomb while saying to themselves, "Well we have some spices just in case He is still dead, but we really think He is alive again." To the contrary. The women knew the basic fact of life that dead people remained that way.

    But the empty tomb shifted their thinking, their immediate task, and their lives. Yet they shouldn't have been surprised. After all, Jesus had repeatedly told them that on the third day He would rise.

    Here we find a problem that we all suffer from. All too often we hear words but not meaning. Why? Because our minds are set. We know what we or our "group" believes. And those beliefs provide the framework in which we "hear" and interpret new ideas. Conclusions that don't fit into our mental frameworks we generally misunderstand if not reject.

    You and I suffer from the same hearing problem as the disciples.

    Open our ears, O Lord, that we might truly hear and be prepared for those events yet to come in the working out of Your great plan.

October 28, 2021

10/28/2021

A Moment to Remember

        The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying." Matt. 28:5, 6, NASB.

    Some things you don't just forget. I remember precisely that I was washing my car on that sunny California autumn day when I heard the shattering news that President John F. Kennedy had been assassinated.

    And I will never forget the moment that I first became aware of the September 11 disaster. Standing speechless in a phone booth at the Amsterdam airport, I suddenly realized why my ride had not picked me up. The world was reeling in shock and in the crisis of the moment I had been forgotten. The world had changed and my predicament was a side causality.

    We don't often forget such events. Instead, we remember them as if they were yesterday. And we often share our story with others as we grapple with their meaning.

    It was like that with the two Marys. They were shook up, to say the least, over what happened the day before. The last thing they had expected was to see their precious Lord Jesus die on a cross. If my guess is right, they had spent a sleepless night, tossing and turning, crying their hearts out, and repeatedly asking, Why? But the only answer they received was silence, except for the similar tossing of others in the room. Disheartening misery and darkness was all they felt and saw. The light of their life had gone out.

    Not being able to sleep, they rose early the next morning just to visit the tomb. They were going as mourners. Expecting nothing else, they just needed some peace and quiet.

    But peace and quiet is the last thing they got. With an earthquake, stunned guards, and the presence of a brilliant angel they once again found their senses overpowered. Things were still changing as they faced new realities.

    The God who had been silent on Crucifixion Friday was having the last word. With the words "He is risen" He had begun to answer their questions. Hope budded anew in their still uncomprehending hearts.

    That is a moment that the two Marys never forgot. It is one that they told to their children and grandchildren. Through the gospel stories they are still telling it today. "He is risen" is the apex of the entire story of the incarnate Jesus. And "He is risen" are the words that still give us courage to move forward two millennia later.

October 27, 2021

10/27/2021

Turning Point

        Now after the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave. And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. And his appearance was like lightening and his clothes as white as snow. The guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men. Matt. 28:1-4, NASB

    We have been turning our eyes upon Jesus for 10 months. First we viewed Him as Eternal God, and then sequentially as Incarnate Christ, Ministering Servant, and Crucified Lamb. We have now come to another climatic event as we behold Jesus as our Resurrected Lord.

    The world has never been the same since that early Sunday morning when the earth shook, the angel descended, and the tomb opened. It would impact the disciples on a magnitude far exceeding anything else in their relationship with Jesus. The Resurrection would propel them out of discipleship and into apostleship; out of being followers and into being aggressive leaders; out of fear and into victorious courage.

    Yet nowhere in the history of Christianity do we find that event of events described. None of the New Testament writers attempt to portray the actual Resurrection. They merely treat it as a fact. The Gospels do, however, present the effects of Christ's resurrection along three lines: the empty tomb, the guard's fear, and Jesus' meeting with some of His followers.

    Matthew opens up his account of the Resurrection story with Mary Magdalene and "the other Mary" coming to look at Jesus' grave. That "other Mary" is Mary the mother of James and Joses (Mark 16:1; 15:47). Here we find another interesting aspect of the gospel story. While Jesus' male disciples were hiding and hunkered down in fear, these women were out in the open and visiting His tomb.

    How fitting it is that these two Marys should be the first to receive news of the risen Lord. After all, they had stayed with Him as He hung upon the cross, they had followed to see where He was laid in the tomb, and now they are rewarded for their love and faithfulness.

    Here is a point worth remembering. It is not always the "greatest" or the most visible in the church who are most blessed in their journey with the Lord. But it is those who are most caring and most dedicated who have the privilege of the closest walk with Him and the fullest of His blessing.

October 26, 2021

10/26/2021

Human Maneuvers and Divine Providence

        The next day, that is, after the Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate and said, "Sir, we remember how that imposter said, while he was still alive, 'After three days I will rise.' Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people, 'He has risen from the dead,' and the last fraud will be worse than the first." Pilate said to them, "You have a guard of soldiers. Go, make it as secure as you can." So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard. Matt. 62-66, ESV.

    Here we find a passage full of surprises. The first is the fact that it is the Jewish leaders who remember that Jesus had promised to resurrect after His death. The disciples had completely overlooked that prediction even though Jesus had repeatedly told them He would die and be resurrected (see Matt. 16:21; 17:23; 20:19; 12:40).

    What they forgot, and apparently never even really heard, the Jewish leaders would remember, even though they did not believe it would take place. Rather, they feared that the disciples would steal the body and claim a resurrection. In that case, their lie concerning Jesus' resurrection would be worse than His lie that He was the Messiah.

    The passage's second great surprise is that the Jewish leaders were so worried about that possibility and the crisis that would flow out of it that they take the unprecedented step of breaking their own extremely rigid Sabbath laws by visiting Pilate (an unclean Gentile) on their holy day to request a guard for Jesus' tomb. That breach of their unusual practice indicates the depth of their fear of the dead man's disciples perpetrating a hoax. The Jewish establishment was willing to do anything to put an end to the Jesus problem.

    Pilate's mind must have reeled as these events unfolded. But, presumably tired of the whole business, the governor readily agrees to cooperate with the troublesome leaders, since if he doesn't, and the body is gone on the third day, there will be no end to the problem. He thus grants the Jewish leaders a guard to seal the tomb and watch over it.

    But in taking such precautions, Leon Morris points out, the Jewish leaders "did more than they knew. They ensured that there could be no nonsense about disciples stealing the body when in due course Jesus did rise from the dead. The precautions of his enemies would underline the truth of his resurrection."

    Strange indeed are the wonders of God's providence. God can use anyone or anything to bring about His purposes on the stage of earth's history.

October 25, 2021

10/25/2021

A Sabbath Lesson

        And the women who had come with Him from Galilee followed after, and they observed the tomb and how His body was laid. Then they returned and prepared spices and fragrant oils. And they rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment. Luke 23:55, 56, NKJV.

    More than the other Gospel writers, Luke goes out of his way to tell us that the disciples of Jesus rested on the Sabbath after the Crucifixion "according to the commandment." Here we find a theme that runs throughout the two long books contributed to the Bible by its only Gentile author.

    One might have expected such comments from a person such as Matthew, who was writing for a Jewish audience. But Matthew didn't have to emphasize the Sabbath to a community of believers overly rigid on the topic. What his audience needed was a lesson on how to keep the day (see Matt. 12:1-12).

    But Luke had a different problem. He needed to emphasize the Sabbath to a population of Christians made up of a large proportion of people without a strong Sabbath background. As a result, he highlights the fact that Jesus' followers faithfully observed the first Sabbath of the Christian Era. And, in the process, Luke makes it explicitly clear which day he was talking about. He makes prominent the fact that Jesus was crucified on Friday (Luke 23:54), rested on the Saturday Sabbath (verse 56), and resurrected on Sunday, the first day of the week (Luke 24:1-6).

    It is not an isolated case of Luke's interest in the one commandment that begins with the word "remember" (Ex. 20:8). He had earlier stressed the fact that Jesus Himself had the "custom" of keeping the Sabbath (Luke 4:16). That, of course, one would expect, since Jesus was Jewish. But the statement about the disciples resting on the Sabbath makes it clear that Christ had given no instruction to the contrary during His earthly life.

    Luke's purposefulness in highlighting the seventh-day Sabbath continues in the book of Acts, in which he consistently presents the apostles as worshipping on the Sabbath rather than Sunday (see, e.g., Acts 13:14, 42, 44; 17:2; 18:4), even when there are not enough Jews to form a congregation (Acts 16:13).

    Luke the Gentile was inspired to present Sabbathkeeping in a way that the Jewish authors of the New Testament never did. For him it was truly a day to be underlined and remembered by the largely non-Jewish church to which he was writing. He knows nothing of another worship day, except the one given "according to the commandment."

October 24, 2021

10/24/2021

Inspired Dedication

        Pilate was surprised to hear that he was already dead. Summoning the centurion, he asked him if Jesus had already died. When he learned from the centurion that it was so, he gave the body to Joseph. So Joseph bought some linen cloth, took down the body, wrapped it in linen, and placed it in a tomb cut out of rock. Then he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph saw where it was laid. Mark 15:44-47, NIV.

    Whatever was to be done with the body of Jesus had to take place quickly. He had died at three on Friday afternoon and the Sabbath was rapidly approaching.

    It frequently happened that criminals hung for days on their crosses before dying. Thus it surprised Pilate that Jesus had gone so quickly. And now there was the body. In most cases that would not have been an issue. Many of the crucified were never buried. Their bodies merely got taken down from their cross and left on the ground where wild dogs and vultures dealt with them. Others found burial in one of the cemeteries reserved for criminals and other undesirable individuals.

    In that context, Pilate must have been shocked when approached by the wealthy and quite orthodox Joseph of Arimathea. To the Roman official it seemed merely one more perplexing situation in what undoubtedly was the most unusual crucifixion of his governorship. We don't know what was going on in his mind, but we do know that he gave Joseph the body after he had ascertained that Jesus was truly dead.

    According to John's Gospel, Joseph owned an unusual tomb. Only a wealthy person could have owned such a burial chamber. Hewn out of solid rock, they often had several ledged on which to place the bodies. The tombs themselves were generally tall enough to stand in, but the doorway was probably not more than four feet high. A track was cut in stone on the outside, and when the body had been placed, a large circular stone was rolled along the track to close the entrance.

    Jesus not only had a rich man's tomb, but also a preparation fit for a king. John tells us that Nicodemus brought about 100 pounds of spices, a gift that overshadowed the earlier anointing of Mary by 100 times. And the spices in that precrucifixion had been worth 100 day's wages (John 12:3-5). Truly it can be said that Jesus fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah 53:9 that "they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth" (RSV).

    Help me, Father, to be as inspired to dedication by the death of Jesus as were Joseph and Nicodemus. May it continue to transform my life as it did theirs.

October 23, 2021

10/23/2021

The Power of the Cross

        After these things, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, though a secret one because of his fear of the Jews, asked Pilate to let him take away the body of Jesus. Pilate gave him permission; so he came and removed his body. Nicodemus, who had at first come to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, weighing about a hundred pounds. John 19:38, 39, NRSV.

    With Joseph of Arimathea we have a new player in the gospel story. While he may have been a secret disciple up to the time of the cross, now he risks everything. He had no idea how the unstable Pilate would respond to his request to hand over the body of a man put to death for treason. On the other hand, he knew exactly how the Jewish leaders would react. For example, he could be certain that he would lose his standing in the Jewish community and his membership in the powerful Sanhedrin. Had he been a poor man he may have come out in the open sooner. But he had much to lose. After all, the Jewish leaders had agreed that those who became followers of Jesus should be put out of the synagogue--excommunicated (John 9:22).

    And Joseph wasn't the only secret disciple to step forward at this hour of need. Nicodemus, whom we first met approaching Jesus at night (John 3:1-5) and later as he hesitantly speaks on behalf of Jesus (John 7:50-52), now comes boldly to the front. It was to Nicodemus that Jesus had first begun to develop the theme of His being lifted up in the same way that Moses had raised the serpent in the wilderness so that everyone who believes in Him might have eternal life (John 3:14-16). Jesus later added to that teaching when He noted that "when I am lifted up from the earth, [I] will draw all men to myself" (John 12:32, RSV).

    And now that prophecy is being fulfilled. All of the disciples of Jesus except John might have been hiding in fear of being identified as followers of Jesus, but the drawing power of the cross has brought these two rich members of the Sanhedrin into the open.

    Joseph and Nicodemus may have feared any association while He was alive, but already the power of the cross was working to make cowards into heroes and waverers into individuals willing to make their faith known publicly. The cross had transformed them. The death of Jesus had done for them what His life had never accomplished. Their hearts broken in love, they were willing to risk everything for the One who had died for them.

    They had discovered that no person can long remain a secret disciple. Eventually the secrecy will kill the discipleship or the discipleship will kill the secrecy.

October 22, 2021

10/22/2021

Autopsy: Death From a Broken Heart

        Since it was the day of Preparation, in order to prevent the bodies from remaining on the cross on the sabbath (for that sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs be broken, and that they might be taken away. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who had been crucified with him; but when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water....For these things took place that the scripture might be fulfilled, "Not a bone of him shall be broken." And again another scripture says, "They shall look on him whom they have pierced." John 19:31-37, RSV.

    One male disciple did have the courage to stay with Jesus at the cross. It was the same disciple who had the "guts" to enter the courtyard of the high priest on the evening of Jesus' first trial. No wonder that John had a reputation as the disciple whom Jesus loved. He had the courage to stick with Him even though the authorities knew him to be one of Jesus' inner circle.

    With those facts in mind, it is not surprising that John has something to report in his Gospel that the other three were apparently unaware of. He certifies the truth of what he has to say by pointing out that he was an eyewitness.

    The first of the events he reports is the breaking of the legs of the criminals. Whereas the Romans would let a person hang suffering on a cross for days and then throw the body out for scavengers to eat, Jewish custom was much more merciful. The book of Deuteronomy stipulates that "if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but you shall bury him the same day" (Deut. 21:22, 23, RSV).

    Thus it was not an accident that the Jewish leaders requested that the crucified men be removed from their crosses. But in this case it was even more important, since the next day was to be a high Sabbath when both the weekly Sabbath and the Passover day coincided.

    The grim method of dispatching criminals still alive was to smash their limbs with a mallet until they died, but Jesus was already dead.

    To make sure of His death a soldier speared Him in the chest. The result was a stream of blood and water. Now, dead people don't normally bleed. But it has been suggested that in cases of a ruptured heart the blood in the heart mixes with the fluid in the pericardium, which surrounds the heart. If that was the case, the spear's first thrust hit that sack of fluid, indicating that Jesus had not died from His physical injuries but from a broken heart as He bore the sins of the world.