Blog Archives - WELCOME TO THE JOY OF TROY

November 10, 2021

11/10/2021

Gospel Foundations

        Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you--unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day. 1 Cor. 15:1-4, ESV.

    In our journey of turning our eyes upon Jesus we have witnessed His incarnation, His sinless life, His sacrificial death, and His resurrection from the dead. We have come to the end of His earthly life, but not to the end of His influence and work.

    The ongoing impact of Christ on the world is summed up in one word: "gospel," which literally means "good news."

    The apostle Paul is the Bible writer who most fully defines the saving gospel. Today we need to let his thoughts on the topic soak into our minds. One of Paul's best definitions appear in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4. The twin facts that Jesus died for our sins and that He rose that we might have life are the very foundation of the saving gospel. His death alone didn't save. Dead Saviors can't help anyone. Thus Jesus' resurrection is absolutely crucial to the good news. It is in many ways its central feature.

    But before exploring further the significance of the Resurrection, we need to take a look at other aspects of the gospel, remembering all the while that they also rest on the bedrock accomplishments of Christ's death and resurrection.

    Paul expounds on the word "gospel" again in Romans 1:16, 17, in which he claims that he is "not ashamed of the gospel: it is the power of God for salvation to every one who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in [the gospel] the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written, 'He who through faith is righteous shall live' " (RSV). It is from that passage that we get the phrase "righteousness by faith."

    Another passage, even though it doesn’t use the word "gospel," certainly highlights its content. "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God--not because of works, lest any man should boast" (Eph. 2:8, 9, RSV).

    We need to read those passages again and again and meditate upon their meaning for our lives, remembering all the while that the saving power of the gospel in our lives is founded upon the two great anchor points of Christ's life that we have spent so much time on this year--His death for "my sins" and His resurrection that "I" also might have life.

November 9, 2021

11/9/2021

Thomas Sees the Light

        Thomas answered and said to him, "My Lord and my God!" Jesus said to him, "Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed." Therefore many other signs Jesus performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name. John 20:28-31, NASB.

    His doubts removed, all Thomas could say is "My Lord and my God!" The hesitant disciple had come to faith. And that faith would shape the rest of his life. While the book of Acts (which focuses on Peter's proclamation in Jerusalem in the early part and Paul's work for the Gentiles in the latter) does not feature his future activities, a strong tradition in the early church tells us that Thomas, the courageous disciple who needed to know for sure before he moved, became the pioneer missionary to Persia and India. Southern India has an indigenous group known for centuries as Thomas Christians. They claim that he suffered martyrdom on St. Thomas Mount near Madras.

    While we cannot prove that tradition (at least to the exacting standards of Thomas himself), we do know beyond a shadow of a doubt what drove the man for the rest of his life--the conviction that Jesus is "my Lord and my God." That firm belief became the guiding force and anchor point in his life.

    But more important yet, it is the foundation for all Christianity. With that declaration by Thomas the Gospel of John has come full circle. Thomas is the first person in John to address Jesus as "God." Yet that is the truth that begins the fourth Gospel: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God....And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:1-14, RSV).

    After that introduction, John guides his readers in a journey of discovery as we ourselves come to the conclusion, through the experiences of Thomas and others, that Jesus of Nazareth is indeed the Messiah, the Son of God. John tells us in his statement of purpose that he selected the material for his Gospel so that we might come to the same conclusion as Thomas ("That you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God") and thereby obtain life eternal (John 20:30, 31, RSV).

    John sought to demonstrate that apostolic conviction as firmly and certainly as possible because he knew that we could never be first-person witnesses to the Resurrection, but would of necessity have to rely on inspired Scripture. Thus "blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe" (Verse 29, RSV).

November 8, 2021

11/8/2021

Strength Through Differences

        Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said to him, "We have seen the Lord." So he said to them, "Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe." And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, "Peace to you!" Then He said to Thomas, "Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing." John 20:24-27, NKJV.

    What do we know about Thomas the disciple? Not much! Outside of John's Gospel the only mentions of him appear in the lists of the disciples. But John provides us with a handful of passages that give us a glimmer of this "man in the background."

    We first meet him as an individual disciple in John 11:16. Jesus had decided to go to Bethany after He had heard about the death of Lazarus. Thomas' response is revealing: "Let us also go, that we may die with him" (RSV). That short quotation provides us with a small glimpse of the man. It lets us know that Thomas was both courageous and pessimistic. He didn't expect much good to come out of the journey, but he was willing to accompany Jesus on it anyway. Thus we see loyalty to Him as a third characteristic.

    The only other place we find Thomas speaking before today's passage is in John 14:5. Jesus had just told the disciples that they should not let their hearts be troubled because He was going to prepare a place for them and would return. He closed His brief presentation of the Second Advent by saying "and you know the way where I am going." Thomas' response was, "Lord, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?" (verses 4, 5, RSV).

    In effect, Thomas was implying that Jesus hadn't made things clear enough. He was a person willing to move forward, but he wanted sufficient information before doing so,

    That is what we find in John 20. But there the picture deepens a bit. We find Thomas unwilling to believe in the word of others. What they were claiming seemed to be too good to be true. They might have gotten one another overly excited and created something out of a sheer longing for release from agony and pain. His pessimistic nature with its desire for full information again surfaced. But when he met the resurrected Jesus his faith also came to fullness.

    Some of us are like the hesitant Thomas, while others are like the impetuous Peter. If we were all Peters the church might run before it had sufficient knowledge. But if we were all Thomases we might never get started. The church of Christ needs both types for proper balance.

November 7, 2021

11/7/2021

More Eye Surgery

        While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you." They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. He said to them, "Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have." When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, "Do you have anything here to eat?" They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate it in their presence. Luke 24:36-43, NIV.

    Talk about confusion!

    The words that catch my attention are "They still did not believe it because of joy and amazement" (verse 41). The Revised Standard Version translates the passage as "they still disbelieved for joy, and wondered," and Moffatt renders it as "they could not believe it, for sheer joy; they were lost in wonder."

    Whatever it was that they were experiencing, one fact stands out above all others: what happened in the past 24 hours had totally overwhelmed Jesus' disciples. Their entire worldview had turned upside down as they oscillated between total despair and unbelievable joy. Now they were just plainly confused, as well as being frightened.

    Jesus' task is to open their eyes a bit further by clarifying their vision, something that He does in three steps. First, He had to straighten out the disciples' misconceptions. They had swallowed some of the contemporary mythology about ghosts. He didn't explicitly correct them about the superstition, but He did demonstrate beyond a shadow of the doubt that His resurrected body was genuine flesh and blood. Seeing His pierced hands and feet and touching them helped. But the ultimate proof was His eating a piece of fish.

    The second thing Jesus did at that point, John tells us, is that "he breathed on them, and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit' " (John 20:22, RSV). The gift of the Spirit would continually lead them into further truth and a correcting of their eyesight.

    Last, Luke tells us that Jesus took the roomful of disciples through the same Bible study regarding the Old Testament's presentation of His mission that He had earlier given to the two on the road to Emmaus. Thus "He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures" (Luke 24:45, NKJV).

    Father, even today the Resurrection event seems too good to be true. Guide us as You did the disciples of old into an ever clearer and firmer faith is our prayer. Amen.

November 6, 2021

11/6/2021

The Warm Hearts of the Redeemed Community

        And their eyes were opened and they recognized him; and he vanished out of their sight. They said to each other, "Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the scriptures?" And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven gathered together and those who were with them, who said, "The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!" Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread. Luke 24:31-35, RSV.

    Their eyes had been opened! Suddenly everything had made sense! Now they knew why their hearts had felt a burning glow while they had journeyed for two hours as the "Stranger" had explained things to them.

    Already when they had begun the seven-mile trudge to Emmaus it had been late, and by the time they had arrived the day was "far spent" (verse 29). And then there was a meal that consumed more time.

    But they forget all that when their eyes are opened and they grasp the gospel story and the meaning of Christ's death and resurrection. Now all they can do, in spite of the lateness of the hour, is to return to Jerusalem and share the good news about Jesus.

    But the return trip is hardly the mournful trudge of the earlier journey. Now their feet fairly fly as they race back to that upper room where the disciples had been hiding, mourning, and commiserating. Having found Jesus, they could hardly wait to share it with others. I can imagine that they easily made the seven-mile trip in an hour or less. And they aren't even tired. All that is gone, along with their discouragement. Their eyes had been opened! Now that they had discovered the truth, their only desire is to bring it to others.

    That's what happened to everyone who truly has stood at the heart of Christianity for 2,000 years. Christianity is not a solitary experience--it is communal. It is rejoicing with others who have also had their eyes opened. And it is taking the message of a risen Savior to those who are still blind and need hope.

    Our passage for today closes with a note about Peter. Jesus had gone out of His way to comfort this man who had fallen from the path. Scripture makes special mention of Jesus' opening of His fallen disciples' eyes also.

    Here is love! Here is grace! Here is what the Christian faith is all about--Jesus coming to seek and to save that which is lost (Luke 19:10). Here is true redemption.

November 5, 2021

11/5/2021

A Tale of Two Meals

        So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He appeared to be going further, but they constrained him, saying, "Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent." So he went in to stay with them. When he was at table with them, he took bread and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened and they recognized him; and he vanished out of their sight. Luke 24:28-31, RSV.

    Meals are important in the Bible. The feeding of the 4,000 and the 5,000 were memorable events, as was the Last Supper. But here we need to go back to the first meal described in Scripture: "So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons" to cover their nakedness (Gen. 3:6, 7, RSV).

    I would like to suggest that we can sum up the Bible message as a tale of two eye-opening meals. The first was an earth-shaping event. With it came the entrance of sin, death, and the other miseries that have provided a centerfold for the history of a world that has jumped its track and has been in the process of self-destruction. That meal also led to a long list of human ways to solve the problems caused by sin, the first being a human-generated approach to salvation and redemption. Human beings can solve the problem, runs the subtheme. We can use fig leaves to cover our nakedness. If that doesn't fully do the trick, we can overthrow the powers of darkness through force. And with that came the vision of a very human Messiah.

    The second meal put an end to all that human-centered speculation. This time, however, eyes opened more fully to the divine solution to the difficulties that had entered at the first meal.

    When the eyes of those two disciples were opened, they truly saw the meaning of Christ's death and his all-important resurrection. They clearly recognized that the cruse of sin had met its defeat, that death itself had suffered a fatal blow, that new possibilities were on the horizon.

    Jesus was alive! Not like Jairus' daughter, or the son of the widow of Nain, or the resurrected Lazarus. They would have to face death again. But here is One who has gone through death and come out the other side a victor.

    Their eyes were opened. Because of their resurrected Lord everything took on bright new meaning. And those new eyes are also for you and me.

November 4, 2021

11/4/2021

New Eyes for New Reading

        "We had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is the third day since this happened. Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning and did not find his body; and they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb, and found it just as the women had said; but him they did not see." And he said to them, "O foolish men, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into His glory?" And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. Luke 24:21-27, RSV.

    That was a Bible study I would like to have attended. Here we find the Lord Himself explaining the meaning of the Old Testament in light of the events later recorded in the New. Underlying Jesus' presentation are the facts that we need the entire Bible if we are truly to understand His life and work and that we most fully understand the Old Testament when interpreted through the lens of the New. God has one redemptive message that runs throughout the Bible. It is foreshadowed in the Hebrew Bible but dealt with explicitly in the New Testament.

    We don't know exactly what passages Jesus utilized in His Bible study regarding His followers' mistaken ideas about Him. But a prime candidate would be the meaning of the sacrificial lamb that stood at the center of Jewish worship.

    It was one thing for John the Baptist to proclaim Jesus as the Lamb of God who would take away sin (John 1:29). But it must have been almost impossible for the Jews, including the disciples, to understand the meaning of that statement. They were not expecting a messiah who would die for their sins, but a conquering warrior. In the light of Calvary and the Resurrection, however, the Old Testament took on new meaning as the Lamb Himself explained things.

    One passage Jesus undoubtedly treated is Isaiah 53, with its talk of God's Servant being rejected and despised, bearing our griefs, being "wounded for our transgressions," being "numbered with the transgressors," bearing the sins of many, dying with the wicked, and being buried in association with the rich.

Suddenly it all came together. The two men saw redemption and Messiahship and the Old Testament in new ways. Their eyes were opened and their hearts warmed. Jesus was no longer a false hope but their resurrected Lord. The Bible itself held the key to both their discouragement and to their victorious future. Now they saw Jesus the Lamb as the center of Scripture from the beginning to end.

November 3, 2021

11/3/2021

The Blinding Power of Failed Hope

        That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, "What is this conversation which you are holding with each other as you walk?" And they stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, "Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?" And he said to them, "What things?" And they said to him, "Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel." Luke 24:13-21, RSV.

Luke is perhaps the greatest storyteller in the New Testament. His portrayal of the prodigal son (Luke 15) and the praying Pharisee and tax collector (Luke 18:9-14) especially engages our minds and hearts. The story of the walk to Emmaus ranks with those other sketches.

    Told only by Luke, this story is not significant just because of an artistry that draws in the reader. Its importance also centers on its message, which speaks to bewildered people down to the end of time.

    In many ways the confusion of the two followers of Jesus catches us by surprise. After all, His followers always recognized Him during later appearances. But not in these earlier ones. Thus the problem is not that the resurrected Jesus is unrecognizable. Rather, Luke tells is that "their eyes were kept from recognizing him."

    I don't know exactly what that means. But I do know that yesterday I had a similar experience. I failed to notice a visiting friend in our Sabbath school class because I was expecting to see someone else. My mind had so focused on one identity that I could not place a familiar face until after my mind could sort out the pieces. Once that happened, I wondered how I could ever have been so stupid.

    Something like that happened on the road to Emmaus. The disciples had expected Jesus to be the political redeemer of Israel from Rome. But instead of delivering them, He had died at Roman hands. Stupefying confusion blinded their eyes. Subsequently, they couldn't even recognize Jesus when He was with them.

    There is encouragement for us here. Sometimes in our walk through life we feel confused and lonely. In our lostness we wonder where Jesus is. But often the problem is not His absence, but our lack of vision, something that only later events in God's providence can make plain.

November 2, 2021

11/2/2021

The Problem of the Missing Body

        Some of the guards came into the city and reported to the chief priests all the things that had happened. When they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, saying, "Tell them, 'His disciples came at night and stole Him away while we slept.' And if this comes to the governor's ears, we will appease him and make you secure." So they took the money and did as they were instructed; and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day. Matt. 28:11-15, NKJV.

    If the Resurrection was proving to be rather incomprehensible to Jesus' followers, the missing body had become a major problem for both the Roman soldiers and the Jewish leaders. The first thing the soldiers do is to send a delegation into Jerusalem to report to the Jewish leaders what had happened. The paradox is that the very men who had predicted deceit by Jesus' followers (Matt. 27:63, 64) now turn to it themselves in order to cover up the Resurrection. Even more astounding is that they instruct the guards to tell the very story of the "missing" body that they had ordered the Romans to prevent. The Jewish leaders are desperate.

    The soldiers are also in a jam. Their basic problem is that they do not have the corpse they had been sent to guard. But to say that they fell asleep is not much of a solution. After all, sleeping on guard was punishable by severe penalties. But the alternative of reporting the missing body would lead to the same result. Of course, they could tell the truth. But what Roman officer would believe such an improbable story?

    All things considered, it seems best to the soldiers to accept the solution of the Jewish authorities and thus avoid certain punishment. The bribe of a "large sum of money" and the promise of the leaders to "appease" Pilate (who would soon be leaving the city) if the report reaches his ears quickly sweetened their move in that direction.

    Matthew tells us that the soldiers agree to the deception. And, he notes, "This saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day." In actual fact, the story continued to have circulation long after the death of the apostle. Justin Martyr (c. A.D. 100-165) tells us that in the middle of the second century the Jews were still repeating it.

    Of course, the Jewish leaders didn't really have too many options. After all, they either had to stick by the lie, produce the body, or believe in the resurrection of Jesus. The last alternative was unacceptable. Thus, since they didn't have the body, they were stuck with the lie.

    Trying to avoid the truth has led men and women down through time to strange mental and moral contortions. Unfortunately for that approach, it is always the truth that sets us free.

November 1, 2021

11/1/2021

Two Versions: One Story

        But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stopping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened. Luke 24:12, NRSV.

    The most interesting thing about today's verse is that it does not appear in many modern translations of the Bible. Thus one can read the Revised Standard Version, the Revised English Bible, and others with the text moving immediately from verse 11 to verse 13, with verse 12 in a footnote stating that not all Greek manuscripts contain that passage. On the other hand, such versions as the New King James, the New American Standard Bible, and the New International Version contain the passage.

    Here we have a problem that we should be aware of. Different Greek manuscripts vary at times, but the good news is that nearly all of the variations in the text are found in other parts of the Bible and thus very little is lost in the presentation. Beyond that, no major teaching of the Bible is at risk.

    The interesting thing about Luke 24:12 is that John's Gospel takes up the same story. But John tells us that it was both he and Peter who, even though they had some doubts, ran to the tomb to see if the women's report might just be correct after all.

    In John's account, "they both ran, but the other disciple [John] outran Peter and reached the tomb first; and stopping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but did not go in" (John 20:4, 5, RSV). You see here that two of the "greatest" disciples still have some competitive spirit. But it is a transformed spirit. John goes on to give Peter his just credit: "Then Simon Peter came, following him [John], and went into the tomb....Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not know the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples went back to their homes" (verses 6-10).

    We note several interesting things about John's and Mark's (Peter's) accounts of the event. One is that each of them presented it from his own perspective. The other is the truly wonderful fact that the four Gospels supplement each other, with each providing details left out by the others.

    Inspiration never destroys the personalities of those who wrote the books of the Bible. Rather, the various personalities working under the guidance of the Holy Spirit gives us differing insight into how God related to and uses diverse individuals.