The Proof of the Resurrection (1 Cor. 15:3-4)

While I did teach on the subject of the resurrection of Christ on Easter from Matthew 28:1-15 and 1 Corinthians 15:1-28, I have not been able to post a full account of that teaching this week. I am defending my doctoral thesis on 4/21 and am focused on that task. Here is a small sample from our study.

1 Corinthians 15:3-4

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received:

            that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, [crown of thorns]

           that he was buried,

           that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, ⁵ and

           that he appeared to Cephas,

                               then to the twelve. 

The Resurrection Proves to be Good News for us

As far as history is concerned, there is no one event that has been so thoroughly documented as fact as the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  It is the great truth upon which all our faith rests.  I could spend this message refuting the several skeptical theories intended to explain away the resurrection, but my main concern today is not to prove to you that the resurrection happened (the Priests knew for sure that it happened and it didn’t convince them) but to convey to you what the resurrection itself proves to us.

• His death in our place proves his love for us.
• His death for our sins proves that God is both just and merciful.
• His death for our sins according to the scriptures proves that this was God (Father, Son, Spirit)’s plan all along
• His burial proves his full humanity and that he actually died.
• His bodily resurrection proves that his sacrifice for our sin was accepted and that resurrection is available for us as well.
• His bodily resurrection confronts the Greek dualistic idea that spirit is good and matter is evil. 
• His appearances prove his continued relationship with his followers, even those who had failed him and denied him.

Today, we are talking about good news but the good news starts by being honest about the bad news… but it doesn’t end there! We need to confess (agree with God that we have sinned and need His forgiveness) and repent (relationally return to the love of Jesus) and enter into the adventure called eternal life that God wants to share with us!

The wages of sin is death, but ... 

• “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom 6:23)

All have sinned...and... 

• “For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus…” (Romans 2:23-24)

 Finally,

The resurrection of Jesus If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. (Romans 8:11)

“For This Purpose…”

Encountering The Risen Christ in the Crisis of our Disappointment

In the last several weeks we have been following Jesus’ journey from Galilee in the northern part of Israel south to Jericho and then West to Jerusalem that one final time. As we have seen in recent posts, Jesus was purposeful in preparing his followers for his coming death and resurrection. Today as we reflect on and celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, we will use this concept of “purpose” to walk through not only Jesus’ death and resurrection, but the crisis of disappointment faced by his disciples—specifically the two who were walking to Emmaus that Sunday morning.

1) A Purposeful Life—To Glorify/Reveal the Father (John 12:27-33)

His very life was filled with purpose—from the 200+ Old Testament prophecies that revealed centuries in advance much about his birth, life, suffering, and death, to the prophecies given by faithful men and women surrounding his birth (Anna, Simeon, etc.). His life and ministry was so tied to what theologians call the Missio Dei (the Mission of God) that Jesus himself in John 5:30 said, “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.” And again, in John 8:28-29,

 So Jesus said to them, “When you have lifted up [i.e., crucified] the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me. And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.”

Yet, for all this, the disciples initially misunderstood the trajectory of his mission. Jesus however knew full well what he was facing, and while it troubled him, it did not turn him from his mission. Let’s take a look at John 12:27-33!

“Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say?

‘Father, save me from this hour’?

                       But for this purpose

         I have come to this hour.

 Father, glorify your name.” 

Then a voice came from heaven:

 “I have glorified it, and

  I    will glorify it again.” 

The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered.

       Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.”

Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not mine. 

    Now is the judgment of this world;

    now will the ruler of this world be cast out. 

    And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” 

He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die. 

Jesus knew his purpose—He wasn’t confused (v. 27, 32).

“For this purpose I have come to this hour” is a precise and profound statement. We might say, “I am here for a reason”, but rarely do we know with enough certainty to say, “for this reason” much less, “at this very moment”! However, Jesus’ life was not spent wandering about with a vague sense of his messianic calling which only became clear near the end. As God the Son he knew it before the foundation of the world when we were chosen in him (Eph. 1:3-4)! As the Son of Man we see him proclaiming knowledge of his purpose when he was 12 years old in the temple, “Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” (Luke 2:9 NKJV).

Jesus’ purpose was compassionate—he wasn’t co-opted (Luke 4:42-44).

Early in his ministry, the people of Capernaum (his adopted hometown) came to think of Jesus as their own local teacher/healer and sought to keep him to themselves. However, Jesus purpose compassionately extended to a much larger “target audience” than that.

And when it was day, he departed and went into a desolate place.

And the people sought him and came to him,

   and would have kept him from leaving them,

                                          but he said to them, 

“I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God

                        to the other towns as well;

                                      for I was sent for this purpose.” 

⁴⁴ And he was preaching in the synagogues of Judea. (Luke 4:42-44)

Jesus was committed to his purpose—no emotional crisis would deter him (v.27).

We see this in his admission of emotional pain in, “Now is my soul troubled” (v.27) and later in the Garden of Gethsemane, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.” (Matt. 26:38) Nevertheless we see that, “He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, ‘O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.’” (v. 39) It seems only too natural for us to switch into fight or flight mode when we experience our own emotional pain, yet Jesus did not defend himself. Instead he extended supernatural forgiveness to his persecutors—even while nailed to a cross. Such abundant grace, even in death, convinced the Roman centurion supervising the execution, “And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, ‘Truly this man was the Son of God!’” (Mark 15:39)

Jesus’ purpose was to reveal the truth—not to start a war (John 18:36-38). 
When Jesus was on trial before Pontus Pilate, the Roman governor, Pilate asked Jesus if he was “the King of the Jews” and “What have you done?” This famous dialogue goes like this,

Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of    this world.

                          If my kingdom were of     this world, 

                             my servants would have been fighting,

                                   that I might not be delivered over to the Jews.

                       But my kingdom is not from the world.” 

Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?”

Jesus answered,     “You say that I am a king. 

 For this purpose I was born and

  for this purpose I have come into the world—

                                 to bear witness to the truth. 

                               Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” 

        Pilate said to him,                  “What is truth?”

What Pilate didn’t understand was that “truth” was more than an abstract philosophical concept. As a result, Pilate asked the wrong question. Instead of asking, “What is truth?” he should have asked, “Who is truth?” Even so, Pilate pronounced him innocent but let him be killed anyway. That was Friday. This is Sunday and we join the story in progress as late in the afternoon two disciples are on the road walking the seven miles to Emmaus.

2) The Crisis of Disappointment (Luke 24:13-24).
Easter may catch us in the crisis of our own disappointments just as it did the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. Last week I mentioned the “troubling expectations” of the people in Jerusalem that week. Their ideas of what Jesus had come to do were inaccurate at best. And now, with Jesus dead and in the grave for three days it seems that the disappointment was overwhelming for these two men. We don’t know why they headed to Emmaus but put in the same situation, I would want to get away from the site of such a terrible injustice and might prefer to process my loss “on the road”.

Disappointment must be processed our it will process us. I recently spoke with a long-time supervisor of pastors and he said that he had found that the moral and ethical failures of those in church leadership almost always are related to…

1. Unresolved personal betrayal
2. Unresolved injustice
3. Unfulfilled expectations (e.g., broken promises)

These two disciples were not sinning by leaving Jerusalem, but it appears that they were separating themselves from the community—at least temporarily. In the wake of the betrayal by Judas, grave injustice at the hands of Jewish and Roman leaders, and their own unfulfilled expectations, what did these guys do? They split town. Were they going home or did they just need to get away after such a tragic loss? We don’t know for sure. We do know that God loved them too much to let them go.

Jesus, even as a child newly come into the world, it was for a purpose. Each year we

celebrate Christmas—the incarnation—with a Christmas tree; symbolic of all we have in Christ. But what we have can never be separated from the cross of Christ—our new name, character, purpose, family—see it coming from God’s love poured out at the cross. Now picture the same tree, with all of its lights and ornaments removed, and its beautiful branches pruned off. Perhaps that is how we feel today—ugly, stripped, without hope, good only for the fire. Perhaps that was how the two disciples felt. Let’s consider their story, their crisis of disappointment, and find hope for our own!

Luke 24:13-24 

That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus,

                                                             about seven miles from Jerusalem, 

   and they were 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 that 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, a man 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.

Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened.

Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning, and when they did not find his body, 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.” 

They were absolutely stunned that there was someone who wasn’t feeling the way that they were feeling. There is currently a television commercial that makes use of the improvisational acting phrase, “Yes, and…” as a way to continue the story. In this biblical narrative, Jesus basically answered their question with a “Yes, and…” when he asked, “What things?” They then tell about the death of Christ and their own unfulfilled expectation, “But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.” (v.21) Apparently they didn’t want to stop with the “But we had hoped” point and in v. 22 they themselves used the “Yes, and…” phrase to segue into what was happening that very day.

They didn’t get it. Their world had caved in, their expectations crushed, & their hearts grieved. Even though things were happening in accordance with Jesus’ predictions they still didn’t understand. But God didn’t leave them there in their crisis. In our culture, we often forget about the caring will of the Father and must train our eyes to see his therapeutic love!

And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing

                   of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.

For this is the will of my Father,

                         that everyone who looks on the Son

                                                and believes in him 

                        should have eternal life,

                              and I will raise him up on the last day.” (John 6:39-40)

In this case, the story is not over. Jesus came after them, like a shepherd seeking his lost sheep (Luke 15:4) and gently, relationally, Jesus begins to roll away the stone of their doubt.

3) The Stone of Their Doubt Was Rolled Way (Luke 24:25-34)

And he said to them, “O foolish ones, 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.

So they drew near to the village to which they were going.

             He acted as if he were going farther, but they urged him strongly, 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 the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. 

And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him.

And       he vanished from 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 and those who were with them gathered together, 

        saying, “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.

While much could be said about this narrative, let me just make a few simple observations about how Jesus rolled their doubts away, that first Easter Sunday:

• He listened to their story of disappointment (v. 19-24)
• He reminded them of Jesus’ purpose (v. 25-26)
• He opened the Scriptures (v. 27, 32) to show why it was necessary for the Christ to die.
• He opened their eyes (v.31) to see him for who he was. 
• He kindled their hearts to share the good news. (v.32-35)
• He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures (v.44-45)

"Opening" is a key theme in this passage. The Greek word translated “opened” is dianoigō a strengthened form of anoigo. It occurs eight times in the New Testament, six of which are found in Luke and three of them are here. I might add that belief is not narrow-minded, but disappointment can be very limiting. Jesus opened the Scriptures, their eyes were opened, and he also opened their minds to understand. I don’t know about you, but in my own crises of disappointment, I depend on the Holy Spirit to lead me out of the cave of my own unmet expectations. On that road to Emmaus, what was dark and confining was transformed into a life of renewed hope and purpose. These two disciples, Cleopas and the other guy (or gal), could not help but run and tell the others. They couldn’t keep the good news to themselves. The lifting of their disappointment also appears to have changed their heart towards the community. What is it in our lives that we can’t help but talk about? The answer is quite revealing.

4) “Thus it is written”: In His Purpose, We Find Our Own! (Luke 24:35-49)

 As they were talking about these things, 

Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, “Peace to you!” 

 But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit. 

 And he said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? 

                         See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. 

Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones

              as you see that I have.” 

 And when he had said this, 

                   he showed them his hands and his feet. 

And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, 

           he said to them, 

              “Have you anything here to eat?” 

 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate before them.

 Then he said to them, 

“These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, 

          that everything written about me in the Law of Moses

                                                           and the Prophets

                                                           and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” 

 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, 

        and said to them, 

                  “Thus it is written, that

                                           the Christ should suffer

                               and on the third day rise from the dead, 

             and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed 

                          in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 

 You are witnesses of these things. 

 And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you.

             But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

What had been written about Christ that “must be fulfilled”? First, that he would suffer and die and then be raised from the dead on the third day. Second, that the compassionate proclamation of the Gospel would be made to all nations. Thirdly, to fulfill this, Jesus called his followers (and us) into his purpose as the mantle was passed—“you are witnesses of these things.” Finally, Jesus was sending the promise of the Father— the Holy Spirit to not merely empower them and send them as he had been sent, but to connect them relationally to the love of the Father. This should sound familiar. Jesus invites us to share in his purpose. We don’t have to wonder why we are here. We are “witnesses of these things” and are commissioned to be a part of the compassionate proclamation of the Father’s love.

However, we may question our ability to be a part of such a wonderful cause. What if we have really made a mess of our life? Are we still included in this purpose? The answer is the same for all of us. We are qualified by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ alone. In addition, we have the example of Saul of Tarsus (aka Paul) who in his ISIS-like fervor to wipe out Christians was confronted by the risen Christ (Acts 9) and transformed into the great apostle of the faith. As he told it in his own words, in Acts 26:14-18,

Paul on Road (Ely Cathedral)

And when we had all fallen to the ground,

I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, 

‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?

             It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ 

And I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’

                               And the Lord said,

‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. 

               But rise and stand upon your feet,

for I have appeared to you for this purpose,

                                to appoint you as a servant and witness

                                to the things in which you have seen me and

                                to those in which I will appear to you, 

                    delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles—

to whom I am sending you to open their eyes,

                          so that they may turn from darkness to light

                                                      and from the power of Satan to God,

                              that they may receive forgiveness of sins

                               and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’

Is It Not Necessary?

He came that we might believe in him and might have life in his name.

But we must respond to his love with our trust in him as our risen Lord. He is still seeking us--even on the road from our greatest disappointments. Will we tell him our story and listen to his answer?

Who is this Jesus of Nazareth? What had we hoped? It is important to realize that he cannot be merely a prophet or a good moral teacher for he claimed to be Lord. If he is not who he said he was then either…

• he knew that he wasn’t Lord and is thus a Liar, or
• he didn’t know that he wasn’t Lord and is thus a Lunatic.

There really is no middle ground. Will we allow him to open to us the scriptures that speak about him, to open our eyes to see him as he really is, to open our minds to understand, and finally to kindle our cold hearts to tell others what he has done for us?

I pray that we will do so today. 

Lent and the Garden

In the first chapter of the Bible (Genesis 1:1-2:3) we have the story of creation. Most Christians are familiar with the story of God creating everything in six days. As you recall that passage, what words would you think might occur most often in the creation story? "Earth" would be a good guess. Sure the words "day" and "good" occur seven times. If you take the text of the entire narrative and create a word-cloud with the relative size of the words dependent on how many times they were used you get a graphic like the one below.



Can you find "man" in this Wordle based on the text of Genesis 1:1 - 2:3?

Like the caption says, can you find "man" in this graphic? You may need to magnify your view of this page. Still no luck...I will put a clue at the bottom of this page. However, the relative size perhaps contains an important lesson for us.

I like this graphic because it shows us pretty clearly that the most prominent player in creation is God. In 34 verses, "God" is mentioned 34 times. He is the hero or primary protagonist in this passage. Here in this word-cloud it doesn't take much imagination to picture God as Creator whirling all that he has made above his head like so much pizza dough!

And yet, having taken a step back from our respective western-culturally shaped dominant-culture God-complexes, we can humbly acknowledge that God did what he did to prepare a land for his people. He wisely and lovingly formed environments and then filled them. He did not make what he has made to be empty (Isaiah 45:18).

So when we read further into Genesis 2 we see the cosmic and terrestrial focus has further narrowed to focus on the creation of mankind and his placement in the garden. Here "man" is much easier to find.

So why play with all these words? Isn't it just a waste of time? Perhaps it is, yet I like to think that we are more than just an insignificant speck in the universe. When we allow God to shape us and to place us in the garden he has for us to work, we can be more than we ever dreamed we could be. When we respond to his loving-kindness with joyful obedience, the plot of ground he has given us to take care of will produce amazing fruit that will bless many. When we make ourselves the center of the universe we forfeit the abundant goodness of God's creative work on our behalf and our lives produce only bitter wild grapes (Isaiah 5:1-5) and as they say in Israel, "use up the ground" instead of "keeping" it well.

I am writing this during the season of Lent leading up to the church's celebration of the resurrection of our Lord. Our unseasonably warm weather has caused the grass and the weeds to grow vigorously in my yard. It is still February and I have had to start regular mowing and weeding already. It is a picture of Lent. To turn the phrase, it causes me to remember that our days and seasons are borrowed from the Lord and not our own. They must not be wasted. This is a time for each of us to consider the garden of our own hearts, and then for us to collectively consider the condition of the vineyard we call the church. What needs to be plowed up, pruned, hauled away, composted, fertilized, etc. in order to be fruitful in the coming seasons of ministry?

In this life our greatness is not measured by the surveyor's transit or the economist's ledgers, but by the depth of our love. How can we love our community well in these days? The proof of our Christian discipleship is in how well we love each other. Let's use this time leading up to our joyful celebration of Resurrection Day to prepare the soil of our hearts, our families, and our communities for the seeds that the Lord wants to sow, grow, and harvest.

Jesus, in one of his last messages to his disciples before his arrest and death is recorded in John 15:1-9...

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.

Sometimes we get impatient and out of line. That's when we need to hold on to our long view... that we are loved and have not been left alone.

[Hint= Trying to find "man" in the first graphic? It is near the center, just to the left of "expanse".]