Tag: cross

Passion Week-Sunday: Risen Indeed

Background Passages: John 20:1-16, I Corinthians 15

The universe and all that it will be was little more than a glint in the eyes of Creator God. His hand poised over an empty void like the conductor of a massive orchestra, God scripted the placement of each galaxy and star…every ocean and mountain on every planet…every molecule of life. He harbors in his heart the highlight of his creation…man and woman. God created us in his image. Even as he conceived us perfectly formed, he gave us free knowing we would fall short of his desire for us.

Armed with that knowledge, he built into his creation a plan of perfect redemption. A way to bridge the distance between a sinful me and a sinless God. Before the universe was formed, he made the call to send his son into the world to die on a cross for my sin and to be resurrected. He timed it perfectly.

“When the set time had fully come, God sent his son, born of a woman, born under the law.” (Galatians 4:4)

“For he was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through him you believe in God who raised him from the dead and glorified him so your faith and hope are in God. (I Peter 1:20—21)

That seems an odd place to begin on this Resurrection Sunday, but I find it incredibly consequential that Good Friday and Easter were not a back-up plan for a God who didn’t see the need coming. Rather, the cross and the empty tomb were slipped into history as intentional acts of sacrifice and love offered by a God who deeply desires a relationship with you and me.

The crucifixion and the resurrection go hand in hand. One without the other makes little sense. One without the other doesn’t work. Together the cross and the empty tomb serve as the very foundation of the Christian faith…central to what we believe. The heart and soul of the gospel…the good news of Christ.

Look first to the cross. Sin separated us from God. We had no way of working our way back to him. No way of reconnecting once we distanced ourselves from him. Jesus took on himself my sin and yours as he hung on the cross. A sacrificial lamb whose blood erased our sin so we could again enter again into right relationship with him as we were intended…reconnected by God’s grace, through our faith in Jesus Christ. The cross is our salvation.

His resurrection sealed the deal. Locked it in place. The events of that day confirmed it.

*****

Mary Magdalene and a few other women who followed Jesus rose early on Sunday morning intent upon finishing the burial process which could not be completed before the Sabbath. They arrived at dawn to find the heavy stone rolled aside.

Timidly and fearfully, they peeked inside. The only items in the tomb were a few hastily spread spices and ointments Joseph and Nicodemus had placed on Friday and the neatly folded linens in which Jesus had been wrapped. Jesus was gone.

One of the women scurried back to the disciples with a frantic report. Peter and John raced to the tomb. After a quick inspection, the men confirmed that Jesus was missing. As most of the morning’s visitors returned home, some of the women stayed behind.

Two angels sought to comfort their crying and their fears. Confounding them by letting them know that Jesus had risen from the dead. Mary Magdalene, shocked and disoriented, turned and almost ran into Jesus, mistaking him for the gardener.

“Sir, if you’ve carried him away, tell me where you have put him and I will go to him.”

Jesus replied to her, “Mary.” (John 20:15-16)

At the sound of her name, Mary knew. The tomb was empty because Jesus was standing before her. Alive! Well! Risen!

*****

Over the course of the next 40 days, Jesus appeared to more than 500 people, according to scripture. Five hundred people who could testify to his resurrection. Five hundred people who could declare with certainty, “He is risen! He is risen, indeed!”

So, in our belief in Jesus as savior and Lord, the question is not do you believe in the resurrection? The questions are: What does it mean to you? What are you going to do with it?

Here’s my take on this continuing miracle in our lives.

Firstly, you and I can have the relationship we have with God because of the resurrection. He planned it that way. He made it happen. Jesus died on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins…past, present and future. It is the only way our sins can be erased.

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life.” (Romans 6:23)

The resurrection of Jesus confirmed that God accepted Jesus’ death as our substitute. We don’t have to pay the price because Jesus did. The resurrection is validation of Jesus’ work on the cross and a promise to us that once we put our faith in Jesus we no longer face the ultimate consequence of our sin. Hallelujah!

Secondly, the resurrection is our hope.

Physical death is the enemy of a sinful man. The mortality rate is, for all practical purposes, 100 percent…give or take Elijah and Jesus. No amount of medical technology or wealth changes that immutable fact.

It does not have to be the case with spiritual death. Christ rose from the grave because God is more powerful than death itself. Jesus’ resurrection shows that death has lost its grip on us. We do not need to fear it because, through Christ, we have been raised to new life.

“O Death, where is your victory? O Death, where is your sting? But, thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (I Corinthians 15:55-57)

Chapter 15 of 1 Corinthians explains that eternal life is ours. Whether we meet a physical death before Christ returns or whether we are present when he comes, Jesus will gather us all to him for eternity in the presence of the Father.

This is the basis for Christian hope. The world uses the word hope to express a desire for something to be true. “I hope she loves me.” “I hope I get that new job.” For Christians, hope in Christ is an assurance. An absolute. Hope in Christ guarantees life beyond our physical death, without question or pause. Everlasting life in the arms of God is assured.

Thirdly, the resurrection confirms that we serve a living savior.

No other faith tradition makes such a claim. In every other faith tradition, the principle head of that faith died, was buried and remains in the grave to this day. Only Jesus lives. The many witnesses of the risen Lord testified to his resurrection. They saw him alive. They touched his nail-scarred hands and pierced side. They saw him breathing. They saw him eating. They heard him speak. They heard him laugh.

Those witnesses are hard to refute. However, the greatest witness to his living presence is the Holy Spirit whom he sent to be with us in his place. In the hours before the cross Jesus offered comfort to his disciples. Sharing with them that he must return to the Father, but he would not leave them alone. He told them,

“I will ask the Father and he will give another Comforter to be with you forever—the Spirit of Truth…You know him for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans. I will be with you.” (John 14:17-18)

It is the indwelling Holy Spirit that testifies to the living presence of Jesus in our lives today.

“When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, he will testify about me.” (John 15:26)

The old hymn declares the promise. “We serve a living savior who’s in the world today. I know that he is living, whatever men may say. I see his hand of mercy. I hear his voice of cheer. And just the time I need him, he’s always near. He lives!”

Finally, if the resurrection means we have an eternal relationship with God…one that gives victory over death and a hope that endures forever…that we serve a living savior who lives within us through his spirit…then we bear a great responsibility to be faithful.

“Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord because you know your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” (I Corinthians 15:58)

Our Passion Week closes. The dark days replaced by the eternal light of God’s love in living Lord.

He is risen!

He is risen, indeed!

Author’s Note: I hope you’ve found as much meaning in this week’s Easter series as I did during my study. May God bless you all.

Passion Week-Saturday: Remember

Background Passage: Luke 23:56

Jesus is dead. Hurriedly buried in a borrowed tomb. Now, it is Saturday of Passion Week. Sabbath day on the Jewish calendar.

It is pure speculation on our part. It is not, however, hard to imagine the turmoil of the disciples and the handful of Jesus followers in the hours after his death on the cross.

One by one, those brave enough to venture to Golgotha peeled away, leaning on each other for support. Some went their separate ways. Others huddled together in a room, isolated in fear, burdened by grief.

All we know of Jesus’ followers actions on the day after Jesus’ death is found in one simple verse.

“Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.” (Luke 23:56)

I don’t know about you, but the death of a loved one is unsettling. In the best of times, there is a measure of reflective memories of good times shared together. When the loved one fell victim of a particularly difficult death, there is a lingering replay of every image of the last moments…real and imagined.

How could it have been any different for the disciples of Jesus or for these women who loved him?

I suspect many of them followed Jesus to Calvary, pushing their way through a jeering crowd, hoping against hope that this was just a horrible dream. They saw him fall beneath the weight of the cross, weak from the scourging he just endured. They watched the soldiers viciously manhandle him as they stripped him of his clothes and nailed him to the cross. They could not turn away as he hung from the cross, watching each agonizing breath until it was finished.

Now, in the darkness of the evening, they replayed all those images in their minds over and over again. Through the night they could not shake those images. They could not shake the despair.

When Sabbath dawn broke that next morning, they abandoned all pretense of the sleep that never came. I imagine them looking to one another as they picked at their breakfast. “What now?”

In a telling moment, when their hearts were heavy with grief, fear and despair, they had every reason to abandon their faith. After all, the one in whom they had placed their trust was gone. But, when they were lost and as hopeless as they had ever been…despite the horrific memories…scripture says they observed the Sabbath.

They did in that moment what they did with Jesus every Sabbath he was with them. They stayed true to what Jesus taught them. They read God’s word. They prayed. They honored God.

I like that. It’s probably worthy of our attention. They honored God. They honored their memory of Jesus by doing what he would have done.

A week of study brought us to the foot of the cross. On this day between the cross and the empty tomb, perhaps it’s good that we remember the suffering of Jesus as a demonstration of the incredible love of God to send his son to die for us.

But even as we remember the horror, we honor God by our worshipful spirits on this day and our knowledge that the darkness of that night made the light of his resurrection shine that much brighter.

Via Delarosa by Lea Salonga, 2011

Passion Week-Friday: Renewal

Background Passages: John 18:1-19:37, John 3:16-17, Ephesians 2:8, John 19:38-42, and John 12:32

Nine hours.

540 minutes.

32,400 seconds.

That’s all the time it took the religious leaders to arrest Jesus and to nail him on the cross. Nine hours. When Jesus whispered, “It is finished,” and breathed a sigh of release, the religious leaders patted each other on the back and breathed a sigh of relief. It was finished. They had won.

In one of the world’s best examples of a kangaroo court, Caiaphas, the high priest, and other religious officials, manufactured the evidence and brow beat a Roman governor to bend him to their will. By killing Jesus, they protected their standing among the Jewish people. Brutally efficient. Politically effective.

Little did they realize that they played right into God’s hand. Scripture tells us when the time was right, the sovereign God sent his son to live among his creation, to teach them what it means to be a part of his kingdom and to die as a substitute for the failures of a sinful world.

In those nine hours, God expressed his deepest love.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” (John 3:16-17)

In those nine hours, we learn the very definition of grace.

“For it is by grace you are saved through faith—and this not from yourself. It is a gift from God. (Ephesians 2:8)

In those nine hours, we see the deepest love and the greatest gift of all time. In those nine hours, we see the beginning of Easter.

This will not be a typical Easter weekend. In the middle of this pandemic, our churches will be mostly empty, despite the creative ways congregations find to worship. Easter will be less public and more private. More personal. Maybe that’s not altogether bad thing.

It’s a hard truth. Most Easter Sundays find churches with their pews filled with faces who rarely enter the church doors throughout the year. Believers, for the most part, for whom the cross gets stuffed in the closet after Easter service along with their new dresses, suits and shoes. They’ll pull it out again next year, but what about the months between?

I really don’t intend for that to sound harsh or critical, though I suspect it does. I attend church almost every weekend and I know I’ve failed God more times that I care to admit. It’s not about our failures. It’s about what we do from this moment on with the cross. How do we let it change our lives?

Caiaphas and the other religious leaders rejoiced at Jesus’ death. Though they read the scriptures regularly. They clearly misunderstood the words. They projected their own interpretation of God’s word and created an image of the Messiah that Jesus did not fit. As a result, they nailed him to a cross and mocked him. “If you really are the chosen one, prove it to us once and for all by coming down from the cross.” When Jesus did nothing, they laughed, patted each other on the back and went on their way.

One thief joined the religious elite, mocking Jesus and telling him to get all of them off the cross if he was who he claimed to be. The repentant thief, on the other hand, scolded his partner in crime for his shameful words. Though he knew he deserved the death to which he had been sentenced, he recognized in the things Jesus said and did while on the cross that Jesus was innocent. He saw enough in Jesus to repent of his own sin and give his life to him, “Remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

Each of us as believers in Christ had to get to that point. Convicted of our own sin and seeing into the heart of Jesus, we gave our lives to him. Too often, we let the genuine thrill of that experience fade with time. We trust him as savior, try to live according to his word, but, whether out of embarrassment or fear, we hide our faith from others…stepping from the shadows to light only on Easter or when it is convenient for us.

What do we do with the cross? I hope we do what Joseph of Arimathea did.

Joseph was a Pharisee, a member of the ruling council. Luke describes him as a “good and upright man.” John tells us Joseph was a follower of Jesus. He had heard Jesus teach and believed in who he was. Joseph accepted Jesus as his savior, his Messiah. But, and this is still too often true today of many believers, Joseph kept his relationship to Christ private. He was afraid of what the Jewish leaders would do to him.

When Jesus died on the cross, Joseph came alive spiritually. His fear forgotten, Joseph of Arimathea approached Pilate, the man who sentenced Jesus to die, asking the governor’s permission to take Jesus from the cross and bury him properly. The cowardice and fear that kept his faith silent vanished. His bold and public request testified for Jesus in a way that everyone, including the religious leaders, could see.

Jesus had been dead less than an hour and already his words proved true.

“But if I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men to myself.” (John 12:32)

Joseph, who privately made his faith commitment, found himself drawn to the cross of Christ, decided it was time to make his relationship to Christ public. Time for a re-commitment.

This will not be our typical Easter. Despite creative ways to celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus, most churches will remain closed. The pews, normally full of people, will remain empty. The word of God will be proclaimed this weekend in many ways. We will see Jesus on the cross, high and lifted up.

Be drawn to him. Wherever we have been reticent to express our faith and trust in him, let’s leave that hesitation at the foot of the cross. It’s my prayer this weekend that we all be drawn to the cross, recommitted to live and work for him each day. It’s my prayer that we all let the cross change us. May we use the incredibly sacrifice of Jesus to renew our faith commitment and boldly proclaim to the world that we are his.

For God so loved the world…

One Day

Background Passage: Luke 24:1-12

Creativity is a gift from God. I read a passage in a book with a well-turned phrase or hear the dynamic lyrics to a song and marvel at the ability of writers to string words together to creates a sound that reverberates in the heart of the reader or listener.

This week, I heard the song, Glorious Day, performed by Casting Crowns. Though the song was not new to me, I enjoyed its message and melody. This time my ears picked up on the familiar lyrics. Lyrics that sat me down among my teenage friends in the second pew from the back on the left side of the church in the First Baptist Church or Ropesville, Texas.

“One day when heaven was filled with his praises,
One day when sin was as black as could be,
Jesus came forth to be born of a virgin,
Dwelt among men my example is he.”

The modern tune had disguised the lyrics of the song from my youth. I’m not sure why my ears heard the words differently today. The overwhelming sense of spiritual nostalgia took me back to the foundation of my faith in that small rural community. If you’re older than 30 you will probably remember the words penned in 1908 by J. Wilbur Chapman as the song, One Day.

According to most stories behind this famous song, Chapman, a Presbyterian pastor and evangelist who preached during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, wrote a poem to go with a sermon he presented as a guest pastor at Stony Brook Bible Conference. He gave the poem to his pianist Charles Marsh who wrote the tune to the old hymn.

The powerful lyrics captured the essence of God’s plan for the world from the beginning of time. The first line confirms the pre-existence in time of Jesus, God’s son. One day dwelling in heaven. Receiving the praises of the angels for his glory and majesty. One day as God’s creation turned on the axis of selfishness, God sent his son to dwell among us as an example for us to follow of obedience and faith.

One day he is nailed to a cross, a grace gift offsetting the sins of any repentant soul. One day buried. One day risen. The eternal message of Easter.

Then, in an incredible fashion, Chapman crafted a succinct refrain that lays out the depth and breadth of God’s redeeming love.

Living he loved me.
Dying he saved me.
Buried the carried my sin far away.
Rising he justified, freely forever.
One day he’s coming
Oh, Glorious Day.

Though I love the tune written by Michael Bleecker, the melody doesn’t change the message. The old standard may well resonate with those of us who have lived long as recipients of his gift through Christ. The new tune may best bridge the gap between God and today’s contemporary seeker.

Whether you sing it in your mind the old way or the new, may its message connect. God sent his son to live unerringly. To love unconditionally. To die sacrificially . To be buried temporarily. To rise triumphantly. To come again eventually.

What a glorious gift of unmerited grace to all who claimed it that one day!

 

Camelot and the Cross

Background Passages: Mark 15:21-47; Phil. 2:6-8; John 3:16

The legend of King Arthur and Camelot reads as a favorite of many since it first appeared on the French literary scene in the 12th century. As a movie, released in 1967, the tale gained popular acclaim. In the movie’s climatic scene, King Arthur discovered the adulterous relationship between Queen Guinevere and Lancelot, the king’s most trusted and loved knight. Though Lancelot escaped capture, Guinevere, having broken the laws of Camelot, is tried and convicted, sentenced to burn at the stake. Arthur, deeply torn between his devotion to the laws of his beloved kingdom and his passion for Guinevere, faces an unholy predicament.

Mordred, King Arthur’s scheming, illegitimate son, dances in glee at Arthur’s “magnificent dilemma.” He says, “Let her die, your life is over. Let her live, your life’s a fraud. Which will it be, Arthur? Do you kill the queen or kill the law?” As the tragedy unfolds, Arthur stoically sacrifices his true love, “Let justice be done.”

The king watches in horror, heart shattered, as the guards lead Guinevere into the castle courtyard. The executioner chains her to the stake, waiting with his torch for the king’s signal to set the pyre ablaze. In the gripping agony of love, Arthur gives into his breaking heart. “I cannot let her die.” Mordred, relishing the downfall of the king, mutters, “Well, you are human after all, aren’t you, Arthur? Human and helpless.”

Guinevere is spared, but the dream of Camelot crumbles.

In his book, Windows of the Soul, Ken Gire compares the cross of Calvary with that climatic scene in the castle courtyard of Camelot. Think about it. God created his world and all within it and called it “good.” He loved his people so much that he made with them a covenant of relationship, a promise never broken by the Father. He loved them with all his being.

He handed them a set of principles by which they should live, asking for their obedience and commitment. Time and time again the world proved unfaithful, lost in the quagmire of its self-interest, rebellion and sin. Time and time again, the world was tried, convicted and deserving of death.

In the shadows, Satan gleefully watched as God faced his magnificent dilemma. “Let the world die, your life is over. Let the world live, your life’s a fraud. Which will it be, God? Do you kill the world or kill the law?”

Satan saw only a no-win scenario. God must turn away from his call to righteousness and ignore the sin of the world or hold to his principles and punish the world he loved. Either way. Satan wins. God loses. God, heart heavy in sorrow said, “I cannot let them die.” Satan smiled, relishing what he saw as the downfall of the Heavenly King. Helpless. But God was not finished with his redemptive act.

Filled with love for his created, the King left his throne. Took off his crown. Laid aside his scepter. Shrugged the royal robe from his shoulders. Traded his castle for a cross.

“Who, being the very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-even death on the cross!” Phil. 2:6-8

God took the sins of the world upon himself through his “only begotten son.” A sacred, sacrificial substitute for a world that deserved to die. Today, we still find it difficult to comprehend because we are incapable of loving anything as God so loved his children. For those of us who accept by faith the grace that is the cross, we find a promise of life eternal in the arms of a living Lord who loves us as no other loves us. God’s third option remains the hope for the world.

In a story of love and justice, Camelot ends in tragedy. Gire said it best, “When love and justice collide, only the Cross offers a happy ending.”

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16