John 20:29-31

John 20:29-31  Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”  Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book.  But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. 

As we conclude our breakfasts at John's table, we take the liberty of paraphrasing his final remarks:  these breakfasts were written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.  On our in-depth journey through John's account of Christ's life, we approached each scripture asking the same Spirit that quickened John to anoint our minds and to inspire our words with resurrection light and life.  As we wrote, we asked God to use us as his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them (Ephesians 2:10 KJV), for we know in the natural, as God told the prophet Isaiah, our thoughts are not his thoughts and our ways are not his ways.  (See Isaiah 55)  Every time we read the breakfasts together, we marvel at the finished products the Holy Spirit brings forth because WE ARE FED, WE ARE NOURISHED BY THE LORD.  Just as many of you have written to tell us that God feeds you through the teaching, our spirits are lifted up as we sit in heavenly places with Christ Jesus through the inspiration of the Word.  As the Word seeps into our souls and expands our relationship with Jesus, making us more aware, more alive, more conscious of Christ in us our hope of glory, we better take advantage of our freedom in Christ.  The freedom is ours, the inheritance is ours, the work is finished; but we must walk in the truth and experience our position as members of God's family.  As we teach all of you through the leading of the Holy Spirit, the Lord holds us accountable, and we are privileged to walk in the light of the revelations of God as He fulfills his promise: I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.  (Hebrews 8:10)    

As with many of you, we have faced difficult struggles in our lives.  Particularly with mom's health in the past few years but actually throughout our married life, we have experienced numerous difficulties.  In all these situations, we have kept in mind Peter's words: Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you.  (1 Peter 4:12)  No matter what trial or daunting situation we faced ourselves or in raising our five children, we have persevered and triumphed by faith through the ever-present glorious help and mighty power of the Lord.  His precious word, his true wisdom, his constant comfort, and never-ending  sustenance have seen us through these years.  Mom said recently in our 48 years together, she could not remember a year where there was not some serious setback, but God has been with us through it all.  She loves to speak the Word of faith hidden in her heart, the Word that lifts her up when she is weak and weary in body as she has been these last few years.  When people ask her how she is at church, she answers, "I am strong in the Lord and the power of his might, and nothing else really matters."  That is not a trite religious comeback or a clever response.  That remains her statement of faith, a place upon which to stand, a rock, a foundation--Jesus Christ.  She knows in herself she may be weak, weary, walking by faith, not by sight; but she can do all things through Christ who is strengthening her right then, right that very moment, while she is speaking those words.  She is not holding the Rock Christ Jesus: He is holding her; and Jesus never fails!  He is the same yesterday, today, and forever!  She can declare: I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.  (Psalm 37:25 KJV)   

We do not want to boast in our weaknesses, except to declare what Paul professed when he prayed three times and asked God to take away his thorn in the flesh.  God said: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”  Paul did not  drawn back in depression and defeat; he did not say that must mean my work is done because I am disabled--let someone else do this difficult job God had asked me to do.  No, he said: Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.  That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.  (See 2 Corinthians 12:7-10)  With this same firmness Paul writes in Acts that he served the Lord with all humility of mind, and with many tears, and temptations despite persecutions and unfair treatment.  He ignored everything else for the sake of the gospel because of his burning desire: that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.  (See Acts 20:19-24)  The modern-day church seems to have lost some of this vigor for finishing well regardless of our human situation, to persevere for the cause of Christ. 

Dearly beloved, we remind you of the Christ we discovered on this journey.  John brought a consistent message: Jesus is the beginning, the end, and everything in between.  God sent his Son--the Light and the Life--to save the world and to set an example for us to follow: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning.  Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.  In him was life, and that life was the light of men.  (John 1:1-4)  Jesus shared the Father's love and light wherever He went in a dark world.  His words were not understood even when He spoke clearly: For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. . .For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.  (John 6:33 & 40)  Yet despite the doubts and fears of his closest followers and the sin and rebellion of a lost creation, Jesus endured the cross to bear the sins of all mankind, offering himself as a spotless Lamb, slain from the foundation of the earth for all who would call upon his name.  We face a new year tomorrow, a new beginning as our modern society looks at reality.  Before we look forward, what a wonderful time to look back at the many views we have of Jesus: his enduring love of the people He came to redeem, his unyielding obedience to the Father He loved, and the glorious hope He offers those who will take up the cross and follow him.  Rejoice dear ones: Christ has done it, we are free!  When people celebrate the New Year, we have greater cause for rejoicing than anyone, for the Good News of the Ages remains the goods news of 2012: And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.  He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. (1 John 5:11, 12)  God bless all of you richly in the New Year in the mighty power of the risen Lord!  We thank God for each of you.  

John 20:18-20

John 20:18-20  Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!”  And she told them that he had said these things to her.  On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!”  After he said this, he showed them his hands and side.  The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.  Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you!  As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”  And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.  If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”  Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came.  So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”  But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.”  A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them.  Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!”  Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands.  Reach out your hand and put it into my side.  Stop doubting and believe.”  Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!” 

On the evening of that first day of the week, the disciples' first instinct was positive upon hearing Mary tell them, "I have seen the Lord!"  They came together.  However, rather than finding total comfort and peace from her encounter with Jesus, their hearts and minds strayed to temporal realities; they remained inside a locked room for fear of the Jews.  When Jesus came and stood among them, He did what He continues to do until this day, He brought peace to the room, saying, "Peace be with you!"  When Paul describes God's marvelous grace gifts to the church at Ephesus, he tells them we were all dead in our transgressions and sins, but because of his great love for us and sweet mercies, God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.  Furthermore, He tore down every wall of separation, making all people, Jew and Gentile alike one in Christ because Jesus 

himself is our peace. . . 

He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.  For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.  (See Ephesians 2:5-18)  Consequently, Christ not only offered his disciples his peace on that momentous day; He offered them hope, power, and authority.  He showed them his hands and his side, the identifying marks of his death.  When they rejoiced, again He blessed them with peace, but He added, "As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”  Already the focus is outward rather than merely inward upon the inhabitants of the closed environment of this locked room formerly full of fear.  In similar fashion, in the midst of explaining grace to the Ephesians, Paul exhorted them: we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.  There IS a harvest field. 

Jesus breathed upon his beloved followers, promising, If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.  Oblivious to what his friends, seemingly deaf to their account of Christ's words and actions when He came to them, Thomas who was absent from this event suddenly decides the rest of the group are all unreliable witnesses, liars.  He declares he will not believe unless he personally touches Christ's nail-scared hands and pierced side.  A week later, still behind locked doors, the disciples gather; and Jesus appears, again blessing them with his peace.  He allows Thomas to examine his wounds; then He speaks directly to Thomas' unbelieving heart: Stop doubting and believe.  This exhortation rings through the ages to every believer, every man or woman who draws back or waits in a locked room for concrete evidence of the risen Lord.  If we fail to believe Christ rose from the grave in power and authority over sin and death, we are bound to our old ways, our old habits and inclinations, our doubts and anxieties.  If we believe Christ is alive, in the room, we are loosed by the authority of his shed blood, by the Holy Spirit power of the resurrected One.  His work at the cross and his victory in setting the captives free brings eternal life to us now and forever.  His resurrection provides proof we are seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus; we experience the reality of a "born again" life; we will pass from this life into eternal life with him.  We are sons and daughters of the Most High.  Through Christ and the indwelling Holy Sprit we can stop doubting and believe.  Jesus said, I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.  Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever.  So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.  (John 8:34-36)   

When Paul discusses the resurrection with the Corinthian church, he declares, if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.  He says outside of Christ rising from the dead, we do not possess a sure testimony or a true hope for the future.  If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.  He went on to say that he faced death every day for the sake of the cross, and that would be foolishness if there were no resurrection.  In fact, he says if he were doing such things for mere human reasons, he would not gain anything.  As he rightly concludes: "If the dead are not raised, 'Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.'"  (See 1 Corinthians15:16 -32)  Just as our only hope for eternal life is through Christ, our only hope for victory in this life is through trusting in Christ's total sufficiency now.  Thomas said he had to touch Jesus to believe.  Jesus allowed Thomas to do just that, and then Thomas cried out, “My Lord and my God!”  Today, every person has faith choices: doors open to those who believe; doors close for those who do not believe.  When Peter and John were arrested for healing a lame person and asked by what power or name they did such an act, Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: “Rulers and elders of the people!  If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple and are asked how he was healed, then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed.  He is 'the stone you builders rejected, which has become the capstone.’  Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”  (Acts 4:8-12)  Because Christ arose, Peter and John received the Spirit and went forth in Jesus' name.  This Christmas weekend, Jesus sends us forth as his new creation, saying, Peace be with you!  

 

  

John 20:10-17

John 20:10-17  Then the disciples went back to their homes, but Mary stood outside the tomb crying.  As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.  They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”  “They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.”  At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.  “Woman,” he said, “why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”  Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”  Jesus said to her, “Mary.”  She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher).   Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” 

The angels and Jesus asked Mary, why are you crying?  Why is your heart so stressed, so burdened, so overwhelmed by Jesus' disappearance.  Of course the angels and Jesus knew why she was crying: her tears represented her heartfelt desperation over the absence of Christ's body.  This deceased Jesus could do nothing for her now, but she loved him; and in Jewish tradition she revered his body, felt concern over someone removing it from the tomb.  As with Joseph and Nicodemus, the account of how people reacted at the empty tomb reveals their love and loyalty to Jesus.  Mary loved him so much she could not bear the thought that his body might be neglected or desecrated by some grave robbers.  Her love was palpable, everlasting, and uncompromising: Christ's death had not changed her love towards him.  But with natural eyes, she did not readily recognize him when she first saw him and He spoke to her: she did not realize that it was Jesus.  She was looking for corpse, a shrouded body, not a living being.  Does our love radiate the same loyalty and unfailing constancy for Jesus or do we love him for what He can do for us and then draw back from him when we think He has failed us or neglected us in some way?

American Christians lead such a secular existence filled with so many material blessings, so many things, we do well to undergo a spiritual inventory.  We do well to search our hearts, asking the Holy Spirit to shine the gospel light on our lives.  Surely we will cry out with the psalmist: Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.  (Psalm 139:23-24)  So often our love and our passion for God remains situational and fleeting.  When we need something, we come to the Lord or we attend church, seeking the help and fellowship of believers.  When a prayer is answered and God graces our lives with a miracle, we shout joyfully and rejoice in our good fortune often pointing to how much we prayed for this awesome happening.  But during the lean times of pain, sorrow, sickness, and struggle; we sometimes wander afar, casting aside God and those who would stand with us to comfort, help, and sustain us through the valleys.  God seeks a people who will say with Job: Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.  (Job 13:15)  Conditional love tells us to look at what's going on instead of walking by faith and trusting God.  A person of faith does not say: "What can God do for me or my family?"  God's servant says: "What does God want my family to do for him?"  Sometimes people come to the Lord in times of great trouble, such as a war.  Foxhole prayers have saved many a soldier: "Lord, if you get me out of this war alive, I will serve you forever."  Some of those foot soldiers remembered their promises; others forgot the Lord spared their lives and went right on with their worldly pursuits.  Unfortunately, such prayers lead a person to constantly bargaining with God, treating him like a machine rather than Lord of our lives.  Rather than fully surrendering to him, giving ourselves completely and wholeheartedly, we try to make deals, saying, "If you give me this, Lord, then I will give you that."  God is not in the business of making deals.  He seeks sons and daughters to take up the cross and follow Jesus.  

If we love God with all our hearts, all our souls, all our might, we will say, "I love you Lord.  I want to serve you with my life, please only you.  Not my will but yours be done."  That is the love Mary evidenced for Jesus.  Such love stands the test of time.  We all die someday.  The time will come when the Creator of all things and the controller of all time will say, "Next."  Our turn will come as we pass through the throes of death.  Will our love for God say, "Your will, not mine," or will our fleshly self hold on to seeds of bitterness and anger, unforgiveness and criticism because we held onto our selfishness and rage; we kept shame and quilt alive instead of nailing everything to the cross?  When it is our time to fly away on eagle's wings to be with our blessed Lord, we do not want to be encumbered by anything, by any weights from this sinful world.  The godly love overflowing from our hearts should be palpable, everlasting, and uncompromising.  No other love will endure the trials and vicissitudes of life.  Without a doubt, the angels and Jesus knew why Mary was crying.  They knew Mary's strong and enduring love for Jesus; they knew the overwhelming circumstances that morning, but they also knew no thieves had taken away her Lord.  Jesus was not going to abandon Mary that morning.  When He said, “Mary,” the song of heaven broke forth in her spirit.  When she recognized him, she knew the lover of her soul was with her.  Jesus comforted her that morning, but He also spoke words of faith to her that would forever comfort her soul: Go instead to my brothers and tell them, "I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.”   Tell them that I am going home to my father and God, and tell them that I am going home to their Father and God, and that someday they will be with me forever.  These words changed Mary and Christ's followers' lives forever.  If we truly believe them today, none of us will ever be the same.  For Christ went to his Father that his Father might be OUR FATHER.  

John 20:1-9

John 20:1-9  Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance.  So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”  So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb.  Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.  He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in.  Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb.  He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus’ head.  The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen.  Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside.  He saw and believed.  (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)

Today's verses show that Jesus' closest friends and followers did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.  They lacked spiritual eyes to see what was in front of them, just as they did not comprehend fully the words and works of Jesus when He walked and talked with them, teaching and instructing them in God's truth, fulfilling Old Testament prophecies of the promised Messiah.  We have seen this throughout our study of John.  The gospel writers share numerous instances where a lack of faith or actual unbelief in the disciples' hearts kept them from recognizing Christ for who He was.  Jesus fed the 5000 with five loaves and two fishes; afterwards, they picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish; yet when Jesus sent the disciples ahead of him in a boat and a storm rose up, they reacted as fearful children.  When Jesus came walking toward them on the water, first the disciples exhibited terror, thinking he was a ghost; finally, when the winds obeyed his commands, they were completely amazed, for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened.  (See Mark 6:41-52)  In Matthew's account, Peter is brave enough to say, “Lord, if it’s you, tell me to come to you on the water.”  But after getting out of the boat and taking steps toward Jesus' outstretched hand, when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”  (See Matthew 14:22-28)  Even though Jesus clearly said He would rise again, we see his beloved companions astonished that the dead body of Jesus had disappeared from the tomb. 

On several occasions, Jesus said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”  He understood humans could not understand spiritual realities but needed their natural ears opened by the Holy Spirit to his words of life.  The Holy Spirit had not come yet to dwell within them, giving them spiritual discernment of the truth of his message.  As Jesus had said: When the Counselor [the Holy Spirit] comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me.  They had been in the presence of God's Son, but they still did not understand.  Jesus had to go away to send the Holy Spirit.  He explained, "But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away.  Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you."  (John 15:26 &16:7)   After the resurrection, Jesus would reveal himself to many.  When the Holy Spirit brought Christ's words to their remembrance, they would realize a phenomenon beyond their wildest imagination: they would begin to understand the riches of their inheritance and the provisions represented by that empty tomb.  The reality that the Jesus who had walked among them, that the One they saw suffer and die upon the cross, was raised incorruptible by the Spirit of God as Lord and Savior of all would change their lives.  The good news He lived and died and rose again for all mankind would soon become the centerpiece of the gospel message.  Messiah had come to bring God's grace covenant to a fallen creation.  This good news spread across the known world, bringing restoration, healing, hope, and redemption to all who trusted in the shed blood of Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit.  

We must realize Jesus' death created temporary turmoil for people who gave up all to follow him.  They had faced ridicule, persecution, and alienation from family and friends for their allegiance to this insignificant Jesus of Nazareth.  Unbelievers viewed him at best as a false prophet, conjuring miracles; at worst as a deceiver, calling himself God.  Truly his chosen ones did not expect their Master to die the shameful death of a criminal, not the Jesus who healed the sick and raised the dead, not the Jesus who showed compassion on outcasts and sinners, not the Jesus they hoped would establish a new kingdom.  Surely He would deliver the people suffering under the powerful Roman Empire and a corrupt religious system.  They had heard Jesus speak of freedom and utter harsh words toward the religious elite: "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed."  "

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces.  You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to." 

 (Luke 4:18 & Matthew 23:13)  Where was this Jesus they had chosen to follow? 

However, when they met the risen Lord and received the power of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, they went forth as a mighty army of the Lord, building a foundation of faith for us, often at the cost of their lives.  They carried the cross of Jesus that we might know Christ did not shed his blood for us to spend the majority of our time and resources pleasing ourselves by building our own kingdoms on things that do not last, satisfying our selfish desires.  He came to save lost sheep without a Shepherd, saying, I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.  The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.  I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. . .My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.  (John 10:9-11 & 27-28)  Christ's sheep see and believe; they listen and obey; they spread the good news and never die!  

Note:  Sorry the kitchen has been closed so often and open so rarely.  Mom's second eye surgery Nov. 1st resulted in a focussing problem--new glasses this week have made a big difference for her.  We are praising the Lord for notable improvement in her speech and balance--remarkable answers to prayer.  However, worsening health complications with other lupus issues required seeing new specialists, trying new meds, and undergoing tests.  We are still awaiting some of those results and appreciate your prayer support.  We find the steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end.  We walk by faith and not by sight because faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.  We are blessed!