R.P. Nettelhorst's Blog, page 36

Fear Not

The Sabbath was over, and it was almost daybreak on Sunday when Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. Suddenly a strong earthquake struck, and the Lord’s angel came down from heaven. He rolled away the stone and sat on it. The angel looked as bright as lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards shook from fear and fell down, as though they were dead.

The angel said to the women, “Don’t be afraid! I know you are looking for Jesus, who was nailed to a cross. He isn’t here! God has raised him to life, just as Jesus said he would. Come, see the place where his body was lying. Now hurry! Tell his disciples that he has been raised to life and is on his way to Galilee. Go there, and you will see him. That is what I came to tell you.”

The women were frightened and yet very happy, as they hurried from the tomb and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them and greeted them. They went near him, held on to his feet, and worshiped him. Then Jesus said, “Don’t be afraid! Tell my followers to go to Galilee. They will see me there.” (Matthew 28:1-10)

The first person to know that Jesus was the Messiah was a woman. Likewise, the first person to know Jesus had been resurrected was a woman. That women are the first witnesses to Jesus’ resurrection is significant. Had the gospel writers been just making up the stories, they would never have chosen women the first witnesses. In the first century, in both Greek and Hebrew society, women were not regarded as reliable witnesses. No man would have ever picked them as the leading characters in the foundational event of Christianity.

It makes sense that the first words from the angel to the two women were “Don’t be afraid.” Everything they thought they knew had been overthrown. They’d just experienced an earthquake that had shaken the land, but the resurrection of Jesus was an earthquake in their souls.

The women left the angel happy, but still frightened. That was when Jesus met them. Suddenly they had not just the words of an angel, but the words of Jesus himself. Any doubts they might have still harbored were gone.

Though the angel told the women to not be afraid, they were still frightened. But when Jesus came, their fear finally went away for good. Jesus can take away what scares us. He is alive again and ever with us.

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Another Day in Paradise

The soldiers also mocked him, coming up to Him, offering Him sour wine, and saying, “If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself!”

Now there was also an inscription above Him, “THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.”

One of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at Him, saying, “Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!”

But the other answered, and rebuking him said, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.”

And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!”

And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:36-43)

Jesus knows what it’s like to be mocked. He knows what it’s like to be bullied. And he knows what it is to suffer. But he didn’t let even the most extreme circumstances stop him from doing what he needed to do or focusing on the needs of someone else instead of himself. Two criminals hung on crosses with Jesus; one joined in mocking him, the other accepted his fate and rebuked the mockery.

The thief on Jesus’ right did not have the time or opportunity to do any good works, to make restitution for the crimes for which he’d been condemned. He could not join a church, he could not tithe, and he could not get baptized. He didn’t walk an aisle or even express repentance. He did not call Jesus Lord. All he did was address Jesus by name and ask him to remember him when he came into his kingdom. He had simple faith, and made a simple request.

And on the basis of those few words, Jesus told the criminal—who remains unnamed—that he would join Jesus in Paradise that very day. The word “Paradise” that Jesus used had originated with the Persians. It referred to the pleasure gardens belonging to the Persian king. Why that very day? Because before the sun went down that evening, both that criminal and Jesus would be dead.

All human beings are like that criminal on the cross, unable to save themselves or do anything at all to improve their situation. Jesus did everything and gave everything so that sinners who do nothing can join him in Paradise.

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Dying Like a Man

At the sixth hour darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?”—which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

When some of those standing near heard this, they said, “Listen, he’s calling Elijah.”

One man ran, filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a stick, and offered it to Jesus to drink. “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to take him down,” he said.

With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.

The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, heard his cry and saw how he died, he said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!”

Some women were watching from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. In Galilee these women had followed him and cared for his needs. Many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem were also there. (Mark 15:33-41)

Jesus did not always enjoy doing his Father’s will. When Jesus was dying, he cried out, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” Why did Jesus say that? Some have suggested that when God put all the sins of the world on Jesus, for the first time ever Jesus experienced separation from his Father.

But that explanation forgets that Jesus was a man. He had been betrayed by one of his closest friends. Most of the rest of them had run away. So he died like men die when they’re on a cross: in agony and alone. How could he feel despair? He had the same feelings, the same needs that all the rest of us have.

Jesus loved life and he experienced its full range of emotions. And human beings were created in God’s image. As God he already knew those feelings. And feelings simply are, like the blue in the sky, or the wet in water. Some people seem bothered by Jesus’ cry of despair when he died. Rather, we should be bothered only if he hadn’t.

If you ever think that God doesn’t understand the pain of being human, the sometimes despair of it, then you don’t know God. He understands. He’s been there. Sometimes there is reason to feel despair. It is not a sin to feel bad, any more than it is to feel good. Like Jesus, we can rejoice when times are good, and cry when times are bad.

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Simple Truths

“Ah!” his disciples said. “Now You’re speaking plainly and not using any figurative language. Now we know that You know everything and don’t need anyone to question You. By this we believe that You came from God.”

Jesus responded to them, “Do you now believe? Look: An hour is coming, and has come, when each of you will be scattered to his own home, and you will leave Me alone. Yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. I have told you these things so that in Me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.”

Jesus spoke these things, looked up to heaven, and said:

Father,

the hour has come.

Glorify Your Son

so that the Son may glorify You,

for You gave Him authority

over all flesh;

so He may give eternal life

to all You have given Him.

This is eternal life:

that they may know You, the only true God,

and the One You have sent—Jesus Christ.

I have glorified You on the earth

by completing the work You gave Me to do.

Now, Father, glorify Me in Your presence

with that glory I had with You

before the world existed. (John 16:29-17:5)

God can overcome our failures. He stays with us, even when we make the wrong choices. Jesus gave his disciples his reassurance even as he told them that they would fail him. He promised them peace and victory through suffering, even as he promised they would abandon him in his hour of greatest need. Knowing their coming betrayal, Jesus prayed for them nevertheless.

Jesus did not come into existence in Bethlehem. He always was and always will be. He is the creator of heaven and earth. He is God Almighty. He had become human for but a brief eye blink in the never-ending span of eternity. Remembering how it had been and how it would be was what gave Jesus the strength to face the cross. Nevertheless, he was a human being. He had the same human revulsion and fear of death, the same distaste for the physical pain he would have to experience.

But in the same way he could endure his cross, so can we endure ours. We too, have been granted eternal life. We too, will live with God in glory forever. For us as well, all our suffering and all our problems are but eye blinks in the never-ending story of eternity. Just as tears fade with the passing of time, so will all our pains in the never-ending passage of eternity.

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No Picture?

Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.”

Jesus replied, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet you still don’t know who I am? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father! So why are you asking me to show him to you? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I speak are not my own, but my Father who lives in me does his work through me. Just believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Or at least believe because of the work you have seen me do.

“I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father. You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it! (John 14:8-14)

What are the biggest, most spectacular miracles of all? The apostle Thomas asked two questions: where was Jesus going and how could they follow him? Philip just wanted to see the Father. Jesus’ responded with three points.

First, Jesus said that he was going to the Father and that Jesus alone was the only way for them to get to the Father. Second, if you know Jesus , then you know the Father. Third, those who believe in Jesus will be able to do more and better works than Jesus ever did.

How can that be? Just as Jesus told parables to make his words more easily understood, so he painted pictures with his miracles. Healing the blind and deaf, raising the dead—these were metaphors for what Jesus came to do spiritually. In his life, Jesus reached but a handful of human beings. Since his resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit, untold millions have been brought from spiritual death to spiritual life through the message of the Gospel. That’s how we’ve performed works greater than Jesus. We make a mistake if we imagine there are greater works for us to do than removing spiritual blindness, deafness, and death.

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Don’t Give Up

When she had said this, she went away and called Mary her sister, saying secretly, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.”

And when she heard it, she got up quickly and was coming to Him.

Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha met Him.

Then the Jews who were with her in the house, and consoling her, when they saw that Mary got up quickly and went out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there.

Therefore, when Mary came where Jesus was, she saw Him, and fell at His feet, saying to Him, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”

When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled, and said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to Him, “Lord, come and see.”

Jesus wept.

So the Jews were saying, “See how He loved him!”

But some of them said, “Could not this man, who opened the eyes of the blind man, have kept this man also from dying?” (John 11:28-37)

The best thing for you may turn out to be very unpleasant. Jesus’ will for Lazarus was that he get sick and die. Jesus’ will for his friends and relatives was that they experience grief. Why? To bring glory to God. There is more to our lives than just us. And even if it is all for the best, the pain is no less intense.

After Jesus learned where Lazarus had been placed, in the shortest verse of the Bible, we learn that he cried. Why did Jesus cry when he knew Lazarus would be alive so soon? Jesus cried over the death of Lazarus for the same reason any human being has ever cried over the death of a loved one.

Christians find it easy to think of Jesus as God. Too often, we have trouble accepting the fact that he was also human. Jesus laughed and Jesus cried, for the same reasons that any human being laughs or cries.

The death of Lazarus and Jesus’ interactions with the mourners gives us added insight into the heart of Jesus: we get to know Jesus not just in the words he spoke, but also in his tears, no different from the ones we shed in our darkest hours. Like Jesus, we know that the resurrection is coming. But like Jesus, we still must cry.

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Can You See Me?

Jesus then said, “I came into the world to bring everything into the clear light of day, making all the distinctions clear, so that those who have never seen will see, and those who have made a great pretense of seeing will be exposed as blind.”

Some Pharisees overheard him and said, “Does that mean you’re calling us blind?”

Jesus said, “If you were really blind, you would be blameless, but since you claim to see everything so well, you’re accountable for every fault and failure.”

“Let me set this before you as plainly as I can. If a person climbs over or through the fence of a sheep pen instead of going through the gate, you know he’s up to no good—a sheep rustler! The shepherd walks right up to the gate. The gatekeeper opens the gate to him and the sheep recognize his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he gets them all out, he leads them and they follow because they are familiar with his voice. They won’t follow a stranger’s voice but will scatter because they aren’t used to the sound of it.” (John 9:39-10:5)

Jesus had forsaken diplomacy when it came to his relationship with the Pharisees. After healing a man born blind, Jesus told them that he wasn’t trying to be obscure with his teaching. Instead, he was trying to make everything as clear as possible, so that those who didn’t understand would come to understand, while those who claimed to know it all would be shown for what they were: clueless.

The Pharisees were clued in enough to realize that Jesus was insulting them, calling them blind. So Jesus gave them an illustration to further make his point—in case his insult wasn’t already clear enough for them. He told the Pharisees that they were up to no good, like robbers sneaking into a sheepfold. The sheep—God’s people—would not listen to them. But they would listen to Jesus, because he was speaking with a familiar voice—the voice of God that all of God’s people recognized if they really understood the Scripture and really loved him.

God loves sinners. With the tax collectors his love was gentle. With the Pharisees, it was harsh. In both cases, Jesus wanted repentance.

God’s people recognize when something or someone is from God. If it isn’t from God, they may not know precisely what’s wrong, beyond the fact that it isn’t the sound of the one they love with all their hearts.

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Expelled

The man answered , “Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” They answered him, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?” And they drove him out.

Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answered, “And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him.” Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.” He said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped him. (John 9:30-38)

We want a place to belong, where everyone knows our name. Many of the people that Jesus spent time with and healed remain unnamed in the New Testament. The man born blind, whom Jesus healed, was “driven” out of his synagogue. Even his parents hadn’t been ready to stand up for him. It can be dangerous to disagree with people in authority. Speaking “truth to power” usually results, as it did for that poor man, in that power simply smashing you down.

But this man born blind refused to be silenced, even by the threat of losing his place in society. Perhaps the fact that he’d spent most of his life on the periphery of society anyway, scratching out a living by begging, meant that he didn’t feel very invested in that society to begin with. More likely, the startling reality of the truth was so powerful for him that he cared for nothing but that truth. His life had been so profoundly changed, he could not deny reality, no matter how strongly the people around him wanted to force him to deny it.

Jesus came to him in his abandoned state. Jesus showed him that he wasn’t alone after all. When you have the truth, the only ones you lose are the liars. When Jesus revealed himself to a man of truth, that man recognized Jesus for who he was and worshiped him. Thanks to Jesus, we have a place to belong and he knows our name.

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Secret Messiah

Jesus decided to leave Judea and to start going through Galilee because the leaders of the people wanted to kill him. It was almost time for the Festival of Shelters, and Jesus’ brothers said to him, “Why don’t you go to Judea? Then your disciples can see what you are doing. No one does anything in secret, if they want others to know about them. So let the world know what you are doing!” Even Jesus’ own brothers had not yet become his followers.

Jesus answered, “My time hasn’t yet come, but your time is always here. The people of this world cannot hate you. They hate me, because I tell them that they do evil things. Go on to the festival. My time hasn’t yet come, and I am not going.” Jesus said this and stayed on in Galilee.

After Jesus’ brothers had gone to the festival, he went secretly, without telling anyone.

During the festival the leaders looked for Jesus and asked, “Where is he?” The crowds even got into an argument about him. Some were saying, “Jesus is a good man,” while others were saying, “He is lying to everyone.” But the people were afraid of their leaders, and none of them talked in public about him.

When the festival was about half over, Jesus went into the temple and started teaching. The leaders were surprised and said, “How does this man know so much? He has never been taught!”

(John 7:1-15)

Was Jesus a liar? His brothers, who didn’t believe he was the Messiah, told him that if he wanted to become public figure, he had to appear in public. So why not come to the Festival of Shelters? Jesus told them it wasn’t his time, but then snuck there without telling anyone.

When a quarterback misleads the opposing team, has he lied? When the general misleads the enemy, has he lied? When the undercover police officer keeps his cover, has he lied? No, we’d say they were all doing their jobs. Jesus’ behavior must be seen in that light. Jesus’ brothers did not yet believe. That means they were still playing for the other side.

Jesus had a specific plan in mind for the Feast, a plan that did not involve his brothers or their expectations. By misleading his brothers, he ensured the successful outcome of God’s will.

Jesus’ critics, like the Pharisees, were always quick to find fault with his behavior, behavior that often seemed at odds with God’s law. We must be careful not to start thinking like the Pharisees. And we have to be willing to understand that sometimes we don’t know all the answers.

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The Bread of LIfe

So they asked him, “What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? Our forefathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”

Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

“Sir,” they said, “from now on give us this bread.”

Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. 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 6:30-40)

Human beings are never satisfied. Jesus had fed five thousand people in a miraculous way. Their response was not to believe Jesus, but to wonder what he could do that would make them believe; they pointed out what Moses had done in the wilderness. Jesus corrected them. Moses hadn’t fed the ancient Israelites. God had. Jesus wasn’t just another Moses, he was like the manna that had come down from heaven.

But the crowd didn’t understand. They were fixated on getting a free meal, while he was trying to tell them about the meal they really needed to eat. Why does Jesus compare himself to bread and being eaten? In order for us to continue living, something else must die. Even a vegetarian kills living things—plants—in order to stay alive. Likewise, Jesus offers us eternal life, but in order for us to have eternal life, he had to die.

There really is no such thing as a free lunch. Someone has to pay for it. Jesus doesn’t need to do anything to make us believe he paid the price. We either believe or we don’t. The choice is ours alone.

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