Proof

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered on the 2nd Sunday after Easter, the 23rd of April, 2023, at Pilgrim Reformed Church.  Our YouTube streaming channel is: 

https://www.youtube.com/@pilgrimreformedchurch1992/streams.]

Family, today is the second Sunday after Easter and we continue celebrating the resurrection of our Lord.  Jesus has not yet ascended back into heaven.  He’s still walking the earth, still in His wounded and scarred body, being seen and witnessed by many.  Like He did with Thomas, Jesus is still offering visible proof of His defeat of death and His return to life.

Last week we looked at how Thomas finally came to believe that Jesus was indeed God.  “My Lord and my God”, he exclaimed, once Jesus appeared to him and showed His wounds.  And then Jesus blessed all those who believe without having seen, without the need of irrefutable proof.  And we are blessed, truly blessed, we believers, and of that there should be no doubt.

Today I’d like to look at one more time when Jesus appeared to His disciples, after His resurrection but before His ascension.  And this is one of those times when He hid or obscured His true identity for a while.  Remember when Mary Magdalene first saw Him Easter morning and thought Him to be the gardener?  And then in the Apostle Luke’s Gospel account, we watch as two of the disciples walk along the road to Emmaus later that day, when Jesus comes up and walks along with them.  They don’t recognize Him either, not until much later when He reveals Himself at supper before vanishing from their sight.

These people - Mary and the two disciples - had been with Jesus for quite some time, following Him around the region, walking with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, eating with Him, listening to Him teach, and yet they did not recognize Him until He was ready for them to.  And such is the case with our little story today.  But this time, it involves men who have been with Jesus from the very start.

Please listen and follow along to the eye-witness report of the Apostle John as he describes yet another appearance of Jesus to His disciples, in the 21st chapter of his Gospel account, verses 1 through 14, and I’ll be reading from the New King James Version of our Holy Bible this morning…

1 After these things Jesus showed Himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, and in this way He showed Himself: 2 Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of His disciples were together. 3 Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.”

They said to him, “We are going with you also.” They went out and immediately got into the boat, and that night they caught nothing. 4 But when the morning had now come, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. 5 Then Jesus said to them, “Children, have you any food?”

They answered Him, “No.”

6 And He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast, and now they were not able to draw it in because of the multitude of fish.

7 Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment (for he had removed it), and plunged into the sea. 8 But the other disciples came in the little boat (for they were not far from land, but about two hundred cubits), dragging the net with fish. 9 Then, as soon as they had come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid on it, and bread. 10 Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish which you have just caught.”

11 Simon Peter went up and dragged the net to land, full of large fish, one hundred and fifty-three; and although there were so many, the net was not broken. 12 Jesus said to them, “Come and eat breakfast.” Yet none of the disciples dared ask Him, “Who are You?”—knowing that it was the Lord. 13 Jesus then came and took the bread and gave it to them, and likewise the fish.

14 This is now the third time Jesus showed Himself to His disciples after He was raised from the dead.

--John 21:1-14 (NKJV)

Let us pray…  Father God, thank You for all the first-hand reports that our Bible contains of Your Son Jesus being seen alive and well after You raised Him from the dead.  Through Your will and Your power, Jesus conquered death.  And by Your promise, we too will not die the everlasting death, but will be given a new body and have life eternal with You.  Thank You, Father, for loving us this much.  Father, please forgive us if we doubt the validity of these reports, or of the people who gave them.  Show us all the times when the prophets words were proven true in the life of Jesus.  Remind us that You never failed to fulfill all Your promises, so we know You will always be true to us.  And Father, please protect us from Satan, who sows those seeds of doubt, and shield us from those who are so willing to carry out his evil works.  Please keep us strong in our faith, of one mind and one purpose in our love, worship, and service, and healthy and safe through these trying times.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit within us and better understand the message You have for us this day.  Let us feel Your presence, Your love, as we worship You this morning.  Help us to always believe and trust in Your word.  This we pray in the precious name of Christ Jesus, our risen Lord.   Amen.

The renowned artist Paul Gustave Dore, who lived in the 1800's, lost his passport while traveling in Europe.  When he came to a border crossing, he explained his predicament to one of the guards.  Giving his name to the official, Dore hoped he would be recognized and allowed to pass.  The guard, however, said that many people attempted to cross the border by claiming to be persons they were not.

Dore insisted that he was the man he claimed to be.  "All right," said the official, "we'll give you a test, and if you pass it we'll allow you to go through."  Handing him a pencil and a sheet of paper, he told the artist to sketch several peasants standing nearby.  Dore did it so quickly and skillfully that the guard was convinced he was indeed who he claimed to be.  His work confirmed his word!

Have you ever run into a situation where your word just wasn’t good enough?  I remember when a handshake and a promise – a gentleman’s agreement – was more trustworthy than any written and signed contract.  Nowadays, even a notarized contract might not hold up in court.

We just don’t trust each other anymore, and sadly with good reason.  There are too many people out there trying to take advantage of us for their own personal gain, pretending to be something or someone they’re not.  So we all end up have to offer proof of our identity, either by showing some sort of state issued ID, or knowing the correct password, or solving some little puzzle that proves we’re a human.

Mr. Dore had to prove the truth of his word by drawing a picture.  We say we’re Christian.  What would we show if we had to prove it?

I love this morning’s Bible story.  One reason may be because I love fishing.  Of course, for me it was never a necessity, as for these men – I never needed to fish for the money it could bring in, or even to feed my family.  For me, fishing is a nice, relaxing time on or by the water, enjoying being outdoors, soaking up nature.

So here are some of Jesus’ disciples, including ones who Jesus hand-picked at the start of His ministry.  When Jesus first appeared to Mary after His resurrection, He instructed her to tell the disciples to go back to Galilee and He would come to them there.  These men had done just that.  And here they are, right there on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, apparently waiting on Jesus to appear.  I guess they got a little bored, because Peter stood up and said, “I’m going fishing”.  The rest decided to go along and they all hopped into the nearby boats and pushed off out into the sea.  Well, they fished all night…  and caught nothing.

Now that I can certainly relate to, although not catching anything is still a good day fishing for me.  For them, though, not so good.  They’d worked hard all night long, throwing out and hauling in their nets, with nothing to show for it.  When morning came, they headed back to shore.

As they approached land, they saw a figure standing there.  Maybe they were too far out to recognize Him, but I doubt it, because the “person” asked them, “Do you have anything to eat, did you catch anything?”  If He was close enough for them to hear Him, they should have been able to see who it was, even in the dawn’s light.  But we know Jesus can hide His identity when it suits His purpose.  The rather discouraged disciples replied, “No, we have no fish to eat”.

Jesus tells them to toss their net out on the right side of their boat – the starboard side for those who know their boating terms.  They’ve got to be fairly close to shore now in order to carry on this conversation.  Normally they would cast their nets out in the deeper water, not along the shore.  But as silly as it may have seemed to them, they did as they were told.  And the net was filled with so many fish that they couldn’t even pull it back into the boat!

That’s when John – the disciple whom Jesus loved – recognized just who this mystery man really was.  He shouted to Peter, “It’s the Lord!”  Peter couldn’t wait for the boat to come in.  He jumped in the water and swam to shore.  The rest of the disciples managed to drag the filled net in between the two boats.  Jesus already had a fire going with a fish cooking on it, so He told them to add some of their fish. And they all enjoyed breakfast together.

John adds that this was the third time that Jesus had showed Himself to His disciples, after He was raised from the dead.  Positive proof of life after death.

As we discussed last week, we believe without having seen, we believe without irrefutable proof.  And we are truly blessed for it.  But actually… we do have proof.  We have all these first-hand eye-witness reports.  And we can accept the validity of these reports because they have not ever been refuted by any of the witnesses.

All in all, over 500 people witnessed the risen Lord.  They saw Jesus, alive and in the flesh, after He had been crucified, executed, dead and buried.  And not one of them ever said it didn’t happen exactly as the Gospel writers said.

This is our proof.  We have been shown proof to back up our faith.  And by this proof of what Jesus had said would happen did happen, we can be assured that the other things He said would happen, that haven’t yet happened, will indeed happen, such as when He returns.

According to the Apostle Matthew, Jesus told quite a number of stories to His followers and the crowds after His final, triumphal visit to Jerusalem, after what we call Palm Sunday.  This was during the week before His arrest, trial, and execution.  He was trying to tell the people what God’s kingdom is like, using parables to get the point across in words and word-pictures the people could better relate to.

Please listen to one of these parables as recorded by Matthew in chapter 25 of his Gospel account, verses 1 through 13…

1 “Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. 3 Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, 4 but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. 5 But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept.

6 “And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!’ 7 Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. 8 And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ 9 But the wise answered, saying, ‘No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’ 10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut.

11 “Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ 12 But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’

13 “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.”

--Matthew 25:1-13 (NKJV)

This reminds me of my days as a Boy Scout and our motto:  Be prepared.  And then there’s the US Coast Guard motto:  Semper Paratus, which translates “Always Ready”.  Five of these young ladies were prepared and ready when the bridegroom came.  The others were not, and they missed out on all the festivities.  Jesus is telling us to be prepared, always ready, because we don’t know when He will return.

We may not know when, but we can be assured that He will indeed return, some day, because He told us He will and all our witnesses vouch that He’s good at His word.  No notarized contract necessary.  His word is all we need.

Yes, we believe without having seen.  We believe that Jesus is the Christ, sent by God.  We believe He is the one true Son of God.  He is God, and of this we have no doubt.

But if we should begin to have little doubts, if the non-believers of this world beat on us enough that we begin to wonder if what we believe really is true, all we have to do is open up our Bible and start reading all the reports of the people who did see it all, right as it happened.  This is our uncontested, irrefutable, unmistakable proof that our belief is not in vain.  All that Jesus promised, all that God promised, has been or will be fulfilled.  We have all the proof we need.

In the glorious name of Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Almighty God, thank You for giving us the wonderful gift of faith, so that we might believe in Jesus as Your Son even though we never saw Him with our eyes or heard Him with our ears or touched Him with our hands.  And thank You for augmenting our faith with the proof of eye-witness reports, saved for us through the centuries in our Bible.  Thank You, Father, for assuring us of Your word and Your truth.  Thank You most of all for loving us this much.  Forgive us, please Father, when we displease You, when we disobey You.  Forgive us when we begin to listen to the lies Satan whispers in our ears.  Forgive us those moments of doubt.  Please, loving Father, help us remember all the reports in our Bible.  Help us hold fast to what we have been told, the proof we have been shown.  Help us share our own witness with a disbelieving world.  And help us remain strong, faithful, and true to You in all things, no matter what the world throws at us or holds out before us.

Please hear us now, Father, as we pause for just a moment to speak to You through Your Spirit within us, promising to be more obedient to Your commands, and seeking Your help to do so…

Lord Jesus, everything You ever said would happen did happen just as You said it would.  By this we know that everything You promised will be fulfilled.  Thank You, Jesus, for giving us so many word-pictures to show what we can expect when our time on this earth is finished.  Thank You for promising to return for us, to take us home with You.  Lord, please help us get through each day without ever doubting You.  Remind us of all You said, and all You did just for us.  Help us stand brave against the storm, ever toiling to serve You.  And Jesus, please heal the hurts that separate and divide us one from another.  Help us remain trusting and obedient no matter what we go through.  Help us keep our focus on the things of heaven and the needs of others rather than on anything this life might offer.  This we pray in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.

Blessed Are the Believers

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered on the 1st Sunday after Easter, the 16th of April, 2023, at Pilgrim Reformed Church.  Our YouTube streaming channel is: 

https://www.youtube.com/@pilgrimreformedchurch1992/streams.]

Today is the first Sunday after Easter, seven days since Jesus bodily rose from the grave.  On that Resurrection Sunday, the Lord appeared - in the flesh - to some of the women who had followed Him from Galilee.  Then, while they were hiding together behind locked doors, Jesus suddenly appeared among His disciples, telling them not to fear, wishing them peace.

One of the twelve, Judas Iscariot, the son of perdition, had already perished, so he was not present.  But one other of Jesus’ chosen followers was also absent that day.  We don’t know where he was or what he was doing that Sunday, just that he was not among the group, not in the room, when the now risen Jesus appeared.  When he rejoined his friends, they told him about what had happened, that they had seen Jesus with their own eyes, alive and living again!  But he was skeptical.  And who wouldn’t be?  Jesus was dead and buried, and that was that.  Nobody survives a crucifixion; it may take a while, but everyone dies within a day or two on the cross.  Right?!?

Let’s fast-forward to eight days after the resurrection.  The disciples are still hiding, still afraid to go out.  And now all eleven surviving members of the original twelve are together in the same room, behind locked doors again, when an honored guest appeared.

Please listen and follow along to how the Apostle John describes the second appearance of Jesus to His disciples, in the 20th chapter of his Gospel account, verses 24 through 31, and I’ll be reading from the New King James Version of our Holy Bible this morning…

24 Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord.”

So he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.”

26 And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!” 27 Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.”

28 And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!”

29 Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

30 And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.

--John 20:24-31 (NKJV)

Let us pray…  Father God, thank You giving us faith!  Among all the many blessing You pour over us, faith is up there near the top of the list.  By our faith, we are able to believe in Jesus as Your Christ without having seen Him or any evidence with our own eyes.  Thank You, Father, for so great a gift.  Father, please forgive us when we have our little moments of doubt.  It’s not so much that we doubt Jesus, but that we worry that maybe we’re not worthy of His sacrifice, that maybe You don’t love us any more or that You might turn your back on us.  Please help us remember Your promises.  Remind us that we will always be Yours.  And Father, please protect us from Satan and from those who are so willing to carry out his evil works.  Please keep us strong in our faith, of one mind and one purpose in our love, worship, and service, and healthy and safe through these trying times.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit within us and better understand the message You have for us this day.  Remind us of how blessed we are.  Help us share Your blessings, both the tangible and the intangible, with others in our daily walk.  This we pray in the glorious name of Christ Jesus, our risen Lord.   Amen.

Pastor Frederick Edward Marsh was a great man of God, avid student of the Word of God, and a prolific author.  Listen to a few of the blessings we receive from God that he listed.  You have these in your bulletin with the scriptural references you can read.

An acceptance that can never be questioned. (Ephesians 1:6).

An inheritance that can never be lost (1 Peter 1:3-5).

A deliverance that can never be excelled (2 Corinthians 1:10).

A grace that can never be limited (2 Corinthians 12:9).

A hope that can never be disappointed. (Hebrews 6:18, 19).

A bounty that can never be withdrawn. (1 Corinthians 3:21-23).

A joy that need never be diminished (John 15:11).

A nearness to God that can never be reversed (Ephesians 2:13).

A peace that can never be disturbed (John 14:27).

A righteousness that can never be tarnished (2 Corinthians 5:21).

A salvation that can never be canceled (Hebrews 5:9).

Grace, hope, righteousness, salvation.  And there’s seven more blessings in this short list.  I know we could easily come up with many, many more, but maybe not all with scriptural references.

God is good!  All the time!  And we are so undeserving of His goodness.

So here’s all the disciples huddled together behind closed doors because they’re afraid to be seen in public, afraid of being arrested.  If someone like Jesus - as popular and well-known as He was – if He could be arrested, tried, and put to death, what chance did they have?!?

As we read the Gospel accounts of the days and weeks following Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection, the remaining eleven of the original twelve disciples personally chosen by Jesus are usually mentioned.  But there were many more of His followers still in Jerusalem during this time.  Remember Palm Sunday, when a huge throng of followers entered the city?  These were folks who had followed Jesus from Galilee, and who had joined the following along the way.  These were believers, followers, disciples.  And they were all afraid.  Many sought refuge together.  Some estimates put the number at 120 disciples all together in that upper room where they shared our Lord’s Supper.  But right now we’re only focused on the eleven, the men who had been with Jesus the longest, who had witnessed the most, all the good and all the bad.

So we’re back to last Sunday, the first day of the week, the day when Jesus rose from the grave.  Ten of the eleven – and very likely many more – were holed up in the room where they shared the Passover meal with Jesus just three nights ago.  The doors are shut, barred, closed tight, when Jesus suddenly appears right there among them!

Shocked?  I can only imagine so.  Thrilled?  You bet.  They rejoiced at His sight, and began to remember and understand all that He’d told them.

But Thomas wasn’t with them that Sunday, and he had a little trouble believing the wild tales they told him, about Jesus just popping in out of thin air, alive and seemingly well again.  “Hogwash”, he said (in Aramaic, of course).  “I won’t believe any of it unless I can see His hands with my own eyes, and put my finger in the nail holes, and see where they stuck Him with the spear and put my hand in the wound.  Give me tangible proof, and then I’ll believe.”  I wonder if Jesus thought to Himself, “We’ll just see about that.”

It’s now eight days after the resurrection of their Lord.  Eight days after the risen Jesus was visibly seen by at least eleven people, counting Mary Magdalene.  Eight days later and the disciples were still sheltering in place, as we call it today.

And Poof! – Jesus came to them again, right in their midst with the doors still shut tight.  He went straight to Thomas and said, “Look here at My hands and My side.  Put your fingers in My wounds.  Look and see, touch and feel, and know, without a doubt, that I live again.”  So now Thomas understood, for he was given the tangible proof he required.  Now he knew he was in the presence of God.

Jesus would have preferred that Thomas and the rest could have believed He was truly the Christ without needing actual proof of it, but He knew they just weren’t up to it yet.  They were still babies in their faith, needing to be shown more, needing verification of what they’d been told before.  “Do not be unbelieving, but believing”, Jesus said, to Thomas in particular, to the rest gathered there that day, and also to us, 2000 years later.

Thomas, and the rest, believed because they saw the living proof with their very own eyes standing right there before them.  But then Jesus added something that may have been intended to rebuke His disciples a little, but that we can take great encouragement from today.  “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

This is us.  We have not seen Jesus physically standing in front of us in the flesh.  We’ve not felt His wounds, heard His voice with our ears, felt His touch on our hands, and yet we believe.  We are blessed.

In what we today call the Beatitudes, Jesus is talking to believers about being blessed for their belief.  Please listen to how the Apostle Matthew saved the words Jesus spoke as He began what we know as His Sermon on the Mount.  This comes from chapter 5 of Matthew’s Gospel account, verses 1 through 12…

1 And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him. 2 Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying:

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit,

For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4 Blessed are those who mourn,

For they shall be comforted.

5 Blessed are the meek,

For they shall inherit the earth.

6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

For they shall be filled.

7 Blessed are the merciful,

For they shall obtain mercy.

8 Blessed are the pure in heart,

For they shall see God.

9 Blessed are the peacemakers,

For they shall be called sons of God.

10 Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake,

For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. 12 Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

--Matthew 5:1-12 (NKJV)

We are blessed.  As believers, we should be meek and humble, merciful in our dealing with others, pure in our hearts.  We should hunger and thirst for the soul-saving sustenance that righteousness brings.  And we should strive for peace and harmony, with our brothers and sisters in Christ and with all we encounter in our walk through this life.  If it so happens that we become hated and persecuted because of our belief, then we can take comfort and assurance in the promise of our heavenly reward.

This is how we are blessed, here in the loving arms of our Father God.  And all because we have accepted His Son as our Lord.

Family, I’d like to issue a little challenge to you.  Take that little insert in your bulletin home with you and look up all the scripture references the good Pastor Marsh gave us.  Read and understand what each blessing means to you personally, and to us, the body of believers, the body of Christ.

And then – and here’s the fun part – grab up a pencil or pen and some paper and write down all the ways that you are blessed as an individual, all the ways that God has blessed you personally in your life.  Make a second list of all the blessings we as the body of believers receive from God.  You should see a lot of the same points in both lists.  For you believe, even if you haven’t seen.

But here’s the thing… Jesus said that our eyes are blessed so we can see, our ears are blessed so we can hear.  We see and hear through our heart’s eyes and ears, through our faith.  Our hearts are open to the truth because we believe.  And we are blessed.

In the glorious name of Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Almighty God, thank You for the gift of faith.  Thank You for choosing us to believe.  Thank You for sending Your Son to offer us salvation.  Thank You, Father God, for all the goodness You pour over us.  Thank You most of all for loving us enough to give us all the rest.  Forgive us, please Father, when we displease You.  Forgive us when we do the things we know we shouldn’t do.  Forgive us when we don’t do the things we know we should do.  Please, loving Father, help us be more righteous in Your sight.  Help us put all our trust in You.  Help us share all our blessings with others.  And help us remain strong, faithful, and true to You in all things, no matter what the world throws at us or holds out before us.

Please hear us now, Father, as we pause for just a moment to speak to You through Your Spirit within us, promising to be more obedient to Your commands, and seeking Your help to do so…

Lord Jesus, because of God’s lovingkindness, we have been given the faith to believe in You as the Christ and accept You as our Lord and Master.  And because of our belief and Your sacrifice, we have been washed clean of our sin and will spend eternity with You and God in heaven.  Thank You, Jesus, for standing at our side.  Lord, please help us realize how much we have to be thankful for.  Remind us of all the many blessings we receive, that You secured for us by Your self-sacrifice.  Help us to see just how blessed we are, as a people and as individuals.  And Jesus, please heal the hurts that separate and divide us one from another.  Help us remain trusting and obedient no matter what we go through.  Help us keep our focus on the things of heaven and the needs of others rather than on anything this life might offer.  This we pray in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.

What Price Disbelief?

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered on Easter Sunday, Resurrection Day, the 9th of April, 2023, at Pilgrim Reformed Church.  Our YouTube streaming channel is: 

https://www.youtube.com/@pilgrimreformedchurch1992/streams.]

Thursday night our Lord Jesus was arrested and taken to trial in the temple before the Jewish religious leadership.  Friday morning the high priests handed Jesus over to the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate.  Even though Pilate found no guilt in Jesus, no reason to put Him to death, he was eventually left with no other option than to have the Son of Man crucified.

During the Passover celebration, an unblemished lamb is sacrificed in memory of the original Passover and subsequent Exodus.  This Passover, the one true Spotless Lamb was sacrificed for the many.  Jesus died there on the cross, hanging between two thieves, and His body was laid in a new and unused tomb.  And then came the Sabbath, and all was quiet.

But now it’s Sunday, the first day of the week, and the third day of the crucifixion – Friday, Saturday, Sunday.  What was it Jesus had said about “the third day”?  What did He say was supposed to happen?  Does anyone remember?

Let’s step back to that Sunday morning so long ago, as the sun’s first rays streak the eastern sky.  Please listen and follow along to how the Apostle Matthew describes an amazing discovery and it’s aftereffects, in the 28th chapter of his Gospel account, verses 1 through 15, and I’ll be reading this from the New King James Version of our Holy Bible…

1 Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. 2 And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it. 3 His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. 4 And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men.

5 But the angel answered and said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. 7 And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold, I have told you.”

8 So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring His disciples word.

9 And as they went to tell His disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, “Rejoice!” So they came and held Him by the feet and worshiped Him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell My brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see Me.”

11 Now while they were going, behold, some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests all the things that had happened. 12 When they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, 13 saying, “Tell them, ‘His disciples came at night and stole Him away while we slept.’ 14 And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will appease him and make you secure.” 15 So they took the money and did as they were instructed; and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day.

--Matthew 28:1-15 (NKJV)

Let us pray…  Father God, thank You for raising Your Son Jesus from the dead!  By His resurrection, He conquered death.  And by this we have Your promise of our own resurrection at the end of the age.  Thank You, Father, for so great a gift!  Father, please forgive us when we forget the tremendous price that Jesus had to pay for our freedom.  Forgive us when we fail to realize that we were bought by His sacrifice, and we are now His.  Please help us serve Jesus in all we do as we interact with others in our daily walk.  And Father, please protect us from Satan and from those who are so willing to carry out his evil works.  Please keep us strong in our faith, of one mind and one purpose in our love, worship, and service, and healthy and safe through these trying times.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit within us and better understand the message You have for us this day.  Point out to us those times when we are willing to deny the truth for the sake of expediency.  Help us stay true to You and Jesus.  This we pray in the glorious name of Christ Jesus, our risen Lord.   Amen.

Jesus said, "By your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” (Matthew 12:37)  In May of 1990, the "Spokesman Review", a major news source in the Northwest, reported the following:

Cable television mogul Ted Turner criticized fundamentalist Christianity and said Jesus probably would "be sick at His stomach" over the way His ideas have been "twisted," the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. Turner made his remarks Friday evening at a banquet in Orlando, Fla., where he was given an award by the American Humanist Association for his work on behalf of the environment and world peace. Turner said he had a strict Christian upbringing and at one time considered becoming a missionary. "I was saved seven or eight times," the newspaper quoted him as saying. But he said he became disenchanted with Christianity after his sister died, despite his prayers. Turner said the more he strayed from his faith, "the better I felt."

I have to wonder why a person would feel they might need to be saved "seven or eight times".  Are they unsure of their salvation, or unsure of God's promises, or did they just never really give themselves fully to Christ?

But there is a deeper concern with Turner's words.  He said that the further from the faith he strayed, the better he felt.  I think that pretty well describes the world today, a world that is more infatuated with feeling good than with living and doing right.

Many people have lost a sister, or a mother or father or brother or husband or wife or any other loved one.  And they may have been angry with God for a while.  But they didn't stray from God, they didn't throw away their faith, not those who were truly followers of Christ and believers in His promise.  So again I have to wonder… was Turner really a Christian in the first place?  Did the Holy Spirit ever take up residence in his heart?    Or had he sold out to popular opinion?  What price did he accept for his professed disbelief?  What cost will he yet pay?

The Apostle John, in his 1st letter to the early church, warns us:  "Dear children, this world’s last hour has come. You have heard about the Antichrist who is coming — the one who is against Christ — and already many such persons have appeared. This makes us all the more certain that the end of the world is near.  These “against-Christ” people used to be members of our churches, but they never really belonged with us or else they would have stayed. When they left us it proved that they were not of us at all. But you are not like that, for the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you know the truth." (1 John 2:18-20 (TLB))

This describes Mr. Turner, and all those of his ilk who want to pick and choose which parts of the Bible they hold as truth and which parts are subject to their interpretation.  If we truly accept the Bible as the inerrant, inspired word of God, then we know that everything it contains is truth – not only the parts that soothe us and ensure us and make us happy, but also the parts that step on our toes and convict us of our sinful nature and our disobedience toward God.  To deny parts of the Bible is to deny God’s word.

In Matthew’s account of what happened that Sunday morning, Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of James and Joses, went to the tomb where the body of Jesus had been laid late Friday afternoon.  When they got there, the earth shook, for an angel of God had come down and rolled away the huge stone covering the entrance of the tomb.  And then he just nonchalantly sat down on it.  The guards that Pilate had posted there, at the Jewish High Priest’s insistence, stood off to the side, quivering in fear, afraid to move.

The angel knew why the Mary’s had come.  He told them Jesus was no longer there, that He had risen from the grave just like He said He would.  Oh, and He is going back up to Galilee – you can see Him there.

So the ladies turned to run back and tell the rest of the disciples what they had just seen and heard.  They were a bit shaken and frightened, sure.  Who wouldn’t be!?  But they were also filled with great joy at knowing that Jesus had risen from the dead and would be with them again soon!  Well, that came sooner than they might have expected, for the risen Jesus met them as they ran.

Apparently, once the Mary’s left the tomb, the angel also departed and returned to heaven, finally freeing up the guards to move.  Matthew tells us that some of them - not all, but some – ran back to the city and reported to the chief priests what had just happened.

Now this is a little odd.  First off, these guards were assigned by Pilate, they would have been Roman soldiers, subject to their ultimate commander in the region: Pilate.  And only some of them ran back to the city.  The rest must have been afraid of what would happen to them for not doing their assignment of making sure the body of Jesus was not taken or tampered with.  And then, those that did go back, went to the Jewish chief priests and not to their commander!  This is a huge breech of protocol and the chain of command, which just goes to show how afraid they were – of Pilate and of what they had just witnessed.

The priests understood the trouble the guards could get into, and the trouble the truth would stir up among the people if word got out, so they bribed the guards to repeat a fabrication: that Jesus’ followers had come in the night and taken the body while the guards slept.  They paid off the guards with money, and with the promise that they would make it all right with Pilate.  And Matthew tells us that even in the day when he authored his account, this lie was being told and believed.  It’s my understanding that many Jews still think this true even today.

Now, absolutely the most wonderful message in our scripture reading is that Jesus conquered death, rose from the grave, and lives again.  Which brings up a rather interesting point.

Reading Matthew’s account as written, the Mary’s witnessed the angel coming down from heaven and rolling the stone away from the entrance to the tomb before sitting on it like it was his personal throne.  Since the angel said, “Come, see the place where the Lord lay”, to the ladies, we can be fairly sure they peeked inside and saw the tomb empty.  And Matthew makes no mention of Jesus walking out when the stone was rolled away.  Jesus was already gone while the tomb was still sealed.  The angel said so: “You seek Jesus who was crucified; He is not here; for He is risen, as He said”.

The angel did not roll the stone away so that Jesus could walk out.  The angel removed the stone so that we could look in!  We, through our witnesses eyes, needed to see that Jesus had indeed risen from the dead.  We needed the proof of the empty grave to show our Savior lives.  We needed the truth of the empty grave to know Christ rose from the dead to renewed life so that we can believe in the promise that we, too, will receive new life eternal once this life ends.

But this truth is exactly what the chief priests of the Jews wanted to suppress.  They wanted to bury this truth in that tomb, so much so that they paid the guards a huge sum just to spread their lie.  The devil still wants this truth hidden, and goes to great lengths to do so, employing many willing people to spread his lies by dangling what they desire most in this world before their eyes.  Even preachers, standing in the pulpits, do his bidding, twisting the truth, hiding the true message.

The Apostle Paul foresaw the day coming when preachers "sell out" to liberal ways and tell the people what they want to hear.  And family, I think we can see that day has definitely come, now, today.  Hear the warning that Paul wrote in his 2nd Letter to his young friend and protégé Timothy, in chapter 4 verses 1 through 5…

1 And so I solemnly urge you before God and before Christ Jesus — who will someday judge the living and the dead when He appears to set up His Kingdom — 2 to preach the Word of God urgently at all times, whenever you get the chance, in season and out, when it is convenient and when it is not. Correct and rebuke your people when they need it, encourage them to do right, and all the time be feeding them patiently with God’s Word.

3 For there is going to come a time when people won’t listen to the truth but will go around looking for teachers who will tell them just what they want to hear. 4 They won’t listen to what the Bible says but will blithely follow their own misguided ideas.

5 Stand steady, and don’t be afraid of suffering for the Lord. Bring others to Christ. Leave nothing undone that you ought to do.

--2 Timothy 4:1-5 (TLB)

Too many people don’t want to hear the truth.  It hurts them, bruises their egos.  The truth tells them when they do something wrong and they don’t want to hear or even think they can do anything wrong.  They would rather not believe the truth.  They’ve been sold out by their preachers and leaders, and they’re selling themselves out by their disbelief.  And the cost may well be eternal damnation.

What would it take for someone to deny the truth?  The guards sold out the truth for a "large sum of money".  Nowadays, people regularly and willingly sell out the truth for nothing more than to fit in, to not be looked at as foolish, to not be accused of being bigoted or discriminatory, to not be laughed at or scorned.  They deny the truth to fit the mold of popular opinion or political correctness.

Some people will say that we Christians have no love in us, that God loves all people and we should, too.  Well, God is love, but God is also truth and His word is truth.  And yes, we should love all others, love them enough to not want to see them condemned to eternal pain and punishment.

The truth is that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.  The truth is that He died upon a cross and was buried, but rose again from the dead on the third day.  The truth is that there is no way to the Father, to heaven, except through Jesus the Son, believing in Him, following Him.  The truth is that we will all answer to Him at our last.

Just as Paul warned, the time has come when people won’t listen to the truth, but instead will go around looking for teachers who will tell them just what they want to hear.  This is not why Jesus died.  This is not why God raised Him from the dead.

Family, we are in that time when God’s word is being vilified, made to sound harsh and unforgiving.  We see it on the news, read it in our papers, hear some of our leaders telling us that what God says is sin is not only acceptable but should even be celebrated.  The great prophet Isaiah spoke for God when he wrote, “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!  Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!”  (Isaiah 5:20-21 (NKJV))  It is crucial that we be able to discern what is good and what is evil, what is right and what is wrong.

By our belief in Jesus as our Lord, God gives His Holy Spirit to live within us and guide us.  His Spirit will help us make the right decisions in life if we allow Him, if we listen to His still, small voice.  And we have all we need in our Bible, if we would just spend more time reading and studying it.  Our Bible is God’s word, given to inspired men and women to write down and save for us.  And God’s word is the absolute truth.  So if our Bible says something is sinful, pay no heed to those who proclaim it good.  They are being misled and will mislead us if we let them.  Their disbelief in the truth will be their undoing.

Jesus died so that, by our belief, we might live forever with God in paradise.  He paid the price for our salvation.  But there is also a price for disbelief, and it will be paid by those who refuse Jesus as Lord, who call good evil and evil good, who condone and celebrate sin.  The price for disbelief is eternal damnation, everlasting pain and punishment, forever separated from God.

Let’s not allow others to make us pay again.  Let’s maintain our faith, our belief in Jesus as God’s Christ, God’s Son.  And let us continue to do good, to speak good, to stand up for good.

In a few minutes, we will share the bread and the cup, and then we’ll sing a hymn, just like Jesus and His friends did so long ago.  By this Communion, we are all joined together with one another and with our Lord.

The Apostle Paul warns us not to come to this table until we are right with God.  So please take this time to silently confess any wrongs to our Father God and seek His forgiveness.  Remember what Jesus did for us, for you and for me.  He died just for you, just for me, so that we might live.

In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Almighty God, thank You for providing us with the truth by divinely inspiring the men and women who penned the words in our Bible.  Our Bible and Your Holy Spirit within us help us discern good from evil so that we can walk in righteousness, staying right in Your eyes.  Thank You, Father God, for the wonderful gift of Your Spirit.  Thank You for this great book of instruction, insight, and encouragement.  Thank You for shining Your light on the truth, even if so many deny it.  Forgive us, please Father, our moments of disbelief, when we fall prey to the lies and deceptions of Satan and his followers.  Forgive us when we don’t conduct ourselves in a manner befitting the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, the name we bear.  Please, loving Father, help us be more like Jesus.  Help us be better followers of His example.  And help us remain strong, faithful, and true to You in all things, no matter what the world throws at us or holds out before us.

Please hear us now, Father, as we pause for just a moment to speak to You through Your Spirit within us, promising to be more obedient to Your commands, and seeking Your help to do so…

Lord Jesus, today we celebrate that You conquered death so we might live.  Yet with that celebration we remember the sacrifice that was required of You, the great price You paid on our behalf.  You quietly withstood ridicule and torture, You endured the cruel cross, and You did it all just for us.  Lord, please help us always remember, always celebrate, not just on this day but every day.  Remind us of the great and horrendous price of disbelief so that we will remain steadfast in our faith.  Help us endure what this world throws at us until the day when we stand before You and see Your beautiful face.  And Jesus, please heal the hurts that separate and divide us one from another.  Help us remain trusting and obedient no matter what we go through.  Help us keep our focus on the things of heaven and the needs of others rather than on anything this life might offer.  This we pray in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.

Where Is My Lord?

 

[The following is a manuscript of my meditation delivered at our Easter Sunrise Service on Sunday morning the 9th of April, 2023, at Pilgrim Reformed Church.  Our YouTube streaming channel is: 

https://www.youtube.com/@pilgrimreformedchurch1992/streams.]

Some of the women who had followed Jesus and His disciples from Galilee watched as He was crucified and died on the cross.  These included Mary, His mother, and her sister, Mary, the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.

Jesus' body was laid in the tomb just before sunset, Friday afternoon.  Then came the Sabbath, when no labor is allowed and no work can be done.  Sunday marked the first day of the new week, the first opportunity anyone had to visit the tomb.

Sunday was also the third day of the crucifixion, counting Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.  Did anyone remember what Jesus had told them about that third day?

Please listen to how the beloved Apostle John described the events of that Sunday long ago, as recorded in the 20th chapter of his Gospel account, verses 1 through 20, reading from the New Living Translation of our Holy Bible…

1 Early on Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. 2 She ran and found Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. She said, “They have taken the Lord’s body out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put Him!”

3 Peter and the other disciple started out for the tomb. 4 They were both running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He stooped and looked in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he didn’t go in. 6 Then Simon Peter arrived and went inside. He also noticed the linen wrappings lying there, 7 while the cloth that had covered Jesus’ head was folded up and lying apart from the other wrappings. 8 Then the disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in, and he saw and believed — 9 for until then they still hadn’t understood the Scriptures that said Jesus must rise from the dead. 10 Then they went home.

11 Mary was standing outside the tomb crying, and as she wept, she stooped and looked in. 12 She saw two white-robed angels, one sitting at the head and the other at the foot of the place where the body of Jesus had been lying. 13 “Dear woman, why are you crying?” the angels asked her.

“Because they have taken away my Lord,” she replied, “and I don’t know where they have put Him.”

14 She turned to leave and saw someone standing there. It was Jesus, but she didn’t recognize Him. 15 “Dear woman, why are you crying?” Jesus asked her. “Who are you looking for?”

She thought He was the gardener. “Sir,” she said, “if You have taken Him away, tell me where you have put Him, and I will go and get Him.”

16 “Mary!” Jesus said.

She turned to Him and cried out, “Rabboni!” (which is Hebrew for “Teacher”).

17 “Don’t cling to Me,” Jesus said, “for I haven’t yet ascended to the Father. But go find My brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, to My God and your God.’”

18 Mary Magdalene found the disciples and told them, “I have seen the Lord!” Then she gave them His message.

19 That Sunday evening the disciples were meeting behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them! “Peace be with you,” He said. 20 As He spoke, He showed them the wounds in His hands and His side. They were filled with joy when they saw the Lord!

--John 20:1-20 (NLT)

Let us pray…  Father God, Thursday night we stood by and helplessly watched as Your Son was arrested.  We were scared that they might take us into custody, too, so we fled, leaving Jesus on His own.  Friday we were horrified to see Him being crucified.  Many of us hid in rooms in the city, still afraid of what the Romans and temple guards might do to us if they caught us.  And then Jesus took His last breath on the cross, and was buried.  But then this morning, this beautiful morning, Father, we can rejoice, for You have resurrected our Lord Jesus!  You raised Him bodily from the grave so that He could defeat death.  And You and Jesus did it all just for us!  Your Son suffered, and You had to stand by and watch, just so we might enjoy everlasting life in paradise with You both… if we only believe in Him and follow His voice.  We believe, Lord Jesus.  We believe that You are the one true Son of God, and we believe that You rose bodily from the grave.  This morning we celebrate that glorious day.  Bless us Lord, and help us prepare ourselves for Your return.  Help us to better serve You and to never falter in our belief and faith.  In Your sweet name, Christ Jesus we pray.  Amen.

It’s Sunday morning, the day following the Sabbath.  Just two days ago Jesus died on the cross.  His body was wrapped in linen cloths and placed in a freshly dug tomb.  And then everything stopped in observance of the Sabbath.  But now the Sabbath is past, the dew is fresh on the grass, it’s still dark but the sun is just beginning to peek over the eastern horizon. And Mary Magdalene has come to the tomb of her Lord.

Mary was among those who had traveled with Jesus from Galilee to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover.  She was also there with Mary, the mother of Jesus, as they watched Him take His last breath and die on the cross.  She has come to the tomb under the cover of darkness, hoping no one would see her.  But when she gets there, she finds that the large stone that was used to seal the entrance has been rolled away!

From what we know of the burial customs of the period, huge stones were first chiseled into round, thick wheel shapes.  A depression of about six inches would be dug at the entrance and the stone rolled into that depression.  A couple of stakes or spikes might also be driven into the ground or the front wall of the tomb on each side of the stone to further secure it in place.  The end result would be a very effective door block, one that would prove difficult for even a couple of men to budge.  But there it lay, off to the side.

Mary immediately ran back to find Peter and John.  “They’ve taken our Lord!”, she cried.  “They’ve taken His body from the tomb and I have no idea where they put Him!”

Can you sense the despair she must have felt?  Peter and John did, for they quickly ran to check for themselves, and found the scene just as Mary had described.  The two disciples looked inside and saw that the tomb was empty.  John suddenly remember what Jesus had said, that He would rise from the dead.

Mary, standing outside, sobbing, also looked in and she saw two angels there.  They asked why was she crying and she responded that her Lord had been taken away and she didn’t know where He was now.  She started to leave when Jesus approached, but she didn’t recognize Him.  He asked the same question and she answered that she would go and get the body of Jesus if He would tell her where He is, all the while thinking Him to be the gardener.  And then Jesus made Himself known to her and she rejoiced.  Later that evening, Jesus appeared before the disciples, who were hiding together behind locked doors, and they also rejoiced.

Everyone thought that Jesus was dead, dead and buried Friday afternoon.  They expected His body to be in that tomb on Sunday morning.  I guess they just never fully believed all that Jesus had told them, no matter how often He repeated it.  He was dead and that was the end of it, the end of everything they’d worked for these past three years.  Not only was their Master, their Teacher dead, but any of them might be next.  So they hid behind locked doors, venturing out only when necessary.

But then Mary rushed in with a wild report – the body of Jesus had been taken!  They went to see for themselves and found the tomb empty, as she had said.  The question on their minds, if not their lips, had to have been, “Where is my Lord?”.  Once Jesus revealed Himself, everything was OK, and His followers began to understand what He had told them.

But don’t we today sometimes ask that question, too?  We know the full story, we’ve read all the Gospel accounts and we know that Jesus still lives and now sits at the right hand of God the Father in heaven.  But when darkness covers us and the world is doing all it can to put us down and strip away our faith, when everything seems hopeless don’t we ask, “Where is my Lord?  Where is my Help?  I can’t get through this on my own!  I need You, Jesus!  Where are You?!!?”

Well, my dear friends, when that happens, all we need to do is calm down, look around, and we’ll see Jesus standing right there beside us.  He may look like a gardener, or a fireman, or a homeless person, or a lifelong friend, or a complete stranger, but it will be Jesus, there to help us through the storm.

Jesus is always there, and always will be.  So rather than ask, “Where is my Lord?”, instead take a deep breath, open your heart and say, “There You are Lord.  Thank You for coming to me.”  In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Lord Jesus Christ, Redeemer, Master…  You came as our Messiah, our Savior.  But You died on the cross, and for a moment the world lost hope.  Then You rose from the grave, just as You said You would, once again alive and full of life!  You conquered death and promised we would share in that victory if we would only believe in You and accept You as Lord.  As the sun rises on us this morning, just as it did on You so long ago, that promise remains our expected and anticipated hope.

Dear Lord, may our faith remain strong and not waiver during our struggles and trials in this present age.  May we continue to see You, our living Lord, always at our side.  And may we be completely prepared for Your return, which You also promised.  May we fully grasp what You told us before, and what You are whispering now in our hearts.  May we serve You, with all that is in us.  This we pray, in Your glorious name, Christ Jesus our Master and Savior.

And now, Father God, hear us as we pray to You as Your Son Jesus taught us…  Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.  Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.  Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.  For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever.  Amen.

It Is Finished!

 

[The following is a manuscript of my meditation delivered on Good Friday, the 7th of April, 2023, at Pilgrim Reformed Church.  Our YouTube streaming channel is: 

https://www.youtube.com/@pilgrimreformedchurch1992/streams.]

Yesterday afternoon, we shared the Passover meal with Jesus and His dearest friends, His chosen disciples.  One of those seated at His table betrayed Him, one denied Him, and all abandoned Him, fleeing for their lives, scattering like sheep whose shepherd had been struck down.  What followed are the darkest hours in the history of mankind.  During the night and into the day, Jesus was not only betrayed, denied, and forsaken by His own followers, He was also humiliated, ridiculed, tortured, beaten, and whipped, by His fellow Jews and by the Romans.  Throughout all this, He remained mostly silent, as the Spotless Lamb led to the slaughter.

Today, at about this time, He will be nailed to a cross, where He will take His last breath around three this afternoon.  Our church reading earlier is adapted from Mark 15, giving a somewhat condensed version of the last day of Jesus’ mortal life.  But what role did the Jewish religious leadership play in the day’s events?  And what about the crowds who greeted Jesus with shouts of “Hosanna!”, “Save us!”, and threw their cloaks and palm branches out into the street before Him just a few days ago?  Will they come to Jesus’ rescue?  Will God send an army of angels to free Him?  And what about the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate?  Is this just part of the job he signed up for?

I’d like to look at how the Apostle John reported what took place that Friday afternoon.  This is quite long, but I think it’s better to listen to what God thought important enough for us to hear that He ensured all four Gospel writers included it in their reports.  Please listen and follow along to the Gospel account of the Apostle John as I read from chapter 18 verse 28 through chapter 19 verse 42, and I’ll be reading from the New Living Translation of our Holy Bible...

18:28 Jesus’ trial before Caiaphas ended in the early hours of the morning. Then He was taken to the headquarters of the Roman governor. His accusers didn’t go inside because it would defile them, and they wouldn’t be allowed to celebrate the Passover. 29 So Pilate, the governor, went out to them and asked, “What is your charge against this Man?”

30 “We wouldn’t have handed Him over to you if He weren’t a criminal!” they retorted.

31 “Then take Him away and judge Him by your own law,” Pilate told them.

“Only the Romans are permitted to execute someone,” the Jewish leaders replied. 32 (This fulfilled Jesus’ prediction about the way He would die.)

33 Then Pilate went back into his headquarters and called for Jesus to be brought to him. “Are you the King of the Jews?” he asked Him.

34 Jesus replied, “Is this your own question, or did others tell you about Me?”

35 “Am I a Jew?” Pilate retorted. “Your own people and their leading priests brought You to me for trial. Why? What have You done?”

36 Jesus answered, “My Kingdom is not an earthly kingdom. If it were, My followers would fight to keep Me from being handed over to the Jewish leaders. But My Kingdom is not of this world.”

37 Pilate said, “So You are a king?”

Jesus responded, “You say I am a king. Actually, I was born and came into the world to testify to the truth. All who love the truth recognize that what I say is true.”

38 “What is truth?” Pilate asked. Then he went out again to the people and told them, “He is not guilty of any crime. 39 But you have a custom of asking me to release one prisoner each year at Passover. Would you like me to release this ‘King of the Jews’?”

40 But they shouted back, “No! Not this Man. We want Barabbas!” (Barabbas was a revolutionary.)

19:1 Then Pilate had Jesus flogged with a lead-tipped whip. 2 The soldiers wove a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and they put a purple robe on Him. 3 “Hail! King of the Jews!” they mocked, as they slapped Him across the face.

4 Pilate went outside again and said to the people, “I am going to bring Him out to you now, but understand clearly that I find Him not guilty.” 5 Then Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said, “Look, here is the Man!”

6 When they saw Him, the leading priests and Temple guards began shouting, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!”

“Take Him yourselves and crucify Him,” Pilate said. “I find Him not guilty.”

7 The Jewish leaders replied, “By our law He ought to die because He called Himself the Son of God.”

8 When Pilate heard this, he was more frightened than ever. 9 He took Jesus back into the headquarters again and asked Him, “Where are You from?” But Jesus gave no answer. 10 “Why don’t You talk to me?” Pilate demanded. “Don’t You realize that I have the power to release You or crucify You?”

11 Then Jesus said, “You would have no power over Me at all unless it were given to you from above. So the one who handed Me over to you has the greater sin.”

12 Then Pilate tried to release Him, but the Jewish leaders shouted, “If you release this Man, you are no ‘friend of Caesar.’ Anyone who declares himself a king is a rebel against Caesar.”

13 When they said this, Pilate brought Jesus out to them again. Then Pilate sat down on the judgment seat on the platform that is called the Stone Pavement (in Hebrew, Gabbatha). 14 It was now about noon on the day of preparation for the Passover. And Pilate said to the people, “Look, here is your King!”

15 “Away with Him,” they yelled. “Away with Him! Crucify Him!”

“What? Crucify your King?” Pilate asked.

“We have no king but Caesar,” the leading priests shouted back.

16 Then Pilate turned Jesus over to them to be crucified.

So they took Jesus away. 17 Carrying the cross by Himself, He went to the place called Place of the Skull (in Hebrew, Golgotha). 18 There they nailed Him to the cross. Two others were crucified with Him, one on either side, with Jesus between them. 19 And Pilate posted a sign on the cross that read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” 20 The place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek, so that many people could read it.

21 Then the leading priests objected and said to Pilate, “Change it from ‘The King of the Jews’ to ‘He said, I am King of the Jews.’”

22 Pilate replied, “No, what I have written, I have written.”

23 When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they divided His clothes among the four of them. They also took His robe, but it was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. 24 So they said, “Rather than tearing it apart, let’s cast lots for it.” This fulfilled the Scripture that says, “They divided My garments among themselves and cast lots for My clothing.” So that is what they did.

25 Standing near the cross were Jesus’ mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary (the wife of Clopas), and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw His mother standing there beside the disciple He loved, He said to her, “Dear woman, here is your son.” 27 And He said to this disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from then on this disciple took her into his home.

28 Jesus knew that His mission was now finished, and to fulfill Scripture He said, “I am thirsty.” 29 A jar of sour wine was sitting there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put it on a hyssop branch, and held it up to His lips. 30 When Jesus had tasted it, He said, “It is finished!” Then He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.

31 It was the day of preparation, and the Jewish leaders didn’t want the bodies hanging there the next day, which was the Sabbath (and a very special Sabbath, because it was Passover week). So they asked Pilate to hasten their deaths by ordering that their legs be broken. Then their bodies could be taken down. 32 So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the two men crucified with Jesus. 33 But when they came to Jesus, they saw that He was already dead, so they didn’t break His legs. 34 One of the soldiers, however, pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water flowed out. 35 (This report is from an eyewitness giving an accurate account. He speaks the truth so that you also may believe.) 36 These things happened in fulfillment of the Scriptures that say, “Not one of His bones will be broken,” 37 and “They will look on the One they pierced.”

38 Afterward Joseph of Arimathea, who had been a secret disciple of Jesus (because he feared the Jewish leaders), asked Pilate for permission to take down Jesus’ body. When Pilate gave permission, Joseph came and took the body away. 39 With him came Nicodemus, the man who had come to Jesus at night. He brought about seventy-five pounds of perfumed ointment made from myrrh and aloes. 40 Following Jewish burial custom, they wrapped Jesus’ body with the spices in long sheets of linen cloth. 41 The place of crucifixion was near a garden, where there was a new tomb, never used before. 42 And so, because it was the day of preparation for the Jewish Passover and since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.

--John 18:28-19:42 (NLT)

Let us pray… Father God, this afternoon we remember the darkest day in all of Your creation – the day we tortured and executed Your Son, nailing Him to a cruel cross.  Jesus came to offer us salvation, but the world refused Him.  We drove nails into the hands He stretched out to save us.  We cursed Him, spat on Him, beat Him, killed Him.  But You knew all this had to happen.  You knew that only the blood of the one true Spotless Lamb could wash us clean and atone for our sin.  Thank You, Father, for Your great love and mercy.  Thank You, Jesus, for Your sacrifice.  Imprint this day on our hearts so that we might understand just how important this is to us and to others, how critical it is for our eternal life.  This we pray in the name of the Lamb, Your Son Jesus.  Amen.

The Jewish religious leadership were through with Jesus now.  They’d done all they could do under Jewish law.  They arrested Him, accused Him of ridiculous crimes, had Him slapped around some by their guards.  It was time to turn Him over to someone who could do what they couldn’t – put an end, once and for all, to this Jesus and scatter His following.

Now Jesus stood in judgment before the highest human authority in the land, the commander of the occupying army, Pontius Pilate.  But quite frankly, Pilate would rather have not been involved at all.  He was a Roman, not a Jew.  He even said as much when questioning Jesus.  He worshiped multiple gods, not just one.

The only reason he cared about any of this at all is because the leaders of the occupied people were stirring the crowds into a frenzy, and he feared riots and unrest might erupt.  He was there to keep the peace, the Roman peace, and that meant keeping the people under control, by any  means necessary, even putting this man Jesus to death if that would quieten the mob.

Still, Pilate wasn’t convinced that Jesus had done anything deserving of death.  First, he gave Jesus a chance to answer the charges against Him, but He said nothing in His defense.  That didn’t work, so next Pilate offered the people, the mob, a choice: he could pardon either Jesus or the notorious prisoner, the revolutionary Barabbas.  “Which do you choose?”, he asked.  “Who would you have me release, Barabbas or Jesus?”  “We want Barabbas!”, they cried.

Pilate still saw no guilt in Jesus or His actions, but the mob was rapidly approaching the boiling point, so he ordered that Jesus be flogged with a lead-tipped whip.  The Roman soldiers went a bit further, jamming a crown fashioned from thorns onto His head, cutting His flesh.  They put a purple robe on Him, then slapped Him across the face as they mockingly shouted, “Hail! King of the Jews!”

Hoping this would be enough to appease the crowd, Pilate had Jesus brought out on bloodied display.  Instead, the chief priests and temple guards led the mob in shouting, “Crucify Him!  Crucify Him!”  The same people who began the week by greeting Jesus as He entered Jerusalem with shouts of “Hosanna” now called for Him to be put to death.

Pilate was quickly running out of options.  In his frustration he shouted, “If you want this man crucified, take Him yourself and do it!  I find no guilt in Him!”  But then the Jewish leaders replied in a way that actually frightened Pilate, made him even more concerned about putting Jesus to death.  They said, “He calls Himself the Son of God!”

OK, so this is just a normal, ordinary, human man.  Right?  If He were a god or a son of a god, wouldn’t he be… different, in some way?  But what if He really is the Son of the Jew’s God?  Who in their right mind would be willing to face the wrath of a god for killing his son?!?

So Pilate had Jesus taken back into the building again and almost pleaded with Him, “Please!  Talk to me!  Who are You!  What are You?  Don’t You realize I have Your life in my hands?!?”

And then Jesus utters a very telling response:  “Any power you have over Me comes to you from above.”  Pilate’s power doesn’t come from Caesar or Rome, it comes from God in heaven.  A little later, the Apostle Paul, in the opening verse to the 13th chapter of his Letter to the Romans, echoes this sentiment when he writes, “Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.”  (Romans 13:1 (NKJV))  Any power that those in authority over us have comes from God.  God is the ultimate authority.  If it had not been God’s will that Jesus would be in the hands of Pilate, then Jesus would not have been.  It’s that simple.  This was all part of God’s plan, God’s will in action.

Pilate tried one last time to free Jesus, but the Jewish leaders would have none of it and the mob was getting more hostile by the moment.  He ignored his own misgivings.  He had no other choice if he wanted to appease the crowds and maintain the peace.  This Jesus had to die, guilty or not.  So he turned Jesus over to the soldiers, who took Him away to be crucified.

It’s still Friday morning, but fast approaching noon.  Jesus was forced to carry the very tool He would be executed with: His cross.  And there at Golgotha He was nailed to it.  The cross was stood on end and dropped into a hole to hold it erect, there between two other convicted men.  Pilate ordered that a sign be nailed to the cross above Jesus’ head reading, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews”.  This upset the Jewish leaders who demanded it be changed, but for once Pilate refused.  The Roman soldiers gambled for Jesus’ clothes, fulfilling yet another Messianic prophecy.

Hanging there, Jesus saw His beloved disciple John standing beside His mother.  He initiated a covenant with John, that he would take care of Mary, treat her as his own mother, and that Mary should consider John as her son.  And for what we can tell, John held true to this for the rest of Mary’s days.

Finally, Jesus uttered His last words, “It is finished!”, bowed His head, and died, giving up His spirit.

Now, to understand what John tells us next, we need to see just how horrible a method of execution crucifixion was.  It wasn’t the blood loss from the beatings or from being nailed to the cross that killed the person.  They didn’t die from starvation or dehydration.  They died, very slowly, from suffocation.

If you are crucified, nails are driven through your wrists just below the palms, one through each hand as your arms are held outstretched.  And then your feet are brought together and one nail is pounded through both of your ankles.  When the cross is stood up on end, you are not holding on to anything or standing on a little ledge.  Those three nails are holding you in place.  It hurts, a lot, but if you let your body slump, giving in to the pain in your ankles and legs, then your lungs can’t fully expand because of your outstretched arms.

So after a while of struggling just to catch a breath, you force your weight back on to the nail through your ankles.  Eventually you tire of this and slump down again, restricting your lungs once more.  This repeats, over and over, often for days until you finally can’t stand any more and you slowly suffocate.

But on this day, the Jews couldn’t allow the condemned men to hang there for days.  Tomorrow was the Sabbath, the day of rest, and a very important Sabbath this time because it came during the Passover celebration.  It just wouldn’t do for these three men, or their bodies, to be hanging there in full sight on a special Sabbath like this!  So they asked Pilate to hasten their deaths by having his men break their legs.

That’s right – the Jewish leaders wanted the soldiers to break the leg bones of these three men – including Jesus – who are already suffering so much on their crosses.  Why?  Because with their legs broken, they could no longer push themselves back up, relaxing their lungs so they could breathe.  Their death would come quicker.

Pilate relented and the soldiers went about smashing the legs of the two men on either side of Jesus.  When they got to Jesus, they found Him already dead.  Just to make sure, one of the Romans jabbed Him in the side with a spear, and a little blood and fluid oozed out but the body otherwise did not react.  These two incidents also fulfilled Messianic prophecy, that the Messiah would be pierced but no bone would be broken. 

The rest of the passage deals with the kindnesses shown by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, the Pharisee who had secretly met with Jesus one night, whom Jesus told one must be born again, born of the Spirit, to enter the kingdom of God.  These two men ran some risk in asking for and receiving the body of Jesus, for who knows what the Jewish leadership may have done to one of their own for what they may have seen as treachery.  So they took the body, anointed it with a huge amount of ointment mixed from very expensive spices, wrapped it in long sheets of linen, and prepared it for burial.

Near Golgotha was a garden, and in the garden was a newly dug tomb which had never been used.  By this time it was almost sunset and the time of the Sabbath and Passover was at hand, when they would no longer be able to do any labors, so they laid the body in that new tomb and left.

It is finished.  That’s the last thing Jesus said on the cross – “It is finished”.  But what did He mean?  What was finished?  His mortal, human life?  That would seem obvious, since we know He died there on the cross.  And John says He gave up His spirit, lowercase “s”, the part of us that gives us life.  But we know the rest of the story.  We know that in just a couple of days, Jesus will conquer death, rise from the grave, and walk among us again.  Hundreds of people saw Him alive and in the flesh again, and not one ever refuted it.  So, no, His mortal life did not completely end at that point.

What about His ministry on earth?  Surely it ended there on the cross.  After all, only a few of His followers showed themselves in public at this point.  He would no longer walk around teaching and preaching and healing people.  Again, we know the rest of the story, and we know that His disciples finally got it all together and, with the addition of a former Pharisee named Paul, they began carrying the Good News of salvation to the people, creating the early church in the process.

So what was finished, there on that cruel cross?  God’s plan for mankind’s redemption.  Only the blood of a spotless, unblemished lamb could redeem a man of his sin against God.  Only God’s own Son, the true Spotless Lamb, can redeem the sin of all mankind.  By His selfless sacrifice upon the cross, by His precious blood shed, we are washed clean of our sin in the sight of God.  God gave Jesus human life again, for a short time, so that we could know the truth.  By that knowledge, it’s up to us to stay clean.

Now we know that all sin, all have fallen, all come short of God’s glory.  So God gives us a wonderful gift.  If we will believe that Jesus is the Christ, the one true Son of God, and if we follow His commands, accepting Him as our Lord and Master, then we will stay clean, and our sins will be forgiven and forgotten when we stand before God.  All we have to do is believe, truly believe, and in our belief, live as Jesus would have us live.

So for us, it is not finished.  For one thing, we still have this earthly life to get through.  We have a race to finish, as Paul put it.  But more than that, we have a job to do.  Before going back to heaven to be with God, Jesus left us with a new commandment and a mission.  We are to love one another just as much as we love ourselves, just as much as Jesus loves us.  And we are to go into the world making disciples, telling people all about Jesus, about what He has done and everything He said.

God set His plan in motion to reconcile mankind to Himself.  He wants us all to be with Him again, like we were in the very beginning before we sinned.  Jesus did His part to make that happen.  He gave up His own life one Friday long ago, and we who believe are the beneficiaries; we are saved.  But there are way too many out there who have not accepted Jesus as Lord.  And this is where we come in.  It’s our job to help the lost come to salvation.  Jesus finished His part.  Now let’s get out there and do ours.

On Sunday we will celebrate our Lord’s resurrection and the promise of our own new life.  But today, let us remember all that Jesus went through just for us.  Remember that He took the punishment we deserve.  Remember that He suffered at the hands of those He came to save.

Sunday we can rejoice, but today let us weep and reflect on what happened that Friday many years ago.  In the blessed name of Him who died so that we might live, in the name of Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Lord Jesus, You came to us holding out the arms of God’s love.  You came to us when we were lost in our sin, reaching out Your hand to us, offering to redeem us.  You came to break the chains of sin that hold us captive to this world.  You came to save us from ourselves.  And how did we react to all this mercy and grace?  We refused to accept You.  We tortured You and nailed You to a cruel cross.  You forgave Your followers who fled for their lives in fear when You were arrested and executed.  You came to them after Your resurrection and brought them back to You.  Yet still, to this very day, even we who are called by Your name, we also abandon You from time to time.  We fail to witness for You, we fear speaking out for You, we hesitate to go out helping the lost find their way.  We believe in You and Your goodness, but the world has too strong a grasp on us, and we are afraid to let it go.  We judge others based on their looks or their background or the color of their skin, without taking the time to see what is in their hearts.  Forgive us, Lord, because sometimes we just can’t force ourselves to do what is right.

Lord Jesus, every step of the way, You knew what was coming.  You knew how the events of each day would play out, including that one Friday when You lived Your last day as a mortal man.  You knew exactly how God’s plan would be accomplished, and when it was finished.  You knew why it was necessary for You, the Spotless Lamb, to be sacrificed for the atonement of our sin.  You knew the truth.  Help us, please Lord, to fully grasp the importance of Your sacrifice.  Help us realize that Your greatest suffering came not from any physical pain, but from having to take all our sin upon Yourself.  Forgive us when we fail You.  Forgive us when we won’t listen to Your voice, when we don’t live as You would have us live, when we hesitate to speak out in Your defense, when we deny You by our actions and our inactions.  Forgive us when we fail to love sacrificially, unconditionally, as You love us.  Help us be worthy of Your great sacrifice.  Help us better serve You.  In Your precious name, Lord Jesus, we pray.  Amen.