Am I Looking For Jesus at the Right Place?

But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.”

Matthew 28:5-7

We have this same story of Jesus in all four gospels.  The gospels tell us that Jesus came proclaiming the arrival of the kingdom of God, calling people to repent, meaning to change their thinking, and to live, risking everything on the God who is the world’s true king.

All four gospels agree that the powerful people who wanted to maintain the illusion that they were running the world felt threatened enough by Jesus and his kingdom message to get him killed.  The local aristocracy that ran the economy of Jerusalem, including the high priestly families who ran the temple, as well as the authorities that represented the Roman Empire, found in Jesus’ message a common enemy.  So together they conspired to have him killed.  All four gospels agree.

Neither death nor the empire is a match for what God is doing here. But overpowering people with fear is not the point, merely the effect.  So the angel speaks peace to the women.

     “Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.”

Seeing Jesus is important, so looking for him in the right place is crucial.  Do not look for him among the dead, in tombs.  He is not to be found there.

The next line is crucial.  These women have a role to play.  They have a task to accomplish.  They have a mission.  It is to bear a message.  The divine messenger says:

    “Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.’ This is my message for you.”

Jesus is alive, not dead in a tomb.  Neither is Jesus to be seen on Herod’s throne, in Pilate’s Palace, nor in the gilded temple in Jerusalem.  You will not see him at any of the power centers of this world.  He has gone to Galilee, the marginal place where poor peasants and blue-collar fishermen live; the place where it all started.

St. Matthew records that the women left with two emotions: fear and joy.  The reason for joy is obvious – hope is possible.  But after what they witnessed on Friday, women who take a practical view of life, know that nothing is certain; fear remains. But they accept their commission and immediately ran to tell the men disciples who still think that tombs are permanent.

On the way, they see Jesus, alive.  He says, “Hello.”  They fall at his feet in worship.  He renews their missional mandate, telling them:

     “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”

Matthew tells us that the eleven disciples go to Galilee, to the mountain Jesus directed them to, and Matthew says, “When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.” (Matthew 28:17) This is one of the most amazing lines in the bible.  On the one hand, it says that the eleven actually saw the risen Jesus.  On the other hand, seeing him was not enough for some of them.

There is no way to read all of this on merely a surface level.  Seeing Jesus risen seems to make a difference only to those who are willing to embrace the fact that he is risen and to see him with faith.

Now few questions that makes me wonder why. Why was it important to Jesus to be seen in Galilee instead of Jerusalem, and why on a mountain?

Well, we know that mountains are where God-things happen all the time in the bible, and in Matthew’s gospel too.  And Galilee is where the common folks live.

So what kind of God-thing is going on in Galilee?  Just a few chapters earlier, before his arrest, Jesus told his disciples where to look for him and find him. He told them a story, a parable, about a king at the end of time who will separate people as one separates sheep from goats. (Matthew 25:31ff)   The sheep go on the right, the goats on the left.  The sheep are the blessed ones who get it.  The goats are the ones who don’t get it. What is the difference?  He tells the ones who get it:

    “for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.”

They reply that they never saw Jesus in those circumstances.  He replies:

    “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these…you did it to me.”

 

If we are willing to go to Galilee among the commoners and sufferers and start looking for the Jesus, we will find him, just where he said he would be, among “the least of these.”

Dear Friends It is a new day.  We have a mission; a role to play. We are to announce the good news that domination systems do not have the last word.  We have the mandate to go to our Galilee and find Jesus there.

He may not look pretty.  He will have scars; he will have evidence of suffering and pain, of course, but he will be there to be seen and found.

Dear Friends we today end this series of Cross in Jesus’ Style. Thank you for your encouragement, motivation and above all your prayers which helped me to write the devotions. Thanking Mr. Abraham Zachariah (fondly called Babuchayan the choir master of St. Thomas MTC, Pattoor, Trivandrum for taking the pain in recording these devotions. Above all thanking Almighty that I could be an instrument in spreading his word.

Happy Easter dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

May God Bless us all.

Am I Releasing Christ or Keeping Him Entombed?

Pilate said to them, “You have a guard[a] of soldiers. Go, make it as secure as you can.

Matthew 27:65

A Church in Oklahoma had some beautiful pine trees which adorned the property. During a bad storm several of them were hit by lightning. It destroyed two of them and badly damaged others. The church board met and one of the members asked the chairman, “What are we going to do about this? We can’t keep losing our trees!” The chairman gave a tongue-in-cheek reply: “Very well, I shall entertain a motion of this body to have the lightning stopped!”

This reminds me of verse 65 of our scripture passage. The Jews wanted to take special steps to guard the tomb. Pilate gave these instructions: “Take a squad of soldiers and make it (the tomb) as secure as you can.”

Unconsciously, Pilate was saying, “Keep Christ in the tomb!” He may as well have asked them to keep the sun from rising, or stop the law of gravity, or keep the stars from appearing. In others words, it was an impossible mission that those soldiers were sent on.

But, in any event, they took their steps. The door of the tomb was closed by a great round rock, shaped like a huge cartwheel which ran in a groove. It is estimated to have weighed over two tons! But one thing existed that they just did not reckon with—there was not a tomb in all the world which could imprison the Son of God!

Rocks have never been a problem with God. This includes Moses’ water shortage in the wilderness. It included the so-called impregnable walls of Jericho. In the Resurrection Garden, God Almighty was laughing at man’s puny efforts. Psalm 2:4 says, “He that sits in the heavens shall laugh. The Lord will have them in derision.” When God sets out to do something, it shall be done!

Jesus had openly and clearly declared His resurrection and no power on earth or in hell could prevent it from occurring.

• The soldiers couldn’t prevent it.
• All of Rome couldn’t prevent it.
• The stone in front of the tomb couldn’t keep it from happening

Something mysterious and yet wonderful happened inside that tomb. It was a transformation. Death yielded to life. Darkness gave way to light. Defeat surrendered to victory.

Every time a person is born again, this resurrection scene is repeated, in a sense.

For you see, the human heart is like a tomb, full of sin and the odor of death. There is a stone set before the entrance. It is a mark of separation–keeping self imprisoned and God out.

And the message of Easter is simply this: The Resurrection of Christ has opened the way for God to make us alive unto Himself here and in the hereafter.

Every time a Christian lets God fill him with His presence and power, another miracle takes place. Its called the Great Release. It’s the release of Christ through our personalities to reach out to a lost and dying world. And there is no power that exists that can keep Christ in, outside of our won will. The great question of the hour is, “Am I releasing Him or keeping Him entombed?”

Dear Friends are we trying to keep Jesus imprisoned in rituals, creeds, traditions, theology, and history without realizing He cannot be contained.

May The Lord help us to understand.

May God Bless You All.

Am I Prepared to Finish What I Was Made For?

When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

John 19:30

All of us go through life leaving behind a trail of unfinished projects and unfulfilled dreams. How few there are who can come to the end of life and say, “I finished exactly what I set out to do.”

Only one person in history never left behind any unfinished business. He is the reason and the name for our worship today. His name is Jesus Christ. He is the only person who could come to the end of his life and say, vwith absolute and total truthfulness, "I have finished everything I set out to do.”

It is finished was a quick shout. Just one word. Then he was dead. What was that shout? In Greek it is only one word -Tetelestai - “It is finished.”

Tetelestai comes from the verb teleo, which means “to bring to an end, to complete, to accomplish.” It’s a crucial word because it signifies the successful end to a particular course of action. It’s the word you would use when you climb to the peak of Mt. Everest; it’s the word you would use when you turn in the final copy of your dissertation; it’s the word you would use when you make the final payment on your new car. The word means more than just “I survived.” It means “I did exactly what I set out to do.”

But there’s more here than the verb itself. Tetelestai is in the perfect tense in Greek. That’s significant because the perfect tense speaks of an action which has been completed in the past with results continuing into the present. It’s different from the past tense which looks back to an event and says, “This happened.” The perfect tense adds the idea that “This happened and it is still in effect today.”

When Jesus cried out “It is finished,” he meant “It was finished in the past, it is still finished in the present and it will remain finished in the future.”

One another fact to be noted - He did not say, “I am finished,” for that would imply that he died defeated and exhausted. Rather, he cried out “It is finished,” meaning “I successfully completed the work I came to do.”

What was it that was finished?

Matthew Henry, the New Testament commentator,  In his remarks on this saying of Jesus (volume 5, p. 1201), he lists 8 things that were finished or completed when Jesus cried out “It is finished.”

1. The malice of his enemies was finished.

2. The sufferings ordained by God were finished.

3. All the Old Testament types and prophecies were fulfilled.

4. The ceremonial law was abolished.

5. The price of sin was paid in full.

6. His physical sufferings were at an end.

7. His life was now finished.

8. The work of redemption was now complete.

But there is still more to the meaning of tetelestai. It means all of the above, but it especially applies to the price paid for the sins of the world. Merrill Tenney in Expositor’s Bible Commentary, notes that the verb was used in the first and second centuries in the sense of “fulfilling” or “paying” a debt and often appeared in receipts. “It is finished” (Tetelestai) could be interpreted as “Paid in full.”

“Paid in full” means that once a thing is paid for, you never have to pay for it again. In fact, “paid in full” means that once a thing is paid for, it is foolish to try to pay for it again.

A beautiful hymn written by James Proctor and composed by H.S. Thompson tells what it is finished is all about.

Nothing either great or small—

  Nothing, sinner, no;

Jesus did it, did it all,

  Long, long ago.

           

“It is finished!” yes, indeed,

  Finished every jot:

Sinner, this is all you need—

    Tell me, is it not?

Dear Friends as we partake in the Good Friday service today may we participate with the full knowledge that He has paid it in full and what else do I need now as a sinner than submitting myself to His great plan and purpose.

May we be able to observe the service in its sanctity and solemnity.

After Holy Communion Which Way - Life or Death?

Judas who would betray Him, answered, “ Is it I, Rabbi?” He said to him, “ You have said so.”

Matthew 26.25

Leonard Sweet in his book From Tablet to Table shares an incident where one person challenged him if he could tell the whole Old Testament and New Testament in six sentences – three for each. Leonard Sweet wondered how could one concise the whole of Old Testament and New Testament in three sentences each. Not able to come up with an answer Leonard Sweet asked him to go ahead with the answers. The man said, “The Old Testament can be fully understood in three sentences – They tried to kill us. We survived, Let’s eat. In the same way the New Testament can be summarized in three sentences – I love you! I forgive you! Let’s eat.”

At the very beginning and all through the Bible in all the stories about God and his people we find food is involved. Stories that changed life and history of individuals and humanity – the bite of an apple, trading an inheritance for a bowl of stew, waking up to find the land strewn with bread (manna), Jesus’ first miracle at the wedding where water turned into wine, the first Holy Communion which was the Last Supper where the bread and wine now became permanently linked to the Body of Christ.

Food has always played an important part in every culture. Food is the language of care. It is also something that we give during celebration. Food is the thing that connects us, that bears our traditions, our sense of home and family and on a much practical level it is our ability to live and breathe each day.

When Jesus chose bread to represent his body I believe there is a greater symbolic meaning attached to it. Shauna Niequist writes in one of the articles that dealt with Bread and wine - Chicken when you cook it, is still chicken. It was raw chicken, and then it becomes cooked chicken. Onions: raw, then cooked. But it’s another thing altogether when flour and water and salt and yeast become bread.

All those involved in baking know that the outcome depends on readjusting, finding warmer or cooler places to let the dough rise, learning how much kneading is too much or too little and the correct amount to be put in the oven.

When Jesus said He is the Bread of life he intended that this transformation has taken place in His life and it should in all those who partake in His body. When we look into the ministry and life of Jesus one thing is evident that Jesus and table went together. Leonard Sweet says that from birth till death Jesus and table went together. The infant Jesus is laid in a manger, from which the animals are fed and thus there is a table at the stable. Jesus makes it clear to the disciples and to the crowd after the miracle of feeding five thousand and he explained what He meant when he said He is the Bread of life by saying Unless and until a grain of wheat falls on the ground and dies it will not yield fruit (John 12:24).

Each and every communion calls us to die. Which way are we choosing is important? The first Holy Communion that Jesus celebrated shows us that the option, the choice is in our hands. Till the last moment Jesus gives us a chance for us to change our thoughts, our way of thinking and let it be in congruence with the Lord. One thing that surprises me the most is that when Jesus said, Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” All started asking was it about them that Jesus was talking about. All the disciples might have been approached by the Roman and Jewish heads so that Jesus could be trapped in some way. All the disciples must have in their hearts thought that they will not travel if Jesus is going to the cross. They followed thinking he is the Messiah and bring down the Romans.

Though Bible mentions only Judas asking, Is it I? I believe this was a question asked by all. And Jesus might have given the same answer to all. Jesus was giving a chance for repentance. Jesus was telling them, My child haven’t you still understood that I know what’s going on in your mind. I am giving you a chance to repent. To make an about turn from the wrong you are about to do. Sad fate. Judas didn’t. But Peter did. When the cock crowed Peter cried in repentance knowing what great sin he had committed.

As we celebrate one more Maundy Thursday and remember Jesus instituting the first Holy Communion we need to ask ourselves – Which way am I choosing after taking part in the Holy Communion? Towards life or towards death?

May God help us to choose wisely. God Bless you.