No Need for Spices

Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome (probably among others) headed out to the tomb on the first day of the week. They carried spices with which to anoint Christ's body. The great stone about which they were worried as to who might move it? It was rolled away. Christ had risen. They had no need for spices (Mark 16.1-3).

The Danger of Power Over Truth

Reading in Mark 11.31-32 this morning where the chief priests and scribes—those who know the Scriptures the best among the people—are trying to wiggle out of the trap into which Christ puts them when they ask him by what authority he does what he does. He responds with another question: "Is John's baptism from men or from God?"

The obvious answer, and one that every person who was familiar with John's ministry would give is, "from God of course." Those who opposed Christ were not interested in truth, they were interested in power. So they say, "if we admit the truth, we are exposed; if we say that John's baptism was not from God, the people themselves will rise against us, because everyone (including ourselves) believes that it was from God."

For the sake of power, they do not face the truth.

One can replace power with anything else people hold that keeps the from the truth. For the sake of possessions, or money, or a person, or anything else, people do not face the truth of Christ.

What barrier keeps you from seeing the truth?

A Most Extraordinary Statement

Paul makes a most extraordinary statement about those who were responsible for crucifying Christ in Acts. 13.27. He is preaching in a synagogue in Antioch Pisidia to an audience of Jews and he says because those who dwell in Jerusalem and their leaders did not know him (Christ) or the prophets—which, oh by the way are read in the synagogue EVERY SABBATH DAY, those very same people FULFILLED the prophecies of the prophets by condemning Christ!

Amazingly blunt statement by Paul here (which, knowing what we know about Paul comes as no surprise). How condemnatory is it that those who crucified Christ certainly could have heard the words of the prophets every sabbath day and yet missed the fact that the Messiah had arrived. Of course what is worse, they were now responsible for killing the Messiah and thereby fulfilling the prophecies of the very same prophets that they were hearing every sabbath!

One of the things that I take from this is that we ought to read/hear the Scriptures with understanding. It is not enough to simply read them or simply hear them, if we do not understand them and apply them to our lives, then we might end up like those who were responsible for putting Christ to death.

A Day of Salvation, not Judgment

Christ has a dramatic moment in Luke 4.18-21. He takes up the scroll of Isaiah and reads Isaiah 61.1-2a, then sits down. He tells his listeners, "Today is this scripture fulfilled in your hearing." Since both Christ and his listeners understood that the passage was about Messiah, what a moment it must have been when one-by-one the men in the synagogue must have realized, "He is claiming to be Messiah!"

When Christ reads Isaiah 61.1-2a, he ends at "to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." He does not continue with the next phrase "and the day of vengeance of our God." Why not? I assume because Christ did not come for judgment he came for salvation. The day of vengeance of our God will come, but this was not that day. Christ came for the cross. He came for salvation.

A House of Prayer

Reading in Isaiah 56.7 this morning where Isaiah quotes God saying, "For mine house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples" (KJV). Christ will quote this as recorded in Luke 19.46 and John 2.16 as he is casting the guys who sell things in the temple out of the temple. Rather than being a house of prayer they have made it "a den of thieves."

It is a pretty straightforward interpretation from Christ here of the words of Isaiah. God's house is to be a house of prayer and when he saw that it was something else, or something added on—as if it could be a house of prayer AND a place of profit—Christ threw them all out, and in a rather violent manner, one must say. He didn't ask them kindly to leave, he overturned their tables and sent them running.

It might behoove us to have the same zeal that Christ did for the worship of God. I don't know that the application is for a church building per se, but to see God worshipped as he should be and have a grieved heart (and who knows, maybe even overturn some tables) when he is not worshipped correctly.

He that Hath Seen Me Hath Seen the Father

Christ speaking in John 14.9, a chapter in which the Triune God is stated perhaps more clearly than any other chapter in the Scriptures. Stated, but not explained, the Scriptures leave it a mystery.

Christ's statement is breathtaking here. "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father." He fully understood the import of his statement. He was, in a few short words, claiming to be equal with God the Father. His resurrection proved it. His disciples believed it. They sacrificed their lives to that particular truth.

I believe it.

Your Redemption Draweth Nigh

And then shall they see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory, And when these things shall begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth night (Luke 21.27,28 KJV).

Christ is speaking of his second coming here. This statement encompasses our hope and the promise of the gospel. We hope that this life is not all there is; that there is ultimate meaning and purpose to our existence; that there is a God who created all things and who is working all of history to a conclusion and summation in Christ; and that he loves us intimately and has gone to prepare a place for us, "That where I am there you may also be" (John 14.3, ESV).

The key sign that the end is here will be when we see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. This is the fulfillment of the promise. Lift up your heads, O followers of Jesus Christ, stir in your graves, O Christian who has died before the coming of the promise, for as surely as God's promises are true, your redemption draweth nigh.

Paul's Purpose/Our Purpose

Paul had such a clear understanding of his purpose in life. He states it succinctly in 2 Cor 1.9. His purpose was to make known to anyone who would listen that Jesus Christ was the Son of God. To him there was no higher purpose; no higher reason to be alive.

We are not all called to be evangelists like Paul. We are all called to live out our lives in the same way he did, in order to make Christ known as the Son of God to men. We can have no higher purpose.

No Partial Disciples

This is the choice that Christ gives us in Luke 14.33. So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple" (KJV). Christ will have all, or he will have nothing. There is no in between; there are no partial disciples.

Wist Ye Not

"Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?" (Luke 2.40, KJV) says Christ to his parents after they were searching for him during three long days in Jerusalem. It is an extraordinary statement and one that confounds his parents. Indeed, they do not understand what he meant for a very long time, although they do remember the encounter.

We don't know exactly what Christ knew at the age of twelve—everything, some things? We do understand from this incident that he knew enough to confound the intellectuals with his questions, and to know that God was his father and that he must be at his father's business. Deep waters here.

NAC: "After over a decade of normalcy the supernatural nature of their son and his destiny broke in on them again."

Pilate Meets the Son of God...and It Scares Him

Pilate has a fascinating response to finding out that Christ claimed to be the Son of God. When Pilate hears this he "is more frightened than ever." Perhaps because his own wife has already sent him a message saying, "have nothing to do with that righteous, innocent man." Pilate does not listen, nor does he give in to the inner voice that tells him, "your wife is correct, buddy. You'd better listen to her." Unfortunately (on the other hand, fortunately for us), but in God's divine plan and providence, Pilate condemns an innocent man to death, one whom, ironically enough, Pilate himself has declared is innocent.

You have the spectacle of a guilty man declaring himself innocent of condemning an innocent man to death, and the irony of knowing that by that innocent man, Christ, Pilate himself will be declared guilty. Strange doings in history.

Clearly Predicted

On the road to Emmaus, Jesus, unrecognized by two of his followers, asked this question of the two: "Wasn't it clearly predicted that the Messiah would have to suffer all these things before entering his glory?" Christ goes on to explain to the pair how he (even though they didn't recognize him) fulfilled the Scriptures. The ESV translates the same expression "wasn't it necessary" which is more accurate. The word in its context here means to indicate that something that happened should by all means have happened (BDAG). So Christ's death and resurrection were meant to happen, and indeed, he goes on to explain to his followers just exactly what he meant by that. (Oh, if I could only have been a fly on the wall at THAT exegesis of the Scriptures!)

The Promise of Freedom

Thinking about 2. Peter 2.19, this morning. Peter is severely taking to task false teachers in the church who promise freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For you are a slave to whatever controls you (NLT). Deep words. True words. How foolish we are if we turn aside from the excellency of Christ to pursue things that are useful in this world only. The endless pursuit of sex only makes you a slave to your sexual nature; there is no satisfaction to be found there. The same goes for power. The same for pride.

Don't shipwreck your faith in pursuit of a few colored glass beads and some temporal trinkets. True, lasting freedom is to be found in Christ alone.

Prayer: O Lord God, may I pursue Christ always. Christ before all things. May I see his excellency and desire him alone.

A Sword Will Pierce Your Own Soul

Simeon's words to Mary at the presentation of the baby Jesus at the Temple as recorded in Luke 2.35: As a result the deepest thoughts of many hearts will be revealed and a sword will pierce your own soul. Simeon's comment is fascinating. Why does he say that a sword will pierce Mary's own soul? Mary's soul would not be unaffected by her own child. How so? She will come to the point where she will understand that her own son will bear her sins in his body at the cross. The baby that she had delivered would himself deliver her from the power of sin and the sting of death.

Amazing.

Paul: Be Imitators of Me

A fascinating statement from Paul in 1 Cor 11.1, with many implications.

1. He implies that he has the authority to tell the Corinthians to imitate him. In other places he directly states that he has such authority because he is an apostle, on par with Christ's other apostles.

2. He implies that he is imitatable. By that I mean that he implies that it is possible for other believers to imitate his life and character. He was not a "super-saint," out of the reach of the normal Christian.

3. He directly states that his life and character imitate Christ's life and character and that such life and character is in the realm of possibility for his readers.

4. He implies that we ought to have a goal in terms of the Christian life and that goal ought to be to imitate Christ, with Paul as an example of how that is done.

A lot of power and truth packed into a few words.

Now to actually doing it...

The Word of Truth = The Gospel

So says Paul in Col. 1.5. If Pilate had only understood this. When he asks Christ, "What is truth?" (John 18.38), Christ doesn't bother explaining to Pilate because Pilate obviously was not open to what exactly truth was. He commands/allows the murder of Christ (heeding the predetermined plan of God by making his own choices—a mystery). A guy who is going to let an innocent man be murdered in the most heinous manner is not a person who is open to hearing the truth; however, it does explain why he allows Christ to die. If one does not believe in absolute truth, then whatever is expedient is fine.

Reject the Disciples' Message = Reject Christ = Reject God

Yet another outlandish statement from Christ this morning (Luke 10.16). The one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me, rejects the one who sent me. Pretty much as clear as it could get. Christ is saying this: The message that you (72 disciples) brought was given by me. Whoever rejects it, rejects me. I brought my message from God the Father, whoever rejects it, rejects him. Christ is therefore claiming to bring a message directly from God. Can you imagine that? Who says stuff like this? No one ever has, not before or since. Except Christ. He says it without hesitation, without shame, without any sense of irony, much like Joseph told his brothers about his dream. We can either believe it is true, or we can reject it (and thereby reject Christ); we are not free to say that Christ was a good man, but nothing more. Good men do not say stuff like this, if it isn't true.

Vain Repetition? Bad. Persistence? Good

Thinking about prayer this morning in Matt 6.7. Christ tells his hearers not to use vain repetition (babbling is the Greek word) like the Gentiles do (when they pray to their false gods) mistakenly thinking that they will receive what they want because they use so many words. This is in stark contrast to praying persistently. The first is concerned with quantity. The second is a heart that is concerned.

John Calvin: The grace of God is not obtained by an unmeaning flow of words; but, on the contrary, a devout heart throws out its affections, like arrows, to pierce heaven.

Who Says This Stuff?!?

Thinking about John 8.23ff this morning. You are from below. I am from above. You are of this world. I am not of this world. Who says this kind of thing? It's absolutely breathtaking. Once again Christ forces us to take him on his own terms or to take nothing. He was not and never claimed to be a good, moral teacher. He claimed to be different. Unique. From above. We take him as that or nothing.

C. S. Lewis captures the import of Christ's words better than anyone I've ever read: A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on the level with a man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the devil of hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon; or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.

Look and Believe

In John 6.40, this morning, a verse packed with meaning. The main point is simple and straightforward. Look and believe. The will of God the Father is that we look on his Son and believe. If we do this we will have eternal life. If we do this Christ will raise us upon on the last day. Great promises. Simple. Profound.