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Easter Reflections (2) – The Cross

Easter Reflections (2) – The Cross

by | May 1, 2019 | Word on Wednesday

May 1, 2019

The Cross…! 

Easter Day is truly a gala day as we celebrate Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. His resurrection underscores the validity of the Christian faith. Without it, we are lost.

That said, our Easter celebration raises interesting questions: ‘Why isn’t an empty tomb the symbol of Christianity?’ ‘Why is the symbol a cross?’ In today’s age when feelings and political correctness trump facts it would surely make much more sense if we focused on the themes of new life and hope that the resurrection symbolizes.

Yet, despite the fact that Jesus’ crucifixion was a bloody and brutal affair, the cross remains the symbol of the Christian faith.

In the opening scene of Luke’s ‘resurrection chapter’ we read: But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body (Luke 24:1-3).

Despair. There was no joy in the hearts of those women that morning. They had watched Jesus die and now were grief-stricken and despairing. They had believed that he was God’s Messiah and were looking forward to a new age of justice and peace, of laughter, love and joy. Now, their only thought was to give his body a proper burial.

We can picture them trudging to the tomb in the grey light of the dawn, burdened by their own thoughts and laden with heavy jars of oils and spices for the burial.

But that was not all: when they arrived at the grave, they saw that the huge stone closing the tomb had been rolled away. Was this some underhand action on the part of the authorities? 

While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them… (24:4). They had despaired at Jesus’ death and now they were terrified: they could only bow their faces to the ground at the dazzling appearance of two angels. And when the angels spoke, the women were even more confused: “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.” ‘You’ve come to the wrong place.’

Remember! “Remember how he told you while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise again…’” (Luke 24:6b-7a).

The angels could have explained the empty tomb. Instead, they told the women to remember what Jesus had said to them. The focus of Jesus’ words they quoted is important: ‘The Son of Man, the Messiah had to suffer and die and then rise again’. Suffering and death were essential to the work of God’s king.

Which brings us back to the subject of the cross. Richard Dawkins, with others, reckons that to say, ‘Jesus died for our sins’ is vicious and disgusting. ‘Why couldn’t God simply forgive sins if he so chose?’ he asks.

In every age Jesus’ death has been an enigma – even for his first followers. Yet during the course of his ministry he had foreshadowed both it and his resurrection. Indeed, in his public ministry he revealed that he had not come as a political Messiah to bring in God’s kingdom through force.

Rather, he came as a savior to address our greatest need – our broken relationship with God. He alone could deliver us from God’s just judgement and open the doors of God’s new age.

This theme infuses Luke’s gospel. At Jesus’ birth the angel announced that God’s savior had been born. And when he met with Zacchaeus, Jesus summed up his ministry saying, “The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10).

Furthermore, his words at the Last Supper are key to the meaning of his death: “This is my body given for you…”  “This is my blood shed for you…”  These words are amongst the oldest statements of Christianity. We find them in 1 Corinthians, written around 50AD, as well as in Matthew, Mark and Luke, which were written no later than the 60s.

In fact when we read Luke as a whole we come to see that Jesus’ death is about God’s love and justice – central aspects of God’s character. Some say that Jesus’ crucifixion was a form of child abuse – a father punishing a son for someone else’s wrongs. But we need to remember Jesus’ words in John 10 where he said he would lay down his life voluntarily.

The movement of the Bible tells us that without the shedding of blood there can be no forgiveness of sins (Leviticus 17:11; Hebrews 9:22). God, the wronged party, entered the world and bore the punishment that we wrong-doers deserve. God, as the judge, paid in full, once and for all time, the fine owed by the accused who have been found guilty.

When we understand in this way Jesus’ words at his Last Supper: “My body given for you,” it is no wonder that the cross, once an instrument of Roman brutality, became, and remains today, the symbol of God’s extraordinary love for the world.

© John G. Mason – www.anglicanconnection.com

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Note 2: Material for today’s ‘Word’ is adapted from my commentary, Luke: An Unexpected God (Aquila: 2019, 2nd Edition).

Easter Reflections (2) – The Cross

Easter Reflections (1) He is Risen…!

by | Apr 24, 2019 | Word on Wednesday

He is Risen…!  

The first of six reflections on Jesus’ resurrection

It is sometimes said that the most difficult challenge for the Christian church today is to get people to believe. I think the opposite is true. Most people will believe almost anything, providing that what is said is communicated with authority.

GK Chesterton once observed, ‘When a person stops believing in God they don’t then believe in nothing, they believe anything’.

In this first of the Easter Season Reflections let me turn to Luke 24:36-37 where we read: …Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them (the disciples), “Peace be with you.” But they were startled and terrified, thinking it was a ghost.

And Luke comments, ‘even when he showed them his hands and his feet’ – no doubt with the imprints of the nails on them – in their joy they were still disbelieving and still wondering (24:41). These men who had worked in the practical world as fishermen, men of business, and even tax-collection, were bewildered and confused. They doubted what it all meant. ‘Is this really Jesus or just a spirit, a ghost?’ they were asking.

Aware of their questions and doubts, Jesus addressed one issue at a time. “Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones…,” he said. He then asked for food (24:41). They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence (24:42-43).

During his life Stephen Hawking was an influential voice on the subject of matters of faith. According to Dr. John Lennox, Professor of Mathematics at Oxford University, Hawking said of miracles, such as the resurrection: “We either believe them or we believe in the scientific understanding of the laws of nature, but not both” (John C. Lennox, God and Stephen Hawking (Lion, Oxford: 2011, p.82).

Dr. Lennox observes that many scientists say, “miracles arose in primitive, pre-scientific cultures, where people were ignorant of the laws of nature and so readily accepted miracle stories”.

To views like this Lennox responds: “In order to recognize some event as a miracle, there must be some perceived regularity to which that event is an apparent exception!” (pp.84f) In other words, we don’t need the benefit of modern science to define ‘an extraordinary event’.

Lennox also notes that a second objection to miracles is this: “Now we know the laws of nature, miracles are impossible” (p.86).

However, as Lennox observes, “From a theistic perspective, the laws of nature predict what is bound to happen if God does not intervene… To argue that the laws of nature make it impossible for us to believe in the existence of God and the likelihood of his intervention in the universe is plainly false” (p.87).

It’s important we consider these matters. Thoughtful followers of Jesus Christ accept the laws of nature that science observes. Such laws are the observable regularities that God the creator has built into the universe. That said, such ‘laws’ do not prevent God from intervening if he chooses. When he does, we are able to identify the irregularity and speak of it as ‘a miracle’.

So, with respect to the resurrection of Jesus, the New Testament does not speak of it as a result of a natural mechanism. Rather, it happened because God intervened, using his supernatural power (Romans 6:4b).

To return to Luke 24. In each of the three scenes in this chapter, the Scriptures and Jesus’ own words provide the explanation of what happened.

In the third scene (24:36-49) these elements are brought together: “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you”, Jesus said. Everything he had taught and  done, had been foreshadowed in the Scriptures – even his death and resurrection.

Jesus’ resurrection has no significance without his death. It cannot point to God’s forgiveness of us unless our sin has been dealt with once and for all. The resurrection is a glorious message because it makes sense of Jesus’ death.

At first the disciples felt his death was the end of all their hopes. But then they discovered it to be the foundation of all their hopes.

Malcolm Muggeridge, former editor of the English, Punch, speaker and author, once wrote: ‘Confronted with the reality (death is the one certainty in life), we may rage or despair, induce forgetfulness, solace ourselves with fantasies that science will in due course discover how we came to be here and to what end, and how we may project our existence, individually or collectively, into some Brave New World spanning the universe in which Man reigns supreme.

‘God’s alternative proposition is the Resurrection – a man dying who rises from the dead… I close with, ‘Done’…: Christ is risen!’

© John G. Mason – www.anglicanconnection.com

 

A Spiritual Re-Awakening…? Easter Tuesday – Lenten Readings & Reflections through John’s Gospel

A Spiritual Re-Awakening…? Easter Tuesday – Lenten Readings & Reflections through John’s Gospel

by | Apr 23, 2019 | 2019 Lenten Series

Easter Tuesday – April 23, 2019

Read

John 21:15-17


15 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.” 16 A second time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Tend my sheep.” 17 He said to him the third time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” And he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.

Reflect

Good Friday and Easter Day changed the world. The events of his life, death and resurrection are the hinge of history. Since then, people from all nations have been drawn to Jesus as God’s Messiah, their Lord and Savior. We have learned about Jesus through the apostles, his first followers whom he commissioned to declare God’s good news to a stricken world.

Speaking to ten of the disciples (Thomas was absent) Jesus had said: “As the Father has sent me, so I send you” (20:21). He also foreshadowed the Holy Spirit’s power equipping them for this work at Pentecost: “Receive the Holy Spirit…” Our response to the ministry of God’s Word would determine our eternal future.

In chapter 21, Jesus challenged Peter three times: “Do you love me…?” Peter had said earlier he would lay down his life for Jesus (John 13:37), yet three times had denied him, as Jesus predicted. Now with these three questions and thrice-given command, Feed my sheep (or lambs), Jesus was telling Peter he was forgiven and included in the commission given to all the disciples/apostles. Jesus’ priority is that his sheep be fed with his gospel and his Word – the two go hand in hand.

This is so important. If we call ourselves Christians, we should make it our priority to feed on God’s Word, involving ourselves in a church where God’s Word is faithfully and clearly taught – for our own sake and for the sake of our family or household. Furthermore, as previous generations understood, it is now our responsibility to play our part in talking up the best news the world has ever known – the news about Jesus, the Word of God incarnate, the Son of God, who died and rose again to save us.

Prayer

Almighty Father, you have given your only Jesus Christ, to die for our sins and to rise again for our justification: grant that we may put away the old influences of corruption and evil, and always serve you in sincerity and truth; through the merits of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, Easter 1 – adapted)

Daily Reading Plan

Read John 21:15-25

Today’s Reading and Reflection concludes this Lenten series.

Tomorrow, Wednesday, I return to the weekly Word on Wednesday with Reflections for the Easter Season. Please let me know if you have any questions.

A Spiritual Re-Awakening…? Easter Tuesday – Lenten Readings & Reflections through John’s Gospel

A Spiritual Re-Awakening…? Easter Monday – Lenten Readings & Reflections through John’s Gospel

by | Apr 22, 2019 | 2019 Lenten Series

Easter Monday – April 22, 2019

Read

John 21:4-14


4 Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. 5 Jesus said to them, “Children, you have no fish, have you?” They answered him, “No.” 6 He said to them, “Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish. 7 That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on some clothes, for he was naked, and jumped into the sea. 8 But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, only about a hundred yards off.

9 When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread. 10 Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” 11 So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred fifty-three of them; and though there were so many, the net was not torn. 12 Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” because they knew it was the Lord. 13 Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. 14 This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

Reflect

Some say Jesus didn’t physically rise from the dead. However, in the same way that John testified that Jesus was truly dead when he was taken from the cross, he now records Jesus’ actions to show us he was physically alive. Jesus had lit a fire on which he was cooking fish. Ghosts cannot physically handle things, for wraith-like fingers would pass through objects. And when the disciples brought in their miraculous catch, Jesus gave them bread and fish for breakfast.

A striking feature of this narrative is the way Jesus had turned up in the normal course of life. In a state of frustration Peter and the disciples had gone fishing. But that night they caught nothing. As day was breaking, a figure on the beach called out to them, ‘Have you caught anything?’ ‘No,’ they replied. ‘Throw your nets off the right hand side of the boat,’ responded the lone figure. The catch was astonishing: 153 large fish.

It is tempting to look for symbolism here, but more likely John focuses our attention on the reality that the risen Jesus is still in charge. He directed where the nets were to be thrown; he was the host at breakfast, taking the bread and fish and giving it to them. John is reminding us that Jesus is Lord of his creation and our provider. We can be sure that the risen Christ is with us and that we can depend on him at every twist and turn in life.

Prayer

Almighty God, Father of all mercies, we your unworthy servants give humble and hearty thanks for all your goodness and loving kindness to us and to all people. We bless you for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life; but above all for your amazing love in the redemption of the world through our Lord Jesus Christ; for the means of grace and for the hope of glory.

And, we pray, give us that due sense of all your mercies, that our hearts may be truly thankful, and that we may declare your praise not only with our lips, but in our lives, by giving up ourselves to your service, and by walking before you in holiness and righteousness all our days; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be all honor and glory, now and forever. Amen. (AAPB: 1978, A Prayer of General Thanksgiving)

Daily Reading Plan

Read John 21:1-14.

Easter Reflections (2) – The Cross

A Spiritual Re-Awakening…? Easter Sunday – Lenten Readings & Reflections through John’s Gospel

by | Apr 21, 2019 | 2019 Lenten Series

Easter Day – Sunday, April 21

Gloria in Excelsis Deo

Glory to God in the highest, and peace to his people on earth.

Lord God, heavenly King, almighty God and Father, 

  we worship you, we give you thanks, we praise you for your glory.

Lord Jesus Christ, only Son of the Father, 

Lord God, Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world:

  have mercy on us;
you are seated at the right hand of the Father:

  receive our prayer.

For you alone are the Holy One; you alone are the Lord;
   you alone are the Most High, Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit,
   in the glory of God the Father. Amen.