Resurrection - What is most important

The happenings and stories on that Sunday morning were difficult to grasp. The Gospels uses words such as afraid, alarmed, trembling, bewildered, not believed, wondering, fright, did not understand. Not exactly the descriptions we normally associate with the empty tomb on the first Easter morning.

But then Jesus appeared. His followers saw Him in the flesh standing before them. Believed, overjoyed, amazement, filled with joy, worshipped.

Jesus was once again with them. No matter what happened after those moments, His followers would never be the same.

It is important that Jesus died for us and was buried. It is important that He rose from the tomb on the third day. And it is important that He appeared again.

“I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said. He was seen by Peter and then by the Twelve. After that, he was seen by more than 500 of his followers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. Then he was seen by James and later by all the apostles. Last of all, as though I had been born at the wrong time, I also saw him.” (1 Corinthians 15:3-8)

For us, we do not see Him in the flesh but we see Him through their words, and through our faith in what Jesus has done and that He is with us still in our hearts.

He is “Immanuel,” “God with us.” 

And Jesus has risen, appeared, and is with us until the end of the age.

Holy Week Saturday - Together in the dark

I don’t know if we can ever fully comprehend how the followers of Jesus felt the evening and day after He was crucified, died, and buried. We’ve read the next chapter. We know what’s about to happen. But they were living that day of darkness, and dreams were crushed.  

The book of Job gives us a glimpse of their despair:  “when I hoped for good, evil came; when I looked for light, then came darkness” (Job 30:26).

The Gospels tell us very little of those dark hours. Yet the few scriptures there are reveal something special about them - they were together, almost never alone.

“The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment” (Luke 23:55-56).  

“Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem” (Luke 24:13).

“Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus...he came and took the body away. He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds” (John 19:38-39)

“...the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders...” (John 20:19)

The women came together. Two disciples traveled together. Joseph and Nicodemus buried Jesus together. Even after abandoning Jesus in the garden, the remaining apostles came together.

Even in the darkness, they understood the need to be with each other.

Perhaps, even with knowing the rest of the story, that is what we can learn when darkness comes. We need to be with each other.

Good Friday - Holy Place

Have you ever stood in a Holy Place?  Moses did before the burning bush. Joshua did before the commander of the Lord’s Armies near Jericho. Mount Sinai was a Holy Place when God met with Moses. There were others like the inner courts of the Tabernacle and in the Temple.

Even today, we may find places that seem Holy. Many battlefields, the sites of blood shed for freedom and for liberation of a people, have that feeling of Holy. Kneeling down and touching the ground at such places and you realize that the trees and grass there have been fed by the blood poured out here many years before.

One other place. Golgotha. Calvary. The place of the Cross.  

Tradition and oral history before that, and archeology point to a rocky site, formerly just outside of the walls of Jerusalem and now within the walls of a church as the site of this Holy Place.

It was here that Peter tells us, “Jesus himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” (1 Peter 2:24)

The blood of the son of God was shed here on the Cross, poured out as the sacrifice for the sins of the world.

An outcropping of that rock still exists today, weathered and cracked.

Whether this is the actual rock on which blood was spilt is unknown, but it is very much like the place where Jesus died on a Friday. 

That place was Holy because, “Jesus entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.” (Hebrews 9:12)

At a Holy Place very much like this, God has brought us near to Him. “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” (Ephesians 2:13)

Holy Week Thursday - Taking Care

I used to travel often for work, spending many days or weeks away from home. As the last day of the trip arrived, the routine became more significant to me:  “This is the last time I will walk this path this morning. This is the last time I will see this view. This is the last time I will drive this road in this country.”

I knew what day would be last at those locations and so I savored each last moment and action.

If we knew which event, which day, which time would be our last, what would we do? Who would we spend it with?

On the Thursday of what we call Holy Week, Jesus knew that day would be the last full day of His ministry. The last full day before the day of His death. How did He choose to spend that day? 

The Gospels tell us that Jesus spent the evening eating and talking with His closest friends.

“And he said to them, ‘I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.’” (Luke 22:15).

And not just any meal, but a meal of remembering. Looking back to the God’s liberation of His people from enslavement. And looking forward through the bread and the wine, Jesus prepared His friends for the sacrifice He would soon make to liberate all God’s creation.

Jesus prepared His friends for what was coming. He washed their feet to show them how to serve each other. He spoke to them to be ready for the difficult times ahead. Jesus comforted his friends, He promised them they would never be left without God’s comfort and presence, He prayed for his friends.

In short, Jesus spent His last full day taking care of His friends.

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me.” (John 14:1)