Anticipating Easter -- The Real Question

Thieves crucified on either side of Jesus showed two possible responses.

One mocked Jesus' powerlessness: A Messiah who can't even save himself?

The other recognized a different kind of power. Taking the risk of faith, he asked Jesus to "remember me when you come into your kingdom."

No one else, except in mockery, had addressed Jesus as a King. The dying thief saw more clearly than anyone else the nature of Jesus' kingdom.

In a sense, the paired thieves present the choice that all history has had to decide about the cross.

Do we look at Jesus' powerlessness as an example of God's impotence or as proof of God's love?

The Romans, bred on power deities like Jupiter, could recognize little god-likeness in a crumpled corpse hanging on a tree.

Devout Jews, bred on stories of a powerful Jehovah, saw little to be admired in this god who died in weakness and in shame.

So which was it? Was that God-Man hanging on the cross of shame a proof of God's mission failure and impotence, or evidence of His successful rescue mission based on His eternal love?

We have the same choice to make.



[The Greek word for 'It is finished' uttered by Christ from His cross, also occurs in ancient manuscripts of Roman tax receipts from the time of Christ, and means "Paid in full."]

The Result of Easter- The Breath of Life

 "On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said 'Peace be with you!' After He said this, He showed them His hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.

  Again Jesus said, 'Peace be with you! As the Father has sent Me, I am sending you.' And with that He breathed on them and said, receive the Holy Spirit."

                                                                                -- John 20:19-22

Sometimes we just don't know what to expect next. Nothing seems to be working out as planned.

Doubts whisper and fears scream at us from every side.

That's where the disciples were that night. They had followed Jesus, sometimes faithfully, and sometimes fearfully, only to stand and watch Him die a horrific, brutal death. They had no future left.

They locked themselves in a room, afraid to be seen.

Then Jesus mysteriously appeared among them.

He didn't chastise them for hiding, or doubting, and for being fearful -- He greeted them with peace, precisely what they didn't expect!

After revealing His scars, proving His identity, He breathed on them. That breath was not just air - it was the breath of life. He gave them the Holy Spirit, empowering them to move from frightened followers to become courageous witnesses of His resurrection.

Jesus was not sending them out in their own strength; He was giving them His own presence,  guidance and power through His Spirit.

(What happened next? Read Acts, chapters 1 and 2.) 

Sometimes we feel we need to have it all figured out before taking the first, or next, step, but God equips us just in His perfect timing. Just as He breathed life into Adam, Jesus breathed new life into His disciples and now into us.

He is equipping us for what He is calling us to do, even when we feel unprepared and incompetent. Maybe you feel tired, uncertain, or afraid. Invite the Holy Spirit to breathe new life into you and step aside and see what God will do for and in you!

Start now! Breathe, inhaling, deeply!

Anticipating Easter - Timothy Keller - The Real Rest

The word Sabbath means a deep rest, a deep peace.

It's a near synonym for shalom -- a state of wholeness and flourishing in every dimension of life

When Jesus says, "I am the Lord of the Sabbath," He means that He is the Sabbath.

He is the Source of the deep rest we need.

He has come to completely change the way we rest. The one-day-a-week we take is just a taste of the deep divine rest we need, and Jesus is its Source.

When Jesus says, in effect, "As the Lord of the Sabbath, I can give you rest," what does that mean?

When Jesus calls you to rest, He is calling you to take time off -- physical and mental time off from work on a regular basis.

But there's another level of rest, a deeper level.

At the end of Genesis chapter 1, the account of God's creation of the world, God is said to have rested from his work.

What does that mean? Does God get tired? No, God
doesn't get tired. So how could He rest?

A different reason to rest is to be so satisfied with your work, so utterly satisfied, that you can leave it alone.

Only when you can say about your work, "I'm so happy with it, so satisfied -- it is finished!" can you walk away. When God finished creating the world, He said, "It is good." He rested.

The movie Chariots of Fire was based on the true story of two Olympians in the Paris competition of 1924.

One of them, Eric Liddell, was a Christian, and he refused to run on the Sabbath. As a result he lost the chance for a gold medal in a race he was favored to win.

At one level, taking a day off for rest is what the movie is about.

But the movie added another level and contrasted Harold Abrahams with Liddell.

Abrahams and Liddell were both trying very hard to win gold medals.

But Abrahams was doing it out of a need to prove himself. At one point, speaking of the sprint event in which he was competing, he said, "I've got ten seconds to justify my existence."

Liddell, on the other hand, simply wanted to please God who had already accepted him.

That's why he told his sister, "God made me fast, and when I run I feel His pleasure."

Harold Abrahams was weary even when he rested, and Eric Liddell was rested even when he as exerting himself.

Why? Because there's a work underneath our work that we really need rest from. It's the work of self-justification.

Most of us work and work trying to prove ourselves, to convince God, others and ourselves that we are good people.

That work is never over unless we rest in the Gospel.

At the end of His great act of creation, the Lord said, "It is finished," and He could rest.

On the cross at the end of His great act of redemption, Jesus said, "It is finished!"

And now we can rest.

On the cross Jesus was saying of the work underneath your work -- the thing that makes you truly weary, this need to prove yourself because who you are and what you do are never good enough -- that it is finished!

He has lived the life you should have lived; He has died the death you should have died.

If you rely on Jesus' finished work, you know that God is satisfied with you.

You can be satisfied with life.

You can take all the vacations in the world, but if you don't have deep rest of the soul, resting in what Jesus did on the cross, you will not truly rest.

On the cross Jesus experienced the restlessness of separation from God so that we can have the deep rest of knowing that He loves us and our sins have been forgiven.

    -- From King's Cross, Chapter 4, by Timothy Keller

~~~~~

Come to me, all you who are weary

and burdened, and I will give you rest.

Matthew 11:28

When the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 

He saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done,

 but because of His mercy.

He saved us through the washing of the rebirth

and renewal by the Holy Spirit,

 whom He poured out on us generously

through Jesus Christ our Savior.

Titus 3:5-6

A Call to Worship from the World Around Us

A Special Treat for Today

Read Psalm 104. Focus on verse 24: "How many are your works, LORD! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures."

Sounds like a call to worship! There are 5,000 known species of sponges on the ocean floor and over 300,000 species of beetles living among us; thousands of different flowers, trees, birds and animals. 

Some are breathtakingly beautiful and some are enchantingly odd.

Why? They reveal the wealth of God's creativity, His  love of beauty, and often His sense of humor! All designed by His divine wisdom.

This verse invites us to marvel at it all and also to study and explore His miracles.  We view them as artists and also as scientists.

Stop and gaze at the world around you today. Be awed in 'wonder, love and praise'! And listen carefully and you might hear their joyful song:

"In reason's ear they all rejoice,

And utter forth a glorious voice!

Forever singing as they shine,

'The Hand that made us in divine!'"

--Joseph Addison

Open our ears and eyes, Lord!

 '

Pilate and Joseph of Arimathea

"As evening approached, there came  rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus' body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean, linen cloth, and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting opposite the tomb." (Mathew 27:57-61).

Jesus was born in a borrowed manger ... now buried in a borrowed tomb..

A few years later the Christians at Philippi had a creed they chanted together (and probably sang) that included these words:

   "Who, being in nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used for His own advantage; rather, He made Himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness, and be found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to death -- even death on a cross..."   That's our Savior! (Read the whole creed/hymn in Philippians 2)