Be Open- Saul and Ananias, The Road to Damascus- Encounters with the Risen Christ

The Lord opens the eyes of the blind; The Lord raises those who are bowed down; The Lord loves the righteous. Psalm 146:8

People can have a shared experience and view it very differently. God does that for a reason. God allows us to experience things in our own way because He loves each of us uniquely; not necessarily in a measured way, like more or less, just in a favored way. It’s a way favored especially for each one of us. Each of us can say that we are uniquely favored by God because we are specially created for whatever purpose He has for us.

Two men can see things very differently depending on their perspective, and then find themselves seeing things much differently when Jesus enters the arena. The encounter these men have with the risen Christ can be found in Acts 9. I have chosen to continue the study to show that while Jesus has ascended into heaven He still has kept His promise to us: “and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.” Matt. 28:20b

We know that the church, after the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, had two events happen. It began to grow, and it suffered great persecution. You cannot have one without the other. The martyrdom of Stephen had already happened, and a young man, Saul, had participated in it by holding the coats and inciting the angry mob who performed the deadly act. Perhaps not getting enough credit for his role in it, because he didn’t throw a stone, he became zealous for the blood of the Christians.

Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

We are introduced to this great persecutor of the church bent on the destruction of every man, woman, and child who swears allegiance to this sect that threatens his way of life. He is bloodthirsty, villainous, and ready to harm anyone who gets in his way. His agenda is clear. He wants to rise to the top of leadership within his career path. Killing a few menacing sects along the path is a sure-fire way to make a name for himself. With permission granted, he starts out to where he knows there is Christian church growth happening, Damascus.

 As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven.  Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”

 And he said, “Who are You, Lord?”

Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” Acts 9”3-5

Saul is stopped in his literal tracks just a stone throw-away from his destination. Light from heaven envelops him. What a dream come true for a believer in the One True God. He was probably expecting some nod from God for what he was doing, yet he gets a supreme reprimand instead. He is knocked to the ground. He has to get clarification. “Who are you?” he asked. Surely this can’t be an all-powerful being, yet he calls this voice from within the light “Lord”. Saul is aware he is having a divine revelation. Every fiber of his being is feeling it. The Lord answers who he is and that Saul is persecuting Him, for when Saul persecutes the Church he is persecuting Him. Then Jesus says it is hard for him to kick against the goads. Kicking against the goads means kicking against the briars or the thorns, or any type of sticker bushes. It can’t be done without causing them to stick into him. Saul was about to be stuck into, and to be one who would be injured for the very cause he was trying to tear down.

Sometimes we find ourselves kicking against the goads. We want to avoid being a part of something we find ourselves eventually spearheading. Maybe you had a good idea, just one, to make something a little bit better and before you knew it you were league president, or Bible study leader, or Sunday school coordinator for your church, and you don’t even know how it happened. How did all that get stuck to you? Did you kick at a goad? Maybe you needed to put on some boots and just walk right though the mess without getting dirty. That attitude is not always what Jesus would have us do. Jesus occasionally wants us to do a little goad kicking once in a while and see what sticks, even when it’s painful. “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.” Luke 16:10 NEV

 If you notice Jesus didn’t ask Saul if he was kicking against the goads. He told him it was hard to kick against the goads. He was telling him, it is hard. It is in the progressive tense, as in on going. It was a way of saying, “I can see this is changing you, and it will continue to change you, but it is going to be hard and painful. Just as you have been the persecutor, you are about to become the persecuted.” God had His hand on Saul. Life would never be the same.

So he, trembling and astonished, said, “Lord, what do You want me to do?”

Then the Lord said to him, “Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

 And the men who journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice but seeing no one.  Then Saul arose from the ground, and when his eyes were opened he saw no one. But they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus.  And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank. Acts 9:6-9

            The transformation of Saul’s heart is actually completed here, and he knows it, but many won’t believe it for some time. It’s actually quite easy to see. The submission is apparent. His response is simple, “Lord, what do You want me to do?” He makes no excuses. He doesn’t say, “okay, but first I’ve got this thing I’ve got to do, or I’ve got to go back to Jerusalem and explain to the leaders that…” No, he leaves it all, right there at that moment. He simply asks, “What is it you have for me to do?” The orders he had in his pocket mean nothing to him. His previous plans of rising in the ranks are gone. Saul said it himself in his letter to the Philippians.  But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Phil.3:7 The man so bent on killing and destroying the followers of Christ, has just laid aside all in order to follow Him in a matter of seconds, all because a little light was shed on the matter.

Saul was struck blind by the brightness he experienced by the light, but the others were not. Saul was changed, he was different. Saul obeyed. He had to be led into the city, where he began to fast. Why? Because he had not been told to eat or drink, so he waited to see what God would have him do next. God told him to wait, so he would wait because God was going to use this in another man’s life. In the mean-time there was prayer, and continued visions for this blind man.

 Now there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias; and to him the Lord said in a vision, “Ananias.”

And he said, “Here I am, Lord.” Acts 9:10

Jesus again appears in a vision to Ananias, and just as with Saul the response to Christ is immediate. One thing I would like to point out here is that Ananias is called a disciple, which would probably mean he had followed Jesus at one time, possibly even been one of the seventy. He was familiar with Jesus. To see Jesus in a vision could have seemed like daydream to him, like a memory. Yet the vision was also very real, real enough that when Jesus spoke to him Ananias audibly spoke to Him. Wouldn’t it be nice if we would be so in tuned with Christ that in the middle of our busy day if Jesus called to us we would just say, “Here I am.”

I believe that much of the time if Jesus’ name were to show up as a caller on people’s phones they would push the message, or worse the reject call button on their phones. Some might even go so far as to block the caller. People just don’t want to put down their agendas to answer God’s call or do God’s business. Ananias answered the call, but what he was asked to do wasn’t what he wanted to hear.

 So the Lord said to him, “Arise and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus, for behold, he is praying. And in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him, so that he might receive his sight.”

 Then Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem. 

 And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name.”

 But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel.  For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.” Acts 9:11-16

Jesus gives Ananias his marching orders. Supposing that Ananias was one of the seventy, the concept of going and healing someone was not a new idea for him. He had been there before. The Lord had ordained him to heal, and he could do it, not a problem. If you notice, Ananias made no objection to the healing part of the order. Ananias had every confidence in the Lord’s ability to use him to accomplish that part of the job. It wasn’t the what was going to be done, it was the who it was to be done for that was at issue for him. Shouldn’t it have been the other way around? Shouldn’t healing a blind person be the departure from reality? Yet Ananias’ doubts in the area of the man, not the miraculous. Ananias fears the man, and what the man can do to him. He still has lapses of faith when it comes to trusting where God is leading. The fear of man brings a snare, Bur whoever trusts in the LORD shall be safe. Prov. 29:25 Sometimes I wonder how often God rolls His eyes and sighs at us. This must have been one of those times because Jesus goes on and explains His plans.

            Ananias is let in on God’s agenda, not Saul’s plan left on the side of the road, never to happen in Damascus. He is told that God has just created an apostle, one to be sent out on an amazingly costly journey. If only Ananias is willing. He tells Ananias that Saul has been told that a man named Ananias is coming to heal him. I wonder if Jesus had said, “And if it isn’t you I’m going to send your second cousin, Ananias, instead,” if that would have motivated him. Jesus didn’t have to go that far. Ananias obeyed because God revealed the plan to him, letting him in on the inside track.

            Sometimes, most of the time, I’m like the kid that wants to know all the secrets. I want to know all God’s plans for me and everyone else in my life. I know there are reasons he doesn’t tell me. Some say He is teaching me patience, but I believe more importantly the Lord is teaching me to trust Him completely. Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the LORD will all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths."  I believe that trusting in the Lord is essential to life. It’s also one of the hardest things to learn to do. When I get it all figured out I’m going to write a book about it; until then I’m a work in progress, as we all are. I do know that I don’t want to direct my own path because I’ve got a really bad sense of direction. I think Ananias was a lot like me, and that’s why God sent him to Straight street. There was no way he could get lost on Straight street. Now curvy, twisty street was another story.

 And Ananias went his way and entered the house; and laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you came, has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he received his sight at once; and he arose and was baptized. Acts 9:17-18

Somehow I don’t see Ananias going in with a glad heart full of happiness. I think he just went in do business, hopeful it would be a hit and run sort of thing. He went in, found a blind man, tells him why he’s there, and lays his hands on the man’s eyes, simply says, “receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” It was the second part that was the doing in of Saul. Once the Holy Spirit filled him up, Ananias had a brother in the Spirit. It was evidenced by the outpouring that followed. Saul was asking to be baptized! He wanted to seal the deal, right there and then.

            Baptism is a covenant deal for Christians. When you are baptized you are publicly proclaiming that you belong to God, that you have died with Christ and are also a partaker in His resurrection. We see this in scripture: ”buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead, " Col. 2:12. If you are a believer and have not been baptized I would encourage to pray about making that covenant step. Reach out to your pastor and seek it as Paul did. You will be blessed.

            Saul also ended his fast and went on with what the Lord had called him to do. He studied and learned from the disciples, including Ananias, and then as God called him, having knowledge of the scriptures, he began his ministry.

 So when he had received food, he was strengthened. Then Saul spent some days with the disciples at Damascus.

 Immediately he preached the Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God.

Then all who heard were amazed, and said, “Is this not he who destroyed those who called on this name in Jerusalem, and has come here for that purpose, so that he might bring them bound to the chief priests?”

But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who dwelt in Damascus, proving that this Jesus is the Christ. Acts 9:19-22

If God could use the things Saul had in his former life to be used for the Kingdom, couldn’t He use the gifts and talents you have for His Kingdom. I’ve heard many testimonies of people who claim to be changed, but all they do is talk about the life they used to have before coming to Jesus, and not about the life they now have in Him, as if they’re lamenting their old life. This is not truly a testimony of the power of God. I’ve also seen people who had unique gifts and talents that God administers in ways we would never have imagined for His Kingdom. God used both of these men in ways they would never have imagined. It was through Ananias that Saul received not just his physical sight, but his ability to see God in a whole new light, and it was because of Saul that Ananias learned to trust in God and not see with his physical eyes, but with his spirit. God can use us tremendously in each other’s life. Jesus put these two men together for a purpose, to teach each other great lessons of love that could not otherwise be learned. And that is what the church is all about.

And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. Hebrews10:24-25

Be Chosen- Peter- Encounters with the Risen Christ.

And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. John 17:3

Have you ever wondered about your impact on people’s lives? Just how missed would you be if you were to suddenly get up and leave a room? Would anyone even notice you were gone? Do you take notice of the changes around you, or do you just let them pass and try to move on. It’s sad sometimes when we stop to ponder that thought. Coping with how to get on with life after something has happened is the subject of this week’s study. Do we live in denial, or do we take notice and let change take place in us? Maybe God is asking us to change into what He has created us to be. He can work through anyone, even a fisherman who was once Simon, but became famously known as Peter.

After these things Jesus showed Himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, and in this way He showed Himself:  Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of His disciples were together. Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We are going with you also.” They went out and immediately got into the boat, and that night they caught nothing.  John 21:1-3

Peter had just come from this amazing adventure. He spent three years following Jesus, saw the most amazing miracles, had literal God experiences, felt the intensity of his best friend killed, and denying he even knew Him, and then seeing that friend come back from the dead. Peter had experienced what all of history has been leading up to…and what does he do? He goes fishing! Yet, it’s such a human reaction. He was on his own without an instruction booklet, and what else was he going to do. He still had family to feed, and Jesus wasn’t there to provide for him anymore. He needed to go back to work. He made his announcement. This wasn’t an excursion. It was his intention. He was going back to his old life, just like we all do once the emotion has gone out of the experience.  

Peter had a crew of six. He could make it happen, pick up where he left off three years before when he and Andrew were “Jonah and Sons” of Capernaum’s fisheries. His first night out wasn’t working out like he hoped, but such was the life of a fisherman. Sometimes the net is cast and nothing happens, sometimes the net is cast and pickings are slim, sometimes the net is cast and the net is full but the catch must be thrown back, and sometimes it’s all keepers. The job of the fisherman is to throw the net. It’s the sea that delivers the haul. God owns the sea. This was the lesson Peter still had to learn, even after all he had witnessed.

What about that crew? Why is it we are, as my friend says, lemmings just following each other about playfully into the holes of ruin? Why is it all it takes is one idiot to stand up in a crowd and six others will agree to follow blindly? Why does misery love company? Why do we give misery company? The answer is simple. We’re fallen. We live in a fallen world. We reason with fallen minds. We need help! Just know Jesus did promise us help. “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—“ John 14:6 Sometimes God needs to step in to help us from helping each other right off the cliff.

But when the morning had now come, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.  Then Jesus said to them, “Children, have you any food?”

They answered Him, “No.”  And He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast, and now they were not able to draw it in because of the multitude of fish. Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment (for he had removed it), and plunged into the sea. But the other disciples came in the little boat (for they were not far from land, but about two hundred cubits), dragging the net with fish. Then, as soon as they had come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid on it, and bread. Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish which you have just caught.”

Simon Peter went up and dragged the net to land, full of large fish, one hundred and fifty-three; and although there were so many, the net was not broken. Jesus said to them, “Come and eat breakfast.” Yet none of the disciples dared ask Him, “Who are You?”—knowing that it was the Lord. Jesus then came and took the bread and gave it to them, and likewise the fish.

This is now the third time Jesus showed Himself to His disciples after He was raised from the dead. John 21:4-14

If you know about fishing then you know that once the water warms the fish tend to go deep, and the fishing is over. The morning came, the fishing was over, and there had been no catch. Peter’s attempt at returning to what he could do to provide for himself had been fruitless. It seems whenever we try to do things on our own we have to learn this lesson as well, yet we keep trying. The world tells us we can do it. All we have to do is dream it and we can achieve it. Everyone wins! And if we don’t then it’s because “they” got in your way. My question is who is this universal “they” that is in the way. I usually fail at things and don’t see a line of people standing in front of me. It’s just me and the circumstances at the time. The enemy feeds on these insecurities to divide and conquer. I bet there was a little bit of dividing and conquering going on in that little boat. Peter questioned himself. He felt lost and like a fish out of water. He couldn’t even feed himself anymore. And now there were others depending on him.

Then a voice calls out from the shore asking if they’d caught anything. If they had they’d be selling their catch, or at least eating. He receives instruction. What’s crazy is how they followed it. A man, from the shore, tells them where to fish, and they do it. He was no less that a football field away and tells them to drop the net on right side of the boat. It’s not like he could see fish from that distance. But they obey. Why? They didn’t know it was Jesus. It must have been the authority in his voice, the fact he called them children. We are missing that in our society today, the willingness to obey has been undermined by a mistaken idea that we have the right to question everything. In our continual questioning, we’ve lost the learning process all together, because we’ve forgotten how to accept knowledge and move to the next level. We keep digging deeper and all the while the hole we’re in keeps coming down on us. God needs to reach in and pull us out.

When they realize it is Jesus, Peter loses himself and jumps into the water and swims to the shore, but then has to go back to pull the fish in. He forgot the fish! In his joy he forgot for one split glorious second, he was all about Jesus. We have to wonder if he thought Jesus was back for good. He was there, providing for them again. Breakfast was served! His need was met. He could rest and know that for the time being all was good again.

 Jesus was there, in the flesh, taking care of Peter’s flesh. This shows us what type of man Peter was, impulsive. We see this through the scriptures, that Peter was very driven by what was happening at the moment. He wasn’t a long term thinker. There he sat, eating his breakfast, content, for the moment. But moments end, and Jesus knew Peter would be in the same position he’d been in just hours before when he was questioning himself, at some time in the future, unless something changed.

Impulsive people usually do impulsively fall apart very quickly. Peter was still in denial when it came to his ability to stand. He was still sinking into the sea. He still hadn’t answered the question Jesus had asked so long ago.  But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!’  And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”  And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.” Matt. 14:30-32 It was this doubt that still caused Peter to hold something back from Jesus. And it was time for Jesus to call him into account on it.

So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?”

He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.”

He said to him, “Feed My lambs.” John 21:15

Jesus had met his physical need, his immediate need, but there was still an issue to be resolved within Peter’s spirit. The first part of the issue was for Peter to define his priorities. Was Jesus his priority? Jesus asks him if he loves Him more than these. What was the these he was talking about? These guys, these fish, these things, this life was all Peter knew. Did he love these more than Jesus? Peter says that he does love Jesus, so Jesus tells him “feed my lambs”.

        “Feed my lambs” has all kinds of theological implications, especially coming from the Great Shepherd. Considering that Jesus just fed his little lambs I think Peter got the gist of the action. To feed means to meet the immediate need of someone, the sustaining necessities of the very young and most vulnerable, thus the use of the words lambs. It was a way of saying, “be a man and do what men do, protect those who can’t protect themselves. Step outside yourself and look for those you who need you.” Jesus began by having Peter look around at those around him. Peter did have a concern for others, but was it because he was worried about what others thought of him?

        Many times, as Christians, we fool ourselves into thinking we are concerned with others, when really our concern is for our own perception of what others think of us, or how we can get others to comply with what we feel they should be doing so they can fit into the Kingdom of God. If they would just do what we think a ‘good’ Christian would do than they’ll measure up and all would be well with the world. In truth it’s not our standard they need to measure up too. It’s ourselves that needs to measure up to a standard. But we fail to do so, so God had to do it for us. All we are called to do is love Him, and feed His lambs. Give what we can, what He has given us to give. Employ our gifts.

¹⁶ He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?”

He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.”

He said to him, “Tend My sheep.” John 21:16

        The immediate needs have been met, and Peter’s attention has been drawn. Jesus asks a second time, and Peter responds a little more vehemently. This probably echoed through Peter as he became a little defensive. It was reminiscent to Peter that he was being questioned about his relationship to Jesus. In his ears rang the haunting words he’d spoken, Now Simon Peter stood and warmed himself. Therefore they said to him, “You are not also one of His disciples, are you?” He denied it and said, “I am not!” John 18:25  How often Peter had struggled with the guilt of that night, of running off and not defending the One he had confessed and received praise for just months before. He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. Matt.16:15-17 It appears there were moments when Peter’s faith shined, but it had been sorely tried and found shaking on shifting sand. This second question was troublesome to Peter.

Jesus knew Peter’s heart. He knew the problem. It wasn’t a lack of love, it was a lack of identity. Just how did he fit in God’s economy? He was just a fisherman. Yet Jesus told him to tend his sheep. This was more than just a little thing. To tend was more than feeding. To tend is an investment. To tend is to go long, head for the end zone. The word sheep implies bringing the lambs into maturity. It was time for Peter to think ahead and grow up. This was no longer about having his needs met, but to lay aside everything, give it all up, and see to the needs of others before himself. He was moving him from laborer to partner in the business. Jesus was asking if Peter was sure he loved Jesus enough to buy in. A shepherd will lay down his life for his sheep. “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.” John 10:11 Peter had to be willing to give his life for the sheep. Peter didn’t see himself as a shepherd. He saw himself as the sheep, a follower. He wasn’t supposed to do the work. He was the work. Now, Jesus was telling him he had risen in the ranks to take on the work. I imagine the fear that appeared on Peter’s face was very real as he was beginning to understand the magnitude of why Jesus was asking him the question.

He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?”

And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.”

Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep. John 21:17

Peter grieves because just as three times he denied Jesus, he is three times asked to confess his love for Jesus. Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven.  But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven. Matt.10:32-33 This third confession left Peter knocked off his shaking platform, he was once more pulled from the sea and lifted back into the arms of safety. This time a commandment was given. “Feed My sheep.”

Jesus called Peter into covenant with him. The command given of feed the sheep was the idea of a continual looking after of the flock of sheep. Peter was no longer to go back to his old life. He was now married to the ministry. We know he didn’t go back to the fishing business. He may have fished from time to time, but he also worked as a tanner, and did what he had to do to feed his family and others through some difficult times. He became the shepherd Jesus called him to be, just as Jesus prophesied.

 “Most assuredly, I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish.” This He spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, “Follow Me.” Then Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following, who also had leaned on His breast at the supper, and said, “Lord, who is the one who betrays You?”  Peter, seeing him, said to Jesus, “But Lord, what about this man?” Jesus said to him, “If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow Me.” John 21:18-22

Can’t you just see Jesus cupping Peter’s face with that last line of the encounter and staring like a father just inches, nose to nose with Peter, then giving him a gentle little slap followed by a rustling of his hair and a hug? Jesus had said it twice before and He said it once more for good measure, three times in all. “Follow me!” Jesus’ only desire for Peter, and for us, is that we follow Him into His Kingdom, where our relationship with God can be restored. God did not create us for destruction, but to have life in unity with Him. Following means whole heartedly, without a second thought, stepping out in the vast unknown. It’s ultimate trust, ultimate faith, ultimate love. When Peter said, “Yes, Lord, I love you!” not once, but three times, he was sealing the deal. It would and did cost him his life. His covenant with God was made. The encounter with the Resurrected made a new man out of him.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold all things have become new. 2 Cor.5:17

Believe! -Thomas the Doubter. Encounters with the Risen Christ!

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name; who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of man, but of God." John 1:12-13 

Is seeing really believing? Can’t our eyes be fooled by sleight of hand, or even if we’re just tired? Can’t we just miss something? How many times have we been looking for something and looked right at it only to pass it over? Yet we have a tendency to really believe what we see assuming our eyes are incapable of being fooled. Maybe that is because it is the way God meant it to be. Our eyes are receivers of information and without them we are not receiving information we depend on. God gave us five receptors we were meant to take in information for our physical survival. Our senses are keenly designed by our maker to give us dominion over the world around us. This masterful strategy works to bring us both pleasure and pain within our surroundings. If God designed us to be that way then why are we so easily deceived by sight? We are actually not. We are deceived by our interpretation of what we see or don’t see. This was the issue for the subject of our study in today’s encounter with the Risen Christ, Thomas the Doubter.

Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord.”

So he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.” John 20:24-25

We know the story. Jesus had come to his disciples after the two from Emmaus told them they’d seen Him alive, risen from the dead, but Thomas had not been there when Jesus appeared to them. He arrived sometime later to find everyone talking and excitedly relating the great news, that Jesus was indeed alive! But rather than believe his friends, rather than embrace this amazing testimony of so many witnesses, he holds himself aloof and dismisses it as mass hysteria. Wow, what a cynic!

There may be reasons for this, aside from him actually saying he couldn’t believe it because he didn’t see it with his own eyes. Thomas seemed to be all too ready to die with Jesus just weeks before when Jesus headed back toward Jerusalem at great risk to raise Lazarus from the dead. “Then Thomas, who is called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with Him.” John 11:16

Why then is he not excited to see that death is no longer on the table? Could it be that Jesus being alive doesn’t suit Thomas’ agenda? Did Thomas need a martyr for his cause? Or was it just that to hope for something so grand was too much for him to comprehend no matter what so many people were saying? Was it fear of being let down, or fear of having to change his plans? Whatever it was, his own doubt triumphed over his desire to believe. The one who had once been so willing to go the distance with Jesus was refusing to go one inch in the direction of believing in Jesus’ power over death because of the risk of the pain it might cause him.

Pain is a great motivator. We will avoid it at all cost. We would rather live in denial than admit to ourselves that someone has a certain fault, especially if they are near and dear to us. We tend to make heroes out of the dead when we eulogize them, but when they were alive we spoke so badly about them because it was true. The person did lie, cheat, steal, and take advantage of other people. Yet when he died we paint a rosy portrait of the deceased in order to make the family feel better. What would make the family feel better is if there was a Savior who took all those sins away, and that could have only come about if the sinner had repented and stopped all the lying, cheating, and taking advantage of others before he died. Jesus said, “Let the dead bury the dead.” Do we know what that means? It means there are a lot of Thomas types out there who just don’t want to believe, so we have to let them see a Risen Savior before it’s too late. They have to see it in us. Just maybe we need to do a little more, lovely or loving talking before they get on the other side of the grave.  

Pride is another reason people refuse to believe. I don’t know that Thomas was prideful, but I know that refusing to believe the testimony of so many witnesses is prideful. It takes a lot of pride to discredit someone’s testimony. It says to someone that they are not worthy of your respect for whatever reasons you hold against them. Pride was Satan’s sin against God. To decide of your own volition that something is not worthy of your obedience to God’s sovereignty is rebellion. It is saying that you know better than God. We do it a lot. It fights in us constantly. It is called sin. We war against this fallen nature constantly, just as Thomas did. Just as all of us do daily, but there is a cure for this anarchy within us. “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.” Romans 8:1-2

Just perhaps there was a third reason Thomas was holding out. Perhaps he didn’t believe because he couldn’t believe the Lord would appear without him being present from the start. After all, Thomas was one of the twelve, the inner circle, the chosen few who had been with Jesus, named by Him as His selected. In this case it would have been more of a “but the Lord wouldn’t have done that without me because He never did anything I wasn’t a part of.” Thomas would have a narrow view of God’s plan for him. God had a bigger plan. God can play on our weakness for His purposes both in our lives and in the lives of others.

My brother-in-law, a great man, and a good pastor, once said something that has stuck with me for years. He said, “Are you willing to be wrong for the sake of the Kingdom? That is, are you willing to be wrong if it meant someone else would enter the Kingdom of God?” What a humbling question! Paul was one who was so willing. He said, “I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit,  that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart.  For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh.” Romans 9:1-3 Yet our desire to be right supersedes our desire to be at peace and bring them into the light of Heaven, as if it was up to us to decide who gets to live there. How arrogant we are! How important is being right? I think I’d rather be wrong and be righteous in His eyes, then be right in my own eyes. Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, But the Lord weighs the hearts. Prov.21:2 Just where was Thomas’ heart when God placed it in the balance?

 And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!”  Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.”

 And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” John 20:26-28

Thomas’ moment of decision finally arrives. Is he going to deny his own senses? Jesus is there! Every part of his physical reality has just turned on its axis and what he has convinced himself was impossible, has become possible. Imagine that you were the one who told everyone you refused to believe them, basically calling them liars, and there is the proof right in front of you, literally in the flesh. There can be no denying it is Jesus either. Jesus takes Thomas and touches his hand to the very wounds of the crucifixion. Thomas is dumbfounded. Yet the Savior’s words to him are so loving, and so forgiving. He says to him to not be unbelieving, but believing.

Thomas needed a healing. He needed his faith to be healed. He had suffered a great loss when Jesus was taken from him; for he had given up everything to become Jesus’ follower in belief that Jesus was the Messiah, and that there would be great works to follow. He had been a part of a great ministry, seen amazing miracles, and was a true believer Jesus could take down the kingdoms of the earth. Yet Jesus had been crucified, worse yet by Gentiles, at the insistence of the Jewish leaders, which would have confused any one trusting they had found a Messiah to lead Israel into world domination. Thomas’ faith was shaken to its core. He didn’t want to be wrong, but he would rather have been wrong and accept it, then be wrong again and suffer again such a great loss. Jesus healed Thomas by telling him it was necessary for Him to believe his own eyes, his own ears, his own sense of touch. He could believe what was real to him, because Jesus is real!

Thomas responds from the depths of his spirit, “My Lord…” which demonstrates his dependence, submission, and reverence for Jesus, but he adds, “and my God.” The addition of this statement is all encompassing, for it is the foremost address in scripture giving deity to Jesus as God, and Jesus does not rebuke Him, but accepts his worship. The deity of Jesus is revealed through Thomas’ statement of faith! Here we have the great mystery of faith debated over the ages proven. God did indeed become a man and live among us. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John 1:1  “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14

God had a great plan for Thomas’ weakness. His weak faith bore a testament of the truth which would stand as a foundational tenant from which the Church could fasten itself against the enemy. Thomas had been wrong in doubting, but his doubting would bring many to faith!

Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Some may say this is a rebuke of Thomas, and so it could be, but it could also be a statement of fact. Is it Thomas’ fault that he lived when he could see and believe? Wouldn’t you just love to see Jesus and believe? We live at a time Thomas would love to live in, when we can pray and be filled with the Holy Spirit just by asking for it. Remember, when Jesus was with His disciples the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon them. He didn’t come until after Jesus had left them on the day of Pentecost. Thomas was reliant upon being in the presence of Jesus, so being with Him was paramount to believing.

Another interesting thing to take note of here is that Jesus didn’t say blessed are those who are yet to hear and will believe. I bring this up because I’ve heard people talk about it as if Jesus is talking about us, as if He was referring to the church today, again, that could be the truth, and I do think that is pertinent today, as all God’s word is, but also think he was more than likely referring to those who were at the time quickly believing the reports of His resurrection and gladly receiving it into their hearts because they understood the message of the sacrifice He had made. They were choosing to believe, because of the reports of others, and choosing to accept because of the conviction with which the story was being told to them. They were not cynical, but gladly receiving it into their hearts, because of what they knew of Jesus before the crucifixion. They chose to believe. It was their blessing, a blessing Thomas missed out on for that eight days. He missed out on eight days of joy that he could never get back. He had eight days he’d always regret, and that’s a lot of regret to live with for the rest of his life considering how much more Jesus did.

And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name. John 20:30-31

So ends the recorded encounter Thomas had with Jesus after the resurrection. We know there had to be more to the story because they were close. Jesus loved Thomas. I guess we’ll have to ask them when we get to heaven if we get the opportunity. Maybe Thomas will have questions for us about our story and the amazing things the Holy Spirit did working through us, and the miraculous works of God we experienced. We are living in amazing times.

Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes." Mark 9:23

Be Hopeful!- Two on the Road to Emmaus! Encounter with the Risen Christ!

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11

Why is it that we are so quick to believe the expression, “If something sounds too good to be true, it must not be true?” Have we become so cynical in our own lives that we nay-say our own hope for the future?  Whatever happened to hope? The Bible tells us that the Lord has given us both a future and a hope. Last week we saw that just when all hope for Mary of Magdalene was gone, Jesus brought life back again. It should inspire us to continue to believe through the doubts. Yet we are haunted by our own doubts, moment by moment, because of the physical world we live in. We focus on the temporal instead of the eternal because of our own limitations. We are so stuck. This the subject of this week’s study as we continue on with encounters with the risen Christ, and the two travelers to Emmaus.

 Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem.  And they talked together of all these things which had happened. So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them.  But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him. Luke 24:13-16

It was the day of the resurrection, late in the day, and two of the number of those who had been in the city, of Jesus’ followers, were leaving. They were talking between the two of them about what had gone on. It should be noted that leaving the city after the feast of Passover would not have gotten them noticed, nor would have their conversation, but the fact that they knew of the events of that morning and were leaving the city is of interest. If you had lost someone you loved, or even someone you liked a lot, say a celebrity that you followed, and news reached you that they were still alive in a certain place, would you live that place if there was a chance you would see the person there? Fans flock to locations to get a glimpse of movie star, and that’s just a person. Imagine getting to glimpse a person who was dead and rumor has it he’s back from the dead. Wouldn’t you want to see that? Yet these two guys are heading out. That shows you how much faith they had in the story.

            Before we go condemning them we should understand this was prophesied about. Son of man, you dwell in the midst of a rebellious house, which has eyes to see but does not see, and ears to hear but does not hear; for they are a rebellious house. Ez. 12:2 (See Is. 42:18-20) We sometimes do the same thing. We don’t believe because we don’t want to believe no matter how good the news is. We prefer to stay in the negative because it’s what we’re used to, what we’re comfortable with. Good things bring change, and that means we have to change. The thing about being in a rut is that the view from down in the rut is familiar. Familiarity breeds contentment, not contempt. We are creatures of routine. We like to get out from our routine for a while, but we love our old favorites and are loyal to our hang outs. We don’t like change no matter how good it is for us. We’ll find the bad in it.

Example: If you could win a million dollars your first thought is probably that you won’t actually get the million dollars, but that you’ll only get about 55% because the rest will go to taxes, and by the time the relatives get a hold of what you’ve got left you might get yourself out of debt, so won’t that be nice. You won’t answer the trivia question, even though you know the answer, much less register to play, because then you might actually get selected and then you’d have to miss work. What if that’s the day at work they actually announce the new commission incentives? It would just be better if you’re there. Isn't that they way we're programmed to think. Why take the chance? We be the risk taker? 

These two guys were like that. They were busy talking about the opportunity to have seen the risen Savior instead of actually hanging back to see if it would happen to them. After all, they were not in the inner circle. These were the bench sitters, the second stringers, the seventy, not the twelve, which was now down to eleven, also a topic of discussion. Why shouldn’t they leave Jerusalem? If Jesus was going to talk to someone wouldn’t it be the remaining Varsity team that needed to be sent onto the field? They headed out to Emmaus. An interesting side note here about Emmaus is that it is believed that it was a town in which there were springs for bathing. So, these guys were literally, hitting the showers when this man joins them and listens in. Little did they know they were about to be called onto the field to play in the big game.

And He said to them,:“What kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and are sad?”

Then the one whose name was Cleopas answered and said to Him, “Are You the only stranger in Jerusalem, and have You not known the things which happened there in these days?”

And He said to them, “What things?”

So they said to Him, “The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified Him.  But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened.  Yes, and certain women of our company, who arrived at the tomb early, astonished us. When they did not find His body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said He was -alive.  And certain of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but Him they did not see.” Luke 24:17-24

Jesus asks them what they’re talking about, not because he doesn’t know, but because he wants to give them the opportunity to explain their understanding of the events that have taken place. It is a very loving and paternal approach to take. It’s like asking your child if he has eaten the cookie when he’s got Oreo crumbs all over his mouth. He can deny it if he wants, but you know, and he knows the answer. He will explain how the cookie was on the plate, then in his hand, and how it entered his mouth, but never will he use the word eaten in his vocabulary. It just does not occur to Cleopas as he explains the events that he is laying out exactly how his hope for the redemption of Israel has come to pass. Let’s look at it:

1.    A prophet mighty in deed and word before God.

2.    Condemned to death.

3.    Hoping to redeem Israel.

4.    The third day

5.    A vision of angels

6.    He is alive!

And yet Cleopas and his friend can’t find hope? He’s just told this man an amazing story. So why wouldn’t they turn around and go back? 

We do this too. We all stick to what we’re doing instead of embracing what we know God is doing in us. It is frightening at times to give over all control to God. Think of the Israelites in the wilderness complaining and asking to return to Egypt where they had leeks and onions a-plenty. Sometimes the leeks and the onions, which while they are bitter, seem much more of a sure thing to us than the manna and the pheasant, because the manna goes bad by night, and pheasant must be snared, but the onion and the leeks are right there, easily pulled up. It’s the trust that is hard to muster. Trusting means not worrying. It also requires effort on our part. For Peter it meant stepping out of the boat. For Moses, it meant returning to Egypt for God’s people. For Abram, it meant going west to become a nation. What is it for you? What is it God is asking you to trust Him in doing? Are you going to pull up onions or eat bread and meat?

 Then He said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!  Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?”  And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. Luke 24:25-27

Jesus reproves them for their failure to understand. He had to explain things to them before, and He had thoroughly covered the plan of redemption, from creation, to the fall, to restoration by His ransom through His death on the cross with them before, and now that it had come to pass they still were not getting it because He wasn’t speaking in first person. He had to lay it all out to them beginning at Genesis until the moment of the resurrection. Can you imagine Jesus explaining, “In the beginning, I was there, and through me all things were made? There was nothing, and then there was something. But you all blew it so… out of our great love for you, I laid aside My dignity and cast aside my supremacy, so I could do this, for you, because I love you.” What an amazing thing to hear Jesus teach on His own word, because He is the Word. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” John 1:1-4

Instead just made it much more relevant to them by explaining it third person as he had in the past. Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings, that He said to His disciples, “You know that after two days is the Passover, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.” Matt. 26:1-2 How quickly they’d forgotten what He’s said.

Isn’t it just like us to only hear what we want to hear? We don’t want to hear the bad news so we choose not. We don’t want to hear that someone is going to die so when the prognosis is bad we say, “you’ll fight it and win,” instead of realizing the can be just as valiantly in fighting and still die. It doesn’t mean they lost, only that they died. Maybe the winning was in dying, while fighting to live. Maybe it was in accepting the dying. How do we know what the winning is? Jesus defeated the grave through His resurrection, so therefore, life wins, even in the grave, for the believer in Jesus Christ. The concept of a victory over death had to be explained to these two travelers too. It had to be quite an interesting take a subject that was fresh in their minds.

 Then they drew near to the village where they were going, and He indicated that He would have gone farther. But they constrained Him, saying, “Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.” And He went in to stay with them. Luke 24:28-29

Cleopas and his friend wanted to continue the conversation with this learned man who was obviously knowledgeable in scripture and had an insider’s viewpoint on Jesus of Nazareth. Still, they didn’t know why he knew so much about their Lord. They ‘constrained’ Him, meaning literally begged Him to stay with them, so He agrees.

Have you ever been so drawn to someone you didn’t want the conversation to end? This wasn’t an argument they were wanting to win. This was learning in its purest form. We are so full of ourselves these days we think we know everything so to be in the position of learning in this manner is something foreign to us. Perhaps it’s something we need to humble ourselves into understanding again. To sit and listen, for the sake of learning, because we don’t know something takes humility of heart. (Prov.2:1-5)

 Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.  Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight. Luke 24:30-31

They finally recognize Him! Why? Why at this moment? Some speculate that it was because they were at the Last Supper and He re-enacted it for them. I don’t think that was it. I think it was because of the scars on his hands. It would be a little difficult to miss those when you’re passing someone the bread to miss those deep gashes on the center of the hands or feet if you’re at the table with Him.  He would have had to have his feet washed when entering the house to eat.  He would have broken bread with those hands. Cleopas could have said, “What happened to your hands?” 

Jesus could have said, “You know, Cleopas, you know what happened, you just told me what happened to my hands.” Then the tears would have flowed, and by the time Cleopas looked up to say something back Jesus was gone.

And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?”  So they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together  saying, “The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!”  And they told about the things that had happened on the road, and how He was known to them in the breaking of bread. Luke 24:32-35

These two men, who were headed in the opposite direction from where God would have them go, turned on their heels, and went back to Jerusalem, where God would have them testify to the greatest miracle of all time, the victory over death for all mankind. This is really something. To risk their lives, traveling by night, during a holiday season when they were easy pickings, and could be identified as the disciples of someone who was marked as an enemy of the governing authority, demonstrates just how ignited for the cause of Christ they were by this experience. These two witnesses had seen the risen Jesus! He was indeed alive! God appointed two who left the scene to become two would be set on fire for His purposes, to return and give confirmation to group of scared doubting disciples, that indeed their Messiah was alive! Hope was given back to them and had seeded and bore fruit. This is not the end of the story. Next week we’ll see where we go next in Encounters with a Risen Christ!

“The  LORD is my portion," says my soul, "Therefor I hope in Him!” Lam. 3:24