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

Be Called! Mary Magdalene- Encounters with the Risen Christ.

And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, will all your mind, and will all your strength.' This is the first commandment. Mark 12:30

What would you give to have one more moment with someone you have lost? It has been 9 years since my best friend went to be with Jesus, and I still wish I could call her up and tell her about my day and hear about hers. It is important to have those shared experiences with the people closest to us. Those little moments when you both get the joke, or you can make fun of each other, or share private thoughts with just a glance. Even if you could get that closeness with someone, there would always be things left unsaid when death enters the picture. But if you could have that time to say something to them, just once more, could you find the words? What if that person gave His life for you? That is the subject of this week’s encounter with Jesus. We will look at the first person to encounter the risen Lord—Mary of Magdalene.

What do we know about this woman? We can take what has been said about her through the Hollywood renditions, but that would be just a twist of the truth. If we look to the gospels we can find a few things that we can glean about her. First, we know that she was healed by Jesus of seven demons. We do not know what sort of demons they were, but we know that it had caused her infirmities (Luke 8) and because of this healing that she received from Him she provided for him from her own resources, which means that she had some wealth from which to draw these provisions considering the women she is named among. We can also assume she was not a young woman, as many would have us believe, because she is not named as the daughter of, or even the wife of, but as Mary of Magdalene, or simply Mary Magdalene, meaning she held some prominence in her own right, and probably not for being the young wife of someone or he would be mentioned. Instead what we know of her is that she had no ties that held her any longer to the town she was known for.

Magdala was a textile manufacturing town near Peter’s hometown. It was known for dye works. She may have made her money doing that kind of work. Whatever it was she had become a very tortured woman, which could have led down lurid paths, until Jesus freed her from her possession. She did love Jesus enough to give everything she could for him. He became her family, her beloved Lord, and the reason she rose every morning to see to the neededs of His ministry. She was healed and had a purpose, until she saw him die. She had followed Him to the cross, and then to the tomb, despite what danger it could have cost her. Returning to Magdala didn’t make sense to her. What could she do?

On that morning after that tragic Passover she awoke and knowing nothing else that would make sense, she sought to see to His needs, at least this one last time.  

Now very early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been moved away from the entrance. John 20:1

Mary arrived at the tomb with a few other women to complete the wrapping of the body which had been done in haste before the Passover. They had been at the crucifixion and knew where the body was laid, and they knew the men who had laid Jesus in the tomb. In the gospel of Mark, chapter 16, we see they were actually discussing how they were supposed to get to the body because they knew they could not get the stone rolled away. Yet, we can also assume having funds they probably assumed they could hire help. When they get to the tomb the stone is already removed from the entrance. The women have different reactions. Mary assumes the worse, that someone has come to do harm to the body, that even after the beating her Teacher took, being killed in such a horribly demeaning way, His enemies still haven’t had enough to make an example of Jesus. It sickens her, frightens her, and probably angers her. It sets her nerves on fire and rents her soul into pieces. Imagine what you would do to think of the body of someone you love so much desecrated.

  So she went running to Simon Peter and the other disciple whom Jesus loved and told them, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” Then Peter and the other disciple set out to go to the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down and saw the strips of linen cloth lying there, but he did not go in.  Then Simon Peter, who had been following him, arrived and went right into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen cloth lying there, and the face cloth, which had been around Jesus’ head, not lying with the strips of linen cloth but rolled up in a place by itself.  Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, came in, and he saw and believed.  (For they did not yet understand the scripture that Jesus must rise from the dead.) So the disciples went back to their homes. John 20:2-10 

Mary went to get the men that she had been traveling with. She wanted something done about it, but what were they to do about it. They arrive and the grave clothes are there, but no body. They can’t make sense of it. There is no mention of anything being said, and we don’t know if anything was actually said. We only know what the scene looked like, that the strips of cloth were there, the face cloth rolled up and placed to the side, but no sign of struggle, no sign that they’d taken Jesus to bury him anywhere else, and it wasn’t adding up. For the other disciple, it started to make sense that maybe Jesus just got up and walked away; was it possible? If it was he didn’t share his thought. He just--hoped.

For Mary, standing outside the tomb, watching them walk away, scratching their heads, and heading home, she was left her with nothing but the deepest pain imaginable. She had nothing! She had no home to go back to, and no one to care for. She was as lost as a person can get. We all need a reason to get up in the morning, and that morning she had lost everything, and those who were supposed to help her find a cause had just walked away.

But Mary stood outside the tomb weeping. As she wept, she bent down and looked into the tomb. And she saw two angels in white sitting where Jesus’ body had been lying, one at the head and one at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” Mary replied, “They have taken my Lord away, and I do not know where they have put him!” John 20:11-13

She saw two people sitting in the tomb where Jesus had been, and yet, she was so overwrought with emotion she could not fathom the absurdity of the situation of these two in white sitting where a dead man had been lying. I can get into the implications of the symbolism of this in detail, but that could be another teaching given by theologians much more qualified than me. I see it simply beautiful that a woman, who we know for a fact was a sinner, had been delivered by Christ from the tormentor, gets to see the mercy seat of God immediately after it’s sacrifice has been lifted up, to gaze upon it in its fullness, and is spoken to by those messengers of God who ask why she’s weeping. I don’t know about you, but I’m going to be weeping, weeping tears of joy, of amazement, and of gratitude when I get to see that seat! That she could even speak the words that followed is what amazes me. She just wants her Lord. What great sentiment! What depth of love!

When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus.  Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?” Because she thought he was the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will take him.” John 20:14-15

She saw Jesus, and she didn’t recognize Him. Of course, the last time she saw him he was beaten beyond recognition and to see him standing and walking and talking was not to be expected. He must have looked a little different through all those tears she was crying too. Have you ever cried so hard you couldn’t see straight? She says that if He will tell her where the body is she’ll take it. This woman is going to carry away the body of a dead man? She’s so grieved she’s not even thinking things through. She just wants to hold the body once more, a body that has been decaying for days. This is one terribly grieved woman. She just wants to bury her dead, properly, to know where He lies. That is what she’s asking for, and she is probably hoping this gardener will have pity on her and help her.

  Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni” (which means Teacher). 

It is beautiful to me that it was when He called her name that she recognized Him and all that was between her and her Lord was gone. The veil fell from her eyes. She jumps at him! Arms and legs fly at him, and she forgets herself completely. No, decorum holds her back. She has Him back! And all it took was to hear her name! Since the fall of man back in the garden God has been calling. “Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?” So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.” Genesis 3:9-10 This woman heard her name called and answered, “Teacher”, a term of affection and deep respect and submission between them. We know that she was holding on to Him because of Jesus words to her.

Jesus replied, “Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father. Go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” John 20:17

In Jesus’ instruction to Mary, He gave her more than just a commission for that day. He gave her a powerful message for all time. First, he gave her a prophetic word. He told her He was going to ascend to His Father. In doing that He was letting her know His work was not yet completed, so hers was not yet done either. It meant there was still a reason for her to get up and keep moving. She had not been healed just for the time she had served with Him, there was more to do. Secondly, He was commissioning her to go be and evangelist, beginning with those men who had left scratching their heads. Finally, He was anointing her with the promise of being with Him always. He was telling her she was His eternal sister and she had been welcomed into the Kingdom. Mary of Magdalene is an example to all of us, when He calls our name and we answer Him. He saw her faith, that she loved at all cost. What more could He ask of her? She had given all. She deserved a first.  

 Mary Magdalene came and informed the disciples, “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them what Jesus had said to her.

I too have seen the Lord in my life, in mighty ways. I have seen Him show His love to me in countless ways. I’ve seen Him answer me when I called out. I’ve seen Him show up when I least expected it, and I’ve seen Him tell me to sit still and be quiet, just so He can hold me close. I’ve known Him to be my defender, and to be my discipliner. I prefer the former to the latter, but I tend to need them both equally. I love Him but at times I just need to tune everyone and everything out so I can hear Him. It’s like shouting, “Shut up, I’m listening to Jesus!” Lately I’ve had to do that to the extreme. I wonder what Mary of Magdalene would encourage me to do. She was willing it to give it all, and in return she got to be the first to see Him after he resurrected. She got to hear Him say her name, when she thought she’d never get to talk to Him again, to actually hear Him call her name. I want that. Don’t you?

 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, Nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:38-39 

Be Victorious! -Encounters from the Cross- The Conqueror of Death.

Life takes on a different odor and texture when someone close to you passes away. Suddenly all the things we take for granted become so much more important. If only we could have one more minute to tell that person those words we long to say. There’s no do-overs when the end comes. It’s just over. No one can make it all better. That’s why God did not intend for death to be a part of our existence. Let me repeat that. God did not intend for death to be a part of our existence. We hear that death is a natural part of our living, but it is not. It is the ultimate result of the fall of man from the creation state when man lived in perfect relationship with God. Death is separation, and not God’s desire for man at all. Therefore, God, in His incarnate state, crossed the line, spread his arms, and reached for us. For Him, all life matters, my life matters, your life matters, we all matter. As Jesus faced those final moments of His life, He was still about those divine appointments, those last chances to say those things that needed to be said despite the immensity of His pain, or the risk that it would not impact those around Him. Those He encountered while Jesus was dying is the subject of our study.

 Now as they led Him away, they laid hold of a certain man, Simon a Cyrenian, who was coming from the country, and on him they laid the cross that he might bear it after Jesus. Luke 23:26

The first of the encounters that we see is Simon of Cyrene. Simon was in Jerusalem for the Passover celebration, having just arrived, he comes into the city as the Romans are leading a group of condemned men out to be executed. Simon, a young, strong man from Northern Africa, is pressed into service to carry the cross of one of the prisoners. The condemned is too badly beaten to bear the weight of the instrument of his execution. Simon cannot disobey the Romans unless he too wants to suffer the same fate, but he also does not want to be defiled right before the high holy day. The Romans will kill him if he refuses to follow their orders, the orders of the empire, there for he would be guilty of insurrection. He has no choice, death, or life through carrying the cross. He carries the cross, and by doing so he lives.  The encounter with Christ, demonstrates what Jesus said was indeed true:  Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me.  Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it. Matt.10:38-39 We know this experience changed Simon, because the other gospels and church history mentions him as the father of Alexander and Rufus who were known in the church. Also the fact that the gospel writers all knew his name means that he hung around after the experience. He was not just a face in the crowd. This experience changed him. He witnessed the crucifixion. The carrying of the cross had bonded him to the Man. Perhaps he wondered what Condemned could have done to deserve such treatment from the Romans. This was not the average execution. Usually a man was either scourge and left to die or crucified, but not both. Like many young people today, he got caught up in what was going on, and he had to try to make sense of the madness of the situation he found himself in the center of.

And a great multitude of the people followed Him, and women who also mourned and lamented Him.  But Jesus, turning to them, said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me, but weep for which they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, wombs that never bore, and breasts which never nursed!’ Then they will begin ‘to say to the mountains, “Fall on us!” and to the hills, “Cover us!”’ For if they do these things in the green wood, what will be done in the dry?” Luke 23:27-31

This passage begins interesting enough, with the familiarity of the words, “And a great multitude followed Him, what is interesting is the reason they were following Him. It was not longer to hail Him as King, like they did just a week before, this multitude has a different agenda, and it begins with a group of women, probably women who had knew of His works when He was in his ministry. Think of them as groupies. This were not the saintly women who are painted as being those who tended to him during his ministry. These women received a rebuke from Him, even as he was being executed. He calls them Daughters of Jerusalem, which He had given a warning: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate.  For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’ Matt.23:37-39. He did this because even then Jesus could see their hearts. These women were not crying for what they were losing in relationship, but for what they were losing in gain. They were the ones who go in after the relative has died and start eyeing the possessions.

There are so many in the church like this today. They sit in the pews and sometimes even in the pulpit, for the purpose of self-serving agendas instead of the kingdom of God. Sometimes not knowing why you’re doing something is exactly why you should be doing it. They weep because of what they’re losing for themselves, their chance at that opportunity to prosper themselves. If those who had Jesus there in the flesh couldn’t understand it while it was fresh, what chance do people have today with so much misinformation about Jesus being thrown at them to dry out the truth?

 There were also two others, criminals, led with Him to be put to death. And when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the criminals, one on the right hand and the other on the left.  Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”

And they divided His garments and cast lots.  And the people stood looking on. But even the rulers with them sneered, saying, “He saved others; let Him save Himself if He is the Christ, the chosen of God.”

 The soldiers also mocked Him, coming and offering Him sour wine, and saying, “If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself.”

 And an inscription also was written over Him in letters of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.  Luke 23:32-38

Imagine if you were the one dying and people were mocking you. There are many who have experienced and continue to experience this kind of death. The death of a martyr knows this type of experience. What is fascinating is that Jesus didn’t resist, even though he had the ability to stop it.  He didn’t get angry. He had come to complete a mission and it was going to be fulfilled, no matter who stood in opposition to Him, even if those He had come to save did all they could to make it as hard as possible to do it. He prayed for them. This is what He instructed us to do. But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,” Matt. 5:44  Understanding that God is control of every situation should make it easier for all us to forgive those who mock us. He will handle the situation. Sometimes God will choose to appoint mockers to rise up for purposes we don’t understand at the time. The thing about stepping out in faith is remembering that we have to be pelted by the storm to really experience the awesome power of the God we serve. Peter stepping out of the boat and walking on the water wasn’t as miraculous a story if the sea was calm. It was because of the fierceness of the storm. He trusted enough to step out in such a deluge, when without Jesus he was sure to die. Standing strong for Jesus is the definitive measure of what a Christian is, especially in the face of the mockers as we are about to see.

Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying, “If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us.”

But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, “Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong.”  Then he said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.”

 And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.” Luke 23:39-43

The mocking, the self-serving, and the rejecting all come together in the blaspheming criminal. Someone once asked me what about his question was blasphemous. I explained to her that it was blasphemous on two points. First by the way he started, “If you are the Christ…” He began without acknowledging that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the Living God. And secondly, by assuming that he was just as worthy to be on equal footing with the Christ, in a sense elevating himself to the same level. He wasn’t saying, “Save me, Lord, I’m a sinner.” He was ordering Jesus to do it for him. This was the same sin as the first sin spoken by Satan to Eve in the garden.  “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Genesis 3:5

            The other criminal has quite the opposite reaction to Jesus being there beside him. He knows that he is deserving of death, and is getting the sentence he has been dreading. He says as much when he admits and confesses that he is getting what he deserves. There is no mercy for his deeds in this life. He is very aware of that fact, so he places his hope in what he can, the next life. This man beside is innocent, and being ‘sacrificed’. He understands that Jesus is Lord, and has observed His compassion even in dying. He asks that Jesus remembers him as He his heavenly Kingdom. Truly God has given him divine revelation as he places his last hope in the righteousness of Jesus. And Jesus assures him his hope has not been misplaced.  

Now it was about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. Then the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn in two.  And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, “Father, ‘into Your hands I commit My spirit.’” Having said this, He breathed His last.

 So when the centurion saw what had happened, he glorified God, saying, “Certainly this was a righteous Man!” Luke 23:44-47

Mission accomplished. At the sixth hour of the day, when it should have been bright, a great darkness covered the land for three hours. Some say this was an eclipse, but I’ve never known an eclipse to last that long, also to encompass the entire earth. It’s as if nature itself was holding its breath. The sun awaits that moment when this event happens. The mention of the veil being torn in two is very significant because it was the veil that separated the most Holy of Holies from the Holy place where the priests served up the sacrifices of the common people. It was as if God Himself stepped through and said, “I accept.” And in that moment it what was offered to Him was the sacrifice of His Son in the place of the people. A Passover sacrifice had been made, and there would be no more death.

Who took notice of this? It was a Centurion, a gentile soldier who had been the one to conduct the execution of the sacrifice. In his pronouncement he was saying, “This was an acceptable sacrifice, without blemish, without mar, without fault, and He has been sacrificed.” It was the job of the one who conducted the killing of the sacrifice to pronounce that the ransom had been paid. God used this man, this gentile, to demonstrate that He would not hold back his blessing from anyone who would proclaim the righteousness of Christ. The Bible does not say that this Centurion became a believer, but we do know through history that it was through the Roman army and the conversion of many in the ranks that the gospel was spread throughout the world. During the first persecution of the church, it was the martyrdom of the saints that inspired the Roman legions to seek out this Christ that even when driven to death his followers would not deny Him. This Centurion was just the first of many who would choose to make this declaration.

These encounters, in the final moments of Jesus missionary ministry, demonstrate to us the message of the gospel is not about waiting for the proper time. There never is a proper time. It’s always go-time. It’s always inconvenient. It’s always costly. The impact we can have is about the moment we are in now, because we don’t always get another chance with someone.  But for those of us who believe:

 But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us; for after He had said before, This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them," then He adds, "Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more." Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin. Hebrews 10:12-18 

Be Steadfast!- Pontius Pilate- Encounters with Jesus

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful." Hebrews 10:23

Have you ever been caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place? This is the encounter of a man who found himself caught, by the hand of God, in between politics and religion. Sometimes we try to define who we are by how we are perceived by the people around us. We simply care too much how the outside world sees us. We try to define ourselves through our outward perception instead of our inward character.

This man was stuck between political powers where no choice would be the right choice. Leadership has its responsibilities. Pontius Pilate bore the responsibilities of the Roman Empire in a very pivotal part of the world. Palestine was a crossroads for trade, a military bulwark, and a governmental outpost. Rome had conquered the area only 60 years before this encounter, so the presence of Rome in Jewish culture was still relatively new. There was not a lot of precedence in place in how to handle the situation Pilate found himself in, an outsider being called upon to handle what was obviously an internal matter. He was about to meet the One at the center of it all. Pilate, a gentile unbeliever, was to have his perception of how things worked called into question.

Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas to the Praetorium, and it was early morning. But they themselves did not go into the Praetorium, lest they should be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover. John 18:28

            ‘They’ referred to in this verse is the Sanhedrin, the ruling body made up of religious and political leaders who convened to hold a hearing of what should be done with Jesus. They had him arrested, though there was no warrant for his arrest. So they worked the system in reverse, arresting and then went to get the charges sworn out, which meant taking him to Pilot, who would decide on the charges, pronounce judgment, and carry out the sentence. He would be their means to the end. They could get rid of their problem by using the hated Gentiles and that way save face among the people.

 Pilate then went out to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this Man?”

 They answered and said to him, “If He were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered Him up to you.”

Then Pilate said to them, “You take Him and judge Him according to your law.”

Therefore the Jews said to him, “It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death,”  that the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled which He spoke, signifying by what death He would die. John 18:29-32

            Pilot doesn’t easily go along with their plan. He’s no one’s pawn, except maybe the emperor’s, but he is being paid for that role. He didn’t get into the position he held by being someone’s nephew. He earned it. He had served the empire and risen to his position. He had done this by being the fist of Rome against anyone who would come up against the Empire. He was a brutal ruler, who policed his way through any situation. Yet when Jesus is brought before him, rather than wave his hand and have Jesus taken away, he actually gives this one man a hearing. This was not like Pilate. It makes one wonder why. Jesus didn’t hold Roman citizenship, so he had no right to appeal. It was the charges they brought against him that intrigued Pilate, insurrection.  To lead a rebellion against Rome resulted in public execution in order to deter anyone else from getting any ideas to rebel against Rome. Pilate wanted to hear the troublemaker, so the encounter began.

 Then Pilate entered the Praetorium again, called Jesus, and said to Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?”

 Jesus answered him, “Are you speaking for yourself about this, or did others tell you this concerning Me?”

 Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered You to me. What have You done?”

 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.” John 18:33-36

            In his initial questioning of this alleged insurrectionist, Pilate gets down to the main issue at hand. Is Jesus claiming to be the rightful ruler of the territory that Rome has established to be part of the empire? Jesus answers his question with a question. Jesus assumes the authority by questioning Pilate as to where he’s getting his information. It was a way of asking him by what authority is he judging. Pilate then has to let Jesus know that he is doing the work of the people who delivered Him up for judgement. Pilate asks what Jesus has done to deserve the hatred that Pilate is so familiar with feeling himself. Jesus doesn’t deny being a King, but He does point out that if He was the King of those who delivered Him up then wouldn’t they be fighting for him, not delivering Him over to their enemy? Yet, Jesus answers that He is a King, just not of this world. This was a claim to deity. The statement had to throw Pilate for a loop. To see before him a prisoner, a Jew, without Roman standing, claiming deity and in the pantheism of his beliefs, not just godhood, but to be a king of gods, he had to have branded Him a lunatic in that moment. He didn’t seem to be a lunatic, because Jesus spoke with such authority.

 Pilate therefore said to Him, “Are You a king then?”

Jesus answered, “You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” John18: 37

            He has his answer about if Jesus is a threat to his position in Palestine, therefore, he has no call to harm Jesus. Yet, Pilate asks if Jesus is then a king. Yes, we know Jesus is a King. He is the King of all kings. Jesus’ answer isn’t to establish His kingdom in Pilate’s land but in his heart, and it does establish His kingdom in the hearts of men all the same. It is the dividing rod that lies down the boundary between those who will enter into Christ’s kingdom, and those who will not. Jesus came to bear witness to the truth, the truth is that God has put us in the place of judgement, and it is our decision that will decide our fate. We call this freewill, and it is what sets Christianity apart from all other religions in the world. Choice. Choosing to hear the message, and take in the truth, and allowing it become our guide. It is called submission. Jesus was in the position in that moment of demonstrating in its fullness what submission looked like. As He had just said, He was a King. He had dominion over the situation and could have his subjects fight for Him. Consider what was subject to him. Mark 4:41 ”And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, “Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him! " Matt. 10:1 "And when He had  called his twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to  heal all kinds of sickness and all kids of diseases." Matt. 11: 5-6  ^“The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them.  And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.”  Jesus didn’t need the testimony of others. His own deeds and words had enough power of their own, and yet there He stood with Pilate who was to decide the fate of Jesus. What would Pilate do with the truth before Him? Surely Pilate knew of who Jesus was apart from what was being told to him by the Sanhedrin. Surely it was more than just a legal matter. Yet was there enough evidence to convict Jesus under Roman law of the crime of insurrection?

Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?” And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, “I find no fault in Him at all.

Pilate could find no grounds for condemnation. He had not stood in opposition to the Emperor. He had not led the people to rise up in arms against Rome. Pilate had no grounds to do what they were asking of him. Legally he could not put Jesus to death and appease them. Jesus was not at fault. More telling than that was his rejection of the truth. His answer to the truth was one we hear so often in our world today, “What is truth?” It has become a humanistic mantra, but even more so a war cry of the enemy to get us to doubt the Truth of God. It was the same as the old serpent in the garden asking Eve, “Did God really say…” It is the same as saying, “What is truth?” From that moment on man has been trying to do an end run around his God. From that moment on Pilate was trying to do an end run around God as well. He wanted out of that situation without having to take the brunt of the decision he would be forced to make, to release Jesus, or to have him executed. He sought to have them make it for him.

 “But you have a custom that I should release someone to you at the Passover. Do you therefore want me to release to you the King of the Jews?”

Then they all cried again, saying, “Not this Man, but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a robber. John 18:39-40

Barabbas- the name means son of a father, simply put a man, anonymous, no one special. He had robbed and that was all that history knows of him, other than he was deserving of the penalty he was under. Jesus was switched out for someone who deserved the beating Jesus received.  

So then Pilate took Jesus and scourged Him.  And the soldiers twisted a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and they put on Him a purple robe. Then they said, “Hail, King of the Jews!” And they struck Him with their hands.

Pilate then went out again, and said to them, “Behold, I am bringing Him out to you, that you may know that I find no fault in Him.”

Then Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said to them, “Behold the Man!”

Therefore, when the chief priests and officers saw Him, they cried out, saying, “Crucify Him, crucify Him!”

Pilate said to them, “You take Him and crucify Him, for I find no fault in Him.” John 19:1-6

Pilate has had Jesus beaten brutally. We know this was to fulfill scripture found in Isaiah 52-53, but in Pilate’s mentality he was trying to show his fierceness in dealing with those who would cause uprisings. He had hoped that the beating would satisfy the religious leaders and the mob of people they’d gathered with them. Yet they would not relent. What had to be going through his mind at this time. He had to wonder at the hatred shown toward Jesus. We as Christians become so angry when people show such hatred toward Christianity forgetting what Jesus himself said, “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Matt.5:11-12 We should not be angry when people are offended by the Lord. Jesus said it would happen.

 The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to our law He ought to die, because He made Himself the Son of God.”

Therefore, when Pilate heard that saying, he was the more afraid, and went again into the Praetorium, and said to Jesus, “Where are You from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. John19:7-9

Pilate is fearful. What is it that this bully is afraid of? He is afraid of what everyone who rejects the truth is afraid of once they pull the trigger on their decision. What if they’re wrong? What if what Jesus has said is the truth? What if he is messing with God? What power has he unleashed on himself? For Pilate, in his arrogance, like many, his way of handling it is to try to regain control and remind himself, and Jesus, of what control he does have.

Then Pilate said to Him, “Are You not speaking to me? Do You not know that I have power to crucify You, and power to release You?”

Jesus answered, “You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above. Therefore, the one who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.” John 19:10-11

These are the final words spoken to Pilate by Jesus. Their encounter ends here. Pilate has been told that he has no power over Jesus at all, but is simply a pawn in the annals of history, a position appointed to him from the moment of his birth, ordained for him by God, and when the moment of his choice came, he chose death over life, not Jesus’ death, for that would have come about by some other means perhaps by another prefect would have condemned Jesus in a second trial overruling Pilate. The fact is it was Pilate who stood condemned at this point, not Jesus, because of his decision to reject the Truth of God.

From then on Pilate sought to release Him, but the Jews cried out, saying, “If you let this Man go, you are not Caesar’s friend. Whoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar.”

 When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus out and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called The Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha.  Now it was the Preparation Day of the Passover, and about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews, “Behold your King!”

 But they cried out, “Away with Him, away with Him! Crucify Him!”

Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?”

The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar!”

 Then he delivered Him to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus and led Him away.

 And He, bearing His cross, went out to a place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha,  where they crucified Him, and two others with Him, one on either side, and Jesus in the center. Now Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross. And the writing was:

JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.

 Then many of the Jews read this title, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Greek, andLatin.

Therefore the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but, ‘He said, “I am the King of the Jews.”’”

 Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.” John 19:12-22

And so the story of Pilate’s dealing with Jesus ended. He had tried to get out of it, but under the pressure of two cultures clashing he didn’t have the strength of character to stand above the fray. We can find ourselves in Pilate’s position as well. How often do we vacillate in our faith when it comes to the accusations or demands of the World’s systems to crucify our Christianity, even when we know we have no grounds for condemnation? What is interesting to know is that Pilate died only a few years later. He was ordered to commit suicide. The reason for order was due to his wrongly condemning men without a proper trial. 

What should we take away from Pontius Pilate’s encounter with Jesus? First, that not all who we meet will come to Christ, even when they encounter Him and the truth is revealed to them. Secondly, that within all of us is the call to stand up to the systems of this world for the Kingdom of God, despite the cost and not give in to the crowd of voices calling for the crucifixion of our Lord. He has already died for our sins, we don’t need to nail Him again to our cross of pride, or to deny His sovereignty again. Our King will reign in glory when next we see Him. And finally, that we know the Truth.

In mercy and truth Atonement is provided for inquity; and by the fear of the LORD one departs from evil." Prov. 16:6