The SeekGrowLove Bible Reading plan is ready for 2024! Join with us as we read through the Bible in a year – with three readings every day:
Old Testament – 1-3 chapters a day, with the books of the prophets chronologically arranged amongst the books of history (with thanks to Bob Jones for his help setting that up)
Poetry – reading Job through Song of Solomon, usually one chapter a day, but often repeating a Psalm two to seven days in a row to really get to know it more
New Testament – often reading one chapter a day, but sometimes slowing down to read a shorter passage or even one single verse a day (for instance for Jesus’ parables, fruit of the spirit, armor of God, churches of Revelation, etc…)
If you haven’t yet, visit SeekGrowLove.com to find daily devotions and reflection questions based on the Bible readings . You can also subscribe to receive the daily devotions in your email every morning.
Have you ever been a witness and had to testify in court? I have. I once witnessed a crime while I was on vacation at the beach. I was called to come back and testify at the trial. I didn’t mind, it was a free trip back to the beach.
There are different kinds of witnesses. If you ever watch television shows that feature courtrooms like Law and Order or CSI you know that different people are called to witness different things. You can have a character witness who tells about the defendant as a person. You can have forensic witnesses to talk about evidence. Maybe the most important is the eye-witness, who talks about what they saw with their own eyes. If you get two or three eye-witnesses who testify the same thing, there’s a good chance the defendant will be found guilty.
In today’s reading from Acts, we get a small glimpse of what Jesus was up to during the first 40 days after he was raised from the dead. He went around showing his disciples that he was still alive. Luke, who wrote Acts, says that Jesus gave “many convincing proofs” that he was alive.
Most of my adult children live a good distance from me, in another state, and one lives in another country. If I haven’t heard from one of them for a while I will text them and ask for “proof of life” which means- “send me a text, call or Facetime with me so I know you’re doing okay.” Fun fact: Dads are happier when they can see proof that their kids are okay (even if their kids are in their 20’s and 30’s and have kids of their own.). A phone call, text, or Facetime is pretty low level proof of life, but I doubt that anyone is kidnapping my kids and doing a deepfake proof of life. If I can see their face or hear their voice, I’m good.
For the disciples in the first century, they had proof of life right in front of them. Jesus was there, in his newly resurrected body, still bearing the scars from his crucifixion. They were eyewitnesses of the risen Jesus. But it wasn’t enough for them to just see for themselves that Jesus was risen, he told them that they had an important mission. They were to be his witnesses. They were to take the story of his life, teaching and resurrection to the whole world. And they did. That is why, 2000 years later there are people all over the world who follow Jesus Christ.
The disciples also witnessed Jesus ascend up from the earth through the clouds to heaven where he now sits at the right hand of God. As they were eyewitnesses to Jesus ascending, they also witnessed the angels who assured them that Jesus would return in the same way that he left, visibly, in the clouds. For 2000 years the church has kept alive this testimony from the eyewitnesses: Jesus died on the cross for our sins, God raised Jesus from the dead and many people saw him in his risen body, Jesus ascended to heaven and we heard the promise that he would one day return in the same way. Each generation of Jesus’ followers have kept this message alive and spread it. Now you have received it, it’s up to you and your generation to continue keeping this eye witness testimony alive, until Jesus returns.
-Jeff Fletcher
Reflection Questions
If you were called up as a character witness for Jesus how would you describe him? What do you know about Jesus as a person?
If you were called up as a forensic witness testifying to the evidence of Jesus what would you say? What convincing proofs do you have that Jesus is alive?
If you were called up as an eye-witness for what Jesus has done for you what would you say? How is your life different because of Jesus?
Who needs to know what you know about Jesus, about the evidence surrounding his life, death, resurrection, ascension and coming return, and about how you have experienced Jesus and what he has done for you? How will you share?
It feels funny to be talking about Jesus’ death and resurrection during Christmas week. Sunday we were expecting a baby to be born, Monday the angels were singing to the shepherds announcing his birth. Here it is Friday and he has already been crucified and his cold, dead body lies in a tomb. It is kind of jarring to go from celebrating a baby born to be king to suddenly mourning his death.
Life is often experienced as a kind of emotional roller coaster. Something great happens, and you are laughing and joyful. Then, suddenly you are hit with bad news and the laughter turns to tears. The events we have been reading about took place over 30+ years from the time Gabriel first appeared to Mary with the announcement that she had been chosen by God to bear his son, the Messiah until she stood at the foot of his cross and watched him die. As you may recall, there was death surrounding Jesus right from the beginning, as King Herod was trying to kill him when he was a baby, when the little innocent baby boys of Bethlehem were slaughtered. Jesus warned in John 10:10 that “the thief comes to kill, steal and destroy”. Right from the beginning evil was out to destroy Jesus. It took 30 years, but finally Jesus was dead. The rejoicing has turned to weeping.
The good news of the Gospels is that death doesn’t have the final word. Evil doesn’t win. God wins! At the Last Supper just before Jesus was arrested he laid out for his disciples what was about to happen:
16 Jesus went on to say, “In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me.”
At this, some of his disciples said to one another, “What does he mean by saying, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me,’ and ‘Because I am going to the Father’?” They kept asking, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We don’t understand what he is saying.”
Jesus saw that they wanted to ask him about this, so he said to them, “Are you asking one another what I meant when I said, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me’? Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. 22 So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy. (John 16:16-20).
This brings us to today’s reading in John 20. As we saw yesterday, Jesus was unjustly killed for political reasons. The principalities and powers tried to buttress their own power and control and they saw Jesus as a threat, so they had him unjustly killed. However, it takes more than the death of his son to thwart God’s plan. As it turned out, the powers who orchestrated Jesus’ death played right into God’s plan that goes back to the very beginning. That’s right, since the time of Adam and Eve and the Fall, God’s plan to defeat evil included the sacrificial death of the one who would be the son of God and Messianic King. Revelation 13:8 speaks of the “lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world.” Before Jesus ruled as King, he first had to die as sacrifice, as savior, as redeemer. He died to bear our sins as Isaiah 53 prophesied would one day happen.
God raised Jesus from the dead. Death did not have the final word, God has the final word and it is life. Along with life, Jesus offers the gift of forgiveness. When you believe that Jesus died and was raised to life and give your loyalty to him as your king, you will share in that blessing Jesus promised. Your sins will be forgiven and you will have your fellowship with God restored. The result of this restored fellowship is peace, the peace that only Jesus can give.
Jesus points out to the disciples that they came to believe in him by seeing him in person after the resurrection. Thomas even had the benefit of physically touching Jesus’ scars to help him accept the truth of the resurrection. Jesus points to those who will believe in him without the benefit of having seen him after his resurrection. Those who have faith in the message of the gospel passed down for 2000 years in the Bible from the first eyewitnesses to the risen Jesus. The good news is, that is you, if you believe that God raised Jesus from death to life, you receive the blessing Jesus promised. I hope you believe, I know I do.
-Jeff Fletcher
Reflection Questions
What do you love about God and His plan as revealed in John 20? What questions do you have about God and His plan and Jesus’ part in that plan?
What has Jesus offered to you? Have you accepted these gifts? Why or why not?
What is the next step in God’s plan and what is your role in it?
I love baseball.(If you don’t please hang in there, you’ll still see the value in this illustration) I used to play baseball all the time when I was a child. I went to my first professional baseball game with my Dad when I was just 5 years old- the Seattle Pilots were playing the Washington Senators. (Fun fact, neither of those teams exist anymore and if you do some detective work you can figure out what year this was as the Seattle Pilots only existed for 1 season). I say this because today is the 2023 baseball All-Star game.
When I first discovered baseball, the Washington Senators were the closest team to my Virginia home and my Dad brought me to several games. So I became a Senators fan. But then disaster struck and the unthinkable happened, the owner of the Senators moved the whole team away from Washington to Texas. No more Senators. What would I do with my baseball loyalty? The next closest team was the Baltimore Orioles so we began going to Orioles games and I became a big Orioles fan. This was easy to do because in the 1970’s the Orioles were the best team in baseball. They were in 4 World Series from 1969-1979 and had some of the best players in baseball. They were fun to watch and they won a lot.
Time went on. I moved away from home to attend college and got busy, got married, had children, and moved overseas for a while, I still watched baseball but didn’t have a lot of time to be a fan or follow my team closely or go to many games. During this time the Orioles sadly went from being one of the best teams to one of the worst. They became harder to get excited about. My Orioles fandom began to waiver. Then, a miracle happened. The Montreal Expos moved to Washington DC and became the Washington Nationals. After more than 30 years, DC had a baseball team again. Not long after, I moved back to Virginia to pastor a church and work as a hospital chaplain. Now there were 2 baseball teams nearby, the Nationals and the Orioles and I could watch both games on local tv. I began to follow both. The Nationals kept getting better and better, the Orioles kept getting worse. So by the late 2010’s I was pretty much a Nationals fan and looked upon the Orioles with pity. And then the Nationals had their miracle season and won the World Series in 2019. Life was truly great! And then Covid happened. Even baseball got canceled for most of 2020. After the Covid shortened year the Nationals franchise collapsed and they got rid of all their great players like Max Scherzer and Juan Soto. Meanwhile, the Orioles went through a rebuild and suddenly they were a really good team again, the tables were turned and they were fun to watch while the Nationals were the team to be pitied. As of now, I find myself watching more Orioles games than Nationals. I’m still a Nationals fan, but very half-hearted on most days.
Sorry, that’s a long set up and if you’re not a baseball fan, thank you for hanging in there with me. The point is that my baseball loyalty has gone through periods of waxing and waning, with shifting loyalties. When you have no options, you have to stay with your team through thick and thin, the good times and bad times. (I know some of you are football fans who follow the Lions or the Browns so you’ve had to stay loyal to terrible teams for 50 years… good for you). When you have options- Orioles and Nationals, the temptation is greater to pay more attention to the winner, the more successful team.
What does this have to do with today’s readings? 1 Timothy 4:1 says: “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith…”. Paul is here warning Timothy that even as followers of Jesus, there is the danger of letting go of our allegiance to Jesus Christ as our Lord. This rarely happens in an instant. Just like with my baseball fandom, where I slowly, gradually shifted my loyalty from the Orioles to the Nationals, it didn’t happen instantly. It was a process that I didn’t really even notice happening, but little by little I found myself caring less about my fan commitment to one team and more to another. Now, in the big picture, baseball doesn’t matter and it makes little difference to my life if I’m an Orioles fan or a Nationals fan (but if I ever cheer for the Yankees, put me in a home because I’ve lost my mind.)
But the danger of losing our loyalty to God our Father and Jesus Christ our savior and the Kingdom of God as being first in our hearts has eternal consequences. I’ve been around long enough to see Paul’s warnings to Timothy actually happen to people I know. I’ve seen students who attended FUEL faithfully, know their Bible, do Bible quizzing, and excel at their knowledge of the scriptures abandon their faith. I’ve even known people who served as leaders of the church, even a few pastors who went from preaching and teaching God’s word every week to walking away from their faith in Jesus Christ.
Sadly, I’ve experienced it even in my own family, people who I love the most, reject the faith of God’s Word. For most, this didn’t happen overnight. A thousand little decisions over time happened until one day they realized that they no longer loved or followed or even believed in God or God’s word or Jesus’ way. Maybe it was making moral compromises and they could no longer sustain the cognitive dissonance of saying one thing but doing another. Maybe it was adopting a worldly ideology of the meaning of persons or identity and finding it incompatible with God’s word and then choosing to reject God’s word instead of their worldly ideology. Maybe it was because they grew bored with God and became captivated by the shining idols of the world.
The Fastest growing religious segment in the United States over the past 20 years is the “Nones”. People who say they have no religious loyalty or affiliation. This is heartbreaking.
Paul warned that people would abandon the faith in large numbers. We see it happening today. I don’t want it to happen to you or any of the people I care about.
Here are a few suggestions I would offer to help you avoid joining the ranks of those who are abandoning the faith.
Remember, no one is immune: “So those who think they are standing need to watch out or else they may fall.” -1 Corinthians 10:12. Never assume that “it could never happen to me.” It can happen to anyone.
“Fix your eyes on Jesus”. Hebrews 12:2. Jesus started his ministry with the words “Follow Me”. Later he said, “I am the way”. If you want to get where you want to go, you need to keep your eyes steady on the one who knows the way and how to get there, Jesus.
“These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come.” 1 Corinthians 10:11. Pay attention to the examples of how it happened in Israel. Remember all these Old Testament passages we are reading, including this week’s stories in 2 Chronicles of how even good people like King Jehoshaphat can make compromises that lead them and their people away from God. Read the Bible and learn from their examples of what NOT to do to stay faithful.
Don’t give up on going to Church. “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” Hebrews 10:23-25. The church is not perfect, I get it. Christians aren’t perfect, I get it. Sermons can be boring at times, I get it. Other options for how we spend our time on the weekends can be very attractive, I get it. But don’t give up on Church. Don’t give up meeting with other believers. We need others to help us stay faithful to God and not abandon our faith.
Don’t adjust your faith and beliefs to accommodate the values of the world. “You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” James 4:4. As the world is moving further away from a Biblical worldview and God honoring teachings we cannot follow the world, because the world will move us away from loyalty and faithfulness to God.
Who will get my ultimate loyalty, the Nationals or the Orioles? Who cares? In the scope of eternity it doesn’t matter. Who will get YOUR ultimate loyalty, Jesus Christ or The World? That matters more that ANYTHING. Don’t abandon your faith.
-Jeff Fletcher
Reflection Questions
Why do you think, especially among people under 30, so many are abandoning their faith?
What is the biggest temptation/danger area in your life that could lead you toward abandoning your faith?
What positive steps will you begin to take TODAY to make sure that you continue to follow Jesus faithfully?
Acts 15 is a chapter of disagreements. Our first disagreement comes within the larger church and is about the rules for Gentiles regarding circumcision. Some of the church had been instructing new Gentiles to be circumcised and debate arose amongst the apostles and elders. Paul, Peter and James all make statements that are recorded in this chapter.
I’m going to bring up a couple of highlights from this chapter that may or may not be related. In verse 8 the marker that Peter uses that Gentiles are now welcome to the family of God is that the Gentiles recieved the Holy Spirit, the same way that the Jews did. The Holy Spirit being a marker for Gentiles is a significant statement about how critical the Holy Spirit is to Christianity. This statement shows that the apostles had a high view of the Holy Spirit.
At McGintytown we are currently revising our constitution. If any of you have been a part of one of these committees you know how much work it is. One of the questions that gets brought up is how much power should each individual person or group have over the church. Acts 15 is an interesting case study of this because of the scope of the decision being made. The decision the apostles and elders are making for Gentiles is going to affect ALL Gentiles. The apostles and elders are representing God for his people.
In verse 28 we have the reason provided for this decision. The apostles told the Gentiles that it seemed good to them and the Holy Spirit. If I were them I would want some sort of lighting bolt or some Gideon like signs or maybe having God rewind time like he did for Hezekiah. The apostles and elders feel good imposing only four rules on the Gentiles.
How could the apostles be so confident that they were doing what God wants? In Dallas Willard’s Hearing God he presents the idea that the same way that you may know what a friend or spouse or boss would want done in a situation, that as we progress in our spiritual lives, that we should know what God wants. This is why having a daily progressing relationship with God is so important. It is impossible to know what God would want if we don’t know God. This doesn’t mean God won’t continue to speak to us, it just means that we don’t need to be paralyzed by decisions. That is as long as you feel you know what God would want.
We encounter situations that the Bible doesn’t necessarily give us a direct command about. As long as we are spending time with God and have a sense of where he is leading us we don’t need to wait for some miraculous sign to make a decision. Being led by the spirit doesn’t mean having to pray what cereal to eat, what route to take to work or how to handle work decisions. We can lean in to the Holy Spirit’s guidance and proceed.
-Daniel Wall
Questions for Reflection and Discussion
In this chapter, what can we learn about handling disagreements that arise in the church? Consider how they handled the question of circumcision as well as the debate over John also called Mark.
How do you tend to handle disagreements? What can you put into practice next time?
Would you consider yourself more Spirit led, or self led? What’s the difference? When making decisions and living your life, how important is it to you to be doing what God wants? How do you work at knowing what He wants?
After the events of the day of Pentecost, the healing of the lame man, and the great response of multitudes in Jerusalem, the church faced life in the world of that day. A world of darkness, and difficulty. And yet met it with a flowing out of the life of Jesus Christ. This is ideal Christianity, true, genuine Christianity. Unfortunately, there is also a counterfeit Christianity. It came in shortly after this in the early church, and evidence of it will be seen throughout the book of Acts. Wherever the true church has gone throughout the world, counterfeit Christianity has gone right along with it. How can you tell true Christianity from counterfeit?
Counterfeit Christianity can be recognized externally as a kind of religious club where people, largely of the same social status or class, and bound together by a mutual interest in some religious project or program, meet to advance that particular cause. That is part of Christianity and let’s face it every group that gets together. But that is a far cry from all that true Christianity is. True fellowship consists of individuals who share the same divine life, who are made up of all ages, backgrounds, classes, and status-levels of society, and who, when meeting together, regard themselves as what they really are, brothers and sisters in one family. With that mutual background of love and fellowship they manifest the life of Jesus Christ.
That is what we have here. The key idea is community, commonness, everything in common. They were of one heart and mind. Here were people who, by the Holy Spirit, had been united into one life. They were of one heart. At the very deepest level of their lives they belonged to each other, and that is only possible by means of the Holy Spirit. They did not need to have met someone before to recognize that if he or she is a believer they belong to each other, they are of the same family and they always have the most important thing in common. This was true of these people.
Not only did they have it, but it also manifested itself in the fact that everyone had a new attitude toward the material life. This is not a forced distribution of goods. It is not an attempt to make everyone give up their material things and redistribute them to others. No, it is a change of attitude, saying, nothing that I possess is mine, but everything that I possess is God’s, and therefore it is available to anyone who needs it. So here were these early Christians, one in heart and mind and body, united together. That is the church as it ought to be.
-Andy Cisneros
Questions for Reflection and Discussion
Don’t point the finger at others – but look at yourself. How authentic, true and genuine is your Christianity? Are there any areas where you slip into a counterfeit Christianity? What would the fix be?
How will you practice unity of the church body this week? And next week?
What do you “possess” that is God’s? (Hint: it should be a pretty long list – but go for it – no one word answers here.). How can you show that these belong to God and make them available to anyone in need?
The first few verses of chapter one constitutes an introduction to the book of Acts, giving us the key to the book. Here we have revealed the essential strategy by which Jesus Christ proposes to change the world, a strategy which is the secret of the character of the church when it is operating as it was intended to operate. I strongly suspect that most Christians suffer from a terrible inferiority complex when we confront the world around us. We have bought the idea of many around that the church is quite irrelevant, an archaic group that is irrelevant today. That view is false. The church is the most important body in the world today because whatever happens in the world happens because of something that is, or is not, happening in the church.
Now, in his first statement here, Luke gives us the great strategy by which the Lord works among mankind. He says, “In my former book…I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach… ” The Gospel of Luke is the record of the Son of God. Jesus, the man, came to begin something, to do and to teach, and the record of that beginning is in the Gospels. But this second book is the continuation of what Jesus began to do. In a very real sense, Acts is not the acts of believers, but the continuing acts of Jesus. It is an account of what Jesus continues to do and to teach. In the Gospels he did it in his physical body of flesh. In the book of Acts he is doing it through the bodies of men and women who are followers of him and endowed by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Whenever God wants to get a message across to men, he does not simply send someone to announce it; his final way of driving it home is to express the message in flesh and blood. He takes a life and aims it in a certain direction and, by the manifestation of his own life through the blood and flesh of a human being, he makes clear what he has to say. That is the strategy of the book of Acts. It is the record of followers of Christ endowed in the Holy Spirit; men and women, owned by him, and thus manifesting his life. That is the secret of authentic Christianity. Anytime you find a Christianity that is not doing that, it is false Christianity. No matter how much it may adapt the garb and language of Christianity, if it is not the activity of human beings possessed and indwelt by the life of Jesus Christ it is not authentic Christianity. That is the true power of the church, as we shall see in this book.
The book of Acts therefore is an unfinished book. It is not finished but is still being written. The book abruptly closes with an account of Paul in the city of Rome, living in his own hired house. It just ends there as though you might turn over the next page and begin the next adventure. What is your act?
-Andy Cisneros
Questions for Reflection and Discussion
What is your act?
How would you rate yourself as a follower of Christ? What role does the Holy Spirit have in your life?
Looking at Acts 1 what do you find the disciples of Jesus doing? What is their mission? What is their hope? Is this an appealing group to be a part of? Explain.
In Jeremiah 27 & 28 we have a meeting of two prophets. It’s kind of like Good Prophet/Bad Prophet. One prophet, Jeremiah, was sent by God to warn the children of Judah that if they continue along the path they are on, things will not go well with them. In fact, it says that the Lord tells them in chapter 27:5 “I have made the earth, mankind, and the animals which are on the face of the earth by My great power and by My outstretched arm, and I will give it to the one who is pleasing in My sight. And now I have handed all these lands over to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, My servant, and I have also given him the animals of the field to serve him.” They have had years to make a decision to change and they didn’t so now it’s time to pay the piper. Jeremiah also tells them that the vessels in the temple will be taken away to Babylon and they will remain there until God brings them back. Verse 22 says “They will be brought to Babylon and will be there until the day I visit them,” declares the Lord. “Then I will bring them back and restore them to this place.” Now to be clear, Jeremiah is not just making up prophecies on his own. He just tells the people what God has told him to say.
At the same time that Jeremiah is explaining what is going to take place, a false prophet, Hananiah, arises. He is telling them things that are more pleasant for the people to hear. They do not have to change their evil ways, and they do not have to worry because God will not allow the Babylonians to take over and cart off their important vessels. So, Jeremiah and Hananiah have words and Jeremiah tells the people that they will know which prophet was sent from God by what happens.
Then there is a showdown in chapter 28: 15 & 16 “Then Jeremiah the prophet said to Hananiah the prophet, “Listen now, Hananiah: the Lord has not sent you, and you have made this people trust in a lie. Therefore, this is what the Lord says: ‘Behold, I am going to remove you from the face of the earth. This year you are going to die, because you spoke falsely against the Lord.’” Hananiah died in the seventh month of that year. God has a way of dealing with people who try to go against his Word and plans. They do not prosper. And in the end everything that Jeremiah prophesied happened.
Hebrews 5 ties in so well because the writer of Hebrews is writing to the early Christians and explaining how much better they have it now and how Christianity is better than Judaism in so many ways. He explains that the priests were called by God back in the day, and Jesus was also called by God. Hebrews 5:4-5 “And no one takes the honor for himself, but receives it when he is called by God, just as Aaron also was. So too, Christ did not glorify Himself in becoming a high priest, but it was He who said to Him, ‘You are My Son, Today I have fathered You.'” Jesus did not choose to be the Son of God, he did not ask for this job, in fact, Jesus prayed for God to deliver him from death but he obeyed the will of God and died on the cross. He lived a perfect life so that he could be our sacrifice and we can be forgiven for our sins. And those who accept and follow Jesus will receive eternal life.
Just like those listening to Jeremiah, the early Christians and us today, we become dull of hearing. Hebrews 5:14 sums it all up for us. “But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to distinguish between good and evil.” We need to constantly be aware that there is good and evil in the world, and we have to practice distinguishing between the two. It may not be popular and what the world wants to hear but as Paul said in Acts, “we have to obey God and not man.”
-Sherry Alcumbrack
Today’s Bible reading passages can be read or listened to at BibleGateway.com here – Jeremiah 27 & 28 and Hebrews 5
During the 20th century among the more liberal wing of Christianity it became fashionable to interpret the Bible in a less literal more metaphorical way. The story of the resurrection of Jesus was regarded not as historical fact but something that happened inside the disciples of Jesus that gave them hope. The Episcopal bishop John Shelby Spong famously wrote of the resurrection of Jesus as a myth which opened the disciples’ eyes to the reality of God and the meaning of Jesus Christ. (whatever that means).
John Updike is a well regarded novelist and poet, not a theologian, but he uses the tools of a poet to counter the theological attempts to reduce the resurrection of Jesus to a simple myth. In his poem Seven Stanzas at Easter he writes:
Make no mistake: if He rose at all it was as His body; if the cells’ dissolution did not reverse, the molecules reknit, the amino acids rekindle, the Church will fall.
It was not as the flowers, each soft Spring recurrent; it was not as His Spirit in the mouths and fuddled eyes of the eleven apostles; it was as His flesh: ours.
The same hinged thumbs and toes, the same valved heart that-pierced-died, withered, paused, and then regathered out of enduring Might new strength to enclose.
Let us not mock God with metaphor, analogy, sidestepping, transcendence; making of the event a parable, a sign painted in the faded credulity of earlier ages: let us walk through the door.
The stone is rolled back, not papier-mâché, not a stone in a story, but the vast rock of materiality that in the slow grinding of time will eclipse for each of us the wide light of day.
And if we will have an angel at the tomb, make it a real angel, weighty with Max Planck’s quanta, vivid with hair, opaque in the dawn light, robed in real linen spun on a definite loom.
Let us not seek to make it less monstrous, for our own convenience, our own sense of beauty, lest, awakened in one unthinkable hour, we are embarrassed by the miracle, and crushed by remonstrance.
What Updike so poetically states is that the resurrection of Jesus is no myth, no allegory, it actually happened. Jesus’ dead corpse physically rose up from the tomb in which it had been buried. Jesus was really raised to everlasting life. The first disciples of Jesus would certainly have agreed whole-heartedly.
Today’s passage from Matthew 28 is one of four Gospel accounts of the resurrection of Jesus. Each of the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John include and omit different elements of the story. This is always true of witnesses. In a trial or a new article when multiple witnesses are interviewed they will tell the story in different ways and include and exclude data. Each person sees and experiences things from their own unique perspective. In fact, if all witnesses say exactly the same thing in exactly the same way it raises suspicions that they got together and colluded beforehand what their statement was going to be. Eye-witness accounts should have different details. But the overall story should be the same. This is true with the story of Jesus’ resurrection. Each of the Gospels gives different details and some alter the chronological order of events, but they are all in agreement of the important facts- Jesus physically rose from the dead and there were numerous eye-witnesses.
Outside of the Gospels, the Apostle Paul also offers his own testimony. In the book of Acts Paul encountered the risen Christ while he was on his way to Damascus to persecute the Church. And later, Paul wrote to the Corinthians about the resurrection of the dead:
3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born. (I Corinthians 15:3-8, New International Version).
Paul makes it clear that not only is the death of Jesus foundational to Christianity but so is his resurrection that was witnessed by more than 500 people including Paul. According to the Old Testament Law it took two or three witnesses to confirm something as factual. More than 500 witnesses is way more than necessary to confirm a fact. Jesus really did rise from the dead.
Paul then connects the resurrection of Jesus to the resurrection of all people.
12 But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. 15 More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. 19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.
20 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. (I Corinthians 15:3-8)
Paul says here that if there is no resurrection of Jesus and no resurrection of the followers of Jesus, then we are wasting our time talking about faith. The true, bodily resurrection of Jesus is no myth, it is central to our faith and it changes everything.
The Apostles certainly believed it was true. They took up Jesus’ commission to go into all of the world and proclaim the good news that Christ has died and Christ has risen, and Christ will come again. You and I are part of that same tradition. We are called to pass along this same truth. It is who we are. Jesus Christ really did rise from the dead. Jesus Christ really is coming again to raise those who have died and are asleep in their graves from death to everlasting life. That is our hope and joy. That is the foundation on which to live your whole life.
As we move through the Gospel of Matthew one chapter per day it’s pretty amazing how quickly we move through the life of Jesus. Matthew brings us through the entire earthly life of Jesus so quickly. Think about it for a minute. Less than a month ago we were celebrating Christmas and the birth of Jesus. Just a week later we were celebrating the start of a new year, 2021 and we started the book of Matthew which summarized roughly 2000 years of Israel’s history from Abraham down to Jesus. We heard the angels announcement to Joseph that Mary was going to give birth to God’s son. We read of his birth, the visit from the magi and Herod’s attempt to have Jesus killed and his rescue to Egypt. We fast forwarded to his 12th year visiting the temple and being precocious in his questions of the learned doctors of Jewish Law. Just like that Jesus is 30 and being baptized by John in the Jordan River and going into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan. Then he’s calling disciples, performing miracles, preaching the Torah in a way that is more authoritative than the average rabbi. Before we know it 3 more years have passed and Jesus is in Jerusalem having his last supper with his disciples and preparing them for his approaching death.
Now, here we are reaching the climax of Matthew’s Gospel. Jesus is tried, condemned and crucified. This was not how any of his followers or any of the Jews for over 1000 years imagined how the story would go. They envisioned the son of David as a triumphant King leading an armed rebellion and defeating the powerful and oppressive Romans and being free to finally worship God under the rule of God’s anointed King, descended from the great King David of old. Instead, they get a meek and gentle man being falsely accused and refusing to defend himself, being rejected by his own people and, despite his complete innocence, meekly suffering and going to his death in the most shameful way imaginable: beaten, stripped naked and nailed to an execution pole for all to see and mock and serve as warning to any who might dare to defy Rome’s hegemony over the whole world.
For the Apostle Paul and most every Christian since that day, this is foundational to the entire Christian message and the central event in the history of the world.
Paul wrote in I Corinthians 15:
15 Now, brothers, I must remind you of the Good News which I proclaimed to you, and which you received, and on which you have taken your stand, 2 and by which you are being saved — provided you keep holding fast to the message I proclaimed to you. For if you don’t, your trust will have been in vain. 3 For among the first things I passed on to you was what I also received, namely this: the Messiah died for our sins, in accordance with what the Tanakh says; 4 and he was buried; and he was raised on the third day, in accordance with what the Tanakh says; 5 and he was seen by Kefa, then by the Twelve;
(Complete Jewish Bible Translation)
Paul reminds his readers that one of the first things he passed on to his students was the death of the Messiah, Jesus, for their sins as a fulfillment of the teaching of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh or Old Testament). Matthew tells the story more or less chronologically and it builds up to this. But for Paul, this was among the first things he taught. Whether it’s shared first as in Paul or toward the end as in Matthew, either way the death of Jesus and with it his resurrection, is the most important thing for Christianity.
There is much for you to think about in this chapter but I will simply pause to name two and they both have to do with despair and death. Matthew places side by side two men who have reached a crisis in their life, Judas and Jesus. For both their crisis has brought them into great anguish and to the brink of death.
Judas is in despair because he has betrayed his teacher and friend. He sold Jesus out for 30 pieces of silver. One might try to get Judas off of the hook by suggesting that he didn’t really have a choice in the matter. It was God’s plan. I’ve even heard it suggested and even wondered myself if Judas wasn’t simply trying to force Jesus to go to war against Rome. Judas was a Zealot and growing impatient with Jesus. Maybe he assumed that when Jesus was arrested he and the other disciples would defend him and bring him into his Kingdom. When Judas realized that his plan backfired and Jesus was going to die without bringing in the Kingdom he was overcome with guilt and despair. Or maybe he was just greedy and sold out his friend for the money. Or maybe some combination of things. Sometimes we humans beings do things and we don’t even understand why we did it, but afterwards we are filled with shame and regret and despair of life.
Judas responded to his despair by taking his own life. Suicide is the final act of despair. The suicide rate in the US has been going up each year. I imagine when the deaths related to Covid are finally tallied we will see a significant number of deaths were not from Covid but because of people’s despair over Covid and the Covid related isolation, economic losses, disenfranchised grief, increased substance abuse and loss of connection with faith communities and other sources of hope and meaning. Judas’ story ends in a tragic death of despair.
Jesus is also facing his own existential despair. He’s been betrayed, denied, abandoned and rejected by his friends and followers and all his fellow Jews. Jesus was beaten nearly to death and is alone on the cross and has all of the guilt and shame of the world heaped upon him. In his agony and isolation he cries out to God in despair ,“My God, my God why have you forsaken me?” Jesus is having the worst day of his life, just as Judas did and Jesus is in extreme pain, just as Judas was and Jesus was about to die, just as Judas did. And yet, their deaths couldn’t be more different. Jesus never lost his connection to and faith in his father, even at this point of greatest pain. Even as Jesus cries out, he is praying and maintaining his connection to his faith tradition. “My God, My God why have you forsaken me” is the opening prayer of Psalm 22. This was a Lament Psalm. The Hebrews were very familiar with suffering. They had been slaves for over 400 years in Egypt. They spent 40 years traveling in the wilderness. They spent 70 years in exile in Babylon. The Hebrews knew suffering and it was in suffering that God continued to sustain them and draw them back unto himself. Every Psalm of lament, no matter how much hurt or pain they processed, no matter how angry or betrayed by God they felt, there was always a remembering of the ways God had been with them and helped them in the past, and there was the hope and trust that God would sustain them through the suffering and restore them to wholeness and joy.
Jesus never lost his connection to the father, even in the depths of pain and despair. He surrendered his life to God, but he did not take his own life as Judas did. Judas’ tragic death ends with no hope for him. Jesus’ tragic death ends with hope for him and for everyone.
We all go through periods of hurt, pain, disillusionment, brokenness, anger, shame, guilt and pain. When we go through those time we are in a moment of decision. Do we give in completely to the despair and give up on God, or do we cling to faith, remembering God’s faithfulness in the past and hope in the future. That will make all the difference in how our story ends. It doesn’t have to end like Judas. Jesus offers the path to hope and life.
Seek Grow Love 