The 3rd Sunday of Easter, 2021 - Matthew's Post-resurrection Story

All four gospels tell the story of the resurrection … well, actually, the story of when the women were told about Jesus’s resurrection when they arrived at his tomb to find it empty. The actual resurrection event is not recorded by any gospel. Its reality is simply proclaimed.

 Having proclaimed the resurrection, each gospel then relates different post-resurrection appearances of Jesus. These post-resurrection experiences play a specific role in the gospel. They convey the gospel writers’ understanding of the significance and implication of the resurrection. Interestingly but not surprisingly, the post-resurrection stories each gospel tells and the emphasis each makes is different. In spite of the different emphases, each gospel presents the resurrection as the central reality that shapes the life of the follower of Jesus and, thereby, of the church. (In 1 Corinthians 15, the Apostle Paul reasoned that the resurrection was the heart of the gospel. Without it, the Christian movement was an empty farce.)

 During the remainder of the 2021 Easter season, I will explore the different emphasis of each gospel writer, seeking to understand the implication for our lives as the followers of Jesus today.

 The gospel of Matthew records a single post-resurrection appearance. Jesus met his disciples in Galilee where he gave them what we call “the great commandment:” “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. As you are going (literal translation of the word commonly translated as ‘Go’), make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20).

 This familiar commandment is preceded by a statement that is often skipped over: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” This statement summarizes the message proclaimed by the gospel. Matthew’s gospel was written to a Jewish Christian community that was being persecuted by Pharisaic Jews for the Christians’ failure to follow the Law of Moses. The gospel presented Jesus as the promised Son of Man (Daniel 7:13—14), the long-awaited Messiah. He was therefore greater than Moses. What he taught fulfilled the Law (Matthew 5:17). It went beyond the behavior prescribed by the Law to the underlying principle and truth upon which each law was based (Matthew 5:21, 27, 31, 33, 38, 43). As the Messiah, Jesus established the kingdom of God for which the nation of Israel longed. This “all authority” statement restates that Jesus was the Messiah. It proclaims “Jesus is Lord!”

 The commandment is based upon the reality that “Jesus is Lord!” Because Jesus was the Messiah, his followers were to be about the business of making disciples. Among all ethnic groups—not just among the people of Israel—his followers were to lead others to become followers of Jesus, students (the core meaning of the word disciple) who learned from Jesus the ways of God and the ways of the Kingdom. (The Pharisees identified themselves as disciples of Moses who followed the Law Moses gave.)

 The task of enlisting more followers of Jesus involved a three-dimensional process reflected in the three participles in the command: baptizing, teaching, going. Baptizing was the means by which these new followers identified themselves with Jesus and with his community of followers. Baptism took the place of Jewish circumcision as the identifying mark of the people of God. Teaching was training. It involved teaching knowledge of what Jesus taught, but the objective of the teaching was “to obey everything I have commanded you.” The objective was to live the ways of God that Jesus taught … which leads to going. Going carries the idea of living everyday life. The normal routine and relationships of everyday life were the place where the ways of God were to be lived. The experience of God’s grace and forgiveness from Jesus’s followers would create an openness in the heart of others to hear about Jesus and the alternative way of life he taught. That hearing would lead to them embracing Jesus and his teachings for their own lives. They would identity with him and his followers through baptism. The Christian community would teach and train them to live the ways of God Jesus taught (teaching) in their everyday lives (going). And the process would repeat itself over and over again as each new follower of Jesus touched the lives of those in their circle of relationships with the grace of God.

 Which brings us to the implication for our lives as the followers of Jesus today. Our familiarity with this commandment leads us to hear it as a command to go witness to others. A better understanding, in my mind, is to understand it as a command to love others, to forgive others, to serve others. It is a call to live what Jesus taught in the normal relationships of our lives. Loving another in the name of Jesus opens the door for the other to hear what we say about our own experience of Jesus (witness).

 If we are to live what Jesus taught, our life as a community of the followers of Jesus must center on learning what Jesus taught and supporting one another as we seek to put those teachings into practice (teaching). This teaching-training goes beyond our normal Bible studies. Its focus is not on what the Bible says, but upon what Jesus taught. Its goal is not learning but doing. Its outcome is not belief but a transformed life … and new followers! The community with which we walk moves beyond social relationships to supportive relationships as we seek to live what Jesus taught. See Acts 4:23—31 for an example of this kind of supportive fellowship.

 For the author of Matthew’s gospel, the resurrection led to learning, living, and sharing the ways of God Jesus taught so that new followers were enlisted into the community.

 Which raises the question: what implication does the resurrection have for each of us today as the followers of Jesus? 

The 2nd Sunday of Easter, 2021 - Hope

 Our celebration of the resurrection during this Easter season reminds us that we – as the people of God, as the followers of Jesus – are a people of hope! Hope – along with joy and peace, faith and thanksgiving, a servant spirit and love – shape our lives.

 Hope is the forward look of faith.

 “For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience” (Romans 8:24-25).

Hope is about what is not, but will be. As the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans, we hope for that which we do not see. Hope is about what will be in the future.

Hope is experienced in the midst of what is. It stirs as we long for something more than the present reality. It lifts our eyes beyond what is to what will be, giving us strength and courage to deal with what is. As Paul said, we wait with patience for what will be.

Hope grows out of faith. Faith is our trust in God – in God’s faithfulness, in God’s steadfast love that will not abandon us, in God’s promise to transform whatever comes our way into a source of life and blessing (Romans 8:28-29). Hope is faith lived out, trusting God is at work in what is, beyond what we can see. It is the quiet confidence that the present reality is not the final reality … that God is still at work … that the final outcome will be shaped by God’s steadfast, faithful love, not by the brokenness of our human condition.

 Hope is the forward look of faith in the face of any expression of death … physical and emotional sickness, broken relationships, our struggle with our own emotional wounds, immaturity, and sin, actual physical death. Those realities of life are a part of a world subject to decay – Paul again, Romans 8:20. But because of the steadfast, faithful love of God, they are not the final reality. We will be set free from those realities. But, even more, those realities will be transformed into life and blessing. Death – in whatever form we experience it – will give way to life! In other words, resurrection!

 Paul goes so far as to say that all of the physical world – creation itself – waits in hope for the time when what is will give way to what will be, Romans 8:19-25. Creation longs to be set free from the reality of what is. It looks forward – in hope – to being transformed into a new heaven and earth.

 Someday the reality of what is will give way to the new reality created by the transforming love of God. At that time, we will no longer live in hope because what we hope for will have become reality. But until then, we live in hope …. hope coupled with peace and joy, patience and thanksgiving, a servant spirit and love.

 “We also boast in our sufferings” - the reality of what is – “knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has be given to us” (Romans 5:3-5, emphasis added).

 “May the God of hope fill you will all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13).

The Power That Raised Jesus from the Dead

 The list is long. It is always long … that list of things that Christians say “I can’t do.”

·         I can’t forgive him for what he did.

·         I can’t feel sorry for him, i.e., respond with compassion. He deserves what he got.

·         I can’t pray.

·         I can’t understand the Bible.

·         I can’t talk about my faith (witness).

·         My faith is not strong. I struggle to believe …

·         I can’t deal with him. I don’t have the patience to put up with him.

·         I can’t be consistent in my walk with God because I am not a disciplined person.

·         I can’t attend worship every Sunday.

·         I can’t afford to give to the church.

·         I can’t afford to give any more to the church (much less tithe!!).

·         I can’t do anything of value. I don’t have anything to offer.

·         I can’t work with children … or youth … or aging adults.

·         I can’t stop worrying … or judging … or gossiping … or ….

·         I can’t accept gay and lesbians because the Bible says homosexuality is a sin.

·         I can’t accept a woman preacher. 1 Timothy 2 says …

·         I can’t … I can’t … I can’t …

 Christians who say “I can’t” excuse themselves from doing whatever it is they say they can’t do. It doesn’t matter if Jesus taught us to do it or not. They are convinced that they cannot do it. Thus, they resign themselves to doing “as best I can.” They settle for mediocrity in place of the abundant life Jesus promised. They become accustomed to bland, tasteless spirituality. They live with an inner void where peace and joy were designed to live.

 Sadly, Christians who say “I can’t” fill our churches.

 Christians who say “I can’t” are partially right. We cannot forgive those who wrong us. We cannot love our enemy. We cannot “not worry.” We cannot give as generously as Jesus taught. We cannot live the ways of God that Jesus taught … in our own strength!

 Christians who say “I can’t” fail to understand a spiritual principle that lies at the core of healthy spirituality: we were never intended to do what Jesus taught in our own strength! The Spirit abides in us to empower us to do what we cannot do on our own.

Jesus used the imagery of the vine and the branches to teach this principle (John 15:1ff). “Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:4—5). The power of Christ’s life flowing in us and through us through the indwelling Spirit is what enables us to do what he taught.

 Christians who say “I can’t” do not understand the power that is available to us through the Spirit. The writer of Ephesians prayed that his readers would know “what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe”—the same power that raised Jesus from the dead and seated him at the right hand of God (Ephesians 1:17—21). The power of the resurrection is at work in us, transforming our hearts and minds, conforming us to the likeness of Jesus. That power is available to us through the Spirit to empower us to do what we cannot do in our own strength.

 When we don’t know that the power that raised Jesus from the dead is available to us, we resign ourselves to living as a Christian who says “I can’t.”

 Where Christians who say “I can’t” go wrong is at the point of struggle. They (we) struggle with the very idea of doing what Jesus taught, believing we can’t. When we attempt to do what he taught, we fail. At that point, we give up. We proclaim “I can’t,” resigning ourselves to “as best I can.”

 But it doesn’t have to be that way. There is another way that produces a different outcome.

 Rather than viewing them as an excuse to give up, our struggle and failure can be understood as invitations to pray. They call us to turn to God for the power to do what we cannot do in our own strength. We confess our desire to do what Jesus taught along with our struggle and failure to do so. Our confession gives the Spirit permission to work in our hearts and minds. It opens our lives to the power that raised Jesus from the dead.

 The Apostle Paul learned this spiritual principle when he struggled with his thorn in the flesh. In the face of his struggle, Paul received this word from God: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). In response to this word of assurance from God, Paul wrote “I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. For whenever I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:9, 10). That spiritual principle lies behind Paul's statement "I can do all things through Christ who strengths me" (Philippians 4:13). 

 The spiritual life—being a follower of Jesus—was always intended to be a divine dance with the Spirit as our partner. We dance with the Spirit, depending on the Spirit for the wisdom, courage, strength, and guidance to do what Jesus taught. We live out of a spirit of glad dependency upon God.

 Christians who say “I can’t” live out of a spirit of self-reliance. They depend on their own strength to do what Jesus taught. No wonder they say “I can’t.” They haven’t learned the truth Paul discovered: when I am weak, then I am strong, that is, the Spirit gives me a power beyond my own.

 “I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know ... what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us—the very power that raised Jesus from the dead!” (Ephesians 1:17-21).

Easter, 2021 - Death and Resurrection: the Pattern of the Spiritual Life

 Christ is risen! Alleluia!

This Easter Sunday, we rejoice in Jesus's resurrection from the dead!

But what about tomorrow? What impact will Jesus's death and resurrection have on our lives going forward?

Jesus's death and resurrection are something we generally pack away until next Easter or until we have to deal with the inescapable reality of death. Faced with the death of a friend or loved one, we pull out the hope of the resurrection. Death is not the end. Jesus was raised from death by the power of God, defeating it and breaking its power. He was the first fruit (1 Corinthians 15:20). We, too, will share his resurrection. In this hope, we affirm, "Death has been swallowed up in victory" (1 Corinthians 15:54) as we face the reality of our own death in the death of the other. 

But Jesus's death and resurrection reach beyond our Easter celebrations and our confrontations with the reality of death. When we limit our thinking about Jesus's death and resurrection to Easter and funerals, we miss a core spiritual truth - a truth that has the power to transform our lives and how we live. That truth: death and resurrection is the pattern of the spiritual life! It was the pattern of Jesus's life and is the pattern of life in the Godhead. It is the governing principle in the Kingdom of God. Thus, it is the way of life for the follower of Jesus. 

Jesus taught this truth. "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it" (Mark 8:34-35). 

Paul patterned his life after this principle: "I want know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death" (Philippians 3:10). 

Both Jesus and Paul spoke of dying as the pathway to life - dying to live - death and resurrection. 

Jesus spoke of dying to who the world told us we had to be if we wanted to be accepted and valued. He spoke of dying to the persona we fashioned by conforming to the cultural values and established patterns of the society in which we grew up and in which we live. This persona is an ego-based self, built through self-effort and self-reliance. It operates out of merit-based, if ... then thinking that emphasizes deserving. It allows us to feel better than those who fail to measure up to the community's standards of what is acceptable (right) and what is not (wrong). 

Paul spoke of dying to that persona - "If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish" (Philippians 3:4b-7, 8b). 

We resist dying to this constructed persona. In our minds, it is who we are ... our sense of self ... our identity. It is how we have established our sense of value. It is how we seek to gain acceptance and belonging in our group. We have no sense of who we are apart from this constructed, ego-based self. But in reality, this persona is a false self, not our true self. 

Those of us who have built our persona around religious belief and involvement - a religious persona - are especially resistant to dying to self. Our religious belief and practices reassure us we are "right" ... and, by implication, others are wrong. (A reliable indicator that we are living out of a constructed persona, an ego-based self, is us-them thinking that divides the world into those like us and those who are different. Another indicator is being critical of others, judging them for what they do or don't do. Judging and condemning reflect us-them thinking.)

Both Jesus and Paul spoke of dying to this constructed self as the path that leads to life. The life we experience as we die to our constructed self is the abundant life of which Jesus spoke ... the life in the Spirit of which Paul spoke ... life in which we grow spiritually ... life in which the character of Christ is ingrained in the core of our being ... life in which who God created us to be (our true self) is set free ... life in which we live out of our God-given gifts and passions ... life in which we do what we cannot do in our own strength through the power of the Spirit ... life in which we love as Jesus loved and love who Jesus loved ... the life for which we were created when God created us in the image of God ... the very life of God that Jesus lived ... eternal life. 

Paul spoke of this quality of life as participating in the power of the resurrection (Philippians 3:10). It is life in which the power that raised Jesus from the dead is at work in us and through us (Ephesians 1:19-20). Just as God raised Jesus from the dead, so God raises us from death to our constructed, ego-based self to a new life in Christ. "If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God" (2 Corinthians 5:17-18a). Our new life in Christ is God's work ... the Spirit's transforming work in our hearts and minds. 

Embracing death and resurrection as the pattern of our lives produces striking changes in our lives - characteristics of our new life in Christ.

The dominant emotional tone of our lives becomes peace and joy and thanksgiving. 

We live out of grace and forgiveness as we take on the mind of Christ (Philippians 2:5-11; 1 Corinthians 2:16b). We move beyond us-them, better than-less than thinking to view and value, accept and embrace each person as a beloved child of God. We respond to others with patience, kindness, understanding, gentleness, compassion, and forgiveness (Galatians 5:22-23; Colossians 3:12-17). 

A servant spirit underlies all we do. We are freed to authentically serve without our ego getting in the way. The ego-based, constructed persona - particularly the religious persona - twists serving others into being about "me." Dying to our ego-based self frees us to wash the feet others (John 13) without concern as to who gets the credit or recognition. Dying to our constructed, ego-based self is the key to loving one another, loving our neighbor, and loving our enemy. 

Our response to the pain, suffering, and loss that are an inescapable part of life is no longer one of fear and resistance. We learn to embrace the pain and suffering of life as an opportunity for God to work. Believing that the pain and suffering (precursors of death) are not the last word, we look for the good that God will bring out of our experience (Romans 5:3-5; 8:28-29). We view these life challenges as opportunities to grow spiritually. 

Embracing death and resurrection as the pattern of our lives changes who we are and how we experience life. Embracing this pattern of living, we - though the power of the Spirit - live as Easter people ... as people of the resurrection ... as Kingdom people. 

"Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ has made me his own. Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us then who are mature be of the same mind." (Philippians 3:12-15a).

Good Friday, 2021 - Thinking about Jesus's Death on the Cross

 Good Friday - the day Jesus was crucified and died.

How are we to view his death? How are we to think of his dying?

One of the most common ways of thinking about his death - if not the most common way - is to see him dying in our place. The underlying thinking is ... we were the guilty ones - the sinners; we deserved the sentence of death; but Jesus took our place. That's what we mean when we say "Jesus died for me." 

This thinking views Jesus's death as a matter of justice. A wrong had been done. For justice to be served, someone had to be held accountable and be punished. 

I struggle with this way of viewing Jesus's death, popular though it is. 

In this way of thinking, God's laws have been broken. God has been offended. God's anger must be appeased. Someone has to die. 

The problem with this way of thinking - in my opinion - is its view of God. It portrays God as a king who expects unquestioning obedience. It portrays God as a God of wrath who gets angry when that obedience is not given. It portrays God as a judge who doles out punishment for the wrong that is done. It creates God in our image. It says God deals with wrongdoing the way we do - with anger, with judgment, by punishing.

The witness of scripture - particularly the Hebrew Scriptures - is God is not like us. God is holy, that is, different. (The Hebrew word holy is an adjective that means different.) In Isaiah 55, the LORD clearly says, "My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways" (Isaiah 55:8). The way God deals with our sin was clearly revealed to Moses on Mt. Sinai. Because the LORD is merciful and gracious, God does not get angry at our sin. God's love for us never wavers or falters. God never gives up on us or abandons us. God forgives our sin (Exodus 34:6-7). 

We struggle to embrace this understanding of God because it is so unlike us and our ways.

Another problem with this popular way of thinking about Jesus's death is it makes his death a transaction - a business agreement. If we ... then God will .... It reflects merit-based thinking ... deserving thinking ... again, the way of thinking that governs how we relate to one another. We think God relates to us the way we relate to each other ... based on merit.

Again, the witness of scripture is clear. God "does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward (us), as far as the east is from the west, so far he removes our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion for his children, so the LORD has compassion for (us)" (Psalm 103:10-13). And as the New Testament writer said, "for by grace you have been saved ... it is the gift of God" (Ephesians 2:8). God relates to us out of who God is - out of the divine character - not in reaction to who we are or what we do. God's love and forgiveness are given freely and lavishly without any thought about what we deserve. It is who God is. It is how God relates to us. Jesus's death was not some legal transaction. 

One other problem with the popular way of viewing Jesus's death: it makes his death about us. It keeps the focus on us. We were sinful. Jesus had to die for us. Because Jesus died for us, we can go to heaven. It is all about us. It is a self-centered, self-serving way of thinking about his death. As my professor would say, it creates a man-centered Christianity. 

So how are we to think about Jesus's death on the cross?

I suggest we view the cross through the lens of God's character ... through the lens of grace, not merit ... as an expression of God's steadfast love that never wavers or falters, that never gives up on us or abandons us.

Jesus's death on the cross does say something about us. It reflects how we treat one another. It reflects how we avoid dealing with our own shadow side by scapegoating others - judging, finding fault, blaming, condemning. And it reflects what we are capable of doing as we scapegoat others. We are capable of killing another in the most cruel, inhumane way possible. What we did to Jesus - God embodied-in-human-flesh - is what we routinely do to one another. Jesus's death on the cross is a mirror in which we can see our own shadow. And it is an invitation to a different way of thinking, relating, and living.

Jesus's death on the cross is an expression of God's steadfast love that never wavers or falters, that never gives up on us or abandons us. Rather than judging us for who we are and what we do, God embraces us as we are. Rather than abandoning us to what we deserve, God comes alongside us in our brokenness. Rather than punishing us, God takes on our pain so that He can transform it. Rather than giving up on us, God gives himself to us to heal us, transform us, and mature us into the likeness of Christ. Jesus's death on the cross proclaims "this is what God's love looks like!" 

This way of understanding Jesus's death on the cross invites us to open our lives to God and God's steadfast love. It moves us beyond guilt about our sin into the courage to deal with the deeper issue of what causes us to sin - our shadow. It sets us free ... from guilt and shame ... to move beyond self-effort that tries harder to do better ... to fail and learn from our failure ... to grow . It fills our life with peace and joy and genuine thanksgiving. It gives us power to do what we cannot do in our own strength ... to become more than we are ... to love as Jesus loved. 

What Richard Rohr said about Jesus's death on the cross captures the heart of what I am trying to say: Jesus did not die on the cross to change God's mind about us; Jesus died on the cross to change our mind about God!

 May it be so for us on this Good Friday! After all, how we think about Jesus's death on the cross matters!