The Burial Grave-Clothes found in the Tomb.

"Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen." 
[John 20:1-7, NIV]

The fact that the grave-clothes where left behind confirms that the body of Jesus was not stolen. Carrying a stolen naked corpse would have been unthinkable to the Jew; remember that Jesus was born into a Jewish family and Jesus and His disciples attended synagogues and temple, and observed most of the Jewish customs. Even Jesus’ burial was a customary Jewish burial. We need to be careful not to read current cultural practice into Jewish customs that are more than two-thousand years old.

The second fact we discover from John is that no human could have removed the grave-clothes that wrapped the dead body of our Lord. I think William Barclay, in his Daily Study Bible Series, John, Volume 2 revised edition, page 267 says it best; “the grave-clothes were not disheveled and disarranged. They were lying there still in their folds – that is what the Greek means – the clothes for the body where the body had been; the napkin [better translated handkerchief] where the head had lain…the description is that the grave-clothes…were lying there in there regular folds as if the body of Jesus had simply evaporated out of them.”

The third fact that we learn from the grave-clothes being left behind is that Jesus did not need them anymore. When we bury someone, we dress him or her in some of their best clothing to make the lifeless corpse look pretty for those who view the body. When Jesus returns and the dead in Christ rise up in our glorified bodies, we will not need our burial clothes either.

We must be careful not read into Scripture, but rather let Scripture speak to us. The resurrected Jesus had no more use for his grave-clothes than he did the locked door protecting the gathering of disciples in Luke 20:19. Just as Jesus “evaporated” through the grave-clothes, he passed through the locked door with the same ease. Jesus was God incarnate, fully God and yet fully human. Even after the resurrection, Luke describes Jesus with a physical human body that was flesh and blood, even retaining the scars from the crucifixion.  

 Now I know some of you will have difficulties with my use of the word “evaporated,” but it is impossible for the mind of the created to understand the mind of the Creator. Yet we must try to know God; it is only our knowledge of God that we carry with us into heaven. Yet the masses spend more time seeking the knowledge of man than the knowledge of God. If all the knowledge of humankind through all of history was compared to the knowledge of God, all of the combined knowledge of humankind would be no more than a cup of water compared to the all the oceans on earth. John H. Sammis wrote “Trust and Obey” after hearing a convert during a Dwight L. Moody crusade, say “I am not quite sure – but I am going to trust and I am going to obey.” As a child will trust his father, we must learn to trust our heavenly Father concerning things we do not fully understand.

Prayer: I ask that you cleanse me from all my doubt and disbelief. Lord, I ask that you help me trust and obey the teaching of Your Word even when I cannot understand it and find it hard to accept. Enable me to be gracious and forgiving when they ask it of me, and work with them to restore the relationship. Strengthen me, and enable me to trust and obey your teaching and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

Let's Talk Hate!

“Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.” [First John 3:15, NIV]

Well friend, pour yourself another cup of fresh hot coffee and let us talk hate. Some would have you think that God wants you to rid yourself of all hate, but that is a lie. The need is for us to understand that the Bible teaches us to love and to hate. The problem is that in our sin we become confused on what and who we are to love and who and what we are to hate.

Hatred is a sentiment that can be either righteous or sinful depending on what it is that we hate, and depending on the motive causing us to hate. The Bible references that Christians are to love God, but the Bible also declares that we are to hate evil (Psalm 97:10), and that we are to even hate the assembling of those who do evil (Psalm 26:5), and we are to hate lies and the misrepresentation of the truth (Psalm 119:163). The more mature we become in Christ, the more we resemble Christ, and the more fully understand the love of God, the more we begin to hate hypocrisy, godlessness, and the evil within and of this world. Scripture warns us that hatred and bitterness can put an end to us. Hatred, bitterness, and prejudice can destroy our earthly life and even condemn one to everlasting punishment. God’s Word teaches that hate is an issue of the sinful heart of both male and female, and that anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer in the eyes of God (First John 3:15)! Hate knows no race, ethnicity, or social status. Therefore, Christians are instructed and urged to love one another, to keep short records of wrongs, and to forgive others. Scripture teaches that we are not to harbor bitterness or anger in our hearts.

First John 2:11 teaches that “anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.” People who hate are blind to the truth of God’s Word. Earthly things blind them, and they need the Great Physician to remove the cataracts from their eyes so that they might regain their vision. In First John 2:15, John writes, “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life – comes not from the Father but from the world.” Are monuments, molded by the hands of men and women, objects of this world? Are pieces of cloth, woven and sewn by the hands of men and women, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, or the pride of life? Have we become so ignorant of the teaching of God’s Word that we “hate” because of earthly objects, rather than loving those created in the image of Creator God?

I challenge every Christian to do a study of “hate” as it is used in Scripture. Allow the Bible, God sacred Word, to help you better deal with the hate resonating through our society today. Allow Scripture to give you understanding of positive hate and negative hate, that you might gain wisdom on how to handle hate by drawing on God’s wisdom and the power of the Holy Spirit!

Prayer: Lord, I do not ask that you stop me from hating, but rather that you teach me to hate that which you hate. Teach me to love all people regardless of their race, ethnicity, or social status. Teach me to respect every man and women I meet as one made in your image, and who is struggling in life just as I struggle. Help me to listen to the depth of the words people speak and from their words to sense the pain and struggles they experience. Lord, grant that I may have your love for others, being willing to lay down my life for the Kingdom of God, if that be necessary. Grant that I might be a peacemaker. Amen.

When Christians are Betrayed.

“When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. ‘’I have sinned,’ he said, ‘for I have betrayed innocent blood.’ ‘What is that to us’ they replied. ‘That’s your responsibility.’”[Matthew 27:3-4]

Knowing and applying theology in the real world is hard. For years, I have struggled with betrayals, and I have tried to understand what Jesus would have us to do when we are betrayed by our brothers and sisters. Have you ever been betrayed by a friend or coworker? Have you ever wanted to really go after someone and give him or her payback for the pain, embarrassment, and damage he or she caused you? Is there anything that Jesus teaches us about how Christians should respond when others betray us?

Scripture reveals that both Judas and Peter betrayed Jesus Christ. These were both men whom Jesus had called and discipled for more than three years. Therefore, we must understand that believers, who betray us, are our brothers and sisters with whom we have invested ourselves. Scripture also gives us two key reasons for Christians betraying other Christians. It appears that Peter betrayed Christ out of fear. Jesus’ reign was ending and he was fearful for his life. While there are varying views, it appears that Judas betrayed Jesus for personal gain. Peter was remorseful and Jesus forgave him and used him mightily after his betrayal. Judas hanged himself. Was he remorseful, sorrowful, did he regret his action? Some say that he was remorseful, but that it was an emotional remorse (regret) that led only to guilt and despair. Matthew 27:3 uses the Greek word transliterated metamellomai, which is best defined as having regrets and changing one’s mind. Because Judas changed his mind, and not the Spirit of God, it signals a mere regret like what a thief might experience upon being caught.

While I do not claim fully to understand how we are to act when Christians with whom we have invested our very lives betray us, here are a few thoughts. 

1.  Jesus, God in human flesh, was betrayed by those closest to him, just as God the Father has been betrayed by his own followers throughout history. Therefore, we can take comfort that we are not the only ones to experience betrayal.
2. As exampled by Judas’s betrayal of Jesus, those who betray us are those, whom we have invested part of our lives, giving them a chance to move ahead, or perhaps even leading them to salvation and mentoring them in the faith. Therefore, their betrayal brings us much pain.
3.  As a Christian, we are to forgive those who betray us so that Satan does not use our unforgiveness as a spiritual weapon against us. Just as Jesus, in Luke 23:34, prayed from the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” Christ expects us to forgive those who betray us.
4.  When the brother or sister that betrayed us, like Peter, shows true remorse and seeks our forgiveness, we must be joyful and restore the relationship with them, welcoming them back into our arms as the father welcomed his prodigal son. 
5.  If we try to work the betrayal out with our brother or sister and they refuse, I believe Matthew 10:14 applies when Jesus said “If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet.” Yes, sometimes the other person, like Judas, even filled with remorse continues a spiral of self-destruction rather than a restored relationship.

I asked my oldest son Mark to reflect on the subject of Judas’ betrayal and to read an early rough draft of this blog. I think his words serve as a fitting conclusion to this devotion. He wrote,

“I have given this quite a bit of thought. I cannot begin to think on how Jesus would have reacted, because I cannot wrap my mind around him knowing but still allowing all the events to take place. However, given the demonstration of the cross, I would say his immediate reaction would be forgiveness, and that he must have felt heartbroken. I find solace in knowing that he is a God of forgiveness. Surely, we all have betrayed him at one point or another. Although forgiveness is offered, it does not mean it was accepted. For me the fate of Judas remains unclear.”

Prayer: Lord, I have done wrong and often wounded and betrayed you. I am sorry for betraying you. Please forgive me. I ask that you cleanse me from all that cause me to betray you. I ask that you empower me with your spirit that I never betray you again. Likewise Lord, I pray for those who have betrayed my trust in them. I ask that you convict them that they might desire to renew our relationship, as you have so lovingly done for me. Enable me to be gracious and forgiving when they ask it of me, and work with them to restore the relationship. Strengthen me to be able to go forward when those who betray me refuse my efforts to seek reconciliation, and give me courage and strength to shake the dust of the relationship from my shoes and move on to others in need of what you have gifted me to share. Amen.

The Making of a Great Nation

The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”[Genesis 12:1-3]

In order to be a blessing to all people so that God can build a great nation, there are four specific traits that we must possess as individuals and shower upon others. In order to influence others, we must first treat them with dignity. Each man, woman, and child deserves to be treated with dignity because they are made in the image of God. Dignity has nothing to do with age, race, gender, etc.; it has to do with the image in which humans are created. It has to do with acknowledging that others possess a state of quality of being worthy of honor and respect.

Second, we are to be kind to others. Kindness is a trait we must learn to shower on others. Scripture clearly teaches us that we are to be kind to one another. Kindness is the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate. This is why our Lord taught us to help those in need, to give to the poor, and to be considerate to those of various ethnicities and cultures. We are polite, respectful, and gentle in how we deal with others.

We are to love others regardless of their lifestyle, ethnicity, or wrongs committed. In fact, as Christians we are to have a special kind of love called agape love. This means that no matter what the other person does to us, we want the very best for them. How can we forgive a person who has brought serious harm upon us? We forgive then because we want the best for them, and for us.

When we learn to treat others with dignity, kindness, and love, we will begin to respect them too. Respect means that you possess a sense of appreciation for someone or something elicited by the other person’s abilities, qualities, or achievements.

In order for America to be a great nation, we must each learn to treat each other with dignity, kindness, respect, and agape love. I am not sure any human can cause this to happen in another person, but I can attest to the reality that the Jesus that indwells us can!

Prayer: Lord Jesus, forgive me when I have failed to treat others with dignity, kindness, love, and respect. Patiently mold and guide me to be more like you. Help me to see all humanity with the dignity you have bestowed upon them. Help me to treat others with a kindness and respect that points others to you, and most of all, help me to love others as you have loved me. Amen.