Empty tomb

John 17.26 — 25 “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 26 I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”

It is such a let down to rise from the dead and have your friends not recognize you. The writer John tells us that Mary saw Jesus after his resurrection but did not realise it was Jesus. Jesus asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” “Thinking he was the gardener, she said . . .” I love that line “thinking he was the gardener.” It is so loaded.

Jewish writers like John did things like this all the time in their writings. They record what seem to be random details, yet in these details we find all sorts of multiple layers of meaning. There are even methods to help decipher all the hid- den meanings in a text. One is called the principle of first mention. Whenever you come across a significant word in a passage, find out where this word first appears in the Bible. John does this in his gospel. The first mention of the word love is in 3:16—“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son.” We then discover that love is first men- tioned in Genesis 22 when God tells Abraham to take “your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love” and offer him as a sacrifice. John is doing something intentional in his gospel: He wants his readers to see a connection between Abra- ham and his son, and God and God’s son. John’s readers who knew the Torah would have seen the parallels right away.

Back to the empty tomb and Mary’s inability to recognize Jesus. She mistakes him for a gardener. Where is the first mention of a garden in the Bible? Genesis 2, the story of God placing the first people in a . . . garden. And what happens to this garden and these people? They choose to live outside of how God made them to live, and they lose their place in the garden. Death enters the picture and paradise is lost. John tells us that Jesus is buried in a garden tomb. And Jesus is mistaken for a gardener. Something else is going on here. John wants us to see a connection between the garden of Eden and Jesus rising from the dead in a garden. There is a new Adam on the scene, and he is reversing the curse of death by conquering it. As one writer put it, “It was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.” And he’s doing it in a garden. He’s reclaiming creation. He’s entering into it and restoring it and renewing God’s plans for the world. Jesus is God’s way of refusing to give up on his dream for the world.

Stop and breathe.
Thankyou, gracious Father, that through the death an+d resurrection of your Son Jesus, you have fulfilled your plan to save the whole world.

Silence

John 17.26 — 25 “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 26 I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”

There is something of an echo to the Genesis story here, for just as the Father rested after the work of creation had been complete, so here we see a Father resting in Christ, silent, in the tomb. There is a pause which is filled with the expectation of the dawning of new life of resurrection Sunday but just now, there is silence.

What Jesus accomplished on the cross was something far more significant than simply on Good Friday. Rather, the im- pact and trajectory of the cross would resonate with the whole of creation. By this, the whole world would know that the death of Jesus defeated the evil that is in the world.

Again, as the mediator and Great High Priest, Jesus prays for those who one day, will join the band of the disciples, in years, decades and centuries to come. Consider how the disciples may have reacted at this point, probably confused and somewhat disturbed. That sense of hearing something you just don’t understand yet it doesn't feel comfortable.

But he prays something incredibly significant for us as a church, that we would be one. In the silence of Saturday pray for believers across Teesside. That we might be one as our God is one. Think about one of the other churches in Mid- dlesbrough and pray God’s richest blessing upon them.

Stop and breathe.

Father, may all your people be one, as you through the prayer of Jesus resounded so clearly. Help me be a blessing to other believers around our town. Show us, as MCC, what we can do to fulfil this part of your prayer.

Friday...Jesus prays for his disciples

John 17.6-19 — 6 “I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. 7 Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. 8 For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. 9 I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. 10 All I have is yours, and all you
have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. 11 I will remain in the world no longer, but
they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your
name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.

13 “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. 14 I have given them your word and the world has hat- ed them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. 19 For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.

In the midst of our reflections and thoughts about this solemn day, we find ourselves in the middle of Je- sus’ prayer for his disciples. The prayer he prayed before he was arrested and killed.

Jesus prayed that he would be glorified, in that, through the crucifixion, God would fully reveal himself as the One true God, the lover of Israel and the world. Even in this incredibly intense and emotional moment , Jesus’ thoughts turn towards his disciples, the ones whom the Father had given him as
their mediator, he stands in the gap prays for their sanctification. This Hebrew word points towards

a consecration, where a person is made holy by God. Through the cross and in His own body, Jesus took upon himself the shame, failings, sin and agony of all people, in order that they might know healing and ultimately embody the love of God.

It is out of that desire that he prays for his people, those who earlier, sat around the table, the names we know and those we do not know the names of—but people who had seen a glimpse of the God in Him and chose to trust him with all their life.

In our sanctification, we are placing our lives in God’s hands, for his use, his glory and his mission. In the words of Mary, ‘Let it be to me, according to your word.’

Stop and breathe.

Lord Jesus, be with us as a church as we watch and wait on this solemn day. You loved us until there was no breath left in your body, may we also be faithful to you and because of what you have done through the cross, may we be consecrated for your service.

Return
Matthew 6.33 — 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to

you as well.

The remaking of this world is why Jesus’s first messages began with “T’shuva, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” The Hebrew word t’shuva means “to return.” Return to the people we were originally created to be. The people God is re- making us into. God makes us in his image. We reflect the beauty and creativity and wonder of the God who made us.
And Jesus calls us to return to our true selves.

The pure, whole people God originally intended us to be, before we veered off course. Somewhere in you is the you whom you were made to be. We need you to be you. We don’t need a second anybody. We need the first you. The problem is that the image of God is deeply scarred in each of us, and we lose trust in God’s version of our story. It seems too good to be true. And so we go searching for identity. We achieve and we push and we perform and we shop and we work out and we accomplish great things, longing to repair the image. Longing to find an identity that feels right. Longing to be comfortable in our own skin. But the thing we are searching for is not somewhere else.

It is right here.

And we can only find it when we give up the search, when we surrender, when we trust. Trust that God is already putting us back together. Trust that through dying to the old, the new can give birth. Trust that Jesus can repair the scarred and broken image. It is trusting that I am loved. That, I always have been. That, I always will be. I don’t have to do anything. I don’t have to prove anything or achieve anything or accomplish one more thing.

That exactly as I am, I am totally accepted, forgiven, and there is nothing I could ever do to lose this acceptance. God knew exactly what he was doing when he made you. There are no accidents. We need you to embrace your true identi- ty, who you are in Christ, letting this new awareness transform your life. That is what Jesus has in mind. That is what brings heaven to earth.

Stop and breathe.
Today, O lord, I choose to return back to you. I choose you—your ways, your thoughts, your deeds. Please fill us with your love and peace so that we might be a blessing to others.

A renewed vision
Matthew 6.33 — 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to

you as well.

On another occasion, Jesus is asked to mediate in a monetary dispute between two brothers. Jesus uses the moment to tell a story about a man whose crops do well and who becomes rich. He then decides not to share the bounty but to build
bigger barns for storage and then take it easy for the rest of his days.

Jesus told this story at a time when many of his countrymen were losing family land and having trouble feeding their families. Being hungry was a very real issue for a lot of people. In the story, God is so offended by the man’s selfish ac- tions that his very life is taken from him that night.

It is one of the only places in all of Jesus’s teachings where someone does something so horrible in Jesus’s eyes that they deserve to die right away. And what is this horrible thing the man did? He refused to be generous. He brought hell to earth. Jesus wants his followers to bring heaven, not hell, to earth. This has been God’s intention for people since the beginning. Jesus is not teaching anything new for his day.

God walked in the garden, looking for Adam and Eve. God told the Israelites to build a tabernacle so he could live in their midst. King Solomon built a temple, God’s house, so God could live permanently among his people. And when Jesus comes, he’s referred to as God “taking on flesh and dwelling among us.” Another translation of this verse is, “The word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighbourhood.” The entire movement of the Bible is of a God who wants to be here, with his people.

True spirituality then is not about escaping this world to some other place where we will be forever. A Christian is not someone who expects to spend forever in heaven there. A Christian is someone who anticipates spending forever here, in a new heaven that comes to earth. The goal isn’t escaping this world but making this world the kind of place God can come to. The outworking of our salvation is that God is remaking us into the kind of people who can do this kind of work.

Stop and breathe.
Father God, may we be a people who embrace your h+eart and vision for this earth. Help us be fit for service and have a heart that beats like yours.

A new reality
John 3.16 —16 For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him

shall not perish but have eternal life.

Jesus tells a parable about a young son who leaves home, hits rock bottom, and returns in shame. His father sees him from far off, runs to him, embraces him, and announces a party in honour of his return. In this story, God is the God who stands
in the driveway, waiting for his kids to come home. So the party starts and everybody is celebrating, and the older
brother comes in from the field mad. He wants to know why his brother gets a party and he doesn’t. The parable ends

with the father telling the older son, “You are always with me, and everything I have is yours.”

The father wants the older son to know that everything he wants he has always had; there is nothing he could ever do to earn it. The elder son’s problem isn’t that he doesn’t have anything; it’s that he has had it all along but refused to trust that it was really true. We cannot earn what we have always had. What we can do is trust that what God keeps insisting is true about us is actually true.

Let’s take this further.

As one writer puts it, “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” While we were unable to do anything about our condition, while we were helpless, while we were unaware of just how bad the situation was, Jesus died. And when Jesus died on the cross, he died for everybody. Everybody. Everywhere. Every tribe, every nation, every tongue, every people group.

Jesus said that when he was lifted up, he would draw all people to himself. All people. Everywhere. Everybody’s sins on the cross with Jesus. So this reality, this forgiveness, this reconciliation, is true for everybody. Paul insisted that when Jesus died on the cross, he was reconciling “all things, in heaven and on earth, to God.” All things, everywhere. This reality then isn’t something we make true about ourselves by doing something. It is already true. Our choice is to live in this new reality or cling to a reality of our own making.

Stop and breathe.
Loving Father, your arms are open wide, ready to rec+eive us, ready to embrace us, ready to forgive and renew us. May we live in this new reality.

Palm branches

John 15.18-19 —18 If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.

It would appear that Palm Sunday was a roaring success for Jesus. Probably at this time, more than any other, the crowds were pouring adulation upon Jesus—waving their palm branches, laying cloaks as though a conquering hero was returning from a great battle. And yet, the great paradox was that he was not riding in victory but riding in broken- ness, he wasn’t riding proclaiming victory but riding to his sacrificial offering.

Over the next week, the adulating crowds would slowly dissipate and the few loyal would remain.

Sometimes when we consider the mission of God through the life and person of Jesus it is heart breaking. After all, He came to His own, but His own rejected Him. He was visible in the world, yet the world did not recognise Him. Jesus was painfully aware that if His disciples were to take up the Jesus way and embody His ministry through their own lives there would be opposition and persecution. No wonder Jesus declared that if the world hates us, remember the world hated him first.

As followers of Jesus we are called not simply to be nice people, but to challenge the structures that set themselves up against the purposes of God. Followers of Jesus can not simply turn a blind eye, or indeed be complicit in ethics, busi- ness, decisions, vision that opposes the kingdom of God. We need to be an active ingredient in the renewal of this earth. This means that in our schools, colleges, universities, work places and in our homes, the decisions, influence, and actions need to be in the pursuit of the kingdom of God. We need to understand it will not be an easy walk. There will be times when we are misunderstood and mis quoted. In essence our love, though it sounds paradoxical, is a confronta- tional love, a love that pursues God’s best for our world.

Stop and breathe.
Loving God, we need your help and we need your grace to be evident in the areas of influence I

am in. Lord God, bless our families, our communities and our work places.

A new destiny
Colossians 3.16 —“Let us live up to what we have already attained.”

Read these words from the letter to the Philippians: “Let us live up to what we have already attained.” God has declared who we are in His eyes. And we are learning to live like it is true. Essentially, it is letting what God says about us shape what we believe about ourselves. This is why shame has no place in the Christian experience. It is simply against all that Jesus is
for.

This is repeated by the writer of Romans who states, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

None. No shame. No list of what is being held against us. No record of wrongs.

God is not interested in shaming people; God wants people to see who they really are. “Let us live up to what we have already attained.” You are not who you were. Old person going away, new person here, now.

Reborn, rebirthed, remade, reconciled, renewed. Jesus put it this way: “You are in me and I am in you.” So when the first Christians went all over the Roman Empire telling people the Jesus message, they spent most of their time explain- ing who people are from God’s perspective. Who we already are. They insisted that people can live a new life, counting ourselves “dead to sin but alive to God.”

Jesus said that as this new reality takes over our hearts and lives and minds and actions, we are crossing over “from death to life.” He called this new kind of life “eternal life.” For Jesus, eternal life wasn’t a state of being for the future that we would enter into somewhere else; it is a quality of life that starts now

Stop and breathe.

God help me understand what it means to live in eternity now, not when I die. Today I choose to live the kind of life through your eyes. May I choose each day to be dead to sin and alive in Christ.