Month: November 2024

We’ve spent the last month looking at the life of Jesus. We’re now going to spend the rest of the year looking at what happened next. It’s the birth of the Church. Jesus’ last words to his disciples were that he was leaving them, but the story was far from over. God was going to send the promised Holy Spirit to them, and this Spirit would continue God’s work inside each of them. This Spirit would form a unique and diverse community, and would use them to change the world.

Jesus told them to stay in Jerusalem and wait. So that’s what they did. It worked out that a lot of Jewish people had either stayed in Jerusalem, or were now back, as it was Pentecost. The Jewish people who were there were from all over. They spoke different languages and had different customs. But what brought them together was their allegiance to Yahweh.

On the morning of Pentecost something happened. There was a sound like the blowing of a violent wind, and there appeared to be tongues of fire that was resting on each one of them. Note that this description comes from Acts 2. I have no idea what this looked like. But it was wild. What happened next was even wilder. They began speaking in languages that they didn’t know, but those people who had traveled from far away lands recognized it as their languages.

Peter, who just weeks before had been such a wreck after not standing beside Jesus, felt like he should speak to those who were wondering what had happened. During the 40 days that Jesus was with them after his resurrection, Peter had been restored. He knew that Jesus loved him. He knew that Jesus had changed his life, and he desperately wanted to believe about himself what Jesus believed about him.

So he stood and he addressed the crowd. He let them know that they had not had too much to drink (some thought that was what was going on). No, this was fulfilling prophecy. God was sending his Spirit to continue the work that Jesus had begun. He told them that part of the plan of God was that Jesus would die an unjust death but then rise from the dead.

He invited them to repent and be baptized. Luke, who recorded all of this in the book of Acts, says that 3000 were added to their number that day.

What happens next is quite amazing. Some of those 3000 people were from Jerusalem, but most were not. They had come just for this festival, and they were planning on going back home soon. But most of them didn’t want to go now that they had experienced this.

Here’s how Luke describes their life together…

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes, and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God, and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
Acts 2:42-47

Before we continue with the story, I think it’s important to remember that Jesus had told his followers that he was going to die, but that he wasn’t going to stay dead (Matthew 16:21). But I don’t think it ever truly registered. The emotions in this current moment that they find themselves in are just too big, and they aren’t sure how to respond. After all, it wasn’t that many days ago that Jesus was ushered into Jerusalem as a coming king. And now, just like that, he’s been arrested, tried and executed as a criminal. It’s just too much.

The story picks up on Sunday morning. Mary Magdalene and a couple of other women go to the tomb in order to anoint Jesus’ body. It seems that everything had been moving so fast when he died that they didn’t get a chance to do this before Joseph of Arimathea had him placed in the tomb. But as they are on their way, they realize that there’s a big problem that they hadn’t thought about. There is a large stone in front of the tomb. How would they get inside?

But when the arrive, they find that the stone had been rolled away. They have no idea how that could have happened. So they go inside. But they don’t see a body. Instead, they see “a young man dressed in a white robe” (Mark 16:5). They are no doubt puzzled and scared. The young man says the following:

“You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will se him, just as he told you” (Matthew 16:6-7).

This does not alleviate their fears – they were now officially freaked out! They left the tomb in a hurry, but they did what they were told. They found Peter and John and told them what had happened. Peter and John run to the tomb to find an empty tomb.

Meanwhile, Mary Magdalene is at the empty tomb, all alone with her grief and shock. A man comes up to her and asks why she is crying. She thinks it’s the gardener. So she explains what has happened, and then man, who is actually Jesus, simply says her name. In that moment she realizes who he is, and she is overjoyed.

Word quickly gets back to the religious leaders that the tomb is empty. There’s no way they can allow rumors to spread that this man they’ve just killed, who might actually be the Messiah, has now come back to life. So they pay off the soldiers and tell them to say that the disciples stole the body.

Later that day the disciples were all together in a room, when suddenly Jesus was there. He said to them, “Peace be with you” (Luke 24:36). This didn’t bring them peace. They were scared out of their minds. They couldn’t believe what they were seeing. But it was really him!

Jesus spent the next 40 days with his friends. And then he took them up to a mountain. He was leaving them, but he wanted to commission them to continue on with the work that he had begun. His last instructions to them were to stay in Jerusalem (the one place they wanted to leave), and wait for the gift of the Holy Spirit. And then he ascended into heaven.

Jesus was led, along with two other criminals, to a place called Golgotha. It was known as the Skull. He was then nailed to a cross that he had had to carry on his back. On top of the cross was a sign that read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” The religious leaders didn’t like this, but Pilate didn’t care.

The crowd mocked him, saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God” (Matthew 27:40)! One of the criminals even mocked him. But the other knew that Jesus didn’t deserve this. He said to Jesus, “Remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

John was the only one of Jesus’ disciples who was there at the crucifixion. The rest had fled. But his mother Mary was there. And in Jesus’ time of need, he was more concerned about her well being and comfort. He said to John, “Here is your mother.”

After some time, Jesus said, “It is finished. Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” And with that he breathed his last breath and died. At that moment the earth shook, and the curtain in the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.

Joseph of Arimathea, a member of the Jewish Council, came to Pilate and asked for permission to bury Jesus in his family tomb. Pilate allowed it. Jesus’ body was prepared as was the custom, he was placed in the tomb, and a large stone was rolled in front to seal it.

Because there had been rumors that Jesus would rise from the dead, Pilate told the religious leaders the he would put a solider there to guard the tomb.

The Jewish leaders who want Jesus dead have the support they need from the religious community. But they have a problem. They lack the power to convict and carry out an execution. So they appeal to Pilate, who is the Roman governor over Judea, Samaria and Idumea. He is the only one with any power. The problem for them is that he has no issue with Jesus. We’re not even sure if he is aware who he is.

So the religious leaders have to get creative when they come to Pilate. They know Pilate won’t care about their real concern – that Jesus has blasphemed God. So they come up with another reason: “We have found this man subverting our nation. He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar and claims to be Messiah, a king” (Luke 23:2).

Pilate questions Jesus but finds no reason for him to be killed. Once he learns that Jesus is from Galilee, he summons Herod Antipas, who ruled that area and who was in Jerusalem for Passover. Herod was delighted to meet Jesus, hoping he would entertain him with some miracles. Jesus wasn’t there for that, so Herod quickly became bored and sent him back to Pilate.

Pilate questioned him again, and once again found that Jesus had done nothing that warranted death. And then he had an idea. Every year at Passover he would release a prisoner. He selected the worse prisoner he had, a man named Barabbas. Surely the crowd would prefer to have Jesus released over this truly evil man. But the religious leaders persuaded the crowd that this was not the right decision. They yelled out, “Release Barabbas to us!” Pilate then asked the crowd, “What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called the Messiah?”

The response: “Crucify him!”

This is the same crowd who only days earlier had welcomed Jesus as they would welcome a conquering king. And now they wanted him killed.

Pilate relented. He had Jesus stripped and beaten. The soldiers spit on him and mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews.” They made a crown of thorns and pushed it down upon his head.

Pilate then washed his hands of the mess and did what the Jewish leaders wanted. He sentenced Jesus to death.

A lot has happened in the last few hours. Jesus has shared a final meal with his friends. He’s then shared some of his most important final teachings them. And then he’s communed with his Father through prayer.

He now invites Peter, James and John to sit with him while he continues to pray. It’s such an honor to be invited into this time. He’s vulnerable with them, sharing that, “my soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death” (Mark 14:34). Jesus is determined to complete the task, but he’s scared. And he wants his friends to be with him.

He prays such an honest prayer to God: “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will but yours be done” (Luke 22:42). I admit that I don’t know for sure how to take this. I think it definitely shows his humanity though. When he finishes praying he looks over and sees that his three friends had fallen asleep. It says that they were exhausted from sorrow. It still hurts Jesus. He feels alone. This happens two more times.

At that moment Judas, along with a group of religious rulers and soldiers, entered the garden and approached Jesus. Judas came to Jesus and kissed him. This was the sign to the soldiers. They prepared to arrest him. Peter attacked, chopping off the ear of a soldier. Jesus immediately scolded Peter and healed the man.

And then Jesus was arrested. Over the next few hours he stood trial before various rulers. He was beaten over and over again. Peter was asked three times if he was a part of Jesus’ cohort. Three times he said no. The rooster crowed just as Jesus had said, and Peter wept. He was wrecked, but perhaps not as much as Judas was. His despair was so great that he committed suicide, leaving the thirty coins under where he hanged.

Jesus and his disciples (minus Judas) left the upper room and headed for the Mount of Olives. Here Jesus gives a powerful teaching to them that he has apparently waited on until this point. Here are some of my takeaways from his teaching.

I am the vine and you are the branches (John 15:1-8) – Jesus is reminding them that they were never meant to do life on their own. Life with God is the goal. He tells them, “If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

Love one another (John 15:9-17) – For the past three years Jesus has been modeling love for them. His love for people is rooted in the relationship he has with God. The same will be true for them. And then he gives them one last command: “Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13).

You’re not going to be alone (John 15:18-16:15) – Jesus is about to share something with them that will literally change the world. He tells them that after he is gone, the Father is going to send an Advocate for them – the Holy Spirit. And they are going to need this Advocate, because what Jesus is about to go through (persecution) is going to happen to them as well. But God will never leave them.

Jesus then leaves them to pray. He prays for himself (John 17:1-5). His prayer is that God would glorify him in God’s presence with the glory the two of them had before the world began. I don’t know what this means, but it sure sounds beautiful and powerful. He next prays for his disciples (John 17:6-19). He knows that they have no idea what is about to happen. He asks that God will protect them by the power of God’s name, and he asks that they will be one as they are one. Finally, he prays for the followers who will come after he is gone (John 17:20-26). His prayer is that we would be one as he and God were one. The prayer is once again for unity and oneness. He acknowledges that when we are brought to complete unity, “then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me” (John 17:23).

Today’s passage tells the story of Jesus’ last few hours in an upper room with his disciples. It begins with Jesus initiating a ritual that is repeated in churches worldwide even today. He takes break, breaks it, and shares it with them, telling them that when they break the bread together, they are remembering what he is about to do. He then take the cup of wine and says that it signifies his blood that is about to be shed. Once again, when they drink it they are reminded of his sacrifice.

The disciples then do the unthinkable. They once again begin to argue about the roles that they will play in the coming kingdom. Rather than yell at them, which I would have likely done, Jesus models humility for them. He washed his disciples’ feet, something a rabbi wouldn’t normally do for his disciples.

Jesus then calls out Judas. He identifies him as the one who will betray him, and then he tells Judas to leave and do what he’s planning.

Finally, Peter, inspired by the acts of Jesus and frustrated by the response of Judas, decides to let Jesus know how committed he is. He tells Jesus that he is ready to go to prison or even to death with Jesus.

Jesus pauses, and then says, “I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you even know me” (Luke 22:34).

Peter thinks there’s no way this could ever be the case, but a lot is going to change in the coming hours.

I mentioned earlier that the religious leaders were nervous about arresting Jesus during the festival surrounding Passover. Now they’re two days away from the actual day (Matthew 26:1-2), and they know it can’t happen then. But they also know that this might be their best opportunity yet. They have continued to rally support to their cause. This now includes Caiphas, the high priest. And now something even better has happened.

Judas, one of Jesus’ own disciples, has come forward and offered, for a price, to lead Jesus right into their hands. What was the price? Thirty pieces of silver.

We don’t know much about Judas. He was invited by Jesus to “come and follow me” just as he had many others. And then he was invited into the inner core of 12. I imagine that he, like the other disciples, had very different ideas of what the Messiah would, and like the others, Jesus had not met many of those expectations, especially as he continued to talk about death.

Peter had been the most outspoken when talking about Jesus not measuring up to his expectations. But at some point he came to the conclusion that he was going to need to give up these expectations and surrender to Jesus’ plan. It seems that Judas was never able to do this.

It was challenging knowing what to write about in today’s passages. They’re all about Jesus’ last bit of teaching on the signs that were to come. They’re all very apocalyptic, and they’ve in my opinion been used as the foundation for some very warped beliefs. They’re some of the passages that I often skim over, but I guess today I get the opportunity to interact with them (yay!).

I will admit on the front end that I don’t know exactly what Jesus is talking about here. He begins by talking about the destruction of the temple, which means SO much to God’s people. It’s been destroyed before, and the one that is there now is a shadow of its former self. But still, it’s theirs. And Jesus says that one day it will be destroyed. That actually happens a little less than 40 years from this point.

Others believe that Jesus is talking about when he will come again. The disciples still aren’t at the point of accepting the fact that Jesus is about to die. They have no idea that Jesus will rise from the dead, and so therefore there’s absolutely no context for coming again at some point in the future. So I don’t know if that’s what he’s talking about or not.

The churches I grew up in believed that Jesus could come back at any moment, and if you weren’t ready, you were in trouble. What did it mean to be ready? It meant that you had confessed your sins and asked Jesus to save you. But how could you know if you were truly sincere in that moment? Fear was a tactic that was used quite often, and as a teenager who eagerly wanted to follow Jesus, and was also scared of burning in hell for eternity, there were times when I doubted if I had been sincere. Re-dedications/commitments were a big thing during those years. You had to make sure you were truly saved.

This is not something I think about too often, but it’s baggage nonetheless. And I don’t believe Jesus had all of this in mind when he said these words. I’m really glad to have moved beyond this period in my life. But the questions are still there. I don’t want to dismiss the passages completely due to the baggage and the way they’ve been used to cause more harm than good (which I absolutely believe). So I continue to wrestle with them.

At the end of the day, I believe that Jesus wanted his followers to live their lives with no regrets. He wanted them to choose faithfulness, wisdom and righteousness everyday. He knew there would be days where that wasn’t the case. They would make mistakes. They would chose themselves over others. They would choose their way over God’s. But they could choose to rethink and come back go God’s way of living. This is grace.

It’s now Tuesday. Jesus is still in Jerusalem, and it seems that he spends his entire day talking with and about the religious leaders. They are still trying to figure out a way to have him arrested, tried and killed. Remember that they believe that he is a threat to their entire religion and he must be stopped by any means necessary. They don’t like the timing of Passover because they know that the people like Jesus, and they are worried about a riot. But they can’t allow this to continue.

These interactions between Jesus and the religious leaders show the wisdom and overall cunning intelligence of Jesus. He once again tells lots of stories. One of those stories goes like this.

There was a man who had two sons. He told them both to go and work in his vineyard. The first said no, but then he went and did it anyway. The second said yes, but then he didn’t go. Jesus’ question to them was, “Which of the two did what his father wanted?” The answer was obvious. It was the first. Jesus then said, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him” (Matthew 21:31-32).

What was Jesus getting at? To an ordinary Jewish person, the religious leaders were the ones closest to God. They had degrees. They knew the laws. They talked about God everyday. And the tax collectors and prostitutes were the sinners. They had no shot with God because of their chosen professions. Yet once again Jesus was flipping the script. Those who once had no shot were now ahead of things when it came to entering the kingdom of God.

Why is that? Well, I think it comes down to humility. You can’t have repentance without humility. The tax collectors and prostitutes were never told by the religious leaders that they had a shot with God. John the Baptist gave them that invitation. So too did Jesus. And for many of them, their lives were changed because of that invitation. The religious leaders on the outside looked like the ones closest to God, but their hearts were far from him because they lacked humility. And they were fine simply appearing like good people.