We lay intertwined embraced in warmth flowing from fingertips to toe. Our paradise shattered as I awoke to a loud knock on the door…
We will return to my reaction to this awakening later, but for now we must leave the security of our dreams to a new reality of this prison of our solitary confinement.
Separation
COVID – 19 – – & other causes
What happened to the security of our past?
WHYa ‘new normal?’
(It’s not really normal, is it?)
We often feel like the man in prison wondering how he got there and missing his freedom of being with others.
Look into the soul of the one locked up – – – in a prison away from everyone — even in solitary confinement — to keep him safe — from other prisoners – – – to keep others – – safe from his own threatening condition.
This new reality is not like when we were back home in paradise – – home – – – with those who loved us – – – not like when our security became LIFE – – | | | – behind these confining bars – – | | | with a window looking out – – to a world virtually separated | | | from my lone soul…
We MUST get back HOME – – – – – – – for this is not our home.
..you will become like God, knowing good and evil.” – – –
The TREE was desirable to the eyes, | | | but it was the one place the LORD GOD commanded adam not to go.
Cursed is the ground because of you; With hard labor you shall eat from it All the days of your life. – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – By the sweat of your face You shall eat bread, Until you return to the ground,
So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden,
and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.
Genesis 3:24 NASB
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.
Jesus, Son of the Father, the Son of ‘adam – The Good News of John 14:
SOLITARY CONFINEMENT in the world outside the Good Garden – – – an eternal place to which the Son of ‘adam invites those banished and condemned to DEATH . . . to return to the Lord our God and Savior.
Separated from walking in Personal relationship with THE LORD GOD . . .
Therefore we pray:
.. and forgive us our sins,
as we have forgiven those who sin against us…
And don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one.
‘HE IS RISEN, INDEED,’ goes a traditional response.
Christ Born & Witnessed, Crucified, Risen, Ascended..
If you haven’t been following this series you will likely ask, “Why is he talking of Easter during this Advent season of Christmas in the year of our Lord, 2020?”
My dear brother or sister in Christ,
Allow me to ask you a question:
Do you talk of Jesus OR ‘christmas’?
Christians and non-Christians alike will focus on the ‘.COMmercial‘ obligations of this ‘holiday’ season so much more than the CHRIST of ‘christmas.’ And in fact, (in case you haven’t heard) Jesus, Emmanuelor God With Us was most likely NOT born DECEMBER 25.
(Forget the ‘.com‘ technical choice of my Christian Social Witness – talkofJesus.com for my personal & shared talk of Jesus Christ.)
Has Christmas not become MORE important than EASTER in the witness of the 21st c. Church?
How like the world we have become.
Many 21st c. ‘christians’ also witness the risen JESUS of the resurrection, celebrated by eggs and bunnies impersonalized and separated from the Person of God, without witness of the Person symbolized, He who died for sinners and defeated death!
Yes, JESUS IS born as a man-child like no other. Yet our witness must remember the shadow of the Cross on a newborn’s manger and the glory and hope through CHRIST’s resurrection.
Continuing Witness to Jesus’ Resurrection!
Our journey through Scripture in this year of our Lord 2020, continues in the Good News of John. We have just begun to revisit the personal witness of many who testify to the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
As a reminder to contemporary readers of John’s Gospel:
Jesus was crucified around the year AD 30
John writes his Gospel to the churches in about AD 85
Some who witnessed the risen Jesus fifty years earlier still lived!
As we continue in John’s Good News and Mary’s announcement of Jesus’ resurrection, we begin to hear his Gospel through the ears of others. See Jesus with their eyes and experience the risen Christ through their personal touch and interaction with the risen Lord Jesus.
Mary Magdalene came and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and that He had said these things to her.
John 20:18 NASB
What command had the risen Lord given Mary?
“..go to My brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.’”
John and Simon Peter have already run to the empty tomb where the crucified Body of Jesus had been placed prior to celebration of the feast of the Passover and observing of the Sabbath. Then they returned not yet having seen the Lord.
It had been morning when the womenhad first seen the empty tombbefore summoning John and Peter.
19 Now when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week..
.. and when the doors were shut where the disciples were together due to fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst, and said to them, “Peace be to you.”
20 Having said this, he showed them his hands and his side.
So the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
(Not Twelve, but the Eleven – one)
We mentioned previously that Judas Iscariot, Jesus’ betrayer has hanged himself. John will mention shortly that Thomas also is not present.
And just one additional reminder:
the eleven Disciples, Jesus and His family are all Jews.
Though their common language is Greek or locally Arabic,
the Complete Jewish Bible [CJB] (used here occasionally) gives flavor of Jesus as the Messiah of Israel.
21 “Shalom aleikhem!” Yeshua repeated.
“Just as the Father sent me, I myself am also sending you.”
22 Having said this, he breathed on them and said to them,
“Receive the Ruach HaKodesh!
The Holy Spirit & Forgiven Sins
“Receive ye the Holy Ghost,” translates the King James and most versions read, “the Holy Spirit.”
What follows should sound familiar if you have followed the great commission of Jesus to the Twelve Disciples given earlier in His earthly ministry and all returned to Jesus amazed.
23 If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.”
What an astounding authority Jesus has given to the Apostles through the Holy Spirit!
Many Jewish disciples will know it well from the Psalms of David. Gentile Christians to whom John now also witnesses may know it from Paul’s letter [ca. AD 56.] to the Romans [4:7].
The Lord has instructed His Disciples on how they must judge their fellow saints and others with unfailing grace and mercy in His Name, especially forgiving those who also follow Jesus as their Lord and their God.
Ministry of the Twelve (then Eleven)
Eleven now and again Twelve Apostles after Mathias replaces Judas Iscariot
Although John reveals much of the Holy Spirit, he does not reiterate what is already well known of the ministry of the Twelve prior to Jesus’ Crucifixion and Resurrection. (Remember John writes this decades later to his beloved fellow saints of the church.)
Jesus had previously given the Twelve a taste of this awesome power over sin in the lives of others.
Some eight days after these sayings, He took along Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. And while He was praying, the appearance of His face became different, and His clothing became white and gleaming.
Luke 9:28-29
Most of the following is also witnessed in Luke's Gospel Chapter 9:
Jesus summoned His twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.
Now the names of the twelve apostles are these:
The first, Simon, who is called Peter,
and Andrew his brother;
and James the son of Zebedee,
and John his brother;
Philip
and Bartholomew [son of Talmai];
Thomas [not present for Jesus’ first appearance]
and Matthew the tax collector;
James the son of Alphaeus,
and Thaddaeus;
Simon the Zealot,
and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed Him [who hanged himself].
Matthew 10:5 continues:
These twelve Jesus sent out after instructing them:
“Do not go in the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter any city of the Samaritans; but rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
(Of course Christ commissioned these to go to all of these after His resurrection.)
“And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’
It is Jesus’ urgent appeal to the Jews through the Twelve – Matthew 10:7 NASB
7 As you go, proclaim, ‘The Kingdom of Heaven is near,’ 8 heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those afflicted with tzara’at, expel demons…
12 When you enter someone’s household, say, ‘Shalom aleikhem!’ If the home deserves it, let your shalom rest on it; if not, let your shalom return to you. But if the people of a house or town will not welcome you or listen to you, leave it and shake its dust from your feet!
Yes, I tell you, it will be more tolerable on the Day of Judgment for the people of S’dom and ‘Amora than for that town!
16 “Pay attention! I am sending you out like sheep among wolves, so be as prudent as snakes and as harmless as doves.
Be on guard, for there will be people who will hand you over to the local Sanhedrins and flog you in their synagogues. On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as a testimony to them and to the Goyim.
19 But when they bring you to trial, do not worry about what to say or how to say it; when the time comes, you will be given what you should say. For it will not be just you speaking, but the Spirit of your heavenly Father speaking through you.
Therefore when Jesus appears in Person to the eleven Apostles after His resurrection from the grave, He had already taught them what He is about to say.
If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them;
if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
John 20:23 CSB – Jesus’ authority given to the Apostles through the Holy Spirit
Next:
John is not making a list of miracles so that the Eleven (who will soon add Mathias as replacement to Judas Iscariot) can convince their first century A.D. followers that Christ IS Risen indeed!
You will find many of these miracles of the Holy Spirit witnessed in the Acts of the Apostles.
(Again, when John wrote his Gospel these had already taken place.)
If you have been following John’s Gospel closely you may have noticed my intentional oversight of some detail about the Disciples. Thomas, who was not present with the other eleven will appears next [vs. 24-29].
We will begin with Thomas next time.
Also, John has much more to say about Peter and we will once again want to add more detail about other Apostles and especially John.
30 Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book.
It’s a familiar scene — loved ones mourning their loss in silence once the dead body can no longer be embraced by eyes or arms.
All that remains are our fleeting memories of a life which has passed into lifeless dust. I have been there. Likely you have as well.
It happens that the Beloved Body laid to rest previously is Jesus Christ.
Perhaps you missed these mourners outside the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea where the remains of Jesus were sealed. In our own grief we lament how such a public spectacle of Jesus’ Crucifixion on a Roman Cross could have been inflicted on the Son of God.
After a brief time of carrying His pierced body from the Cross, Joseph and the others must wait until the completion of the Passover feast and until the day after the Sabbath to return and dutifully complete their burial task.
We noted several witnesses to Jesus’ crucifixion previously in It is finished.. + Death’s witnesses. John does not list everyone nor does the Apostle include some additional events.
John has not mentioned Judas Iscariot since his betrayal of the Lord in Gethsemane. Yet Matthew’s Gospel reveals the death of Jesus’ betrayer, the 30 pieces of silver purchasing the field of blood and how it fulfills prophesy.
3 When Y’hudah, who had betrayed him, saw that Yeshua had been condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty silver coins to the head cohanim and elders..
“I sinned in betraying an innocent man to death.”
the confession of Judas Iscariot – Matthew 27:4 HNV
5 Hurling the pieces of silver into the sanctuary, he left; then he went off and hanged himself.
From Crucifixion until Christ’s Resurrection
Before we proceed to John’s witness of Christ’s Resurrection, let’s linger just one more day to note events and witnesses beyond the tomb where Jesus’ body lay.
59 And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, And laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed.
61 And there was Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, sitting over against the sepulchre.
What a sorrowful scene…
And Matthew records:
62 Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate..
64 Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day..
65 Pilate said to them, “You have a guard; go, make it as secure as you know how.” And they went and made the tomb secure with the guard, sealing the stone.
And a man named Joseph, who was a member of the Council, a good and righteous man (he had not consented to their plan and action), a man from Arimathea, a city of the Jews, who was waiting for the kingdom of God; this man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.
And he took it down and wrapped it in a linen cloth, and laid Him in a tomb cut into the rock, where no one had ever lain. It was the preparation day, and the Sabbath was about to begin.
Now the women who had come with Him out of Galilee followed, and saw the tomb and how His body was laid. Then they returned and prepared spices and perfumes.
(Note the brief amount of time these women John names had to see the tomb, return with spices and just begin the wrapping of Jesus’ slain body.)
Luke tells us (Luke 23:56b) why they had to leave Jesus’ body until later.
And on the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.
But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared.
Luke 24:1 NASB
The Apostle Matthew tells how Joseph wrapped Jesus’ crucified body in a clean line cloth and laid the Lord in a place he had prepared for his own death.
Then Matthew tells us (27:60b NASB):
and he rolled a large stone against the entrance of the tomb and went away.
Matthew, the Disciple of Jesus also records the sad scene of silent mourning, where Joseph must have recalled these two women who lingered there.
61 And there was Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, sitting over against the sepulchre.
Joseph rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulcher, and departed.
To be continued..
.. at dawn the first day of the week ...
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