It’s a long list of higher standards to which we should hold the leaders of our church. I do not even qualify.
Do you? How about your church leaders? Does your pastor qualify continually?
Whether hatched before all as a Preacher’s Kid (P.K.) or thrown into the bowl of belief as one called to Christ, the world looks on ‘christians’ with high expectations of our faith and witness.
In deed and in witness we are like: Preacher’s Kids, Elder’s Kids, Deacon’s Kids.
Christ Born & Witnessed, Crucified, Risen, Ascended..
It’s really easy to hear someone’s story of a baby born in a manger during the census of Augustus Caesar.
The Babe in a manger (and His mother) have become our iconic emojis of virtue.
Roger Harned – talkofJesus.com– on Christmas traditions replacing the significance of Christ’s Resurrection
The Witness of Thomas
Imagine what Thomas must have pondered before he saw Jesus once more..
His miracles were authentic. He was a man like us, yet so unlike us.
We discovered many times that the Lord Jesus was more than any man we had ever met, even John the Baptist..
Like when He calmed the raging Sea of Tiberius, fed thousands and especially when Jesus healed the sick and even raising some like Lazarus just recently from the grave.
But we witnessed also the defeat of Israel’s Messiah, our only hope — His rejection by our own Jewish leaders and Rome’s cruel sentence of His death on a cross, mocking our Rabbi as “Jesus, the King of the Jews.”
I wasn’t close for His execution, for I was afraid like all the others; but Jesus is certainly dead as any other nailed to a Roman Cross.
This is the witness of Jews who had hoped that Jesus would restore the Kingdom of Israel.
(Translations incl. Complete Jewish Bible)
All of the Twelve were born as Jews, as was the Lord Jesus (Yeshua).
24 Now T’oma [Didymus in common Greek] (the name means “twin”), one of the Twelve, was not with them when Yeshua came.
When the other talmidim [disciples] told him,
“We have seen the Lord,”
he replied, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands, put my finger into the place where the nails were and put my hand into his side,
I refuse to believe it.”
Believe it .. or not
Well there it is: Like what happens so frequently, someone else tells us about the biggest event ever in their lives.. AND we missed it. Just like Thomas, we weren’t there.
I either don’t believe them, pause with the uncertainty of doubt .. OR maybe I find it beyond belief that the Lord did not also choose ME to be part of such a life-changing moment.
Perhaps you and I are not so unlike ‘doubting Thomas’ as we would like to believe.
A timely note about time:
Even though we've slowed the actual timeline of events between Jesus raising Lazarus and His own Resurrection,I will not delay John's Gospel an additional weekto reflect real time. RH
26 Eight days later His disciples were again inside, and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst..
Although the doors were locked, Yeshua came, stood among them and said, “Shalom aleikhem!”
27 Then he said to T’oma, “Put your finger here, look at my hands, take your hand and put it into my side. Don’t be lacking in trust, but have trust!”
Witnessed Crucified; Witnessed Risen
Thomas finally experiences the risen Christ Jesus the slain Messiah of Israel the same as the other Apostles and the women who saw Him first.
Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.”
John 20:27 NKJV
28 Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!”
Depicting Christ Crucified and Jesus Risen to Life!
The scene of Thomas witnessing the wounds of the Risen Messiah, Jesus, their friend and their Teacher is beyond illustration.
John must have recalled Jesus’ similar approach to Martha just before the Lord raised her brother Lazarus to life.
“I am the resurrection and the life,” Jesus had asked the bereaved sister of Lazarus. “Do you believe this?”
John 11:25-26 excerpt with context
Martha and Mary had mourned the death of their brother.
Mary the mother of Jesus also mourned helplessly. She could not save Him from suffering as she sorrowfully watched His death on a Cross nearby.
Faithful painters of the Renaissance could neither paint nor sculpt the horror of the Lord Jesus’s wounds.
Our focus draws to the hearts of the living rather than to the Redeemer of our lives.
Believe by faith
29 Jesus said [to Thomas, with all the Disciples present], “Because you have seen me, you have believed.
Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.”
By their witness and that of many others who had seen the risen Christ Jesus, many came to believe by the time John writes his Gospel, even many who would take up their cross to follow Him. These too the Apostle John would witness.
30 So then, many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that by believing you may have life in His name.
To be continued...
Next: We will return briefly to further witness of the Eleven near the conclusion of John's Gospel.
‘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.
