Wait...What?

 

 

Wednesday, April 20, 2022

But very early on Sunday morning the women went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared.  They found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance.  So they went in, but they didn’t find the body of the Lord Jesus.  As they stood there puzzled, two men suddenly appeared to them, clothed in dazzling robes.  The women were terrified and bowed with their faces to the ground.  Then the men asked, “Why are you looking among the dead for someone who is alive?  He isn’t here!  He is risen from the dead!  Remember what he told you back in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be betrayed into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and that he would rise again on the third day.”  Then they remembered that he had said this.  So they rushed back from the tomb to tell his eleven disciples—and everyone else—what had happened.  It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and several other women who told the apostles what had happened.   But the story sounded like nonsense to the men, so they didn’t believe it.  However, Peter jumped up and ran to the tomb to look.  Stooping, he peered in and saw the empty linen wrappings; then he went home again, wondering what had happened.  

Luke 24:1-12

Peter had a front row seat to seeing five thousand fed with a boy’s lunch, healings by the truckload, a meeting with long dead prophets Moses and Elijah, and being witness to Lazarus (still wrapped in a death shroud) walking out of a tomb that’d been sealed for four days.  And with all that evidence, the forewarning from Jesus, and the announcement of angels of resurrection, he still went home from the tomb scratching his head in disbelief!  Peter…you gotta love him!

Peter had the Wait….What? syndrome.  It’s what happens when your brain is on vacation and something wonderful happens…and you’ve brain-slept through it all.  Suddenly there is a grand, beautiful, life-changing reality filling your eyes, heart, and soul, and you just can’t get your mind around it…and you go home wondering what in the world just happened.  That was Peter, energetic, enthusiastic, ready to leap over tall buildings or fight an army of soldiers singlehandedly, and often devoid of the ability to connect the dots. 

The dots, in this unique event in human history, were the virgin birth, sinless life, miracles-abounding, prophecy-fulfilling, laughing, loving, dead-man-raising joy of Jesus, the Christ.  But for Peter, Friday afternoon through Sunday morning were nothing but grief, despair, and agony on me.  Peter, the one who could blurt-out the truth, You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God ^{(Matthew 16:16)} heard the women spout (what he thought was) “nonsense” – but went to the grave anyway, saw nothing, left the unoccupied tomb and discarded graveclothes, to go home wondering…Wait….WHAT?

Fast-forward to your life.  And mine.  Can we possibly be as obtuse and brain-detached as Peter?  I can, and have been…often. (Just ask anyone who knows me well).  Has someone ever dropped a big gift in your hand…and you wonder instead of hugging that neck?  Did you ever find something long-lost and begin to take credit for your good sense to look there?  Have you ever seen a sunrise and not thought of those words…and God said, let there be light?

For You Today

The plastic Easter eggs are packed away.  The idea of hitting the beach for one of those memorable sunrise services won’t begin to surface until snow melts again.  Facebook images of empty tombs and other seasonal wonderments will fade until after Santa’s next sleigh ride.

Connecting the dots, as Peter failed to do (again), would mean instead of going back home wondering, that we celebrate and live in the wonder of the Savior’s love.  What will that look like in your life?

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!  

[1] Title image: Pixabay.com   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

I've Just Seen Jesus

 

Title and other images:  Pixabay.com

Early on Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance.  She ran and found Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. She said, “They have taken the Lord’s body out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”  Peter and the other disciple started out for the tomb.  They were both running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.  He stooped and looked in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he didn’t go in.  Then Simon Peter arrived and went inside.  He also noticed the linen wrappings lying there, while the cloth that had covered Jesus’ head was folded up and lying apart from the other wrappings.  Then the disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in, and he saw and believed—for until then they still hadn’t understood the Scriptures that said Jesus must rise from the dead.  Then they went home. 

Mary was standing outside the tomb crying, and as she wept, she stooped and looked in.  She saw two white-robed angels, one sitting at the head and the other at the foot of the place where the body of Jesus had been lying.  “Dear woman, why are you crying?” the angels asked her.  “Because they have taken away my Lord,” she replied, “and I don’t know where they have put him.”  She turned to leave and saw someone standing there.  It was Jesus, but she didn’t recognize him.  “Dear woman, why are you crying?” Jesus asked her.  “Who are you looking for?”  She thought he was the gardener.  “Sir,” she said, “if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and get him.”  “Mary!” Jesus said.  She turned to him and cried out, “Rabboni!” (which is Hebrew for “Teacher”).  “Don’t cling to me,” Jesus said, “for I haven’t yet ascended to the Father.  But go find my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”  Mary Magdalene found the disciples and told them, “I have seen the Lord!”  Then she gave them his message.  John 20:1-18

If someone were to come into the building right now – someone we all know – and announce, I’ve just seen Jesus, we would have perhaps a few questions immediately come to the foreground:

We’d ask Girl, what have you been smoking? 

  Or we might ask:  What planet are you from?    And…after the radical thoughts kind of died down…What did he look like?

That’s one of the driving issues a lot of people have about the resurrection; if the dead man, Jesus, really did come out of that tomb, what’s he like?

That was in the back of Peter’s mind when he hurried to the tomb that morning.  Peter knew he’d blown it big-time by denying he even knew Jesus.  Now, if Jesus really was alive again, Peter would have to face that.  Peter wanted to know what he might be facing if he had to face Jesus after his failure.

John ran like the wind…faster than ever before…he got there first, but hesitated.  Those thoughts of having promised Jesus he’d follow him always…what if Jesus really was alive; how could John face the failure of his own unbelief?

And Mary - Mary wondered if anything else could go wrong, now that the body was missing; even in death her son was disrespected.  She couldn’t even have a peaceful memory of him now.

Peter wanted a Jesus with a short memory; John needed a Jesus to forgive him; Mary just needed a body.  And what about us…what kind of Jesus do we want?

I was impressed recently with a list I read of the kind of Jesus people want:

1.    A Jesus who taught about love, but not a Lord who commands us to love our enemies (Matthew 5:44).

2.    A Jesus who helped the unfortunate, but not a Lord who challenges us to sell what we own and give the money to the poor (Mark 10:21).

3.    A Jesus who paid visits to the temple, but not a Lord who cleanses and reforms all our traditional practices of worship (John 2:13-17).

4.    A Jesus who was a friend of tax collectors and sinners, but not a Lord who encourages us to embrace the very people we feel are beneath us (Matthew 11:19).

5.    A Jesus who supported family values, but not a Lord who predicts that he will cause divisions in families, father against son and daughter against mother (Luke 12:52-53).

6.    A Jesus who accepted people as his disciples, but not a Lord who challenges us to walk the way of the cross, to lose our lives for his sake, and to find new life through sacrifice (Mark 8:35).[1]

Again – when they got to the tomb Peter and John were confused.  John hesitated and Peter rushed right in.  Both went home shaking their heads; it wasn’t what they expected.

Mary jumped to a wrong conclusion that the Romans or somebody was up to no good.  But she hung around.  

Incidentally, that’s a good thing if you’re struggling with how (or if) you want to follow Jesus – hang around.  Mary did, and she was the one to first see the resurrected Lord. 

•      Hang around for more than Easter and Christmas

•      more than just when you have a special invitation. 

•      Hang around for Bible Study and fellowship with the believers. 

Hang around until the resurrected Lord talks to you, even if He looks like a gardener.

What kind of Jesus DO you want?

The most telling part (for me) of this whole event, at least from the standpoint of human reaction, is the fact that none of them, Peter, John, or Mary, got it.  Confusion, shame, misdirection – but not understanding; they did not get the resurrected Jesus.

Even after Jesus spoke to Mary and she recognized that it was Jesus, she couldn’t do the one thing she’d been heartbroken without – hug him!  Jesus told her, “not now,” and sent her to spread the word.

An Interesting Question

If the ones who were closest to Jesus when he walked the streets of Palestine did not get the kind of Jesus they wanted, what makes us think we will?

I have two responses to that interesting question:

1.  You cannot have the Jesus you’ve constructed in your mind – that’s only an idol

That Jesus is an idol.  God told us our minds cannot come up to His standard

For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.  Isaiah 55:9

The true measure of who Jesus is not constructed in our minds – that’s only an idol we built on our own wisdom.

2.  You cannot have the Jesus you demand…that’s only an illusion

There are plenty of people who read an isolated verse in Scripture and decide – THAT’s the Jesus for me.  What they do is set up a fence and demand that Jesus only operate in their lives within those parameters. 

For instance, you could read the verse in Malachi about tithing…bring all the tithes into the storehouse…see if I don’t bless you more than you can hold. 

Some folks take that to mean God will operate like a holy ATM; you put the tithe in – and voilà – out comes big-time return. 

(And when it doesn’t happen, they start thinking of God like Bernie Madoff…man, that Jesus…took my tithe, He did, and left me holding the religious bag!).

The problem is illusory.  We read something that fits our agenda and demand that God act that way.

In the 17^th century there was a great fire in London.  Along with St Paul’s Cathedral, more than 80 churches were destroyed, along with hundreds of buildings.  Sir Christopher Wren was the architect who was responsible for restoring more than 50 churches and many other buildings.

One of the buildings was Windsor Guildhall which still stands today.  The arches of that building’s ground floor supported in baroque-style a spacious second story.  Some of the king’s counselors objected to Wren’s daring construction of such a pavilion as unsafe and demanded pillars to support the inner ceiling surface.  Bowing to pressure Wren had the columns installed. 

It was not until years later anyone noticed that Wren had constructed the columns about 2” short of reaching the ceiling.  If you look closely at the column tops, you will see they are lovely decorations supporting nothing!

Have you constructed a Jesus?  Have you demanded your kind of Jesus?  Friend, you could think you’ve put in some lovely columns to support your way of thinking about the way God ought to behave.  In the end you find that is just a little short of His glory, short of making everything firm in your world.  Like Peter, John and Mary, you could find something different in the tomb.

The alternative is to simply present yourself to God, trusting that He is God, and you are not. 

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen!  

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[1] Jesus On Ice, © 2009 COMMUNICATION RESOURCES, INC.

 

Buried in Brokenness; Raised in Glory

 

Our bodies are buried in brokenness, but they will be raised in glory.  They are buried in weakness, but they will be raised in strength.  They are buried as natural human bodies, but they will be raised as spiritual bodies. For just as there are natural bodies, there are also spiritual bodies.  The Scriptures tell us, “The first man, Adam, became a living person.”   But the last Adam—that is, Christ—is a life-giving Spirit.  What comes first is the natural body, then the spiritual body comes later.  Adam, the first man, was made from the dust of the earth, while Christ, the second man, came from heaven.  Earthly people are like the earthly man, and heavenly people are like the heavenly man.  Just as we are now like the earthly man, we will someday be like the heavenly man.  What I am saying, dear brothers and sisters, is that our physical bodies cannot inherit the Kingdom of God.  These dying bodies cannot inherit what will last forever.  But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret.  We will not all die, but we will all be transformed!  It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown.  For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever.  And we who are living will also be transformed.  For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies.  Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled:  “Death is swallowed up in victory.  O death, where is your victory?  O death, where is your sting?”  For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power.  But thank God!  He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.  So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable.  Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.  1 Corinthians 15:43-58

Buried in brokenness; raised in glory, is the essence of redemption and grace.  We, who are broken, both in body and spirit, are dying.  We inhabit flesh that is passing away bit-by-agonizing-bit.  We spend more and more time in hospitals, waiting rooms, and treatment facilities as the years zip by. 

If we think of our bodies as houses, the windows fog over with cataracts, the skin of our houses suffer shingles, corrupted, peeling, and wrinkled.  Our nights and days get confused with insomnia and sleep-walking.  The pain of loneliness, the agony of knee joints scraping bone-on-bone, aching feet, and failing memory are signs that our human housing is crumbling as we frantically-search for a way to have five minutes not worrying abut the doctor’s bill, and wondering how to pay for the undertaker’s services. 

In all that physical and mental anguish, so consistent with 21^st century COVID woes, healthcare complications, political posturing, and other cultural shifting sands, we still have not been able to overcome the worst of it – our guilt over that which bought us all this trouble – Adam and Eve’s trip to the forbidden fruit tree.

The evidence of just how advanced is this metastasized endemic of moral human failure, or sin, is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  With the unquestioned God-given answers to our need and solution to our dilemma, we celebrated the first “Good Friday” by nailing our anticipated salvation to crossbeams at Golgotha, the town garbage dump outside of Jerusalem.

But this Gospel also shows us the pattern of God’s love and amazing grace!  See here the pattern of our burial in brokenness and resurrection in glory:

On Good Friday we beat Jesus unrecognizable, mocked him, scourged, and crucified him.  Then we buried him in his brokenness, sealed the tomb, and walked away, imagining that was that!  We thought! 

We thought it was game-over, story finished; life would again be on our terms.  We thought!  But the tomb of brokenness couldn’t hold the Man of Sorrows.  Three days later the earth trembled, the curtain of separation in the Temple tore in two from the heavens to the earth, and on the earth, graves shook free their inhabitants; death walked in life sprung loose!

Come early Easter Sunrise the Graveyard became a Glory Ground!

Buried in brokenness, Raised in Glory!

The meaning of this is a pattern.  Jesus said we would also have this pattern.  Our bodies also get buried in our human brokenness.  And the song we sang last Sunday is also the song we will sing in just a few minutes, Victory in Jesus. 

The whole pattern of God’s plan for our brokenness, the redemption of our souls, and freedom from our sins, left off being prophecy, and settled forever into history on Easter morning when Jesus came out of the grave.  He broke the chains of sin and made for a new pattern.  Brokenness cannot bury us anymore.

In Paul’s letter to the Corinthian church he reminded them of these facts.  In Jesus’ conquering death and sin there is a new pattern:

·       The nature of who we’ve been gives way to the spiritual of who He is

·       The earthly mind gives way to the mind set on God’s Kingdom

·       Dying gives way to Transformation and we become His image again

·       Sin gives way to Victory, and we are more than conquerors!

I am once-again reminded of the kind of faith we saw in public life in past generations.  On his eightieth birthday, John Quincy Adams was walking slowly along a Boston street.  A friend asked him How is John Quincy Adams today?   The former president replied graciously:

Thank you, John Quincy Adams is well, sir, quite well, I thank you.  But the house in which he lives at present is becoming dilapidated.  It is tottering upon the foundations.  Time and the seasons have nearly destroyed it.  Its roof is fairly-well worn out, its walls are shattered, and it trembles with every wind.  The old tenement is becoming almost uninhabitable, and I think John Quincy Adams will have to move out of it soon; but he himself is quite well, sir, quite well.

This is the kind of faith that understands we will all be buried in our brokenness; these bodies were never meant to be permanent prisons for transformed souls.

So…where do YOU stand…willing to remain in brokenness, and ready to be raised for judgment? 

Or are you willing to stand with Jesus, be healed of the worst of your brokenness, which separates you from God, and someday, when your name is called from above, stand before God with Jesus at your side, and hear from the Father, Well done faithful one…you have fought the good fight, and finished well?

Our Prayer

Father, our hearts are gladdened by the sight of an empty cross and an empty tomb.  Thank you for the gift we can receive of forgiveness and eternal life in Jesus Christ. 

For the glory, honor, and praise to which You alone are worthy, o Lord, we pray in the Name of the Son, cooperating with the Spirit, to honor and exalt the Majesty of the Father.  Let it be so in each of our lives…Amen!

Title Image:  via Pixabay.com   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation 

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After Easter Series #2. ASSURANCE

[1]

Then the two from Emmaus told their story of how Jesus had appeared to them as they were walking along the road, and how they had recognized him as he was breaking the bread.  And just as they were telling about it, Jesus himself was suddenly standing there among them.  “Peace be with you,” he said.  But the whole group was startled and frightened, thinking they were seeing a ghost!  “Why are you frightened?” he asked.  “Why are your hearts filled with doubt?  Look at my hands.  Look at my feet.  You can see that it’s really me.  Touch me and make sure that I am not a ghost, because ghosts don’t have bodies, as you see that I do.”  As he spoke, he showed them his hands and his feet.  Still they stood there in disbelief, filled with joy and wonder.  Then he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?”  They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he ate it as they watched.  Then he said, “When I was with you before, I told you that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and in the Psalms must be fulfilled.”  Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.  And he said, “Yes, it was written long ago that the Messiah would suffer and die and rise from the dead on the third day.  It was also written that this message would be proclaimed in the authority of his name to all the nations, beginning in Jerusalem:  ‘There is forgiveness of sins for all who repent.’  You are witnesses of all these things.  Luke 24:35-48^(NLT)

Last week we looked at the After Easter result of the resurrection.  We heard Jesus say peace three different times, and with three different meanings. 

The natural result of peace entering our journey is assurance.

Today we want to examine the difference assurance will make when you realize you have been given a second chance.

You would certainly think the disciples were in dire need of a second chance; especially considering the way they all acted at the end, deserting Jesus when the soldiers came for him in Gethsemane on Thursday night – particularly Peter, who cowered in fear outside Pilate’s house, denying Christ repeatedly while Jesus was on trial. 

Probably if any of us were in charge of punishment-choosing that night, those eleven disciples would have been incinerated by a lightning bolt; Apostle toast!

It’s no wonder that our text describes the disciples gathering in the upper room as amazed, excited, elated, and confused…when the two disciples who met Jesus on the Emmaus Road came hurrying back to tell them the news – Jesus was alive! 

Again…with Peter, chiefly considering his proud, bold statement that he would die for Christ, and then his subsequent shameful bail-out at crunch time…if I was Simon Peter it would have scared my socks off to know that Jesus was back in the hood!

But all the disciples were baffled and bewildered.  Our text tells us they were startled and disbelieving, full of doubt, fear, and joy.  Amazement overwhelmed them when Jesus suddenly appeared.  They couldn’t understand that He was really back, standing there.  Was it a ghost?  Their imagination?  Could it be?

And then Jesus opened their minds

Peter and the others had a terrible performance record before this.  They missed the mark on Jesus’ teaching so often.  It was because they were human, flawed, and self-centered…just like us.  But when Jesus opened their minds with the Word of Scripture, suddenly everything was different; they went from failure to formidable force that changed everything – they turned the world upside-down!

So let’s take a look at how the ASSURANCE the disciples got from Jesus that day took them from zero to hero in the eyes of Heaven. 

We will start with the human, worldly-minded disciples and their sinful ways, and trace it to what happened after they got a second chance.

Peter's Sinful Choice

Peter chose flesh over obedience

Peter is always in action.  At times he is opening his mouth before thinking (usually just to exchange feet).  Most often his action gets him in trouble. 

A few chapters back[2], standing in the Garden of Gethsemane, Peter has told Jesus he would die for him, and, in the spirit of it all the big fisherman is itching for a fight.  The soldiers show up and Peter is determined to show his leadership skills; he pulls his sword.  This action, swinging the weapon and cutting-off the right ear of the servant of the High Priest, was a supreme testament to Pete's penchant for leaping without looking.  One of the disciples had asked the question, Should we use the swords now?  Peter's problem here is that he didn’t wait for an answer from Jesus. 

Many times I believe we can be guilty of the same, asking God to supply a need, or deliver us from a problem, or guide us to a right decision...only to plow ahead Peter-style. 

A preacher summed it up this way:  How busy we keep the Lord putting on ears that we, in our mistaken zeal, cut off.^[3]

Peter also ignored the teaching of Jesus

Jesus taught us to love our enemies ^{(Luke 6.27)}.  This was a basic problem that Jesus’ disciples AND the Pharisees shared; they were arrogantly stubborn when it came to what Jesus tried to teach them.  What Jesus said…they should have believed.  Instead they closed their minds.

It is interesting that Peter cut off Malchus' right ear (the servant of the High Priest).  When a High Priest was consecrated for service, the right ear received a sprinkling of blood.  That is a sign of cleansing. 

It is helpful to have no hindrances to hearing God's voice when you are a bridge between God and man.  You are responsible for hearing and doing.  In the New Testament church we are all priests.  It helps to have the ear inclined to God:

If you will listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in his sight, obeying his commands and keeping all his decrees, then I will not make you suffer any of the diseases I sent on the Egyptians; for I am the Lord who heals you.  Exodus 15:26^(NLT)

O my people, listen to my instructions.  Open your ears to what I am saying,  Psalm 78:1^(NLT)

Why did Peter choose wrongly?  He was unprepared!

Just prior to this moment Jesus was praying while the disciples slept.  Even the inner circle of Peter, James, and John snoozed while Jesus was fighting the most critical battle of His ministry. 

We could learn this lesson.  In the crises of life, it doesn't matter how handsome, intelligent, popular or wealthy you are – if you have not spent alert and listening time with Jesus you will not have a clue as to his direction.  The alternative is to go it alone.  That usually means you will cut off an ear.

Peter’s sinful choices were followed by:

Peter's Second Chance

Jesus Touched Malchus

The word touch literally means to attach oneself to.  The meaning is unmistakable; ministry is always hands-on! 

Jesus touched Malchus' ear and it was healed (made whole).  Jesus was always touching people.  He touched a leper ^{(Luke 5)}; He touched a dead boy ^{(Luke 7)}; He was touched by a desperately ill woman ^{(Luke 8)}.  The result was always the same; the touch of Jesus meant being made whole. 

Jesus touched Malchus, but besides a Roman soldier being made whole, the life of Peter would never involve another sword made of steel.  From then on it was the Sword of the Spirit, God’s Holy Word that was attached to Peter’s tool belt.

Jesus Gave Peter Freedom

When Malchus had his ear severed it’s a high probability that he would NOT have nominated Peter for disciple of the year.  Had Jesus not intervened, healing the ear, removing the evidence against Peter, the fisherman would have likely been hacked to pieces right on the spot by Malchus' company of soldiers.  At the very least he would have been arrested with Jesus.  But, how could they arrest Peter with no bloody ear stump as evidence?

But Jesus had more than Peter’s political freedom in mind.  The most impressive freedom was not that Peter wouldn’t go to the lock-up; Peter had been privileged to witness this miracle, and that pointed to a larger purpose.

The scene is filled with high drama, pathos, and a little humor:  Peter, a big, burly seaman wields a sword; to put it mildly he is not a skilled swordsman.  He swings at the leader of the soldiers, missing his intended mark (which was to sever Malchus’ head); instead Simon Peter, lousy marksman with a sword, lops off a consecrated ear. 

In my sanctified imagination I hear Peter grumble:  That's just the beginning you toad.  You should've been listening to Jesus anyway – like me.  Now for the rest of you.                                                    

Suddenly Jesus holds up his hand to stay Peter's second at bat.  And with a look that says, Oh Peter, you just don't listen, Jesus stops the action, stoops down and picks up the bloody ear.  You can just envision Jesus silently lamenting to himself:  And if only you'd been listening!

Then, with disciples, soldiers, and assembled onlookers holding their collective breath, Jesus reattaches the ear.

Peter is very confused. 

·       Why the swords in the first place? 

·       How are we going to have a kingdom if the King goes to jail? 

·       What is going on here? 

Freedom is like that – valuable enough to die for, but forcing decisions and responsibilities upon the participants.

Peter's Forgiveness

It was not right away; perhaps it was not for years, but what Peter would eventually realize is that Jesus' action was not only a healing, but a forgiving. 

Jesus took His divine hand and lovingly healed the ear of Malchus, and covered the sin of Peter.  It was as much second chance for the fisherman as it was for Malchus’ ear. 

There is often much more to miracles than we can see at first!

What Do You Do With Second Chances?

Embrace 'em

Forgiveness is a gift of God:

God saved you by his grace when you believed.  And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.   Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.  Ephesians 2:8-9^{(NLT )}

When God offers you a second chance you just accept it. 

Days after the ear business, Jesus appeared to Peter and gave him a second chance at ministry.  Peter looked into Jesus' eyes and knew that he had been forgiven, and he’d been recommissioned to be a Kingdom servant. 

He knew he was unworthy.  He knew he could blow it again. 

But he embraced the second chance.

Extend 'em

A reality about being forgiven is that forgiving becomes possible.  Malchus knew firsthand the power and loving touch of Jesus.  However, he still arrested Jesus.  He didn't accept the second chance very well – and because he refused the forgiving love of Jesus, he himself could not forgive others. 

We must always be ready to forgive and forge ahead.  Otherwise we become like Steven Crane's character in his poem The Black Riders.  The Black Rider is described as ...a creature, naked, bestial.  He is stranded in a desert, starving.  He sinks to eating his own heart. 

Asked if it is good, the creature replies:

I like it

Because it is bitter,

and

Because it is my heart.

Assurance will give you a consecrated ear – ready to listen to God's instructions. 

Assurance will give you an embracing heart – both for the second chances of God who forgives – and for others who must be forgiven.

Shall we pray?

Lord, help us to embrace your offer of freedom from hate, bigotry, and the arrogance that makes us suppose we’re somehow superior to others.

Father, the last thing this world needs is more ‘Black Riders’ so steeped in our stubborn choices we’d rather eat our own insides than forgive and embrace one we have learned to call ‘enemy’.

Help us to embrace others for the sake of Christ.

And, dear Lord, visit us now in this room with that same word of assurance with which you blessed the eleven who waited fearfully, unbelieving, unknowing what next they should do – say ‘PEACE’ and still our hearts. 

May the touch of your nail-pierced hands, feet, and side still our worried minds, and quicken our doubting hearts, and send us from this place changed into the kind of followers you want to use to transform this old sinful world.

We pray in the Name of the Son, because of the Father’s promises, cooperating with the Spirit’s call…Amen!                                                   

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[1] Title Image courtesy of Pixabay.com

[2] Luke 22

[3]Ironside, H.A., Addresses In Luke (N.Y. Loizeaux Bros., 1947), 649