Riptide

Have you ever felt you can’t quit because no one else can replace you? If you’re a key leader, you may not be wrong. Historical records prove that removal or death of a dominating, charismatic leader often severely damages or snuffs out a movement or an empire.

Consider this disheartened reply given by two disciples of Jesus to a stranger who asked what they were discussing as they walked from Jerusalem to Emmaus after the crushing death of their leader:

“About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. (Luke 24:19-21 NIV)

As we read the full narrative of this encounter, Jesus reveals himself – not as a stranger, but the Immortal, Irreplaceable One who has always been the center of all Scripture.

He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. (Luke 24:25-27 NIV)

After they recognized Jesus was the stranger, what was their response when they realized their irreplaceable, powerful leader was still alive?

They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”…They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. (Luke 24:25-27 NIV)

Even though evening had fallen, they hurried the seven miles back to Jerusalem to join Jesus’ other disciples and discovered the resurrected Jesus had begun to appear to more and more of them.

On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:4-8)

How about me, how about you? Do our hearts burn within us so we, in a sense, “travel back to Jerusalem at night, along dangerous roads” to gather with other disciples after being strengthened by the risen Jesus? Are we convinced the Holy Spirit inside us is enough to change lives as we proclaim His message?

And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. (I Corinthians 15:17-19 NIV)

We are not to be pitied. It’s been two millennia since the risen, irreplaceable Jesus outlined His glorious redemption plan for mankind. Here’s a time lapse map showing what He’s accomplished through seemingly weak, but somehow irreplaceable, Jesus followers like us:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jwp7oDLEFf8

Today, an amazing 30% of the world’s population identify as followers of Christ. (Yes, some are “nominal” or “suspect” Christians, but He’s in charge of sorting that out.) Marvel at the amazing progress of the Gospel. Notice how Chrisitian fervor seems to morph over time.

Then consider that presently 40% of the world has never heard of Him…the need to advance His message of redemption remains. Ask the Irreplaceable One to give you today’s assignment (however small) along with today’s power to further His kingdom.

They had given up hope. They had been a part of what they thought was a movement. Not only that, they had personally known the head of the movement. He would change the world, but then it had all fallen apart—his arrest, trial, and death on a Roman cross. This wasn’t how the story was supposed to end. Now what?

The characters found in Luke 24 were trying to move on with life after Jesus’ death. They were literally on the road, walking away from it all. They didn’t know what else to do. It’s on that hopeless road that Jesus shows up and begins to trickle hope back into their souls. They didn’t recognize him, but his words started to pull together their shattered dreams. When Jesus finally reveals himself to them, it’s just for a moment before he vanishes. Then, they express what they had been feeling along the road.

‘They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” ‘Luke 24:32

Their hearts were burning as Jesus taught them because the stories he told them meant that the dream wasn’t dead. Instead, the story was just beginning.

You were made for a grand story too. Did you know that? We all want to be a part of something significant. That isn’t a selfish desire; it is a God-designed desire because he did make us for something meaningful. He made us to partner with him; bring his goodness to the world. That story is the only big enough and true enough story to feed every human desire. That is the story that makes your heart burn. You may not know it yet, but your heart awakens when it hears the story that God is writing.

This story is an invitation to hope again. Have you given up on living a grand story? Have you given up on being a part of something genuinely significant? This story is about two characters finding out that hope isn’t dead; it’s alive. There is hope for us too.

Take a moment to ask yourself what hopes you have let die. God may not be reviving your dream the way you wish or imagined. Instead, he may be telling you that an even better hope is alive and well. Does your heart burn for that?

And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. (Luke 24:27 NIV)

Then he started at the beginning, with the Books of Moses, and went on through all the Prophets, pointing out everything in the Scriptures that referred to him. (Luke 24:27 The Message)

Then beginning with Moses and (throughout) all the prophets, He went on explaining and interpreting to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning and referring to Himself. (Luke 24;27 The Amplified Bible)

Each time I read the Luke 24;13-31 about Cleopas and the other disciple, I try to imagine what it might have been like to hear Jesus, even though they didn’t recognize him, open the Scriptures to their minds and hearts as they walked along together.

I love reading the scriptures in various versions, because each version helps me see and understand something as if in a different voice. But I particularly like listening to audio scriptures because I can be read to – while I’m actively doing something else: sewing, walking, gardening, painting walls. There are things that stick with me when I hear the words better than when I see them. And I feel companioned by Jesus as I do ordinary tasks during my day.

For this devotional I found help on Google when I wanted to know some of what Jesus was teaching to those two disciples. I found 55 Old Testament Prophesies about Jesus, put out by the Jesus Film Project (A CRU Ministry). It covers 4 specific areas. Jesus’s birth, Jesus’s ministry, Jesus’s death and resurrection, and Jesus’s role in the church. With each of the prophesies cited, there is also the scripture that tells the fulfillment of that particular prophesy.

For audio Bible versions, I have the You Version, which along with a LARGE number of versions, also has many different languages for a variety of reader/listeners. Each version listed shows whether it is also in audio or only in print.

I also have the NIV, read by David Suchet, on my Apple Books site.

As you go about your day, think about what it would be like for you to have concentrated time being taught by Jesus, your creator, redeemer, teacher and friend, as he opens the scriptures to your heart and mind. Savor time with Jesus and his word.

We are going to do our Daily devotional differently this time. First, pray and ask God to show you what He wants you to see and understand today. Next read Luke 24:13-35 here in the NIV. It might be helpful to read it in a few other versions as well. Here are NASB, ESV, AMP and the NKJV. If you would like to read it in another version, please do.

What do you notice? Are there words that are the same in all the different versions? One that is the same in all of these versions is the word Christ. It is the Greek word for anointed. In Hebrew the word is Messiah. Notice Jesus’ teaching style, how is it similar to the way he taught before his crucifixion? In what way? As you read this passage in different translations, what do you notice that perhaps you have not noticed before? What surprises you? There are several miraculous occurrences in this passage, what are they? The women told their fellow Jesus followers what they saw and heard at the tomb, why do you think they were not believed? Would you have found it difficult to believe the women? Which passages from the Old Testament do you think Jesus might have used to explain about how the Messiah had to suffer and die for the forgiveness of sins? In each of these translations the men describe their hearts as “burning” while Jesus taught them from the OT scriptures. Have you experienced this while reading and studying God’s word or perhaps in a time of prayer?

Thank God that we have his Word in a printed form that we can read, study, pray over and learn from as often as we want. Pray for those in the world who do not yet have a copy of the Bible in their own language – that God will reveal Himself to them, and provide them with Bibles.

Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
—John 20:17

Jesus appears in his glorified body to his disciples. Each moment lasts for just that, a moment, as Jesus reminds them HE is not the one to stay with them. In Mark‘s Gospel, he even says, “do not hold onto me.”

Consider this: Jesus remains as one single being as he returns to his disciples after the resurrection. He does not appear in multiple places at the same time. Jesus, in his glorified body, remains somewhat limited by time and space even though he can now show up in a room with closed doors (John 20:19).

In these next weeks at South, we will explore several occasions where Jesus shows up as still one single being before he instructs his disciples to wait on his Spirit and ascends to his Father in Heaven. Notice how Jesus comes from the Father to complete his unique task in the process of our redemption. Yet, even in his resurrection, he sees the necessity of handing off the task to someone else, for he alone had limitations in his unique bodily form.

Those of us who love Jesus and connect with his unique person of the Trinity can also be guilty of taking hold of Jesus and not wanting to let him go. We’d prefer to have God show up to us as friend, companion, and faithful guide. So, when God moves us into a different season in our spiritual journey – one where God feels absent, abstract, or mysterious, we long to return to what we once had.

Can you identity which person of the Trinity you connect more with? What might it look like to let go of that person of the Trinity to more fully embrace the fullness of who God is today. Perhaps you could honor the holiness or authority of the Father. You could take a walk with Jesus and talk with him as a friend or teacher. You could feel his tangible presence in your spirit or worship him in spirit and truth.

‘Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” ‘ John 20:1-2

It seems both the most natural and the most unnatural truth that Mary was the first person to see Jesus after he rose. It was strange because her testimony would have been weak as a woman. It also seems so fitting for this woman, whose life had been changed by Jesus, to be the first.

Even in her sorrow and hopelessness, Mary still loved her savior, and she couldn’t help but tend to his body. That love brings her to the right place at the right time to encounter the most world-changing news in history. Jesus had risen from the dead.

Have you ever wanted to hear from God? Have you ever longed to feel his presence? Could it be that deep love and reverence for Jesus help put us in the right place to encounter him? See, it’s not her status, reputation, wisdom, or good works that pave the way to being the first to See the risen lord. Instead, it’s her love that draws her like gravity to be near him even in her grief. Perhaps cultivating a deep love for Jesus is a recipe for encountering him.

How does one do that? I suggest you get to know him through the gospel accounts. Spend extra time in the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Find a way to read from these accounts often, all while asking God to teach you Jesus’ personality. How did he think? What Was he like? Why did he do things the way he did? This exploration is one of the ways that God has caused me to grow in my love for Jesus. It is then Love that puts us in our Gardens of encounter.

In the late 1970s a respected judge told me about his youthful, near-death experience (NDE) during surgery. He described a booming voice proclaiming “No, not yet!” as an iron door to the entrance of a fiery furnace slammed shut. It impressed me because his story contrasted with those recounted by a celebrated author who interviewed people who had only ecstatic, heavenly NDEs regardless of spiritual orientation.

Experiences like NDEs seem to most often happen in crisis situations. These encounters can make us aware of unseen spiritual realities, with potential to bring us closer to Jesus or draw us into a web of deceit.

The scripture passage we’ve been exploring this week, John 20:11-18, describes Mary Magdeline’s encounter with Jesus after His resurrection. Even though she conversed with two angels in His tomb who assured her Jesus was risen, Mary remained in a state of intense grief and shock. After all, she witnessed some details of the unfair trials and the excruciatingly cruel execution of her beloved Rabbi. She also observed His lifeless body being placed in that tomb. Her life was in a chaotic crisis.

So it’s understandable that Mary mistook the risen Jesus for a gardener. In the words of Isaiah, the last time she saw him

…many were appalled at him—
his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being
and his form marred beyond human likeness— (Isaiah 52:14 NIV)

So what made her realize the “gardener” was her beloved Rabbi? When He called her by name, the lights went on.

I am the good shepherd and I know My own, and My own know Me. (John 10:14 NASB)

She shifted from being in a confused, emotional state to lucid recognition of the One she knew.

In order to see Jesus clearly, to understand it’s Him in any supernatural encounter, it’s necessary to either know Him intimately like Mary already did or to confirm the experience rings true to His character by comparing it to reliable eyewitness accounts of His life and words – namely New Testament scripture.

Here’s a warning from the apostle John:

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. (I John 4:1 NASB)

Don’t dismiss the notion that tangible, Holy Spirit originated experiences with the risen Jesus have happened and will happen. Welcome them like Mary, but test them as did the apostle John.

Have you been confused after a supernatural experience of your own or after hearing a testimony of someone who has recounted theirs? Search the scriptures for yourself or ask a discerning Christian friend to help you sort out if it‘s Jesus or a spirit masquerading as an angel of light.

But Mary remained standing outside the tomb sobbing . As she wept, she stooped down and looked into the tomb. And she saw two angels in white sitting there, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.

And they said to her, ‘Woman, why are you sobbing?’ She told them, ‘Because they have taken away my Lord and I do not know where they have laid Him.’ On saying this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she didn’t recognize that it was Jesus.

Jesus said to her,’ Woman, why are you crying so? For whom are you looking?’ Supposing that it was the gardener, she replied, ‘Sir, if you carried Him from here, tell me where you put Him and I will take Him away.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’ Turning around she said to Him in Hebrew, ‘Rabonni!’ which means Teacher or Master.
(John 20;11-16) The Amplified Bible

Four Gospels: Four perspectives of Jesus’s resurrection, each with different details of who was there that first day of the week, how they responded, what they said, what they did, or didn’t, do and when.

I am grateful for the series on emotions that we had over the weeks from Ash Wednesday to Easter. It helps me have some understanding and compassion for the men and women disciples who two thousand plus years ago, experienced 3 years of following and learning from Jesus only to witness his arrest, to hide in fear from the religious leaders and the Roman brutality. I am in awe of the women who watched from a distance and of the courage of Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus risking their reputation by caring for Jesus’s dead body.

I can imagine Mary Magdalene and her overwhelming grief at not knowing where Jesus’s body had been taken and her mistake in thinking Jesus was the gardener.

My mother, whose name was Mary Jane, died 6 months after I was sent to Denver to live with my father’s sister and her husband. The last words we exchanged were while she was in bed and I stood at the door of her bedroom. When she died, it was decided that I wouldn’t be taken back for her memorial. For a long time my heart would jump when I saw a face or heard a voice that resembled mom’s. So when I think of the joy Mary Magdalene felt, as Jesus said, ‘Mary!’ I know something of how it would feel if I heard him call my name when I never expected to hear his voice again.

I am grateful for the Bible. In it I can read at any time how intimately God knows each of us,(Psalm 139), How much he loves us,John 3;16-17), how we listen to his voice and know it and that he and the Father are one, (John 10;27-31).

This week, savor the above scriptures and others about the first day of the resurrection. Also, the scriptures that remind you of Jesus and his Father’s love and care for you.

Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?” “They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” John 20:11-15a NIV

Let’s set the scene. Friday – Mary Magdalene witnessed first hand the crucifixion of her beloved teacher and Lord. She saw his broken, bloodied, definitely dead body placed in the tomb on Friday. If you have ever lost a loved one, then you know the grief that Mary was feeling. If perhaps you have not, let me give some insight. Intense grief for someone you loved affects every part of your being. Grief involves your mind, your emotions and your physical body. Many grieving people don’t remember to eat, have difficulty sleeping, or continually replay the trauma of the loved one’s death scene. Most likely, Mary has not slept much and was in an emotional state of shock. Yet she observed the Sabbath, she gathered spices and perfumes and brought them so that she could demonstrate her devotion to her Lord, by putting them on his body, as was the Jewish custom.

When grieving – tunnel vision is actually common. It is healthy to focus on just seeing and putting all of your available energy into doing the next task. For Mary, this is putting spices and perfumes on her Lord’s dead body.

But, when she gets to the tomb, the body is not there! In her grief, she cries, which is a normal, natural, even healthy response to grief. At this moment, all she can see and understand is “I have this task – I want to show my devotion to Jesus by putting spices and perfumes on his body, how can I do that if his body isn’t here?” Grief affects how your brain works; it can compromise your ability to process complicated thoughts. Mary Magdalene – in her tunnel of deep grief – can only see and understand that Jesus is not in the tomb – she is probably asking herself – how can I show my devotion to Jesus now?

How about you? Have you spent time this past week focusing on all that Jesus did for you as he died on the cross? Have you thought of how you might show your gratitude and devotion to him this week? At our Good Friday service, some beautiful pictures were displayed, some deeply moving hymns were sung, and we celebrated in many ways on Easter Sunday. Perhaps you could write a thank you letter, or a poem, sing a song or make a drawing to express your devotion and gratitude to Jesus for his sacrificial love for you.