June 29 / Luke 24:36-53

Luke 24:36-53

Today’s reading is a continuation of the Road to Emmaus, with the two disciples having reported to the eleven about their meeting with Jesus. Luke’s account of Jesus’ appearance in the Upper Room is consistent with John 20:19-23, except that John reports that Thomas had not been present – John then follows up with Thomas meeting with Jesus eight days later (John 20:24-29). One big difference between the two accounts is Jesus’ telling the disciples that His hands and His feet had been pierced: See My hands and My feet, that it is I myself. (Luke 24:39a) John had mentioned Jesus’ hands and His side. A small point, but fully a case of the gospels proving themselves! (See John 19:34.)

Luke gives a short account here of Jesus’ Ascension. Mark also reports on the Ascension (Mark 16:19-20). A more complete account occurs in Acts 1, which we will be reading in a few days.

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June 28 / John 20:11-31

John 20:11-31

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are 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. (vv. 30-31) For the past few years I have been documenting “signs” in my life – actual events that have happened to me where I feel that God has spoken or acted. Thus far I have noted 14 of these signs – six of which I refer to as miracles, seven where I feel God spoke to me, and one strange “coincidence”. I’m sure there are more; as I remember them I keep a log on my computer. These signs are important to me in both a personal sense and in sharing the gospel. In a personal sense I can rest assured that God is at work in my life. In sharing the gospel I have heard it said that nonbelievers can argue theology with you, but they can’t argue personal events in your life. They can choose not to believe you, but they can’t deny that the event happened. As I work through these signs, John’s words come true for me, …that by believing you [I] may have life in His name.

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June 27 / Luke 24:13-35

I hope you’ll read through my comments from 2019 in the links below. This “Road to Emmaus” event is one of my favorite Scripture stories!

But their eyes were kept from recognizing Him. (v. 16) I wonder at what Jesus looked like in His resurrected body. We will read tomorrow about Mary Magdalene also not recognizing Jesus when He first appeared to her, supposing Him to be the gardener (John 20:15b). So He was in some bodily form, but different than He had been when He was with them. Makes me wonder what we’ll look like in our resurrected bodies…!!

Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered Him… (v. 18a) This is the only mention of Cleopas that we have in all of Scripture. And this is still Jesus’ first resurrection day! So someone never before and never again mentioned is one of the few people (of whom we have record) who saw Jesus on that precious Resurrection Day! But this one event has Cleopas mentioned for us, for all time. And we acknowledge and embrace him and his friend for spending their day walking and talking about Jesus. I would love to hear or see a recording of Jesus’ conversation with them!

I can’t help but mention again Luke’s summary statement, …He was known to them in the breaking of the bread. (v. 35) That is such a powerful witness to us that gives more meaning to our Eucharistic celebration! Every Sunday and various occasions in between we are blessed to see Jesus in the breaking of the bread. Carol and I attended a wedding yesterday in Maryland, dear Christian friends from more than 25 years ago. The wedding was held on their farm, a beautiful wonderful, picture-perfect setting. The bride is my “birthday buddy”. The preacher spoke Scripture as he worked his way through the ceremony. But sadly, the one thing missing was “the breaking of the bread” – no Eucharistic celebration… ☹. I treasure our Anglican heritage.

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June 26 / Luke 24:1-12, John 20:1-10

Luke 24:1-12 and John 20:1-10

Matthew and Mark have one angel at the tomb, Luke reports two “men…in dazzling apparel”, while John has no mention of angels. Different accounts arising from different people reporting to the gospel writers – except for John who was (supposedly) reporting first-hand… What to make of that? Draw your own conclusions.

I’ve long been fascinated by the clothing described in John’s gospel: Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself. (vv. 6-7) John spends two verses describing in detail the linen cloths and the face cloth. And recall – he was there! When I was growing up the Shroud of Turin was a hot topic, probably mostly within the Catholic circles where I was raised. Many believed the Shroud to have been the body and burial cloth that John describes above. Even today the Catholic Church will not affirm or deny that the Shroud depicts Jesus’ face. According to one source, “It is, in fact, the single most studied artifact in human history.” https://shroud.com/ I daresay that much of what we see in drawings depicting Jesus today is based on the face picture imbedded in the Shroud. In the first few weeks that we knew each other Carol and I listened to a presentation on the Shroud. The speaker left us with a small memento card that I kept as a Bible bookmark for years. So I’ve always been fascinated by John’s account of Jesus’ burial clothing. [Type “Shroud of Turin” in Google for facial images.]

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June 25 / Mark 16:1-20

Mark 16:1-20

Carol and I are out in Maryland for the next many days with our daughter, Nancy, and her family (including two grandkids), so my early-morning posts will probably be set aside for the next week or so.

Two years ago we spread these twenty resurrection verses from Mark’s gospel over five readings; check out all five of those 2019 posts in the links below. If you are reading the notes from a study Bible or you see verses 9-16 bracketed in your Bible, it’s because Mark’s gospel ends abruptly after verse 8 – for whatever reason. Most likely his ending got lost, just like the first and last pages of a paperback novel can go missing. Most scholars believe that other believers added to Mark’s shortened ending, bringing in bits of four events that are covered by the other three gospel writers. Those four events are Jesus (1) appearing to Mary Magdalene, (2) meeting two disciples on the road to Emmaus, (3) meeting the eleven in the Upper Room, and (4) ascending. You see only snippets of those four events mentioned in Mark, but covered in much more detail in other gospel accounts that we’ll be reading over the next five days.

Jesus speaking: Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. (v. 16) These verses trouble me, even though I fully believe Jesus’ words. I’m troubled because of those people with whom Carol and I have shared the gospel, but who refuse to acknowledge Jesus’ love or His gift of repentance, forgiveness and salvation. What to do? In the previous verse (v. 15b) Jesus told His disciples, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.” That’s about all we can do. Ask the Holy Spirit to intervene in their lives. Pray and wait, wait and pray.

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June 24 / Matt. 28:1-20

Matthew 28:1-20

Two years ago we had 32 days of Jesus’ Passion and 18 days of His Resurrection. This year we have 18 days of His Passion and 7 days of His Resurrection. I will forever treasure our 2019 walk through the gospels!

Somehow I had always imagined that the guards had already gone to report to the chief priests before the women arrived, but verse 11 has the guards and the women leaving the tomb at the same time: While they were going, behold, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place. Verse 4 also has the guards and the angel at the tomb together: And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. So the women and the guards and the angel were all at the tomb at the same time. I recall that fear is the immediate reaction whenever an angel appears in Scripture. So that would have been the natural reaction of the women upon seeing the angel: His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. (v. 3) But it seems to me that seeing the guards there at the tomb (even in their “dead men” state) would have helped the women to realize that the angel was real and not a dream and would have helped them to calm their fear.

I will be forever confused on the timeline of Jesus’ Galilee and Jerusalem appearances to the disciples. When and where did Jesus meet the disciples during His post-Resurrection / pre-Ascension forty days? We’ve got the rest of the week to consider that!

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June 23 / Luke 23:50-56, John 19:38-42

Luke 23:50-56 and John 19:38-42

Today we end Jesus’ Passion with His burial. John, alone, tells us of Nicodemus joining Joseph of Arimathea in placing Jesus’ body in the tomb. This is the third account of Nicodemus in John’s gospel. We all know of his long discourse with Jesus back in chapter 3, but he had also later challenged his fellow Pharisees who wanted to arrest Jesus: “Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?” (John 7:51) So on these three occasions we see Nicodemus’ faith moving forward. We can easily believe that he became a committed follower.

Nicodemus was a favorite topic by famous and lesser artists over the centuries. If you can forgive the “Wikipedia” reference, click: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicodemus#/media/File:Michelangelo_Pieta_Firenze.jpg. Then click on the “Pieta” sculpture image on the right and a photo will come up. Click the “go right” arrow on the right for another eight images of Nicodemus as portrayed by artists through the years.

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June 22 / Mark 15:21-47

Mark 15:21-47

With more than a dozen days of postings on Jesus’ crucifixion and burial this year and in 2019 it’s hard for me to find something new to say. Even today I find that yesterday I posted on Joseph of Arimathea some of the same things I covered in 2019. But I am always encouraged when Scripture reinforces itself!

All four gospels mention women at the foot of the cross, at the tomb where Jesus was buried, and at His resurrection site. It’s a chore to nail down exactly who they were and who was present at each occasion. One person in particular, Mary Magdalene is at the crucifixion and at the resurrection site in all four gospels; Matthew and Mark also have her at the tomb. The other person of interest to me is Salome, who is mentioned in today’s reading as being at the foot of the cross (Mark 15:40). We can cross-reference to Matthew 27:56 and learn that Salome is the mother of James and John (sons of Zebedee). She is also at the resurrection site in Mark’s gospel. Identifying the other women who were at any of those three events is a chore for another day.

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June 21 / Matt. 27:45-66

Matthew 27:45-66

Two days ago I commented on the Jewish leaders back at the Temple, reflecting on the darkness and the curtain of the Temple being torn in two. Today Matthew adds more to Luke’s account: …the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. (v. 51) Again, the darkness, the torn curtain, the earthquake… Those Jewish leaders in the Temple area had to have been stunned by what they were seeing and feeling and to wonder seriously about what they had done. Try to picture it, folks. Back in Exodus the plague of darkness was described as …a darkness that could be felt. (Exodus 10:21b) I am certain that this crucifixion darkness would also have been felt! Especially by those who had made it happen…

When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who also was a disciple of Jesus. (v. 57) I’m touched by this man, Joseph of Arimathea. All four gospels speak of him going to Pilate and asking for Jesus’ body. John even adds that he …was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews… (John 19:38b), and Mark reports that he …took courage and went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. (Mark 15:43b) It took Jesus’ crucifixion and maybe those additional events of that day (the darkness, the earthquake, the curtain) for Joseph to summon the courage to announce himself as a follower of Jesus. I’m wondering what it takes for us to step out in faith and announce ourselves as followers of Jesus. I don’t mean to be that dramatic – essentially I’m wondering what it is that we are holding back, what is to be our next step of faith. Yes, each of us, what’s our next step??

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June 20 / John 19:17-37

John 19:17-37

Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.” (v. 22) Following up on a comment from my Study Bible… Yes, Pilate needed a reason to have Jesus crucified and the inscription that he wrote would have implied treason against the Roman empire – someone pretending or claiming to be king. But I also see this quotation as Pilate throwing it back in the Jewish leaders’ faces. Essentially he had already acceded to their wishes and put Jesus to death, but he was not going to let these leaders push him any further. He was in charge, not them. In my second set of comments below I have boldened and italicized and put in all caps the word LOVE. Going back to the Jesus Storybook Bible that we use for our Avanza devotionals, there is one other line from Jesus’ crucifixion that has always stood out to the kids: “It was not nails that kept Jesus on the cross, it was love.” These kids knew that Jesus had all power available to Him and that He could have come down from that cross, but He stayed there out of love for us and His obedience to the Father. And the kids pick up on that, every year when I ask them a question that yields that answer – it was LOVE, not nails that kept Jesus on the cross.

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