Resurrection Day!

“Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb.  And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it.  His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow.  And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men.  But the angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus Who was crucified.  He is not here, for He has risen, as He said.  Come, see the place where He lay.  Then go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead, and behold, He is going before you to Galilee; there you will see Him.  See, I have told you.  So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell His disciples.  And behold, Jesus met them and said, ‘Greetings!” and they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him.  Then Jesus said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see Me.” –Matthew 28:1-10 (ESV).

It was not yet good light; the dawn was just breaking and shadows of darkness played about the garden tomb.  Sorrow and fear walked with the two women, Mary Magdalene ‘and the other Mary,’ female disciples of Jesus, last at the tomb on Friday, first at the tomb on Sunday.  They were afraid.  I would have been too, going early before good day, and then being shaken by a reverberating earthquake!  How strange to be greeted by such shaking and clattering of the earth.  And fear overtook them again, for seated there upon the great gravestone was an extraterrestrial being whose garments glowed in the half-light like lightning.  Even the strong, burly Roman guards lay on the ground, out cold, like dead men!

But when the angel spoke, for by now the women realized the person meant them only good and not harm, they listened, for his message reechoed what Jesus Himself had told them before He died:  “Fear not!...He is not here, for He has risen, as He said.  Come, see the place where He lay.”  And with that I can imagine that the angel stepped aside, inviting Mary Magdalene and Mary to step up to the tomb and look in.  Accounts of the resurrection in other gospels tell us that the grave clothes lay there on the rock ledge where the body had been—as though the corpse of Jesus, now alive, had just escaped from them and left the clothes lying in the tomb.  And folded, the napkin, or handkerchief, that had covered Jesus’ face was placed neatly to the side.  With all the excitement of the angel’s message, the women would not have had time to give more than a precursory glance into the tomb.  But later, they would remember an important aspect of the neatly-folded napkin:  It lay folded in readiness, a sign that the Master would be back again; He had not gone far away.  For Mary Magdalene and Mary, the angel had directions, an important errand for them to run: “”Go quickly and tell His disciples He has risen from the dead! Tell them to go to Galilee; there He will meet them!” What joy, what delight!  The Marys did not need their urns of burial ointment and spices they had so lovingly brought to embalm the body.  No dead body was there to receive the embalming.

They left the garden grave, excited and exulting that they had such a message to give to the disciples!  And as they rushed through the garden, behold, Jesus Himself met them and said, “Greetings!”  There was no mistaking that voice!  No one ever spake like Jesus speaks.  They fell to His feet, worshiping Him! But He, like the angel, had a message for them to bear, “Go!  Tell My disciples that I am alive.  I will meet them in Galilee!  Do not be afraid!”

Shout Hosanna! Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem

“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!  Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!  Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is He, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” –Zechariah 9:9 (ESV).  “Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.  And the crowds that went before Him and that followed Him were shouting, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David!  Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!  Hosanna in the highest!’ And when He entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, ‘Who is this?’ And the crowds said, ‘This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth of Galilee.’”-Matthew 21:8-11 (ESV).

In Christendom, we call today “Palm Sunday,” marked by the triumphant waving of palm branches.  On that day in Jerusalem the jubilant waving of palm branches and laying of cloaks in the path were outward acts declaring the people’s recognition of and submission to Jesus as King.  Waving of palm branches had been associated with important Jewish victories of the past.  Imagine the tenor of the crowd as they expected soon that their long-expected Messiah would declare His rule and free them from Roman oppression.  Jesus rode on a donkey.  That, too, had significant symbolism.  One who rode in triumph on a lowly donkey brought peace—not war. Of the four gospel writers, Matthew is the only one who mentions two animals, both the donkey and her colt.  We are not to see a problem here, but that both were brought by the disciples sent to get them.  It is fitting to recognize that the donkey would have walked alongside her unbroken colt to give confidence to the young animal on whom no one had ever ridden. But Jesus rode on the foal.  The shout of “Hosanna in the highest!” is from Psalm 118:25-26.  The translation from the Hebrew (hoshiahna) is rendered “Save us!”:  “Save us, we pray, O Lord!  O Lord, we pray, give us success!  Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!  We bless you from the house of the Lord.”

We are likely to view the triumphal entry into Jerusalem with regret because the ones who cast palm branches and cloaks before Jesus and cried so fervently, “Hosanna in the highest!” could so quickly turn against the King of King and Lord of Lords and cry, “Crucify Him!  Crucify Him!”  But we must view this great event in the earthly life of our Lord in the perspective of His purpose for coming to earth.  He was, indeed, King of King and Lord of Lords—but not in the way anticipated.  He was not just for the Jews to be declared their king alone and to establish His rule in the holy city of Jerusalem.  He is indeed the righteous Davidic Messiah who would “save His people from their sins” (see Mark 8:31, Romans 5:6-8).  His triumph as Christos, Saviour, Messiah, Emmanuel was His ultimate purpose:  Not for the Jews but for everyone who will crown Him King! Not for an age, but for all ages!  Not for an earthly dominion but for the glory of an eternal kingdom!  Let us indeed shout “Hosanna!  Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” 

Redeeming the Time

“See that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.  Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.”  -Ephesians 5:15-17 (NKJV).

Newer translations of the Bible render “redeeming the time” as “making the best use of time.”  I  somehow still like “redeeming the time,” as I memorized it from the King James Version. Eugene Peterson in The Message version gives  the verses Ephesians 5:11-17 as a very plain and self-explanatory paragraph in this way:  “Don’t waste your time on useless work, mere busywork, the barren pursuits of darkness.  Expose these things for the sham they are.  It’s a scandal when people waste their lives on things they must do in the darkness where no one will see.  Rip the cover off those frauds and see how attractive they look in the light of Christ.  Wake up from your sleep, climb out of your coffins; Christ will show you the light!  So watch your step.  Use your head.  Make the most of every chance you get.  These are desperate times.  Don’t live carelessly, unthinkingly.  Make sure you understand what the Master wants.” (Eugene H. Peterson.  The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language.  Colorado Springs: Nave Press, 2002, p. 1616-17).

Recently a friend of mine sent me a parable he wrote that can well be applied to redeeming the time.  I will abbreviate his wonderful story to give just the highlights.  He pictured a place, celestial and beautiful, where the Master Architect and the Master Clockmaker created clocks of all shapes, sizes order.  They were perfect when finished.  These were “as the sands of the sea in number.”  They were placed everywhere each on its special mantel to chime and keep account of time.  Their works, operated on an amazing mainspring in each clock,  received power from the Son.  Some were recalled to the celestial city of origin at their time to go.  But some were revamped, re-oiled, given a new lease on life, sometimes even placed on different mantels in different locations to keep watch of the time in a new and different place.  Here they kept working, kept tolling their beautiful chimes, showed the time on radiant smiling faces.  When the Clockmaker called to them again they were ready to stop…ready to rest…ready to return to the Celestial City.  And from the many clocks was a message, similar and urgent:  “Listen up, you, there!  The hour may be getting late.  Toll clearly and enjoy all the time you have left.  Check in with the Clockmaker. Good news is here!”

Let us redeem, make the best use of time.  Clasp time as a precious commodity, affirming its opportunities for beauty, love and usefulness.

                                                                                    -Ethelene Dyer Jones  03.17.2013.

Draw Near to God

“But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all your works.” –Psalm 73:28 (ESV).

A long-time question that has perplexed mankind is “Why do the ungodly seem to prosper and the godly have such a hard time?”  That was a query that produced much thought in several of the Psalms, especially those called “Wisdom Psalms.”  I invite you to read all of Psalm 73, and companion wisdom Psalms 49 and 37.  All deal with the dilemma of those who seem to prosper in their way of life while the pious and godly seem to suffer.  Is it any wonder we ask “Why?” 

To explore what we often, in our humanity, term unfairness seems to me to be a logical pursuit.  But through all the questioning the Psalm writers pose, there comes a very definite conclusion:  “Loyalty to the Lord always is rewarded by contentment in Him, honest dealing with our fellowman, generosity of spirit, and just and righteous living.  We are not to be envious of evil doers, but we ourselves are to “trust in the Lord and do good” (Psalm 37:3).  The more we draw near to God, the better perspective we will have on life.  We won’t wonder so much about its “fairness” as we come to realize that our “delight is in the Lord” (Psalm 37:4)  Moreover, for those who draw near to God, they have not only necessary strength for this life but they have an anchor for the life to come, whereas the wicked are “cut off.” 

Today we call ‘the Lord’s day,’ a day set aside for worship and spiritual refreshment.  (Actually, every day is the Lord’s day; one in seven is set aside for public worship) The Psalmist wrote that it was in worship that the answers he sought came to him:  “But when I thought how to understand this (that is, why the ungodly seemingly prosper and the good have tribulation), it seemed to me a wearisome task, until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end” (Psalm 73:16, ESV).  In worship the Psalmist reaches some wonderful conclusions:  “I am continually with You; You hold my right hand.  You guide me with Your counsel, and afterward You will receive me to glory.  Whom have I in heaven but You?  And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides You.  My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (Psalm 73:23-26).  And the assurance that all is right is in the resolution and exaltation expressed in verse 28:  “But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of His works.”  It is not in the punctuation of this verse, but I for one think it should end in an exclamation mark!  As I draw near to God, He assures me that He is my strength and my portion forever!

                                                                                                Ethelene Dyer Jones 03.10.2013.