Jesus and The Path of Life

Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, "Teacher, we want to see a sign from you." He answered, "A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. (Matthew 12:38-40 NIV)

This entire week, we have been looking at the people around Jesus and how they simply did not believe that Jesus was alive after they had seen him die, taken down, and buried in the tomb.  Even though Jesus told them ahead of time, they struggled to believe that he really was alive.

Today, it is quite common to find people who struggle with believing that Jesus died and, later, was alive.  That’s not completely because of the eye witnesses.  In fact, the doubt of the eye witnesses back then actually makes the story more believable.  They needed to be convinced…and they were. 

No the struggle we have today tends to be more because of the claims Jesus made about himself.

"You are a king, then!" said Pilate. Jesus answered, "You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me." (John 18:37 NIV84)

The high priest asked him, "Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?" "I am," said Jesus. "And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.” (Mark 14:61-62 NIV)

He replied: "Watch out that you are not deceived. For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am he,' and, 'The time is near.' Do not follow them. (Luke 21:8 NIV)

Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. (Matthew 28:18 NIV)

"Very truly I tell you," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!" (John 8:58 NIV)

Jesus claimed to be a king, the Messiah (Christ), the one given all authority in heaven and on earth, and the great “I AM” (God).  These are bold claims for someone to make about themselves.  Either he was lying, he was a lunatic, or, as the eyewitnesses obviously believed, he is Lord.  All these teachings and claims about himself were to be proven as true with one miraculous sign:

The Jews then responded to him, "What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?" Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days." They replied, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?" But the temple he had spoken of was his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken. (John 2:18-22 NIV)

When Jesus arose from the dead, God was confirming that Jesus was the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  God was confirming that this was the long-awaited and prophesied-about Messiah.  God was confirming that, like any true prophet, he spoke on behalf of God.  God was confirming that this was God’s Son.  God was confirming that this was God in the flesh.

"I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe that I am who I am. (John 13:19 NIV)

How about you?  Who do you think Jesus is?

Doubts and The Path of Life

The two men on the road to Emmaus finally recognized Jesus.  He was alive!

They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together and saying, "It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon." Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread. While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you." They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. (Luke 24:33-37 NIV)

The reason I’m taking the time to read through all these stories is this: they had doubts.  The people closest to Jesus did not believe that it was Jesus.  They had walked from town to town with him.  They ate countless meals with him.  They gathered up the twelve basketfuls of food that were left over from five loaves and two fish that fed thousands and thousands.  They were empowered by him to cast out demons, heal the sick, and proclaim that the Kingdom of God is near.  But they did not believe that he was alive.

He said to them, "Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have." When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, "Do you have anything here to eat?" They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate it in their presence. (Luke 24:38-43 NIV)

I find comfort in their doubts.  In fact, their lack of faith builds my faith.  These people needed to be convinced.  They had to have proof.  Jesus spent 40 days giving them proof that he was alive and then he ascended into heaven before their eyes.  If people this close to Jesus needed to be convinced, I don’t feel so bad for my own process of coming to faith and growing in that faith.

Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe." A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe." Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!" Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." (John 20:24-29 NIV)

Their lack of faith gives me hope for those around me, too, who still do not have faith.  God didn’t give up on them.  God doesn’t give up on us, either.  God gave the disciples what they needed to believe.  Now, God gives us what we need to believe, too.

He said to them, "This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms." Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. (Luke 24:44-45 NIV)

How about you?  Do you know that God doesn’t give up on you?  Do you know that Jesus is alive?

The Road to Emmaus and The Path of Life

The women found the tomb empty and reported it back to the rest.  Peter and John ran to the tomb to see for themselves before they would believe.  Now they agree: the tomb is empty.

Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognizing him. (Luke 24:13-16 NIV)

I wonder how many times I’ve been going through my day, walking with Jesus, and not recognized him.  I wonder how often I had those conversations in my head and never noticed that the God of the universe was talking with me, offering me wisdom, or giving me comfort.  They walked with him.  They talked with him.  They didn’t recognize him.

He asked them, "What are you discussing together as you walk along?" They stood still, their faces downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, "Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?" "What things?" he asked. "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. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning but didn't find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus." 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. As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther. But they urged him strongly, "Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over." So he went in to stay with them. When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. 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 24:17-32 NIV)

How about you?  When Jesus is walking with you, do you recognize him?  Do you listen to him?  Do you trust him?

Peter & John on The Path of Life

The women went to the tomb to put spices on the body of Jesus and found and empty tomb.  Men in dazzling white told them that Jesus was alive.

When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. (Luke 24:9-11 NIV)

The women who had gone to the tomb now believed, but that was hardly the case for the men.  They were going to need some more convincing.

So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus' head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. (John 20:3-8 NIV)

Peter and John did not believe it until they saw it with their own eyes.  The stone was rolled away.  The guard was missing.  Jesus’ body was gone.  What the women were saying was true.  Jesus was gone.

(They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) Then the disciples went back to where they were staying. (John 20:9-10 NIV)

The men were going to need still more convincing.  They body was missing, yes, but that doesn’t mean Jesus is alive.  They would need much more before they would be willing to believe.

I don’t know about you, but I find this lack of faith reassuring.  It’s helps me to know that those closest to Jesus were not convinced right away.  Peter was later called by Jesus, “rock.”  John was known as “the one that Jesus loved.”  Peter, James, and John were clearly the three closest to Jesus.  Yet, they did not believe that he arose from the dead.  If they needed convincing, then, perhaps, I can take their word for it once they are convinced.  They did not take Jesus’ resurrection on blind faith.  They needed to know more.

How about you?  Does faith come easy for you?  Are you able to take things on blind faith, or do you need a bit more convincing?

The Women on The Path of Life

When Jesus died, they all saw it:  his family, his best friends, his apostles, his other followers, and his enemies.  They watched as he took his last breath.  They saw the soldier check by thrusting the spear into his side.  Blood and water flowed.  He was dead.  They helped take him down from the cross, laid him in the tomb, and watched as the soldiers placed the stone over the opening to seal it from intruders.  Then they went home.  The women prepared the spices for his embalming process, but they couldn’t go back.  The law wouldn’t allow them.  They couldn’t come in contact with a corpse on a Sabbath (Saturday).  They would need to wait.

On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. (Luke 24:1-3 NIV)

They women were ready to grieve that day, preparing his body for the tomb.  Instead they found the tomb opened, the soldiers gone, and the body missing.  Their grief would take a turn that morning.  The direction it would turn, though, would be determined by the truth they would discover.  What happened to the body of Jesus?

While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? (Luke 24:4-5 NIV)

The living?  What are they talking about?  And who are these men?  Did they do something with his body?  Why are they telling us these things?

He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 'The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.'" Then they remembered his words. (Luke 24:6-8 NIV)

The women started their day thinking Jesus was dead.  Not only that, they were coming to the tomb to prepare his body and mourn his passing.  Instead, they were convinced that Jesus was alive.

How about you?  Would you have been convinced if you were with these women on the path of life?