Lent #8: Resurrection Day - Events which Blew the World Apart and Put It Back in a New Way

This final post in the series from NT Wright's book, Lent for Everyone - Matthew, is taken from 'Easter Day' and is based on the portion in Matthew 28:1-10. This is Matthew's account of Jesus' resurrection:

"Earthquakes, angels, women running to and fro, a strange command...Nobody thought in the first century, and nobody should think now, that the point of the Easter story is that it is quite a reasonable thing to happen...No. It was always a strange, crazy, wild story...If Jesus of Nazareth really was the Son of God...What else would you expect? A calm restatement of some philosophical truths for sage old greybeards to ponder - or events which blew the world apart and put it back in a new way?"

Wright goes on to talk about the role of the women in this story and how they were not considered reliable witnesses in a court of law. The fact that the Gospel writers acknowledge their role in witnessing to the resurrection is a strong case that they weren't making this story up! God always chooses the weak things of the world to confound the strong...

"But the main thing is that, once more, they are told not to be afraid (vs 5). What is there to be afraid of, if Easter has dealt with the greatest monster of all, death itself? Why should you be afraid of anything, if Jesus has been raised from the dead, if the old world has cracked open and a new world has been born?

"And Easter always looks outward. From the very start, the news that Jesus is risen contains a command: 'Go!' Go, first to Galilee; go back to where it began, back to your roots to meet the risen Jesus there and watch him transform everything, including your oldest memories. And, as you obey the command of the angel, Jesus himself may perhaps meet you in person (vs 9). Take hold of him. Worship him. This is his day, the Day of Days. Make it yours too."

"We praise you, Lord Jesus Christ, because you have overcome death, and opened God's new creation to all believers."

Lent #7: A Holy Saturday Moment - Nothing To Do Except Wait

Today's post is from the 'Holy Week: Holy Saturday' reading of Lent for Everyone - Matthew by NT Wright. He shares from Matthew 27:57-66, the story of Joseph of Arimathea's request and action concerning the body of Jesus, the women sitting outside the tomb, and the request of the religious leaders to Pilate to secure the tomb.

Wright comments that they tried to keep Jesus safely dead and still do today..."Sometimes, though, we Christians need to observe a Holy Saturday moment. On Holy Saturday, there is nothing you can do except wait. The Christian faith suffers great defeats...

"But God will do what God will do, in God's own time. The world can plot and plan, but all of that will count for nothing when the victory already won on the cross turns into the new sort of victory on the third day...Who knows what will happen next, after the sneering and scheming of the skeptics of our day? Our part is to keep Holy Saturday in faith and hope...

"And there is usually something to be done in the present, even when times are sad and hard. It took considerable courage for Joseph of Arimathea to go to Pontius Pilate and ask for Jesus' body. Peter and the others had run away to hide because they were afraid...Joseph had no such qualms, even after Jesus' death.

"Some of Jesus' followers might well have thought that, if the Romans had crucified him, he can't have been the Messiah, so he must have been a charlatan...But Joseph didn't see it that way.

"...We aren't sure why we've got to this place, why things aren't going as we wanted or planned, and the life seems to have drained out of it all. That's a Holy Saturday moment. Do what has to be done, and wait for God to act in his own way and his own time."

"Help us, gracious Lord, to wait for your victory, and in the meantime to serve you in whatever way we can."

Lent #6: It Isn't Me, Is It?

This week I've chosen the 'Week 5: Saturday' reading in this series from NT Wright's Lent for Everyone - Matthew. His commentary is based on a lengthy portion from Matthew 26 & 27, focusing on the intimate gathering of Jesus and his disciples shortly before his crucifixion. In this gathering Jesus tells them that one of them will betray him. Wright comments on the disciples' reaction:

"It isn't me, is it?"

"...We often wonder what it was that made Judas do it. Perhaps we should also ask what it was that held the others back. They, like Judas, had misunderstood so much. They still didn't realize what it was Jesus had to do. There is a worried humility about their question which we would do well to imitate as we approach the narrative of Jesus' last moments...Read (this story) with the question in mind, 'Lord, it isn't me, is it?' and see what answer you get.

"Because it is me - and you, and all of us...We have all been loyal and yet disloyal. We have all wanted to do the right thing and then run away when the going got tough. We have all colluded with injustice, stayed silent when we should have spoken out, and then perhaps blurted out some give-away remark when we should have shut up. And we have all stood by scenes of sorrow and tragedy, not knowing what to say or do but feeling that somehow, of only, we could or should have prevented it...Many (of us) have hurled insults at Jesus...

"Find yourself in the story, wherever you are. Only then, perhaps, can we ask the question in a different way. Because from the earliest days of the church's life the followers of Jesus told this story for another reason. The story of Jesus became their story, in the sense that they believed they had died with Jesus; they had suffered with him, been crucified with him, been buried with him. Somehow - and this mystery lies at the very heart of authentic Christian experience - ...they were living in Jesus and he was living in them...

"'Lord - is it me? Is it me, facing misunderstanding and betrayal? Is it me, praying in agony, being arrested, tried and unjustly condemned, abandoned by my friends, mocked, beaten up, stripped and hung up to die in shame?' As you read this story in faith, we should hear the answer, life-transforming as it is: 'Yes, it is you. This is who you are now. You are not the person you once were. You are the person to whom all this has happened...You are in me and I am in you. You have died; your life is hidden, with me, in the life of God himself.'

"When St. Paul speaks of being 'in Christ', this is basically what he means...you died with him, were nailed to the cross with him, were buried with him. This is who you now are...Easter and all that follows gives a further dimension...(but) it is through Jesus' crucifixion that he becomes what he was born to be: the saviour...: by extending his arms on the cross, enfolding us in that God-with-us embrace, and bringing us with him through death into a whole new life."

"Thank you, loving Lord. Thank you." 

Lent (#5): Gold Remains Hidden and Takes Some Finding

This week's post is from the Week 4 - Tuesday writing from N.T. Wright's Lent for Everyone - Matthew. In this reading the author comments on Matthew 20:1-16, the story Jesus tells about the workers who show up late in the day and gets paid the same amount as those who worked all day.

Wright applies this story on three levels: 1) Jesus reminds his followers that God is sovereign over his kingdom and no one can claim a special place because they've worked hard or given up a lot or have been with him from the start. 2) Jesus' story reminds the Jews that it has always been God's plan to humble the exalted and exalt the humbled; that although Israel is special in God's heart, the gospel and the kingdom are for all people, Jews and Gentiles. God is without partiality and won't favor one over the other.

The third level at which Wright applies this story has to do with our daily life of faith, and he says the following:

"Our western 'celebrity' culture favors those who manage to push themselves to the front, whether it's the people with the most obvious talents or the stars with the sharpest agents. Sadly, that can spill over into the life of the church: famous preachers and leaders get attention and the 'ordinary' Christian becomes a passive spectator. We need, again and again, to learn that there are no such people as 'ordinary' Christians. In the 'renewal of all things' which Jesus spoke about (19:28), all sorts of people will stand out as the real heroes and heroines of faith, though nobody has ever heard of them before. They will be the ones who, whether for five minutes or fifty years, served God with total and glad obedience, giving themselves completely to holiness, prayer and works of love and mercy. Such people are the pure gold of the church. But, as so often, gold remains hidden and takes some finding."

"Gracious Lord, help us to be humble enough to take whatever place we are given, and zealous enough to work wholeheartedly for your glory where and when you call us."

Lent (#4): Cutting the Phone Line to Avoid Unwanted Callers then Wondering Why We Can't Call Our Best Friend

This week's Lent posting comes from the Week 3 Saturday reading of NT Wright's Lent for Everyone -Matthew. He writes from the teaching of Jesus about forgiveness in Matthew 18. He suggests that this teaching should be applied to at least three levels of our lives: the very personal everyday level in which we practice forgiving the little offenses and irritations that come our way; the second level is the deep psychological level of forgiving those who have sinned against us in our past, particularly those in our family; and the third level is prayer for forgiveness at the macro level in society recognizing that the day will come when God will deal once and for all with all debts of every kind in history (called the Jubilee year by the Israelites).

The following quote pertains to the second level of forgiveness; the author is telling a story about a young woman who found herself incapable of receiving the love of God even though she wanted to receive it. Eventually the truth came out that she hated her parents...

"She resented the sort of people they were, the way they had treated her. So she had closed up her heart. Where there should have been an open readiness for God's love, there was a steel wall. It was as though you cut off the telephone line to stop certain people ringing you up and then grumbled because you couldn't phone your best friend. Forgiveness and love are a two-way street. The same part of you spiritually both gives and receives. If you shut down the part labeled 'forgiveness', you shut down the part labeled 'forgiveness' in both directions...

"Jesus was the Great Jubilee in person...Forgiveness wasn't an incidental feature of his kingdom-movement. It was the name of the game. Those of us who find ourselves drawn into that movement must learn how to play that game all of the time. It's what we're about. It's what God is about."

"Loving Lord, teach us to forgive as we have been forgiven."