The resurrection - restoring relationship with Man

Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying.

He (Jesus) asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”

Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”

 Jesus said to her, “Mary.”

She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” John 20: 13, 15 - 16

The Gospel accounts of the resurrection vary but the basic facts are consistent. Jesus appeared first to the faithful women who had gone to the tomb, not sure what they would do as they could never move the stone, but they had to be there. 

John’s Gospel is my favourite account. Jesus met Mary who only recognised him when he called her name. How precious. 

As I was pondering again the terrible account of the death by crucifixion of our Saviour, I came back to the original thought ‘Why? Why would Jesus do it?’ The answer has to be love and love of a magnitude that we have no comprehension of. 

If we consider all other ‘gods’, and many other leaders only interested in power, all they demand is slavish obedience, fearful worship. They only want people who will bow down and do their will. They may sit in fake grandeur, high and distant from their subjects surrounded by obsequious attendants and ‘ministers’ but all they engender in these people is fear. There is no relationship.  

Instead, our wonderful, magnificent God created a beautiful world with Man as the pinnacle of his creation, made in his image, with whom he desires to walk in the cool of the day. Ever since Man rebelled from God’s plan, He has been working towards restoring the original design and the only way for Man to be redeemed from his sin and rebellion was for His precious, sinless son to pay the penalty in our place. 

The reason he would do this is love. God doesn’t want slavish obedience, he wants relationship based on love, his love for us and our love and adoration in return, freely given. We have only to read the accounts in the Bible of God’s presence and we see clouds of glory, majesty that creates such awe in sinful man that they fall flat upon their faces. Anyone who has come face to face with God in any measure whether Moses, Isaiah, Daniel, Ezekiel, Peter becomes overwhelmed by their sinfulness. Yet God wants to breach that gap between sinful man and holy, holy, holy God and the price was high, extremely high. 

Love always finds a way because love grieves over separation, love wants relationship - face to face relationship and the only way was the death of the sinless, perfect, beautiful Jesus.

As we celebrate again the victory of Easter – not just the death but the glorious resurrection conquering death, sin and all its attendant woes, let us be those who walk in the victory that Jesus won for us, not wallowing in our sin, guilt and shame but letting the work of the cross, the body and blood of Jesus do the work God intended to set us free, to walk in beautiful relationship with him. He loves us and all he wants is our hearts, our love and everything follows on from that. Our salvation and freedom came at a terrible cost, but Jesus says again, ‘I love you. It was worth it.’ 

Act of remembrance

For some time now I have been taking communion daily and meditating on the meaning of it. It seems that God continues to reveal layers of significance and I just wanted to share a little of this with you.

The first thought I have been mulling over is that in all four Gospels and the passage in 1 Corinthians 11, the writers all stress that communion was taken in the midst of betrayal. This incredibly important act of remembrance was instigated in the face of betrayal, and not the betrayal by one of the thousands of followers, hoping to make a quick buck, but by a close friend, one who dipped his hand in the bowl with Jesus, any act of great fellowship - Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve. 

I find it almost frightening how easy it is for disciples to be deceived, to believe that what we are doing is what God wants us to do. We read that after the betrayal, the scales fell from Judas’s eyes and overcome by terrible remorse, he killed himself. Please God keep us humbly close to you that we too may not be deceived into doing and saying things that are not of you. 

Then Jesus took the bread and broke it ‘Take and eat; this is my body.’ You can imagine the disciples looking at one another wondering what Jesus meant. Someone may have remembered the occasion, recorded in John 6: 53-58:

53 Jesus replied to them, “Listen to this eternal truth: Unless you eat the body of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you will not have eternal life. 54 Eternal life comes to the one who eats my body and drinks my blood, and I will raise him up in the last day. 55 For my body is real food for your spirit and my blood is real drink. 56 The one who eats my body and drinks my blood lives in me and I live in him. 57 The Father of life sent me, and he is my life. In the same way, the one who feeds upon me, I will become his life. 58 I am not like the bread your ancestors ate and later died. I am the living Bread that comes from heaven. Eat this Bread and you will live forever!” 

We have eternal life not by taking communion but by accepting Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, his body broken for us, his blood shed for us is the only way to salvation. The communion meal represents and reminds us of this. 

As we take the bread, we recall that ‘by his wounds we are healed.’  The word for healed is also for salvation. Jesus broken body saves, heals and delivers us. His death brought complete salvation; body, mind and spirit. I like to bring my family and friends struggling with health to Jesus at this point. 

‘Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you.’ This is my blood of the new covenant poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.’ 

In the midst of betrayal and no doubt with the upcoming acts of desertion, denial, and unbelief from the disciples in his mind, Jesus offered the cup representing his blood to his disciples for the forgiveness of their sins. If ever there was a moment to remind ourselves that being perfect is not a prerequisite for salvation or communion, this must be it. Jesus knows and forgives our sins as we humbly bring them before him. 

The cup represents the new covenant spoken of in Jeremiah 31: 33 – 34 which concludes with ‘For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sin no more.’ This covenant to unfaithful Israel promised forgiveness of sins and a new relationship and it is open to all – you and me.  God promises that ‘I will be their God and they will be my people.’ Covenants are cut with the shedding of blood, are binding, and God never breaks his. In the past the Jews found forgiveness for sins though the shedding of the blood of bulls, sheep and goats. Now a new covenant has been cut in Jesus’ blood as the perfect, all sufficient sacrifice.  He promises to look after us, protect and provide for us as our God. 

The blood of Jesus is incredibly powerful and I like to pray the blood over my family by name, friends, church and any others that God has laid on my heart. 

It was love, not duty or responsibility, that took Jesus to the cross and love that kept him there till he could cry, ‘It is finished.’ 

I believe God is calling us from the tradition of only taking communion at church on Sunday into taking communion as often as we like to remind ourselves of what Jesus did on the cross for us, the completeness of that work and God’s promise to take care of his people through the new covenant cut at Calvary. 

I recommend The Power of Communion by Beni Johnson. 

Show not tell

As an author, I am constantly encouraged in my writing to ‘show not tell’.  This means that it is not enough to say ‘The sunset was beautiful.’ Far better to write, ‘the sun sank in a magnificent blaze of red, orange, and pink that stretched across the sky, before disappearing below the western horizon, ushering in the night.’

God is the master craftsman of ‘show not tell’. In the book of Genesis, God tells us about creation; what he created, but when we gaze upon the creation, seeing what God has shown us, it makes us exclaim like David,

When I consider your heavens,
   the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,    which you have set in place,

 what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
    human beings that you care for them? Psalm 8: 3- 4

 Creation, despite man’s terrible plundering, abusing and despoiling of this ‘green and blue planet’,  it is still superb, glorious, stunning. The night sky unspoiled by light pollution has to be the light show to surpass all light shows.  There are times when I am literally speechless at the stunning beauty of majestic mountain ranges or overwhelmed by the chilly splendour of the polar regions in all their breath-taking snowiness or the loveliness of solitary marshland, winding rivers and estuaries.

Surely God shows us his glorious creativity in the sheer variety of birds, fish, reptiles and mammals that inhabit planet Earth. One of the creatures that most amuses me most is an extravagant black and white bug that hovers in the heat of South Africa, all quivering frills and tassels. It never fails to make me laugh. However it is fish that amaze me in their incredible diversity and when we think that most of them were unknown, concealed in the depths of the ocean until the technological advances of 20^th century brought them to our television screens. What an extravagant, magnificent Creator God we have!

However the greatness of Creation is nothing compared to how God has shown his love for us. 

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5: 8. 

God did not wait for us to get our lives sorted or even turn to him. He initiated the great sacrifice of his life for ours whilst we were still sinners.

God so desired to restore man’s broken relationship with him that he was prepared to go to any lengths necessary.  It was love, incredible love that took Jesus to the cross and love that kept him on the cross.

How did this amazing gift come to us? By grace – the greatest demonstration of God’s love towards sinful man.  Simon Ponsonby writes: ‘Grace – abundant grace – grace is a gift. Grace is not grace if you earned it; a gift is not a gift if you bought it. Grace is not a reward, or a payment, or a due. It is outrageous, undeserved, unmerited, divine favour’.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.  Ephesians 2: 8- 9

We have nothing to bring to God, there is no sacrifice we can offer, no treasure that didn’t first come from him, all he asks of us is our love – that rather poor trickle of affection that draws us into the richest of relationship. In his arms we truly learn how valued, loved, appreciated, adored and precious we are to him.

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!  1 John 3: 1.

God is showing us the greatest treasure of all – his love. He doesn’t tell us how much he loves us, he shows us through Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross, taking our punishment, forgiving our sins and as we surrender our lives to him, he takes us on the greatest adventure of all -  the discovery of our true identity as children of God and the amazing plan and purpose he has for our lives.

Reflections from the Somme

My Great Uncle's grave at Abbeville cemetery

I sat before my great uncle’s grave recently in the warm French sunshine. He died from his wounds received at the Battle of the Somme on July 13 1916. I sat and wondered ‘Was it worth it?’  Did he consider the sacrifice of his life worth it?

He at least had a grave with his name on. Thousands only had tombstones inscribed A soldier of the Great War. Known unto God.  The huge war memorials of the Menin Gate and Thiepval have thousands and thousands of names inscribed on them of soldiers who are missing and have no known grave. 

The Menin Gate

Some of the thousands of names

It was all such different times then. War was regarded as noble and patriotic.  Giving up your life for King and country was the honourable thing to do. It was your duty.  Generals wrote of the ‘magnificence’ of soldiers advancing without flinching as they were mown down by machine gun fire. Soldiers spoke of not wanting to die but being ready to do so.

Two World Wars have changed our view on the nobility of War, certainly in the West.  The carnage of the battlefields of Europe and Turkey in the First World War and the horrors of the Second World War when civilians and servicemen both here, in Europe and further afield in Asia suffered terribly has made us wonder what principles are worth fighting and dying for.

The public outrage over the Iraq war and especially from families of servicemen who lost their lives has shown that as a nation we need very good grounds to send our armed forces off to fight our national battles.  We no longer trust politicians and the army chiefs to decide if a war is worth fighting. That can be dangerous ground.

Our involvement in both World Wars came about because of treaties we had signed that we couldn’t possibly honour.  Even our involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq came about because of the special relationship with USA.  So what do we do? Pull up the drawbridge, batten down the hatches and hope the latest global bully will go away? Of course not.

Evil must be fought.  Those who died in any of the Wars we have been involved in would, I am sure, be horrified if we just gave up. 100 years ago territories were seen as worth fighting over to create large empires whether in Europe, Africa or Asia.  Today our national boundaries within Europe are so secure there are not even border checks. Our boundaries though with the rest of the world are becoming stronger and stronger as people from poorer areas seek a new, more prosperous life or to flee the crises in their own lands.  These crises are no longer over expansion of territory but over racial and religious hatred. In both Middle East and Africa being the wrong tribe or religion is enough to go to war.

So what might my great uncle say today?

Fight evil wherever you find it. In your heart, your home, your neighbourhood, your nation – don’t tolerate racial bigotry and religious ideology that seeks to impose itself on others. Fight it and if necessary go to war against it.

And remember. Remember those who died – whatever we may think about the cause – remember that they made a sacrifice that they considered worth making and be thankful.

Tyne Cot cemetery and the Cross of Sacrifice

Some beautiful words from one of today's generation *Words below

Finally my great uncle was a Christian and I am sure he would say consider Jesus – the one who made the ultimate sacrifice to overcome evil. Jesus fought and won the good fight of faith so every one of us could know him and live free – free from sin and free from death. One day he will return and usher in the reign of peace we all long for.

Words from a British pupil on the Cross of Sacrifice at Tyne Cot cemetery

To this day there are numerous unidentified soldiers who made up our army that won our freedom. We  have encountered so many unique and heartwarming stories from unidentified soldiers but what about the stories that were never shared. Every soldier is as important and as brave as the next. Some just happen to be unknown. Let us remember the stories that were not told, sons who never returned and lives that were never lived. 

Isaac the sacrifice

Then God said, ‘Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about. Genesis 12:2

I wonder what Isaac thought about the expedition to sacrifice him. We know that on the third day of their travels as they were climbing the mountain to offer the sacrifice, Isaac asked his father about the lamb for the burnt offering (Genesis 22:7). Abraham’s wonderful words of faith that God would provide must have been like a knife in his heart. He knew who the offering was going to be even of Isaac didn’t.

However it is almost certain that Isaac was not a small boy but an adolescent at this time and in verse 9 it says that Abraham bound Isaac and laid him on the wood of the fire. Was it at this point that Isaac realised he was the burnt offering? Abraham was over 100 years old and though no doubt fairly fit from his life of farming, I am sure Isaac would have been able to resist his father’s attempt to make him the sacrifice. He must have agreed or at least not resisted being bound and laid on the altar. Why?

My only conclusion is that he had great faith and trust in both God and his Father. He must have realised that if he was the lamb to be slain, there was a good reason. Isaac had to trust that either God would provide a lamb or he would be it. I find this level of trust very inspiring but also daunting.

I doubt if any of us will be required to make that level of sacrifice but we may well have to give to God our most cherished dreams, plans, hopes and if God does not provide a ‘ram’ they may have to die. There have been times in my life when I have had to hand over to others something that I have poured my heart and life into. I have also had to watch a once fruitful ministry die because God’s hand was no longer on it. To this day I do not know why but I do know I did the right thing painful though that was.   

I pray today you may have grace to do this if necessary and to trust God with all your most cherished dreams and hopes. So whether you continue with them for years or feel the time is come to hand them on you will have the confidence to know what God’s will is.  He is faithful and can be totally depended on.