Good Tuesday to you my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
These days immediately after Easter, we are doing the same as those close friends of Jesus were doing in the days after resurrection Sunday. We’re seeking to understand what it all means!
Yesterday we considered the two opposing rumors which were running wildly through Jerusalem this week: One rumor claimed some people had actually seen Jesus alive! They claimed His body was resurrected; His horrible wounds healed! The rumor was they claimed to have spoken with Jesus, touched His resurrected body, some had even shared a meal with Him!
The other rumor denied that ridiculous claim and declared that the guards who had been assigned to watch the tomb had fallen asleep. And while asleep they claimed the friends of Jesus came to the tomb, broke the seal, rolled back the large stone and stole His dead body and ran away with it. Of course neither rumor had any proof. Neither of them could show a photograph, yet one thing they both claimed… the tomb was empty, the body was gone, come and see for yourself!
And so, I believe most of Jerusalem yawned! They simply waved it off as one more rumor and on this Tuesday. Jerusalem was busy cleaning up after the huge Passover festivities, getting their city back to normal. And for the thousands traveling home to towns and cities all over Palestine, they were left to wonder about the rumors.
But not so for the closest friends of Jesus. Wherever they were this Tuesday, I imagine John was taking seriously the words Jesus had spoken to him Friday from the cross: “Here is your mother”. (John 19:27) I doubt John had left Mary, the mother of Jesus, alone since. On this Tuesday I imagine they were together in the home of a friend in Jerusalem, staying out of the public view. They both had a multitude of questions which no one could answer. They both knew Jesus better than anyone else knew Jesus.
We don’t know if Mary had been in the upper room that Thursday evening when Jesus and His disciples had gathered for the Passover meal, but I would imagine the events and words of Jesus that evening are likely what John and Mary spent these days after resurrection Sunday talking about, as they tried to understand what this past weekend and all the outrageous and unexplainable events of the past few days meant, and what affect it all had on the rest of their lives.
So, let’s sit with John and Mary, as they try to sort it all out. Perhaps John said to Mary, ‘Shortly after Judas left the upper room Thursday evening, I remember Jesus said these words to us, which seem so very appropriate right now’: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in Me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me, that you also may be where I am.” (John 14:1-4)
Can you see Mary’s furrowed brow as she takes a sip of morning tea, and then asks the question: ‘John, do you think that is where He is right now? Has He gone to God the Father and is He preparing that place for us? How long do you suppose He’ll be gone? When should we expect His return? How will He take us there with Him? What should we be doing now to prepare for that?’ Now friends, of course we have no record of this conversation, but it sure seems plausible to me, how about you?
I can see John telling Mary what Jesus continued to say that Thursday evening: ‘Mary, Thomas asked Jesus a question.’ “Lord, we don’t know where You are going so how can we know the way?” Do you see Mary nodding in agreement as if to say, ‘Well done Thomas, good question’, and then Mary looks right at John awaiting the answer… “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through Me. If you really know Me, you will know My Father as well.’ (John 14:5-7) Mmmm, John paused, Mary and John looked at each other with a thousand memories flooding their minds, both of the events of this weekend, but memories of months and even years gone by. How many hundreds of times had Mary asked herself… WHO really is this Son of mine?
John continued recounting that Thursday evening…“Philip said, ‘Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.’ Jesus answered, “Don’t you know Me Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time. Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father. Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words I say to you I do not speak on My own authority. Rather it is the Father living in Me who is doing His work. Believe Me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.” (John 14:8-11)
Oh, the miracles. From the day they both watched Jesus change water into wine even though He was standing across the courtyard from the water jars as the servants filled them with ordinary water… to the day, not long ago, when they both watched Jesus call dead Lazarus out of his tomb. Oh, the miracles! There was no logical explanation.
No normal human being can stop a storm with just a word, but Jesus did! (Mark 4:35-41) No normal person can multiply two little fish and five biscuits to feed thousands of people, but Jesus did! (John 6:1-15) No one can heal lame limbs with just a word, or restore sight to blind people, but Jesus did! (Matt. 9:27-34)
I imagine John and Mary sat for a long-time comparing stories about the miracles they’d seen. You and I have found ourselves in such conversations before so it shouldn’t be difficult for us to watch them, as John says ‘Mary, I remember the time…” and John recounted a miracle. Then Mary said, ‘and I recall the day I watched Him…’ and John would hear a story of Jesus, perhaps a story only Mary could tell, since it was one of those special times, she and Jesus experienced something together.
The miracles were truly amazing, and they certainly proved that Jesus was no ordinary man. Jesus had God’s power in Him. Oh, they both knew stories of the Old Testament prophets like Elijah or Elisha who did amazing miracles, but they never claimed God the Father was in them doing their miracles. They never claimed to be the ONLY way to God. And Jesus never claimed to be a prophet OF God, but rather Jesus said God was IN Him! I wonder if Mary looked at John and said, ‘John, now you have a glimpse of the things I’ve been pondering deeply in my heart since Gabriel’s first visit to me explaining who my first Child would be.’
I think we’ll pause right here with John and Mary as they contemplate what they’d seen with their eyes and heard with their ears not once or twice but many, many times, during their journey with Jesus. Now, with what they had experienced that Passover weekend, they both needed God’s help in understanding not simply what they had seen and heard but what it all meant about WHO Jesus really is; WHY He had come, from heaven, to be borne by Mary in an animal stable; WHY He had been obedient to Mary and Joseph as He grew up in their family in Nazareth; WHY He had chosen John and his brother James and their friends Peter and Andrew to be His disciples; WHY He had done all the miracles and preached remarkable messages? Most of all WHY He had allowed people to brutalize Him and kill Him on a cross? And now WHY He is alive again but bearing the nail scars in His hands. Oh, how John and Mary longed to see Him again. Oh, so many questions they had for Jesus.
Do you long to see Jesus my friends? Do you have so many questions you’d like to ask Him? What do you think the miracles He did prove about WHO Jesus is and WHY He came to earth? What do you think Jesus is doing right now and where do you think Jesus is right now? Meet me right back here tomorrow and we’ll continue this discussion with John and Mary. And here’s a song to help us reflect on these questions…
Today’s Scripture is John 14:1-11.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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