Monthly Archives: November 2021

A RICH MAN’S TOMB

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A RICH MAN’S TOMB

“At the place where Jesus was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid. Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.” John 19: 41-42.

Ever built a 2000-piece jigsaw puzzle? It’s a massive undertaking. First one has to find a table or board big enough to fit the reassembled puzzle and all the loose pieces separated and lying face up. Then one has to find all the edge pieces and put them in their correct places to form the outer frame. Next, one painstakingly studies the picture and the pieces to find the shapes and colours that will fit together to form the picture, either beginning at the outer edge or with some focal point that will fit into the puzzle as one goes along.

As the story of Jesus flowed, things happened in quick succession which replicated the words of the prophets of the Old Testament with uncanny accuracy. It was as though God had, in front of Him, a picture of the events of Jesus’ life, from His conception to His ascension which He had described to the prophets. As event after event happened, He put the puzzle pieces together exactly as the picture showed.

Isaiah’s prophecy in chapter 53 contributed the details of a major part of the completed picture. Joseph’s compassionate action provided the pieces which reproduced the picture of His burial perfectly.

“He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in His death, though He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth.” Isaiah 53:9.

According to Matthew 27:57-61, Joseph of Arimathea was a wealthy man who owned an unused tomb near the crucifixion site, which he had prepared for his own burial. Mark added that he was a prominent member of the Jewish Council. What moved him to request the body of Jesus and to use his own tomb in which to bury Him? Was it love, generosity or perhaps even guilt because he had not been open about his faith in Jesus?

Perhaps, as he watched the terrible events, knowing that Jesus was innocent and that He had been killed to mask the wickedness of his fellow religious leaders, he was moved in his heart to rescue Him from the ignominious end of executed criminals – cremation in the city’s garbage dump in the Valley of Hinnom.

When he was sure that Jesus was dead, he hurried off to Pilate to ask permission to take charge of the body. Together with Nicodemus who allied himself with Joseph, they claimed His body, carrying out hurried burial rites because it was almost sundown and the beginning of the special Sabbath, and placed it in the tomb.

What does this little detail say to us who read it? It fascinates me that God wrote Jesus’ story in His book before He was born. Apart from the fact that it gives me assurance that the Bible really is God’s book – who else can write a biography before it happens and be spot on in every detail? — it also makes me wonder whether He has written my story as well. If He has, it means that I am not an insignificant nobody in His eyes, but someone worth writing about.

“All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” Psalm 139:16b.

Does this mean that I am just a puppet that God pushes around at will? I don’t think that’s what David meant when he wrote those words. I think he meant that God sees everything from beginning to end. He is able to write our stories before they happen because He can see the whole thing from His perspective. This means that God is very great, greater than that He can see into the future. Past, present and future are all “now” to God. He is already there, at the end of my story just as He is here now where I am on the journey and was present at the beginning.

This also means that, from the perspective of salvation, although Jesus died at a specific time in history, all the benefits of His death applied from the beginning of time. God’s people weren’t forgiven because they offered animal sacrifices. That was only a picture to help them to understand that it was the blood of God’s Lamb, His Son that cleansed them from sin.

God has taken care of everything that was needed to forgive us and reinstate us as His children. He left nothing to chance and He leaves nothing to chance as far as our lives are concerned. We can trust Him. After all, He chose us from before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight.

Acknowledgement

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

WATCH THIS SPACE!

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WATCH THIS SPACE!

“Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs.” John 19:38-40.

The wind tugged at a wisp of hair, coated with blood and sweat that strayed from the matted tangle

on the head of the bloodied corpse. A few soldiers stood guard around the crosses in the eerie twilight that had settled prematurely over the landscape, waiting for the order to take down the bodies and deposit them in the smouldering fire in the Valley of Hinnom.

Two men appeared out of the gloom, accompanied by an official from Pilate. A quiet word from the Roman officer and the soldiers heaved the centre cross from its hole in the rock and lowered it to the ground. The body was removed from the wooden torture stake and wrapped in a linen shroud.

Joseph and Nicodemus lifted Jesus and carried His heavy weight to a rocky cave in the nearby hillside. In silence they completed their burial ritual, packing the body with the spices Nicodemus had brought with him, rewrapping the body in the linen cloth and lowering onto the raised platform carved out of the rock. The sun was just beginning to set behind the clouds when they had completed their task and said farewell to the Master they had followed in secret.

According to Matthew, their handiwork was closely supervised by Roman soldiers who rolled the huge circular stone across the entrance and sealed it with Pilate’s official seal because the Jewish religious leaders were afraid. Afraid of what? They had heard a rumour that Jesus had threatened to come back again. Just in case His disciples schemed to steal His body and hide it elsewhere, to fuel the rumour and stir up more trouble, they had demanded a Roman military guard to make sure that it didn’t happen.

Joseph and Nicodemus walked slowly back to the city in silence, heads bowed, each lost in his own thoughts. They were out in the open; they had burnt their bridges. Everyone now knew where their allegiance lay, but it was too late. Jesus was dead. Had they not just laid Him out, covered His body with spices, bound His face with a burial cloth, wrapped Him in a shroud and said their last goodbye?

The Jewish leaders were satisfied. Their tormentor was dead. No more would they hear His accusing voice, pounding on their awakened consciences, keeping them out of sleep at night. As much as they believed they were right and He was wrong, they could not silence the sound of His voice, the sight of His tenderness towards the ones they despised. He was dead and buried and that was that!

And what of the soldiers? They were just doing their job – but were they? Was it their job to bully the accused? Were they expected to beat Him in the face with their fists? Was it their duty to mock Him and spit on Him? Were they detailed to crown Him with thorns? What they did was above and beyond the call of duty. How did they handle that when they lay in bed at night, especially because they could not get a rise out of Him, not matter how hard they tried! He was gone and they couldn’t change what they had done!

But was He? Before He left them, many times over in spite of their unbelief He had told His disciples, “Watch this space!”

Acknowledgement

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

NOTHING MORE TO GIVE

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NOTHING MORE TO GIVE

“Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. But when they came to Jesus and found that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear bringing a sudden flow of blood and water.

“The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you may also believe. These things happened so that the Scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of His bones was broken,” and, as another Scripture says, “They will look on the one they have pierced.” John 19:31-37.

What an impression this scene must have made on John! Had he ever watched a crucifixion before? Probably not. He was from Galilee. No doubt Jesus would not have lingered to gaze at so cruel and gruesome a way of execution with His disciples, just for entertainment or out of curiosity, especially knowing that He was to suffer the same fate.

However,John was drawn to remain because it was his beloved Master who hung there. He could not tear his eyes away, although he was horrified at what he saw. Three men dangling from wooden stakes, suspended on vicious iron nails, blood dripping from multiple wounds! The one in the centre was hanging limply, head resting on His chest. He was obviously already dead. The other two were in the last minutes of their lives.

To add the final touch to their suffering, at the request of the Jewish leaders, Pilate ordered that their legs be broken to hasten suffocation. With well-aimed blows on their shins, the soldiers did as they had been instructed. First one thief, then the other; but when they looked at the central figure and saw that He was dead, they didn’t bother. Instead, just to make sure, an unnamed soldier callously dug his spear into Jesus’ side. Out flowed a river of bloody liquid – was it the last of the Saviour’s blood, shed for the sin of the world.

He had given everything. There was nothing more to give. Even the final drops of His blood were sacrificed for us. He was bled out — exsanguinated — just a lifeless shell hanging there.

This scene was forever etched on John’s memory, so much so that he recorded everything in detail and vouched for his trustworthiness so that his readers would believe his report and put their faith in Jesus as the Son of God. After all, what other character in human history had ever had his story told in such detail hundreds of years before it happened?

Like giant jigsaw puzzle, piece by piece, prophets and poets had written and sung His story, and now it was being put together and lived out in front of John and those who stood by. Anyone who chose to, could put the pieces together and finally look with wonder on the Son of God.

But the picture was not yet complete. A few more pieces remained. As John stood gazing at the spectacle, how did he feel? He could only look on helplessly, knowing that he had no grave in which to bury Him.  In any case, the body of his Master belonged to the Roman government, and he had no power to rescue Him from the fate of criminals – the Jerusalem rubbish dump in the Valley of Hinnom – where the bodies slowly roasted in the ever-burning fire.

But wait…God had taken care of everything and there was yet another prophecy to be fulfilled. “Therefore, my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body will also rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay.” Psalm 16:10.

God had His men waiting in the wings…

Acknowledgement

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

IT IS FINISHED!

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IT IS FINISHED!

“Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, ‘I am thirsty.’  A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. When He had received the drink, Jesus said, ‘It is finished.’ With that, He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.” John 19:28-30.

The long journey was complete! Thirty-three years of being human, experiencing humanness in all its forms, was over. Human birth, babyhood, growing up as the firstborn in a peasant family; learning, studying, training, over! Navigating all the vicissitudes of human life as well as being exposed to the frustration of uncomprehending disciples, the irritation of jostling and demanding crowds and the relentless antagonism of religious enemies, were over.

Was that all that was finished? Did Jesus heave a sigh of relief that His humiliation, His pain and suffering were over? Was it all about Him? Never! Not by a long shot! Jesus lived for the Father and He died in obedience to the Father. In those three little words, “It is finished!” He encompassed the entire scope of God’s plan to rescue the world from its self-imposed plight.

Every prophetic utterance about His origin, His mother, His birth, His character, His life, His work, His sacrifice, His redemption, His destiny, were encapsulated in that one word in the Greek, “Tetelestai!” Finished! Done! Completed! Redemption’s story was written – in His blood. The way to the Father was cleared of the rubble and debris of human sin. The curtain was torn from top to bottom. The huge, unpayable debt was paid. The Father was satisfied. His Son had done the job.

Even His last sigh, “I am thirsty,” spoke volumes to those who would hear. A sponge of vinegar on a stalk of hyssop? What did it mean? John insisted that His utterance was a fulfilment of prophecy? Which prophecy?

The Israelites were instructed to “Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the blood on the top and on both sides of the doorframe…” Exodus 12:22.

Why hyssop? Hyssop, a member of the mint family, grew plentifully in the Middle East and was used for cleansing, medicinal and flavouring purposes. It symbolised cleansing from sin as David’s prayer suggests. After his adulterous affair with Bathesheba and all the terrible things he did to cover up his sin, the broken-hearted king pleaded with God, “Cleanse me with hyssop and I shall be clean; wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.” Psalm 51:7.

Was Jesus saying, in His final prophetic words, that the work of cleansing was done? He had drunk the cup of the Father’s wrath down to the dregs. He could release His spirit to the Father in the assurance that He had fully accomplished the work of redemption and His sacrifice had been accepted. Death could not hold Him in its grip, for even death and hell had been overcome.

Those around the cross could gloat and cheer because their evil work was finished. There was nothing more than they could do to the Son of God. They had shown Him, with all the vicious cruelty they could muster, what they thought of God. When it was all over, and the victim of their hatred hung tattered and lifeless, they were left to gaze at their handiwork, relieved to know that they could get on with their lives because He was no longer around to confront them.

But would they? Jesus’ life on earth was over but little did they know that their woes had only just begun. Finished? Yes and no. His earthly life may have been over but he was alive when He walked out of the tomb, alive in eleven men and many women. In a few short weeks, the Holy Spirit would light a flame in these men and women that they would never be able to put out.

Finished? Yes, for the work of redemption is complete, and no, for in everyone of us who believe in Him is the mandate to continue what He began…to be the message and to pass on the message that Jesus is Lord until the knowledge of the glory of the Lord covers the earth as the waters cover the sea.

Acknowledgement

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

A TENDER MOMENT

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A TENDER MOMENT

“Near the cross of Jesus stood His mother, His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw His mother there, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to her, ‘Woman, here is your son,’ and to the disciple, ‘Here is your mother.’ From that time on, the disciple took her into his home.” John 19:25-27.

A little group of women, alone and vulnerable in a crowd of abusive men and Roman soldiers! Did they care? They cared enough about Jesus to ignore the hostile mob around them. They stood near the cross, near enough to hear His laboured breathing and to watch the pool of blood spreading on the ground beneath the cross. They clung to one another for support and comfort in their grief. The one who was suffering the agony of hell, innocent as He was, was dearer to them than any other person on earth.

As much as He needed His disciples at that moment, (and only His beloved disciple was near enough to talk to), Jesus needed the women. They loved Him. They believed in Him, no matter what the religious authorities and the Roman government had done to Him. They wept for Him and for themselves for their loss. He was beyond their touch and their help. They would no longer be able to care for Him, prepare food, mend His garments, listen to His gracious teaching and be close to Him.

Mary, His mother felt it the most. Did she not carry Him in her womb for nine precious months as she pondered on the angel’s message and felt His tiny life stirring within her? Had she not borne the pain of His birth, and known the joy of holding the soft bundle in her arms? Had she not suckled Him and watched Him grow sturdy and strong?

Did she not lovingly nurture Him to robust young adulthood and then have to let Him go after thirty years of His being there in her home, caring for her as her first-born son? Did she not often hold His strong hands, calloused from the hard work which her beloved Joseph had taught Him to do?

She felt as though her heart was being ripped from her chest. Although He had been long gone from her home, she knew He was still there somewhere, alive and available from time to time as He moved around the country. Now she could only watch helplessly as His life slipped away. He was so young, too young to die. All she would have left would be her precious memories.

John also stood nearby. Many thoughts flooded his mind as he watched the gruesome scene with horror. He had only known Jesus for just over three years, but they were three action-packed years, full of never-to-be-forgotten miracles and riveting new ideas in the company of a man who was like no one he had ever known. He had watched and listened, and had eventually been convinced, and embraced Jesus as the Son of God.

Jesus’ love was gentle, tender and all-encompassing. He cared about the throw-away people, who lived on the fringe of society, whom everyone else considered trash. He was bold and courageous in the face of open hostility from the powerful religious leaders. He spoke the truth in the face of criticism, anger and abuse and was unfazed by the threat of death because He knew who He was and why He had come. He almost seemed to invite arrest and the possibility of execution because He fearlessly exposed the hypocrisy of the so-called “spiritual leaders”, and refused to back down on His claims.

Listen to Him in His dying moments. As awful as His agony was at that moment, He saw His mother and felt her sorrow. With painful gasps, He entrusted her to His beloved friend, John, and John to her. She would have a new son, and John a new mother, united in their grief and in their love for Jesus.

As we inch our way through these terrible hours, six long hours of unspeakable suffering, we see a naked man, clothed in His own blood and the spittle of those who despised Him, wearing His royal robe with dignity and honour because it represented victory over prejudice, bigotry, and irrational hatred. We hear His words of His tender love for those who loved Him and forgiveness for those who hated Him and tortured Him to death. His final, rasping words were words of compassion for those who suffered with Him, always forgetting Himself in the face of the needs of others.

His plight at that moment was His response to the greatest need of all, the need of all mankind to be reconciled to the Father and to come back home. He paid the debt so that we can be forgiven and accepted into God’s forever family.  

Acknowledgement

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.