The Best Last Word - Matthew 28:1-7; Revelation 1:9-18

 It’s been a long couple of days for the women. It’s dawn, the sun is peeking its head over the horizon as they walk up the road to the garden where Jesus’ body is. They were the last ones at the cross and had seen Jesus put in a tomb there. They watched Joseph take Jesus’ body, wash and cover the body gently with burial spices, wrap it in a burial cloth, and lovingly place the body on a ledge inside the tomb. Mixed in the spices were Joseph’s tears as Mary and the women watched this all happen late Friday afternoon. This has not been a Passover to celebrate. It seems wrong somehow to celebrate God’s saving of Israel from slavery and injustice right after watching the injustice of an innocent man crucified, a man they had never seen sin. Now they’re walking to Jesus’ tomb, wondering if they’ll be allowed to see Jesus’ body, hoping to see his body one last time, to say ‘Good bye’. 

The stone in front of the grave was on their minds as they approach the grave. How are they going to be able to roll it away when it took strong men to place it there in the first place? Suddenly the earth moves under their feet as a violent earthquake rocks Jerusalem and the surrounding area. The women stumble a bit and fear creeps into their hearts as they continue moving forward. They remember how the earth shook the same way when Jesus died. The result was the temple curtain tearing in two and then there were reports of people rising from their graves! The women turn to each other, could there be a connection with what just happened? On Friday it seemed that even the earth was shaking in horror over what had occurred and yet God seemed to be doing something extra-ordinary at the same time. 

The women come close to the tomb where Jesus’ body is laid and their hearts start beating in fear and awe. The stone’s no longer in front of the entrance to the grave, maybe it was moved by the person sitting on top of it. His appearance is like lightening, it’s so bright, and they’ve never seen clothes that white. They’re as white as the pure driven snow found in the mountains and they’re as bright as snow in the sunshine. There’s only one being that would look like this, the women know this must be an angel from God.

Then they notice the guards lying off to the side. The looks on their faces show that they’re terrified. They’d been prepared to fight off Jesus’ disciples or maybe even grave robbers. They never thought they’d face a creature as magnificent or as frightening as this angel. If God’s getting involved here, the guards want nothing to do with Jesus any more, so they lie there like dead men, like the man they’re supposed to be guarding, hoping they won’t be noticed. 

Then the angel speaks, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified.” Right away, the angel tries to ease the fear in the women’s hearts at seeing him. The angel isn’t here to frighten them, it’s here to give them important news. After all, that’s the angels’ main job, to be God’s messengers. So, the angel sets their hearts at ease so they can hear God’s words. Then the angel tells them news they never expected to hear, “He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.” In their wonder, the women move forward to look into the tomb, to reassure themselves that the angel’s words are true, that it can be trusted. They need to see for themselves that Jesus who had died, is really and truly alive, or at least that his body’s no longer there. 

Then comes a message just for them. The angel commissions the women to carry an important message to the disciples, they become the first ones to tell the Gospel message, “Go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’” This is earth shattering news, no wonder the ground shook when the angel appeared. Creation itself is moved by the wonder and power of God. As the heavens testified to Jesus’ birth with the star in the East, so the earth testifies to Jesus’ resurrection by its movement. It’s almost as if the ties of death that bound Jesus to the earth are cast off and the earth returns his living body back into the world again. The angel commands them, “Go quickly, don’t keep this news to yourself, go tell the others, and do so quickly, as fast as your feet will take you.” 

The women hurry away from the tomb. They’re afraid, after all an angel has just talked with them, but filled more with joy. The grief and horror of Friday, the aching loss of Saturday are quickly being replaced by the incredible joy of knowing that their Lord’s alive, that even death can not keep him away from them. The women pick up their skirts and run off to tell the disciples just as they’ve been commissioned to. They now understand in a brand-new way what is meant by, “blessed are the feet of those who bring good news.” Now Matthew, right after telling us about the angel’s commission to the women to give the good news to the disciples, also gives us the story of how the chief priests make up a false story of Jesus’ empty tomb and commission the guards to share this story among the people. Still today we encounter many false stories of who Jesus is, what he did, and what happened to him. This is why Jesus commissions us to tell the gospel news of his resurrection to the world!

John also receives a message to write down and share with the followers of Jesus in the seven churches. “Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.” What does John see, he sees “seven golden lampstands, and among the lampstands was someone like a son of man, dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.” 

John sees what Daniel saw hundreds of years earlier while in Babylon, Daniel 7:9–10, 13-14, “As I looked, “thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His clothing was as white as snow; the hair of his head was white like wool. His throne was flaming with fire, and its wheels were all ablaze.  A river of fire was flowing, coming out from before him. Thousands upon thousands attended him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The court was seated, and the books were opened.  “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.” The light of the world who was hidden by darkness on Good Friday is now shining in all his glory and has come to claim his throne over all creation. John and Daniel’s vision show Jesus as the King of kings holding all authority in heaven and earth in his person. His clothing is priestlike, symbolizing purity and holiness, reminding us of his relationship with the Ancient of Days, the heavenly Father on the throne of heaven. 

Good Friday’s a day of fear and tears, Easter is the great day of hope and joy: Jesus is alive and resurrected from the dead, having defeated death, the curse from sin, and Satan! Jesus tells us the best last word, we don’t have to be afraid any longer; he is the Alpha and Omega; he’s been around since before creation and he is returning to restore all creation and lead us into eternity with him. Jesus is the defeater of death and the giver of life, holding the keys of death and Hades in his hands so that they are no longer a threat or something to fear. Jesus fills our hearts with his Spirit and heals the hurt and the pain sin has created in our lives. He reassures us that he is alive and because he lives, we can let go of our guilt and leave it at the foot of the cross and embrace the new life found in him. 

Father, Into Your Hands I Commit My Spirit - Luke 23:44-49; John 13:1-2; 19:28-35

 It’s Good Friday, the most somber day of the church year on the church calendar. We’re only 5 days past the people celebrating Jesus as the coming Messiah, the king who has come to save his people, singing “Hosanna, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blesses is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!” On Palm Sunday Israel’s remembering God’s promises like in 2 Samuel 7:11-14, “And I will provide a place for my people Israel and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed. Wicked people will not oppress them anymore, as they did at the beginning and have done ever since the time I appointed leaders over my people Israel. I will also give you rest from all your enemies. “‘The Lord declares to you that the Lord himself will establish a house for you: When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son.” These promises were repeated over again in the psalms and prophets, and the people were praying that Jesus is the promised Messiah king, but they quickly turn on Jesus because they misunderstood the nature of the coming Messiah.

Israel didn’t see the coming Messiah through the eyes of Isaiah and his passages on the Messiah as the Suffering Servant, best described in Isaiah 53 which is fulfilled in all its exhausting detail on Jesus’ journey to the cross, “He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed…. By oppression and judgment he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished. 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.” 

Yet, even in this passage of the Suffering Servant, we get glimpses of the glory and hope that comes out of Jesus’ death; a reassurance that the cross and Jesus’ suffering brings us peace, shalom which brings flourishing, wholeness, reconciliation, and healing. Isaiah points out that, “by his wounds we are healed;” healed from the sin that like a bad virus has infected us throughout our entire body, soul, and mind and through our entire society; healed into renewed relationships with our God.

As Jesus’ death draws close, he cries out in anguish, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Jesus is given a drink of wine vinegar, after which he cries out, “It is finished.” Now Jesus cries out again in a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” We hear Jesus move from despair, to a place where he knows his suffering is coming to an end as he accomplishes our salvation, to a place of trust and faith in his Father, placing himself into the safest place he can, his Father’s hands! Jesus knows his Father’s hands are a place of belonging, strength, and healing, especially in the battle against sin and death. 

Jesus faces death with hope and confidence because he knows where he’s going, that he’s going home to paradise and into the presence of his Father, as he reassured the criminal on the cross beside him. Jesus trusts in his Father even as he is covered in the sin of the world and so was forsaken by his Father. But Jesus also knows the loyalty and commitment of his Father to his people and to his beloved Son; a loyalty and commitment that our Father gives to us as we see in all the covenants the Lord makes with his people, covenants that he is always faithful to even when we fail to be faithful back to him. Our Father’s commitment and loyalty to us is something we can always trust in. This is seen in Jesus’ powerful cry: in the Greek Jesus calls out with a “phōnē megalē,” which means voice loud, from which we get our English word megaphone; it’s like Luke’s telling us that this is a cry meant to go around the world for all humanity to hear.

In Jesus’ cry, we hear an echo back to Psalm 31:1–5, “In you, Lord, I have taken refuge; let me never be put to shame; deliver me in your righteousness…. Since you are my rock and my fortress, for the sake of your name lead and guide me. Keep me free from the trap that is set for me, for you are my refuge. Into your hands I commit my spirit; deliver me, Lord, my faithful God.” The Jews often used this psalm as an evening prayer, knowing that they’re safe in God’s hands while they’re asleep and vulnerable and unable to protect themselves. This is a prayer of deep trust; turning to God as the place of refuge when you’re feeling overwhelmed by life and events, or even by the actions of others against you.

Jesus knows death is close, but so is the end of why he’s come to earth and become human. “It is finished,” shows Jesus knows his work at this point is done. What is finished? Whose work is completed? It’s the work of Jesus and of his Father. Jesus early on in his ministry talked about why he was here and where he found the strength to do it. After talking with the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4:34, when his disciples offer him the food they had gone to town for, Jesus tells them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.” Now, at the cross, that work has been completed. 

The work of Jesus is the salvation of God’s people. It’s so much more than his sacrifice on the cross. Jesus became human like us, so that he was completely human and divine so he could take on the curse of death as a result of our sin, washing away our sin through his sacrifice. This is finished on the cross, but Jesus’ work continues on as our king, high priest, and prophet. Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father in the seat of authority, ruling over all creation. Jesus is our high priest entering into the presence of God and continually interceding for us with the Father, and Jesus is the great prophet who brings the word of God to us; he’s the living word of God. The cross reminds us that the great reconciliation between God and we his people has been achieved. All this is accomplished on the cross, Satan and death are defeated. “It is finished.” 

As the creator of this sermon series writes, “The work is complete. No one can add to it. No one needs to try. We just lift up the cup of salvation and bless the name of the Lord. God’s glory shines through Jesus here, now, in full strength; shining brightly even into the darkest places of our world today.” We see the death of Jesus on Good Friday, but we don’t see the work God and Jesus are doing in the time of darkness on the cross, or in the time of sorrow on Saturday, but we do know that because of who Jesus is, we can look forward in hope as we acknowledge his suffering and death is all for us. This is why we now come to the Lord’s Supper in hope and thankfulness. 

My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me - Matthew 27:45-49; John 19:16b-30

Noon comes as Jesus hangs on the cross, the middle eastern sun beating down on him. Suddenly, darkness covers the land, hiding Jesus’ suffering from those around the cross for three hours, another unusual moment for everyone around the cross, reinforcing in each of them that there is something very different happening here; this is no ordinary crucifixion, nor is Jesus an ordinary man. As we watch, we see the light of the world being engulfed by darkness, separating him from everyone who might offer him comfort or support; Jesus is truly alone in the darkness!

For the Jews, darkness brings to mind the presence and work of God. In the Old Testament, the beginning of Genesis reveals that there was darkness until God creates light. God leads Israel through the wilderness with a pillar of cloud and at Sinai, God meets Israel in a dense cloud that covers Mount Sinai. At the mountain, the people are given a way of living to shape them into a people that will reveal who God is to the nations, using them to be a light to the nations, while also warning Israel that God is a jealous God and will punish them if they reject him. Darkness often points to God being at work in ways we’re unable to see or understand. One of the plagues of Egypt was darkness over the land for three days, an echo ahead to Jesus’ death and on the third day being raised from the darkness of death. Exodus 10:21–22, “Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the sky so that darkness spreads over Egypt—darkness that can be felt.” So Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and total darkness covered all Egypt for three days.” Egypt’s Sun God is humbled by Israel’s God!

Darkness is also connected closely to God’s punishment in the Old Testament. The Lord tells Amos 8:9–10, “In that day,” declares the Sovereign Lord, “I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight. I will turn your religious festivals into mourning and all your singing into weeping. I will make all of you wear sackcloth and shave your heads. I will make that time like mourning for an only son and the end of it like a bitter day.” The Lord’s pointing straight to what Jesus is going through on the cross. Looking back to the Exodus, as Israel does, Egypt faces the harshest punishment in the dark of night as the angel of death strikes down all the first-born, striking terror into the hearts of the Egyptians so that they finally set the Israelites free, and even load them with gold and jewels to get them to leave quickly. 

The hiding of the sun and the light of the world through the darkening of the sun, makes the Jews look to the skies for the Day of Judgment. The Day of Judgments points to the coming of the Lord to judge the people for their sins. It’s a time filled with God’s wrath and the terror of his punishment. Solomon writes in Lamentations 2:22, “As you summon to a feast day, so you summoned against me terrors on every side. In the day of the Lord’s anger no one escaped or survived; those I cared for and reared my enemy has destroyed.” The prophet Zephaniah writes in 1:8, “On the day of the Lord’s sacrifice I will punish the officials and the king’s sons and all those clad in foreign clothes.” Not even the wealthy and powerful will escape the Lord’s judgment, a heads up for everyone. These warnings were always accompanied by calls to repentance and a return to the Lord. It’s not God’s desire to punish and destroy, rather the Lord gives us one opportunity after another to come back to faithfulness and obedience. The warnings also point us past the Day of a Judgment to the time afterwards when the land will be filled with righteousness and prosperity for the faithful. 

In the darkness, we encounter the height of Jesus’ suffering as he carries the weight of the sin of the world on himself, and the hopelessness that comes with sin. As the darkness fades, Jesus cries out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Why has the Father abandoned his beloved son? Jesus uses Psalm 22 to cry out to his Father, Psalm 22:1, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish?” Jesus thirsts for his Father’s presence again, for the sustenance that comes from God’s presence through his Spirit. When Jesus knows that everything has been finished, and so that Old Testament Scripture is fulfilled, Jesus says, “I am thirsty.” Jesus’ thirst is not only physical, the living water thirsts for salvation, suffering the thirst of God’s forsakenness for our sakes. 

Jesus is experiencing the pain and forsakenness Israel was warned about in the Old Testament. God’s people were called to forsake the gods of the nations around them and serve and follow the Lord. But Israel kept forsaking God instead to embrace the idols of the nations around them. God gives them plenty of warnings: in 2 Chronicles 15:2 the prophet Azariah is sent to King Asa, “Listen to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin. The Lord is with you when you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you.” The King of the Jews celebrated just days earlier on Palm Sunday, the high king, the one true king is now hanging high on a cross rather than sitting on the high throne as he takes our place of forsakenness. 

Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:21, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us.” In the darkness when the sun stops shining, Jesus is working in ways we can’t understand or see, and part of his work is taking on the curse of death for us, becoming forsaken by his Father so we don’t have to experience the darkness of being abandoned by God for our sin. We see the agony as Jesus cries out to “My God” instead of crying out, “My Father.” There’s distance now between Father and Son, but Jesus never loses faith. At the root of faith is trust to call out to God in the darkest of times, trusting God to respond even when we don’t feel his presence. 

Jesus trusts in his Father for victory, but that doesn’t lessen the pain and agony and weight of our sin at results in his being forsaken by his Father for us. Jesus quotes Psalm 22:1, but as the Jews heard his cry, they also heard verses 14-15, “I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted within me. My mouth is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death.” Jesus, who has always lived in the closest of relationships with his Father and the Holy Spirit since before time and creation, is now experiencing abandonment, even if we can’t understand how this can happen. The abandonment, the forsakenness is real. The promises of God to forsake those who forsake him all come to rest on Jesus in the darkness on the cross. 

From the outside it looks like Satan has won, breaking the relationship between the Father and the Son, and yet, as we go back to Psalm 22, again we see that Jesus hasn’t lost hope, he knows his Father’s faithfulness, “You who fear the Lord, praise him! All you descendants of Jacob, honor him! Revere him, all you descendants of Israel! For he has not despised or scorned the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help. From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly; before those who fear you I will fulfill my vows. The poor will eat and be satisfied; those who seek the Lord will praise him—may your hearts live forever! All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him, for dominion belongs to the Lord and he rules over the nations.” For those who chose God over the idols, God promises in Psalm 27:10, “Though my father and mother forsake me, the LORD will receive me.”

In our darkest hours, God’s more powerful than any other force. It may look like Satan has won, the darkness strikes fear as Jesus’ death looks like God’s promises have failed, and it’s easy to lose hope and believe that evil has won; but in reality, Jesus has crushed the serpent’s head on the cross. The Lord of life cannot be defeated by death because he’s the giver of life. The King of Palm Sunday remains confident in his father, even when taking on our forsakenness. The times of darkness are real, yet we hold onto hope as we hear the psalmist confess in Psalm 9:10, “Those who know your name trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.” Jesus chose to be forsaken so we can be reconciled with the Father. Our call is to respond with thanksgiving and praise, choosing God and following Jesus who has defeated the darkness of sin and death for us. 

Here is Your Son… Here is Your Mother - John 19:25-30; Luke 8:19-21

As we come to the cross this morning, we recognize some of the people gathered there to mourn Jesus’ execution, to show him their love for him, and to witness the death of the man they loved and who they believe in as the promised Messiah. There’s Jesus’ mother and his aunt, with Mary the mother of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene, and Jesus’ dearest disciple, John. Seeing Mary at the foot of the cross, I hear an echo back to Jesus’ birth when Joseph and Mary took Jesus to the temple to be consecrated to the Lord as their oldest child, as they’re instructed to do in Exodus 13:1–2, “The Lord said to Moses, “Consecrate to me every firstborn male. The first offspring of every womb among the Israelites belongs to me, whether human or animal.” This command’s given to Israel right after the Lord led them into freedom from slavery to Egypt, and after the Lord had killed the firstborn child of every Egyptian to force them to free the Lord’s people. 

While Joseph and Mary are in the temple court with Jesus, they meet Simeon who had been told to go to the temple court where he would see the Lord’s Christ before his death. Led by the Holy Spirit, Simeon encounters Joseph and Mary, and taking Jesus into his arms he praises God, Luke 2:29–32, “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.” Simeon then blesses Jesus’ parents, but tells Mary, Luke 2:34–35, “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.” This prophecy that a sword will pierce Mary’s soul is fulfilled here at the cross!  

As Jesus hangs on the cross, and as death draws close, he notices his mother standing there with tears pouring down her face as she watches her firstborn suffer, and there’s nothing she can do to ease his suffering. Even when Jesus mentions that he’s thirsty, Mary’s unable to ease his thirst, it’s a soldier who offers Jesus vinegar to drink. Jesus then sees his beloved disciple John also standing nearby. As the oldest son, Jesus is responsible to take care of and provide for his mother after his father Joseph died. Jesus has shown a deep concern for others while on the cross, asking for forgiveness for all those who have been part of placing him there, assuring a criminal that he will go to paradise with Jesus, and now Jesus shows his love and concern for others, but this time it’s more personal as it’s his mother. He says to her, “Woman, here is your son,” and then turns to John and tells him, “Here is your mother.”   

Warren Wiersbe writing on this encounter between Jesus and Mary says, “He established a new relationship between Mary and John. It was as though he said to Mary, “I’m returning to my Father in heaven. Because of this, you and I must have a whole new relationship. but in order to give peace to your heart, in order to heal your wounded heart, I’m giving you John as a beloved son.” He assured her of his love as he took his choice disciple and made him Mary’s adopted son. The Lord Jesus felt her sorrow, he knew her loneliness, and he rewarded her by giving her the disciple whom he loved so dearly.” Jesus shows himself to be a faithful son to his mother. John accepts this new responsibility and takes Mary into his own home as her new son.  

Jesus also gives us a bigger picture of what family is. This interaction between Jesus, Mary, and John echoes back to a time in Jesus’ ministry when Mary and Jesus’ brothers come to see Jesus, but aren’t able to even get close to him because of how popular Jesus is due to his teaching, his miraculous healings, and his ability to connect with the people and their circumstances; Jesus understands people. Yet even with everything Jesus has done, all the miracles he’s performed, his brothers still doubted Jesus, as John mentions in John 7:5, “For even his own brothers did not believe in him.” Yet Mary and his brothers are probably concerned for his health, and even his safety; being so popular can put a target on a person’s back. Many popular Jewish leaders found themselves in the harsh hands of Roman justice, as we see here with Jesus on a cross. 

When Jesus is told about that his mother and brothers are there to see him, Jesus responds in a surprising way, Luke 8:21, “He replied, “My mother and brothers are those who hear God’s word and put it into practice.” Jesus expands family from a group of people connected to each other biologically into something larger, connected by more than biological ties. The Jews practiced adoption and even fostering, think of Samuel and Eli, but Jesus takes it further here, creating a family of people connected through their relationship with God, a covenant community rooted in obedience and worship of God. Family’s the foundation of a strong, healthy society. God’s own relationship within the trinity is also described as family: Father and Son, along with the Holy Spirit, each pouring into each other, and blessing each other. Jesus’ call to be family with each other is rooted in promises made to God and each other, as we’ve been reminded of with the recent baptisms, along with those beautiful covenant promises made by God to us. This is family that takes responsibility for each other, doing life together, helping each other to raise our children in the faith whether you’re blood related or church related. We’re all family together with responsibility and obligations to each other in Jesus.

I appreciate how Jesus knows our hearts, often better than we know our own. Most of us here come from good families that are close and support each other well. Some of us come from families that are less close and we may look with a sense of longing for more closeness in our own bio-families. Some of us come from really broken families and may never have known what family could feel like. Some of us come from blended families, have families who have adopted into our families, or been adopted, and we have been given a glimpse of the potential and possibilities family holds. Yet, deep inside, the need to belong to something that family points to, the commitment, the knowing of each other, the oddities that come from being constantly close to a small group of people who get to know things about you that you often don’t even realise you’ve revealed about yourself and still they love and accept you for who you are, and show up when you need them.

It's about being family through the good times, but especially through the dark times. There are many things the church family has had a hard time talking about or acknowledging in the past: domestic violence, addiction, mental health issues, the struggles of loneliness, poverty, senior abuse, racism, and more. Unfortunately, during times when we need our church family the most, we can easily fail to see each other, fail to support and be there during the harder times. Fear can keep many of us away from those who are going through dark times, fear of saying the wrong thing, or of not knowing what to say. Fear that whatever the other person is going through might happen to you, or fear that getting involved will take more than you believe you’re able to give. We see this when the disciples abandon Jesus in his darkest hour. It’s not that they don’t love Jesus, but their fear is stronger.

This is the strength in what Jesus does in creating family rooted in our relationship with God as our Father, rather than simply blood. I’ve learned that when family goes through dark times, it’s somehow easier to just show up, be awkward, mourn, offer strength and hope simply by being there and loving them, even if you don’t always get along. It’s about identity; identifying ourselves as family that we belong to and who belong to us, recognizing our bonds together in Jesus, because we’re connected through the love and work of Jesus. This is what Paul’s getting at in Ephesians 2:19–22, “Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.” 

My prayer for us as a church is that we continue to grow together as family with God as our Father and Jesus the cornerstone who defines who we are through the presence and work of the Holy Spirit, loving and caring for one another, whoever the brother or sister in Christ may be. 

Today, You Will Be With Me in Paradise - Luke 23:39-43; Romans 8:1-4; 33-39

Over Lent we’re staying with Jesus at the cross, listening to Jesus’ last words and the circumstances around each spoken event. Last week we reflected on Jesus offering forgiveness to those who had been part of Jesus’ journey to the cross, including each one of us. This morning we’re reflecting on Jesus’ brief conversation and the words of reassurance he offers to one of the two criminals hanging on crosses next to his. It’s amazing that even when we may be in the same kind of trouble and suffering, how some people can still find the energy to mock others and make their suffering even worse. One of the criminals being executed beside Jesus actually mocks him, joining with the soldiers in insulting Jesus, “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!”

The second criminal rebukes the first criminal, “Don’t you fear God since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” This man confesses he’s done wrong and deserves what he’s getting, but he recognizes Jesus is more than he appears. Jesus’ demeanor and words reveal a person who’s closely connected to God. How else could Jesus ask his Father to forgive those who have placed him on the cross? What kind of a man would even consider asking for forgiveness for such evil while suffering so deeply? He chooses Jesus over his fellow criminal and all the others who’ve unjustly placed Jesus on a cross instead of a throne. 

Now the second criminal turns to Jesus and shows he believes Jesus is anointed by God, asking, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” The criminal could see the sign Pilate placed over Jesus’ head, “This is the King of the Jews.” The man is hoping to hear more grace, to be given hope in a hopeless situation. The criminal hopes to enter Jesus’ kingdom, likely having heard Jesus talk and teach about the kingdom of heaven during the past 3 years. He’s not disappointed, Jesus responds with grace, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.” I love the image here of paradise that echoes back to Old Testament images, we’ll look at this is a few moments. 

The criminal’s main request is to be remembered and not forgotten. There’s something terrifying about being forgotten, of not being important enough to be remembered, no longer part of someone’s thoughts or memories any more. This is why we build so many memorials, why we name buildings and streets after someone important or whom we cherish and don’t want to forget so that people generations down the road will still remember them or us. The criminal offers this really short prayer, “Remember me.” 

There’s nothing more important than to be remembered by Jesus, this is the heart of salvation, for Jesus knows who are his and he will not lose them. The criminal wants to be one of Jesus’ people. The criminal fears God and wants to be ready to meet God when he dies and he recognizes that Jesus is the way to God. This criminal is likely a Jew and his fear of being forgotten comes from the belief that God writes down the names of those whom he chooses in his Book of Life. If your name’s in the book, you’re remembered and welcomed into heaven at your death. 

We can almost hear him thinking of Psalm 69:27–29, “Charge them with crime upon crime; do not let them share in your salvation. May they be blotted out of the book of life and not be listed with the righteous. But as for me, afflicted and in pain—may your salvation, God, protect me.” He fears his crimes may cause the Lord to blot out his name from the Book of Life. We hear Jesus saying something similar in Luke 10:17–20 when the seventy-two return from spreading the gospel news of Jesus, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.” He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.  However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” There’s nothing worse for a Jew than being forgotten because your name’s not in God’s Book of Life! To be in the Book, the criminal needs the forgiveness Jesus has offered to all the others.

In Isaiah 49:13-17, the Lord gives us a powerful image of God remembering his people, “Shout for joy, you heavens; rejoice, you earth; burst into song, you mountains! For the Lord comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones. But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me.” “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me. Your children hasten back, and those who laid you waste depart from you.” It may feel as if God forgets us, but here the Lord is saying he doesn’t forget! 

The Lord goes so far as to engrave our names on the palms of his hands. Engraving in our flesh draws blood, reminding us of how Jesus’ hands were pierced for our sins, so that every time Jesus looks at his hands, the scars remind him of those he went to the cross for; for the criminal on the cross, for those who put him on the cross, and as we heard in the invitation to the Lord’s Supper, for each of us who have chosen to love him and trust in him alone for your salvation, and are truly sorry for your sins, sincerely believe in the Lord Jesus as your Saviour, and desire to live in obedience to him as Lord. 

Paul reminds us that “there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.” Paul goes on to reassure us that we are in good hands because of God’s commitment to us, “Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us…. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” These are some of the most reassuring words found in Scripture, reminding us of Jesus’ motive for going to the cross and why he offered the criminal such powerful comfort and grace.

The criminal joins Jesus in paradise that very day! We hear paradise and think heaven. Jesus uses a Persian word here that likely entered into the Jewish vocabulary while they were in exile in Babylon. Paradise refers to a garden with a wall, or a king’s orchard, park, or forest. Jesus is using an image that echoes back to the Garden of Eden and ahead to John’s vision of the City of God coming down at his return, a city that has a river of life flowing from the throne of God in the middle of the city, lined by trees of life that gives twelve kinds of fruit. In Jesus’ teaching and preaching, he gives us glimpses of heaven. Jesus is telling us that in paradise we will be with him; not even death can separate us from his love. 

Heaven is first of all the place where God lives, and all those who serve him. Jesus gives us some beautiful images of heaven, and it’s not angels on clouds playing harps, though John does give us a picture of the throne room of heaven where angels and God’s people continually praise him. A number of times Jesus describes heaven as a banquet or a wedding feast, a place where people gather to celebrate and enjoy the blessings of plenty and beauty and fellowship; a place where we’re invited because we’re valued and wanted. Jesus uses images like vineyards and fields, natural creation kinds of images of natural beauty and plenty and growth, all echoing back to Garden of Eden to give us a picture of what heaven is like. Jesus even gives us a picture of the beggar Lazarus in the arms of Abraham, where heaven is shown to be a place of safety and belonging.  

These images of heaven and paradise fill us with comfort, knowing that when we die, Jesus remembers us, and takes us home to a place of plenty, a place where we can gather around the table with others, a place where our God is. I’m looking forward to it, my prayer is that this gives you peace too.