VBC Pastor's Blog

His Living Presence

“The earliest reference to the Resurrection is Saint Paul’s, and he makes no mention of an empty tomb at all. But the fact of the matter is that in a way it hardly matters how the body of Jesus came to be missing because in the last analysis, what convinced the people that he had risen from the dead was not the absence of his corpse but his living presence. And so it has been ever since.”

(Frederick Buechner, Listening to Your Life, 1992, page 102; from The Faces of Jesus, 1989, pages 219-220)

What happened on Saturday? Nothing is said in the gospels. The disciple hid for they feared for their own safety. The followers of Jesus were probably confused, afraid and grief-stricken. Soldiers guarded his tomb for fear that someone would steal the body and begin a rumor that he was still alive.

The followers’ hopes for a new day and a new way died on that cross. As usual, the religious and political powers won. Jesus and his message were not vindicated by the powers who represent God and empires. All they and we can do is wait, and waiting is perhaps the hardest of all the disciplines for the faithful who stand in between the “already” and the “not yet.”

This is the Friday we call “Good,” even though awful acts were inflicted on Jesus. In the early morning hours, under the cover of darkness, flagrant injustices were committed. Jesus had several trails as he was passed from the High Priest Caiaphas, to Pilate the Roman Governor, to Herod the Jewish ruler, and back to Pontius Pilate.

During the trials the charge was changed from the religious complaint that he considered himself God to the political charge that he had committed treason against the Roman rule. Because of the political charge, Pilate reluctantly sent Jesus to the cross. As one last ironic act, Pilate placed over Jesus’ head the Latin, Hebrew and Greek words for “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.”

The male disciples scattered except for John, who remained with the women at the foot of the cross. Joseph of Arimathea, a secret disciple and a Pharisee who did not vote for Jesus’ death, took the body and placed it in his own tomb. The Gospel of John notes that Jesus was sacrificed at the very moment when the innocent lambs were slaughtered for the temple sacrifice.

This Friday is “Good Friday” not because of what we did to Jesus but because of what Jesus did for us. He gave his life so that we might have full and meaningful lives.

Frederick Buechner writes: “To participate in the sacrificial life and death of Jesus Christ is to live already in his kingdom. This is the essence of the Christian message, the heart of the Good News, and it is why the cross has become the chief Christian symbol. A cross of all things—a guillotine, a gallows—but the cross at the same time as the crossroads of eternity and time, as the place where such a mighty heart was broken that the healing power of God himself could flow through it into a sick and broken world. It was for this reason that of all the possible words they could have used to describe the day of his death, the word they settled on was ‘good.’ Good Friday.”

(Frederick Buechner, Listening to Your Life, 1992, pages 98-99; from The Faces of Jesus, 1989, pages 176-179)

Thursday was the day of preparation for the Passover—the celebration of independence from the Egyptian empire. He took a towel and became a servant by washing their feet. This would be Jesus’ last meal with his disciples, so he asks them to remember him when they eat and drink together. They went “as was his custom” to pray in the Garden of Gethsemane at the foot of the Mount of Olives. His prayer was the most important prayer: “Not my will but yours be done.”           

Judas brought the police to the garden to arrest him. The signal to identify the one who was Jesus of Nazareth was a kiss on the cheek. Jesus stands between the police and his disciples to shield them and protect them. For 30 pieces of silver (the going price for a slave) Jesus the servant is handed over to the authorities and taken to the High Priest for a religious trial.

Frederick Buechner writes:

“The soldiers are there with their swords and lanterns. The high priest’s slave is whimpering over his wounded ear. There can be no doubt in Jesus’ mind what the kiss of Judas means, but it is Judas that he is blessing, and Judas that he is prepared to go out and die for now. Judas is only the first in a procession of betrayers two thousand years long. If Jesus were to exclude him from his love and forgiveness, to one degree or another he would have to exclude mankind.

“Maybe this is all in the mind of Jesus as he stands there with his eyes closed, or possibly there is nothing in his mind at all. As he feels his friend’s lips graze his check, for an instant maybe he feels nothing else. It is another of his last times. On this last evening of his life he has eaten his last meal, and this is the last time that he will ever feel the touch of another human being except in torment. It is not the Lamb of God and his butcher who meet here, but two old friends embracing in a garden because they both of them know that they will never see one another again.”

(Listening to Your Life, 1992, page 97; from The Faces of Jesus, 1989, pages 148-150)

Wednesday Jesus remained in Bethany for the day. That night he dined in the home of Simon. Perhaps Jesus had healed Simon of his leprosy. While the men were dining a woman came in, broke an alabaster jar of expensive perfume (nard) and poured it not on Jesus’ feet but on his head. The cost was an annual salary for a day laborer.

Jesus said she had done a “good/beautiful work” in preparing him for burial. Later in the story other women would try to anoint Jesus’ dead body with such perfumes, but they would not find him in the tomb. She gave “what she had” in love to Jesus when he needed it.

On Wednesday others were also planning for Jesus’ burial. The story of the woman doing a “good/beautiful work” is bracketed by two stories about preparations. On Wednesday the chief priests and scribes there in Jerusalem were looking for a way to kill him. Also on Wednesday Judas met with the chief priests to betray Jesus and they promised him money. Many were preparing for Jesus’ death this day.

On Tuesday Jesus and his disciples walk past the fig tree which was now “withered away to its roots.” Jesus encouraged them to “Have faith in God!”

Jesus taught on Tuesday in the courts around the temple there in Jerusalem. He answered questions: “By what authority are you doing these things? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar? Whose wife will she be in the resurrection? Which commandment is the greatest?”

On Tuesday the religious authorities decided to silence Jesus for good. A few nights later he would ask his captors, “Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs to capture me? Day after day I sat in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me.” (Matthew 26:55-56).

Perhaps it was his teaching that fueled their anger. That day in Jerusalem Jesus warned of the coming destruction of Jerusalem, of fruitless religion, and of the importance of the widow’s two coins in relation to the large gifts by prominent leaders. His last words there in Jerusalem were, “And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.” (Mark 13:37).

Early Monday morning Jesus and the disciples followed the same road down from Bethany, across the Kidron Valley, and into the east side of city of Jerusalem. They traveled from Bethany (which means “house of dates”) through Bethphage (which means “house of figs”).

Jesus stopped by a fig tree and cursed it for being unproductive, even though it was not yet the season for figs to bloom on the tree. I have heard many who are concerned that Jesus attacked this fig tree because they think this is a mean act by Jesus. Perhaps you can tell even out of season that  a tree will not produce fruit. This unusual curse was probably an enacted parable by Jesus to emphasize that those who are attached to the vine of God are expected to bear fruit (good works) because they are part of the grace of God.

According to Mark Jesus went to the temple on Monday and overturned tables of money-changers and those who sold animals for sacrifice—both legitimate needs for those who traveled from out of town to worship in the capital city. Tables were set up in the Court of Gentiles, which was the outer court. Jewish women and men could proceed toward the center of the worship area but only men could come near the sacrifice altar in the inner court. Jesus turns the tables because this Court of Gentiles was supposed to be “a house of prayer for all peoples” and he saw his own people interfering with access to God by other peoples.  

According to the Gospel accounts Jesus did not often visit Jerusalem, so this bold action gave a name and face of this Galilean rabbi to the religious powers of Jerusalem. Jesus of Nazareth was no longer just another face in the crowd.

Jesus and his disciples returned the two miles to Bethany to spend the night since the city of Jerusalem was teeming to the brim with tourists from all over the nation and the world for this Passover celebration.

04/01/12 Sixth Sunday in Lent (Palm/Passion Sunday)

Palms: Mark 11:1-11 or John 12:12-16;
Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29
Passion:  Isaiah 50:4-9a; Psalm 31:9-16; Philippians 2:5-11; Mark 14:1-15:47 or Mark 15:1-39, (40-47)

For his first action after riding into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, Jesus acts to confront the religious establishment there in Jerusalem.

As all three synoptic gospels tell us, sometime in his Galilean ministry Jesus senses a call from God to make a journey to Jerusalem. Luke tells us in 9:51 that Jesus "set his face to go to Jerusalem," and for eleven chapters Luke tells us of this journey. Apparently Jesus senses a call--a must--to go to Jerusalem--the center of the religious institution that wields the powerful domination for all of his fellow Jews--and go public with his call for the coming of God's new order.

It is a brilliant strategy, for Jesus will so threaten the authorities there in Jerusalem that one of two actions will occur. Either the religious establishment will decide to do away with this Jesus of Nazareth, or they will have a change of heart and accept Jesus, his ministry, and his proclamation of God's new order.       

So Jesus must go to Jerusalem. He sets his face. He makes a decision. He accepts God's call for his life. On Palm Sunday Jesus rides into the religious center of his world along with singing and screaming Galileans who accept his preaching and his life. And then Jesus literally turns the tables there in the Temple area to force the leaders to a decision.

Then he waits. And waiting is the hardest part of discipleship. Jesus waits by willingly handing himself over. The Greek word for "to hand over" is paradidomi.  It’s a word found throughout the story of Jesus’ last week there in Jerusalem. Jesus hands himself over to them and waits for their response. It is now in their hands whether they will accept him or reject him. I think Jesus hoped they would have a change of heart, and he still hopes that for us today.

March 31, 2012: Thirty-fourth Day of Lent

On this Saturday almost 2,000 years ago Jesus was celebrating the Sabbath just outside of Jerusalem. It would be his last Sabbath worship before the joy and terror of Holy Week. The gospel writers do not tell us, but I imagine he worshipped there in Bethany just 2 miles outside of Jerusalem.

I imagine that with Jesus in worship that day was Bartimaeus of Jericho, who had been blind just days before. When the disciples still did not see who Jesus was, blind Bartimaeus had called out repeatedly, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” (Mark 10:47). Jesus said, “Your faith has made you whole” (Mark 10:52). Then no-longer-physically-blind Bartimaeus “followed Jesus on the road/way.”

I wonder what Bartimaeus saw that Sabbath day. Perhaps he watched as Jesus recited the Shema (“Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one.”), sang psalms, heard scriptures and their interpretation, and prayed to his Abba in heaven. I wonder if he sensed Jesus’ anguish as his new friend would struggle on Thursday night on the Mount of Olives with the decision to follow the path of nonviolent resistance toward Roman rulers and the Temple authorities.

On that Sabbath in Bethany, Jesus worshipped with others not only to hear God’s call for his life but also to be part of a community of disciples seeking God’s shalom. And so will we tomorrow, which is our day of worship.

March 30, 2012: Thirty-third Day of Lent

"Christ has no body now on earth but yours,
no hands but yours, no feet but yours,
Yours are the eyes through which to look out Christ’s compassion to the world
Yours are the feet with which he is to go about doing good;
Yours are the hands with which he is to bless persons now."
— Santa Teresa de Jesús