I AM the True Vine

Good morning! Today we continue our “I AM” series on Jesus’ “I AM” statements in the Bible and we come to Jesus’ statement “I AM the True Vine” from John chapter 15. 

I want to start today with Moses. In Deut. 31, Moses is 120 years old, and he lets the Israelites know that he is too old to lead them. He promises that the Lord Himself will lead them if they follow Him, and he lets them know that Joshua will lead them in his place. He finishes writing the words of the Law and tells them to read it publicly, on a regular schedule. Then God visits Moses and warns him that the people will soon forsake God, and in response, God will make it very difficult for them. He then gave Moses a song and told Moses to teach it to the Israelites and have them sing it, so that it would be a witness against what they are going to do.

The song speaks of God’s faithfulness but then goes on to the Israelites’ future unfaithfulness. And God uses an image of a vine to describe them:

Their vine comes from the vine of Sodom and from the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes are filled with poison, and their clusters with bitterness. Their wine is the venom of serpents, the deadly poison of cobras. – Deut. 31:32-33

What kind of vine is this? A terrible one! The Israelites were supposed to sing this song to remind themselves to stay true to the Lord. But it is almost certain that they did not continue to sing this song, or if they did, they did not think about how it could apply to them. And in time, the people became unfaithful just as the song had warned.

The vine is a hugely important symbol in the Old Testament, coming up dozens of times to symbolize different things, most commonly the nation or people of Israel. As to the theme of this Deuteronomy passage, we see it again in Jeremiah. From Chapter 2:

“Long ago you broke off your yoke and tore off your bonds; you said, ‘I will not serve You!’ Indeed, on every high hill and under every spreading tree you lay down as a prostitute. I had planted you like a choice vine of sound and reliable stock. How then did you turn against Me into a corrupt, wild vine? – Jer. 2:20-21

And so again, we see this theme of a vine going bad. And again, it symbolizes the unfaithfulness of the people of God. 

Vines are not easy to grow. Rather, they are easy to grow in some wild form, but they are not easy to grow in such a way that they produce lots of fruit. They require continual care – pruning, feeding, training, watering, weeding, and more. They require protection from small animals – this is even mentioned in the Song of Songs, also known as the Song of Solomon:

Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom. – Song of Songs 2:15

Animals ruin vineyards by digging up around the roots, causing the vines to weaken and become vulnerable to disease. Other animals of course can steal the fruit or eat the leaves. 

With this background on the nature of vineyards and the use of vines in the Old Testament, I think we are ready to look at Jesus’ powerful teaching in which He uses vines as His primary illustration. This can be found in John 15. Let’s look at the first few verses.

“I am the true vine, and My Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in Me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit He prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in Me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me. – John 15:1-4

Let’s start by talking about that word “true”. What is a true vine? The Greek word used here is alathinos. It is helpful to understand that there is another related word, alathes. In the Latin Vulgate translation they were very careful to use different Latin words for these two Greek words, verax for the second word, and verus for the first. It is the second word, not the word in this passage but the other one, that means what we commonly think about when we think about truth, as the opposite of lying, the opposite of saying something that is actually not true. But there is another meaning of “true” that seems to be rapidly disappearing from the English language. This is disappointing and disturbing, because the usage of language reveals how people groups think, and the lack of a word for something reveals that the people group does not value the thing being described by such a word. You have possibly heard that Eskimos have a huge number of words for snow, in various very specific conditions. We know nothing of this, because snow is not a major part of our lives. But even up north in the US, the words they use for snow in various conditions is nothing compared to what Eskimos have. Eskimos traditionally lived out in nature, whereas people up north are like people down here – we have cars, and heated houses, heated places to work at, and snowplows, and so on. Who cares how sharp the sound is when you walk in it? But losing a whole side of “true” is a lot more concerning.

In old adventure books, you might see the rapidly fading version of “true” I am describing. Here is a typical sentence: “The flight of the arrow was true.” What does this mean? It means it is accurate. It is reliable. It will go all the way to its destination. Sometimes a sword would be described as true. What does this mean? It means that it responds as it should, that it doesn’t chip or have problems with weighting, or being dull, and so on. A true sword is perfect in every way – from how it works to its composition. In older English, we would sometimes see as a synonym for this kind of “true” the word “very” used not as an adverb (like “I am very happy”) but as an adjective. One example of this is in the typical English translation of the Nicene Creed, which describes Jesus as “very God of very God”. This refers to His divinity. He is God “all the way through” – in every way – all the time. 

And so Jesus is the true vine. He is not like the vine in Deuteronomy, whose grapes are bitter and whose wine is poison. His fruit is good fruit. I am reminded of Jesus’ own words in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 7) where He says that every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. He says that you can recognize a tree by its fruit. As the true vine, Jesus only produces good fruit. He can no more produce bad fruit than a true sword can behave like a poorly made sword. 

What does it mean that the Father cuts off every branch that bears no fruit? Well, as Jesus says in verse 4, branches that are not “in” Christ do not produce fruit, any fruit, or more specifically, any good fruit. Jesus produces good fruit. This reminds me of the verse we looked at in Jeremiah, with the wild, uncared-for vine. If you do not cut away dead branches, and even prune the good branches, both the quality and quantity of the fruit will suffer. 

When I think about the Father cutting off unfruitful branches, I think about how people may be initially attracted to Jesus and His teachings but never really give their hearts to Him. And I think about how all the crowds that followed Jesus earlier in His ministry fell away when His teachings became more challenging. I also think about the parable of the seed put into four different soils, and how the plants did not thrive and grow in three of those soils. This is found, for example, in Matt. 13. If you recall, there was the seed falling on the path, representing someone who hears the gospel message but does not understand it or accept how it applies to them. And there was the seed falling on the rocky ground, representing someone who is caught up in the emotions of the moment but does not have “root”, which to me means that they do not want to do the work of seeking Christ, of spending time in the Word, of submitting to Him, of praying, and so on. And the third problematic ground was the ground covered by thorns, representing someone who is consumed by the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth. When I think about the Father as the master gardener, I see Him carefully identifying such people and helping them to move on (or as it say, “cutting them off”) so as not to affect the living, vibrant part of the vine. 

Now, what about pruning, and what does being “already clean” have to do with anything? Well, it turns out that “pruning” and “cleaning” are actually the same word in Greek. So one way to think of this is to say that the disciples – and you – are already pruned because of the word He has given to them – and you. Now, just a bit earlier in John, in Chapter 13, Jesus has washed the disciples’ feet, and taught on the meaning of this in terms of being made clean, so I think being “clean” is also a good way to think about what is being said here. 

Jesus then tells them to remain in Him. And this makes perfect sense of the vine analogy. When our oldest son Isaac was very little, we were taking him around Clemson one day, and, for whatever reason makes little boys do what they do, he broke off a very nice flower in a raised bed. Then he felt bad about it, and tried to put it back onto the plant, and managed to get it balanced so that it looked more or less like it had looked before he had broken it. Isaac may have been too young to fully understand this, but of course, that isn’t going to work. The flower was cut off from the plant, and it would rapidly decay, probably much more rapidly than if it had remained connected to the plant. And using Jesus’ analogy, we too need to remain connected to the vine – that is, to Him – if we want to grow in Him. 

And it has been many years, but a Bible teacher I greatly respected before he passed away taught that a synonym in the Bible for fruit is “results.” An example is the fruit of the Spirit. These are the results of the Spirit, of having the Holy Spirit work in you. And in the same way, the fruit of the vine are the results of being connected to the vine. There is no plan B here – the only way to have spiritual growth, results, fruit, is to be connected to Christ so that He can grow you, mature you, change you. 

And note that the Father is the vinedresser, the one who prunes. It isn’t supposed to be the branches doing it! That is, we are not supposed to be the pruners. God is. We need to exercise restraint and let God do His job. 

Let’s continue with John 15:

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in Me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in Me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to My Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be My disciples. – John 15:5-8

And so Jesus reiterates with his I AM statement. He is the vine. He is the base of the vine, the core, the central part of the vine, where the roots are attached. In fact, He is also the roots. And this is very fitting in light of multiple passages in Isaiah and other passages that describe the Messiah as the root, or core branch. Again, branches need to be connected to the main vine, or they will not receive sustenance, and will not grow, and will eventually – actually, pretty rapidly – die.  It is Christ, and Christ alone, that helps us to grow, which is what fruit is. As we remain in Him, our “rough edges” become less rough, our desire and ability to love sacrificially will grow, and our compassion for those who are perishing apart from Christ will also grow, and we will want to pray for the lost, speak to the lost, and hopefully, God will save some. 

And this brings us to the more seemingly controversial statement: “If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” Now does this mean that if you ask for a Lamborghini that God will give it to you? Probably not. This is an “if-then” statement. The “if” is explicit; the then is implied. If you remain in Him, and if His words remain in you, this will change what you want to pray for. You are not going to ask God for Lamborghinis. 

One passage I think of is Psalm 37:4, in which David says:

Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart. – Ps. 37:4

The desires of the heart change significantly when someone truly delights in the Lord. I also think of the model prayer Jesus gave for us:

“This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’ – Matt. 6:9-13

Note that this prayer starts with worship, with praising God for who He is. And then it moves into praying that what He (God) wants would come to pass. When we pray like this, our desires are whatever He desires. And if course there is a very big difference between praying for daily bread and praying for a Lamborghini. 

Now, were branches that were cut off from the vine actually dealt with, even burned? Why didn’t they just let them stay on the ground underneath the plant? It is because doing this leads to moisture buildup where molds and other diseases can propagate. These are not conducive to the health of the plant or to the bearing of plentiful, delicious fruit.  

Now I have put off talking about the immediate context of these verses, so let me do so here. This is Jesus’ final night with His disciples before He is crucified. Earlier this evening, He had washed His disciples’ feet as an illustration of (1) how He comes to serve, symbolized by how He, the Son of God, the second Person in the Trinity, is taking on such a lowly task as foot washing, (2) how believers still need to come to Him when they sin so that He can forgive them, symbolized by the washing of only the feet and not the full body, and (3) how the disciples are to practice servant leadership as well, effectively washing the feet of other believers. 

He then reveals Judas as the traitor and releases him to go betray Him on that very night, although the other disciples don’t really understand what is happening. He then gives them a new command, to love one another as He has loved them. And when Peter says he would lay down his life for Jesus, Jesus tells him that on that very night he will disown Him three times. 

And then Jesus tells them that He is going to prepare a place for them, and He will come back to take them to be with Him. Thomas replies that they don’t know the way, and it is then that Jesus says that He is the way and the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Him. He then promises them the Holy Spirit and tells them that the Holy Spirit will teach them and remind them of what Jesus has said to them. 

And then, in the verse immediately prior to telling them that He is the true vine, He says, “come now, let us leave.” So it appears that John 15, that we have been reading, takes place on the road, as they leave their upper room and go through Jerusalem, eventually going outside of Jerusalem and crossing the Kidron stream. We read of this in John 18:1. The NIV puts this verse as “When He had finished praying, Jesus left with his disciples and crossed the Kidron Valley.” This makes it sound as if they didn’t leave the room until this point. And I agree this is possible.

But in the KJV which is more literal, John 18:1 reads “When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the brook Cedron [Kidron],” and the Greek word choices and tenses make it seem as if He had finished speaking/praying to them as they arrived at the Kidron stream and immediately crossed it. 

Whether they left earlier or later is not especially important, but multiple commentators have suggested that perhaps they had gone past the Temple. Regarding the Temple, I want to read a passage from Josephus, a historian who wrote only a few decades after Jesus. This passage mentions a cubit, which according to Josephus, was 24 finger widths long, and modern historians, based on this and other descriptions conclude that a cubit was about 20 inches long, about half a meter. In particular, note that 70 cubits is over 100 feet. 

Here is what Josephus writes. Pay close attention to the “first gate”.

As to the holy house itself, which was placed in the midst of the inmost court, that most sacred part of the temple, it was ascended to by twelve steps; and in front its height and breadth were equal, and each a hundred cubits…. Its first gate was seventy cubits high and twenty-five cubits broad, but this gate had no doors for it represented the universal visibility of heaven, and that it cannot be excluded from any place.  Its front was covered with gold all over and through it the first part of the house that was more inward did all of it appear; which, as it was very large, so did all the parts about the more inward gate appear to shine to those that saw them.  But then as the entire house was divided into two parts within, it was only the first part of it that was open to our view.  Its height extended all along to ninety cubits in height, and its length was fifty cubits, and its breadth twenty.  But that gate which was at this end of the first part of the house was, as we have already observed, all covered with gold, as was its whole wall about it.  It had also golden vines above it from which clusters of [golden] grapes hung as tall as a man’s height; but then this house, as it was divided into two parts: the inner part was lower than the appearance of the outer, and had golden doors of twenty-five cubits altitude, and six in breadth.   But before these doors there was a veil of equal largeness with the doors.  It was a Babylonian curtain embroidered with blue and fine linen, and scarlet, and purple, and of a contexture that was truly wonderful. Nor was this mixture of colors without its mystical interpretation but was a kind of image of the universe.  For by the scarlet there seemed to be enigmatically signified fire, by the fine flax the earth, by the blue the air, and by the purple the sea; two of them having their colors this foundation of this resemblance.  But the fine flax and the purple have their own origin for that foundation, the earth producing the one and the sea the other.  This curtain had also embroidered upon it all that was mystical in the heavens, excepting that of the twelve signs representing living creatures. – Josephus, Wars 5.5.4 (207-214)

I included the description of the curtain simply because it is interesting. By the way, when he says the flax color comes from the earth, he means that it, the flax, is grown on land. And the purple comes from a kind of sea snail, the murex, so it literally comes from the sea.

We have additional evidence of the golden vine, including coins from that time that seem to depict it. 

Now this is pure conjecture, but it is possible that Jesus and His party of disciples passed by the first gate as they were walking, this stunning, gold gate adorned with a huge golden vine with golden clusters of grapes. Another ancient writer has said that from time to time people would donate golden leaves or orbs to the Temple, and workers (Levites) would hang them up in addition to all that was already there. 

The vine was undoubtedly beautiful, but to the degree it symbolized the people of Israel and their history, and even the present leadership, the Pharisees and the Sanhedrin and the so-called teachers of the Law, it represented a vine that produced poor fruit, if any fruit at all. And I picture Jesus walking past this ostentatious display and saying, “I am the true vine.” 

Again, we don’t know if this is what happened, but the contrast between the failed human vine and the living perfect vine in Christ is certainly something we are supposed to consider. Indeed, this is so much of Jesus’ point here: Remain in Me, He says, and God will trim you so that you produce amazing, living fruit. 

If you watch videos about what vinedressers do, you learn that that prune a lot. It requires tons of time and attention to detail. If even a single leaf is oriented the wrong way, so that it doesn’t get lots of sun, or blocks the sun from better oriented leaves, it is cut. If the canes, the branches, are not first year branches, they are cut. There are literally piles of debris, clippings, under every foot’s length of vine. This is gathered up, these days, usually chopped up and used as mulch. But not long ago it was still burned, and some farms still burn the clippings today. 

When you look at a vine that has recently been pruned, everything is just perfect. You have this new, tender growth, with beautiful, plentiful grapes attached to this old, thick, hearty, wood core vine. When Jesus says He is the vine, He means that part. In itself, it looks dead, much like how a tree trunk, looked at in isolation, also looks dead. But it is in fact very much alive, and it also brings life to all the greenery that is attached to it. Same with the vine. These beautiful, tender leaves, and those juicy, delicious grapes, only are that way because of both the powerful living vine that provides them life and because of the tender, loving, continual care of the vinedresser. And in the same way, we as believers are to be beautiful, tender, loving, people with abundant fruit (results) that come from God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. 

We won’t go into as much detail, but I want to read what Jesus tells His disciples next, because it brings up some important points about what this fruit really is.   

“As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you. Now remain in My love. If you keep My commands, you will remain in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commands and remain in His love. I have told you this so that My joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are My friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in My name the Father will give you. This is My command: Love each other. – John 15:9-17

What is this fruit? Is it seeing people saved, the Kingdom of God expanding? I would say that is part of it, and I think that is why Jesus again tells them that what they ask in His name the Father will grant. He does want them to be doing Kingdom growing work, of course not in their own strength, but in total dependence on God. But if you feel like you have to do this out of a sense of burden, if you feel unsatisfied in how many people, if any, you have led to the Lord, I believe you are missing what fruit is ultimately about. 

There are two huge themes of fruit included in this passage. The first of these is joy. God intends for us to be joyful in Him. And the second is love. Agape self-sacrificial love. The type of love that lays down one’s life for one’s friends. Grapes don’t grow in isolation. They are in clumps, in groups. And it is very clear from this passage that believers are to be in community. You cannot love one another, laying down your lives for your friends, if you have nobody to love, if you have no friends in Christ. You quite simply cannot have this fruit of love if you are not in community with other believers, working to let them into your lives, living life together, serving one another, being with one another. The world should be jealous. People of the world should be jealous of what believers have in fellowship with one another, the joy and the love.

I remind you of portions of two passages from Galatians 5:

You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” … But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy…  – Gal. 5:13-14, 22a

Love and joy, the first two items in the list of the fruit of the Spirit. To be “fruitful”, Biblically, in the Old Testament was to have many physical children, and there is indeed a sense in the New Testament that fruitfulness includes the idea of having spiritual children, those who follow you in the faith. Disciples are people who make disciples, Jesus commanded us to go and make disciples. But the concept of fruit, as explained here by Jesus, goes much deeper. We are not just to produce fruit. We are to produce good fruit. And that fruit is, primarily, our very character, the very nature of our lives. Love and joy should be the first two words others use when they are asked to describe us. Not efficient, or effective, or productive. These things will come, if God wills it. But we also have to allow God to prune us, and that may include pruning our efficiency, our effectiveness, and our productivity. We may be a bit shocked at how deeply He prunes us. But God knows what He is doing. Our primary task is to remain in Him, and connected to Him, have joy and practice agape love through His continual sustenance.

I AM the Way and the Truth and the Life

Good morning!  Today we are going to study another of Jesus’ “I AM” statements.  I want to say another “famous” statement, but that almost seems redundant.  All these I AM statements are famous in their own way.  Jesus’ statement, “I am the way, the truth, and the life,” is recorded in John 14:6.  You know how he follows it up.  “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father but (or except) through Me.”  In clear and simple words, Jesus makes it clear that there are no other ways to a reconciled relationship with God.

Because the statement makes our utter dependence on Jesus plain.  The statement excludes any other ways to God.  There is only One.   With that, it makes sense to memorize that verse, and many people do.  If you don’t have it memorized, I would say it is a good one to hold on, for sure.

In addition to making it clear that Jesus is the One Way, this verse is a strong encouragement to us, a promise.  No one comes to the Father apart from Jesus, everyone who comes to Jesus, believing in Him, will come to the Father and eternal life.

I’ve talked about Sam Allen who is a retired pastor.  Sam sends out verses of encouragement a few times a week by text.  He often adds a comment, but the comment is always short.  And, the goal is always the same.  Here are the comments from the last 3 weeks.

He has brought us into moment by moment contact with our Creator and Savior!!

It is impossible to love someone that you know nothing about.  Seek to know Jesus Christ!!

The Lord is with you, my friend!

“Everything is possible with God” (Mark 10:27) - the very God who we follow daily!!

It is not in your power to make yourself feel better, but the living God intervenes through His Son!!

“Pay close attention to what you hear” (Mark 4:24) – So many distractions!

Daily salvation and comfort come from Jesus Christ!!

Real life is to know and understand Jesus Christ every moment of every day!!

Stay focused on Jesus Christ every moment of every day.

Our God and Savior!! (Psalms 73:16, 21-26, God is the strength of my heart)

Our future and our hope!! (Acts 1:11, Jesus will return)

What does Sam point to?  Or, who does he point to again and again?  Jesus Christ!  

I love Sam’s laser focus on the Savior.  And that’s exactly what we see in today’s I AM statement from Jesus Himself.  He should be our focus because He is the way, the truth, and the life.  Let’s pray and continue to explore this wonderful testimony of who Jesus is.

Lord Jesus, we come to You.  Teach us we pray.  We need you more than anything.  Help us to heed Sam’s exhortations.  May we pay close attention to what we hear and follow You every day.  It is in Your Name we pray, Amen.

I want to pick up the story surrounding the moment when Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”  Interestingly, we were discussing humility during the men’s time yesterday morning.  Our main passage was John 13:1-30.  The time is the Passover week or the Passion week.  Jesus knew it was time for Him to leave this world and go the Father.  Jesus and the twelve were together in the upper room for their last supper.

During the meal, Jesus got up and washed the disciples’ feet.  After setting this example of serving, Jesus proceeded to tell them that one of their number would betray Him.  Jesus did not broadcast who it was, but indicated that it was Judas by giving him a piece of bread he had dipped in the dish.  Judas took the bread, and at Jesus word, Judas departed to betray Jesus.

The remaining disciples were unaware what was really happening.  They thought that Jesus had sent Judas on one kind of errand or another.  Jesus, though, knew exactly what was taking place.  These were the last hours, moments really, that He would have with the disciples before He would be crucified.  John 13-17 are Jesus’ last words to the eleven before the cross.  These were the things Jesus wanted them to know and remember.

When [Judas] was gone, Jesus said, "Now the Son of Man is glorified and God is glorified in Him. If God is glorified in Him, God will glorify the Son in Himself, and will glorify Him at once.” "My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come. "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."  – John 13:31-34

There is a scene in The Lord of the Rings where Frodo offers Galadriel the one ring.  Galadriel is a powerful queen, but with the one ring, she would become even more powerful, unstoppable among the inhabitants of Middle Earth.  She is tempted, but she doesn’t take the ring.  Then, she says, “I pass the test.  I will diminish, and go into the West and remain Galadriel.”

What Jesus does for us is the ultimate lowering of oneself.  He tells the disciples and the Jewish leaders that they cannot follow where he is going.  What He is doing from the disciples perspective and has done from our perspective is more than dying.   He takes the wrath of God upon Himself.  Even if we can glimpse the significance of it, I don’t think we can understand the weight of this great sacrifice.  Jesus passed the test, a far greater one.  He is not diminished, but glorified.

The result isn’t that Jesus remains as He is.  Rather He is glorified.  Not only that, God the Father is glorified as well.  The rescue of us and the bringing of us over to Himself both now and forever is the beautiful exclamation point of all time.

Why does He do it?  Is it for His glory?  No, the reason He does it is because He loves us.  The measure of His love is great.  Beyond any love that we could ever love on our own.  And yet, that is what Jesus calls His disciples to do.  Love one another as He has loved us.  We can only love like Christ when we abide in Christ.

The disciples heard this message, but at that moment, it wasn’t the thing that stood out to them.  Jesus had said, “Where I am going, you cannot come,” so Peter asks, “Lord, where are you going?”

Jesus tells Peter that he cannot follow Him now, but he will follow later.  Peter asks why not, saying that he would even lay down his life for Jesus.  Jesus answers that Peter would disown or deny him that same night, three times.

With Peter’s question addressed, Jesus returns to what He was saying to them all.  We will pick up with Jesus’ words at the beginning of John 14.

"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. You know the way to the place where I am going." – John 14:1-4

The disciples are wrestling with two things:  that they cannot follow Jesus where He is going now and that Peter will deny Jesus.  And that on top of Judas’ mysterious departure.  They are confused, definitely, worried, and maybe even more than a little afraid.

Here is an admonition for all of us.  “Do not let your hearts be troubled.”  A troubled heart is something that we all face, usually triggered by a difficult or uncertain circumstance.

I’m certain that I don’t handle it as well as Jesus, but this is something that I think I have had to work through with all our children to some degree or another.  We get the chance to choose how we react to our circumstances.  Sometimes we choose poorly, sure.  But the choice is ours.

Jesus tells His disciples, “do not let your hearts be troubled.”  Then, he reinforces the admonition with truth.  You believe in God.  Believe in Me.  There is a place for all of you in My Father’s house.  I am going to prepare your place there.  “I will come back and take you to be with me.”  The disciples could not follow Jesus where He was going then, but they and we are not abandoned.  Jesus will come and take us to be with Him, in His Father’s house, forever.

I think when I have read that last sentence, “You know the way to the place where I am going,” Jesus is talking about some other time when the disciples learned the way.  But really, His answer is right there.  “Believe also in Me.”  “I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”  So what, or Who, is the way?  Jesus.

So, you could read that last sentence instead as.  “There, you know the way to the place where I am going.  I have just told you plainly.”  But, we know the disciples are troubled and sometimes not the brightest.  So …

Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?" Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” – John 14:5-6

We can credit Thomas with honesty.  He says, “We don’t know where You are going.”  Therefore, “How can we know the way?”  Not only is Thomas honest, he is also humble.  He is willing to openly show his ignorance.  He doesn’t understand, and he doesn’t act like he does.  He doesn’t wait for someone else to ask.  Spurgeon said the disciples talk to Jesus like a child would talk to their father, a good father.  The child is so in awe of the wisdom and perceived, and in Jesus’ case true, infallibility of the father.  A loving father answers their children’s questions without shaming them.  The child feels safe to ask anything.

Again, Jesus answers both questions.  “I am going to the Father,” and “I am the way.”  And, He says more than that.  Jesus is not just the way.  He’s not a taxi driver or a shuttle pilot.  He is the way and the truth and the life.

I think of the message Fred gave a few weeks ago.  Jesus said I am the door.  I am the sheep gate.  He takes us to the Father through Himself.  He makes the way, and that way is Himself and what He has done.

Exploring Jesus’ words here in this short statement is pretty exciting.  We don’t need to try and unpack the Greek because the translation into English is exact and word for word.  Jesus says what we read.  I - am - the - way - and - the - truth - and - the - life.  The definite article is present for each object.  The way.  The truth.  The life.  That lends emphasis to His following statement, “No one comes to the Father except through Me.”  There is no other way.  Jesus is the way.

I have to travel to Germany this week.  Most of the trip will be to places I’ve never been before.  Our smartphones have become the easiest way to find directions.  My phone happens to be provided by my workplace.  It has always had data when I have been traveling internationally.  But, it’s been about a year since I was in Europe.  Sometime in the last months, I got a notification that there were changes in our phone plan.  Since I wasn’t traveling at that time, I didn’t investigate what the status of my international plan was.  But, what do you think?  Now that I have to go to Germany, did I make sure I could have access to reliable directions?  You better believe it.  It’s one thing to be lost when you can ask directions.  It’s another thing entirely when you don’t speak the language or understand the culture well enough to get where you need to go.

If you are lost or if you are wandering without direction or if you don’t know where you are going, turn to Jesus.  He is the way.  Acts 4 and Hebrews 7 give us insights into how Jesus is the way.

Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved. – Acts 4:12 

Therefore He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, because He always lives to intercede for them. – Hebrews 7:25

Because Jesus lives forever, He is the way.  His light never goes out.  He is an eternal lighthouse and an eternal rescuer.  There is no other way.

We live in confusing times.  We live in a time of information overload.  I remember hearing back in the 90’s that the average big city Sunday newspaper had more information in it than most people would have access to in their entire lifetime just two or three hundred years earlier.

Well today, we don’t even have Sunday papers.  We have the internet.  We have multiple channels of 24-hour news programming.  Now we have podcasts.  It seems like anyone and everyone is publishing content on every conceivable subject all the time.

It’s impossible to keep up with all this information, but that’s not even the biggest challenge.  I’m reminded of the proverb (18:17), “The one who pleads his cause first seems right, until another comes and questions him.”  It’s not just the “trying to keep up,” how do you know that what you’re listening to or reading is true.

There is one place you can come to get the truth.

If you don’t understand (like Thomas) or if you are confused or if you can’t figure things out, then come to Jesus for answers.  He is the truth.

When Pontius Pilate was questioning Jesus before He was condemned to die, Jesus told Pilate the reason He (Jesus) was born and came into the world. (John 18:37) That reason was to testify to the truth.  Jesus went on to say that everyone on the side of truth listens to Him.

Jesus’ testimony is not to tell us about some information.  He isn’t just giving us facts.  He Himself is the truth.  II Corinthians 1:20 tells us,

For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God. – II Corinthians 1:20

Jesus is the fulfillment of the promises of God.  That is one way in which He is the truth.  And, as that truth, we can collectively say Amen.  Jesus is our Amen.  In the world, there is no end to the making of books (Ecclesiastes 12:12) or programming.  In Christ, there is an Amen.  Revelation 3:14 tells it is not an Amen is “the Amen” and the Amen is the person of Jesus Christ.  Jesus is the answer.  He is the truth.

A couple of weeks back, we talked about how Jesus is the good shepherd.  Jesus told the disciples and many others, “I am the good shepherd.”  Just before he said, “I am the good shepherd,” the first time, Jesus says, “I have come that they [the sheep], may have life, and have it to the full [or have it abundantly.]” (John 10:9)

If you feel dead inside or if you don’t feel like you can’t put one foot in front of the other or if you don’t seem to have strength or energy to face your challenges, then abide in (stay connected to) Jesus.  He gives life because He is the life.

We’re not going to continue further in John 14 today, but if we just skip down to verse 19, Jesus says there, “Because I live, you also will live.”  It’s because of His life that we have life.  His life is indestructible, so He can give eternal life, and that is exactly what He says.

I give them [my sheep] eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. – John 10:28 

And last week, we looked at Jesus’ statement, “I am the resurrection and the life.”  In John 11 Jesus tells Martha that, 

The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. – John 11:25-26

Writing these messages, it is not infrequent that ideas or even scriptures don’t find their way into the final version.  I have two more verses about the life of Jesus that I just couldn’t pass up sharing.  Both of them come from I John.  The first verse is a testimony from John.  The second is a promise.

The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. – I John 1:2

Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. – I John 5:12

The first verse clearly testifies to Jesus as the life.  That is the message which the disciples proclaim, the eternal life which was with the Father and has appeared to them.  This is Jesus, the Son of God.  Having the Son or being connected to the Son, abiding in Him, is synonymous with life.  If you have the Son, you have life.

I mentioned the men’s time earlier.  Our topic was humility.  Fred mentioned Darcy in Pride and Prejudice, how He had removed Lydia’s and her family's shame.  He took it upon himself to work the situation out for them.

It’s been a long time since I read or watched Pride and Prejudice, but when Fred brought up that example, a short sentence from the book came filtering back to mind.

Lizzy’s aunt wrote to explain the circumstances by which Lydia had been saved.  Speaking of Darcy, Mrs. Gardiner wrote, “Nothing was to be done that he did not do himself.”

That sentiment isn’t exactly right when thinking about who Jesus is and what He has done.  I would phrase it slightly differently.  Of Jesus, we can say, “Nothing could be done for us, for our situation, except that which He has done for us.”

Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  No one else could be those three things.  We rejoice in knowing Him.  Follow Him, seek to Him (more), abide in Him.  “Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.” (I Peter 2:6) Let’s pray.

Lord Jesus, keep us on track following You.  Help us listen to You.  Show us how to abide in You.  Glorify Your Name, we pray, Jesus, Amen. 

I AM the Resurrection and the Life

 

Good morning! He is risen! Today we are going to focus on the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Jesus is unique in history because He predicted His resurrection and then it took place. We find the first reference of this in John 2. The context is that it was almost Passover, and Jesus went into the temple courts and found some people selling animals for sacrifice and others exchanging money. The passage says that He made a whip out of cords and drove them all out. (This was the first – but not the only – time He did this.) The passage continues: 

The Jews then responded to Him, “What sign can You show us to prove your authority to do all this?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this Temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” They replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and You are going to raise it in three days?” But the temple He had spoken of was His body. After He was raised from the dead, His disciples recalled what He had said. Then they believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken. – John 2:18-22

Jesus predicts His death and resurrection here close to the start of His ministry, and He even explains how long He will be dead – three days. And for us, as we today celebrate His resurrection, it is important to note that Jesus explains that this was a proof of His authority. 

Now, the importance of the crucifixion cannot be overstated. Jesus went to the cross willingly, as the only person who had never sinned, to die for the sins of others, to die for you and me. And we receive the gift of salvation – of being saved from our sins – through faith in Him, a faith that is demonstrated through a prayer of repentance to Him and through a commitment to let Him be Lord of our lives. That is, we live for Him because He died for us. 

But the resurrection of Christ serves a different purpose – as this passage explains, it proves His authority. It proves that He is not only man, but God. It proves that His sacrifice for our sins was accepted by God. And it proves that we can trust everything He says.

In Matt. 12, the crowds bring to Jesus a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute. What a combination! The passage is not clear about whether the blindness and muteness were caused by the demon, or whether the man had already been blind and mute before the demon came upon him. But in any case, Jesus fully heals this man of all three conditions – He removes the demon, makes him able to talk, and makes him able to see. The Pharisees, seeing this, say to themselves that Jesus must be in league with Satan so as to be able to do this. Jesus hears their thoughts and responds, condemning them for their evil hearts. Then the Pharisees and teachers of the law demand that Jesus give them a sign. 

He [Jesus] answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now something greater than Jonah is here. – Matt. 12:39-41

Again, Jesus predicts His death and resurrection, this time by comparing Himself to the prophet Jonah. Indeed, for all apparent purposes, Jonah was dead and gone when the giant fish swallowed him. Who could possibly survive that? Yet, three days later, Jonah reappeared, at the location God had told him to go, to Nineveh, a wicked city. It was an absolute miracle that Jonah was alive – just as if he had been resurrected from the dead. And, in contrast to the Pharisees and teachers of the law, in response to just a few words from Jonah, the entire place, all of Nineveh, repented. 

And so we see here a second purpose of the resurrection – it should drive people to repent of their sins and turn to Christ to save them. 

In both accounts, Jesus is telling all His listeners, disciples and enemies alike, that He will die and rise from the grave. But He also repeatedly told His disciples this when He was alone with them. We see this, for example, in Matt. 16. This conversation takes place immediately after Jesus commends Peter for realizing that Jesus is in fact the Messiah prophesied throughout Scripture.  

From that time on Jesus began to explain to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that He must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to You!” Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” – Matt. 16:21-23

I have sympathy for Peter in this conversation, as I think I would have expressed a similar sentiment at that time. Nobody wants to face the fact that someone that they love will be leaving them. How much more so the Messiah! But Jesus’ seemingly harsh response to Peter is justified, in that Peter is tempting Jesus to change the outcome – the exact same thing that Satan did when talking with Jesus after His 40-day fast in the desert.

Staying with Matthew, Jesus tells His disciples again, a chapter later:

When they came together in Galilee, He said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill Him, and on the third day He will be raised to life.” And the disciples were filled with grief. – Matt. 17:22-23

And Matthew records a third time this happens:

Now Jesus was going up to Jerusalem. On the way, He took the Twelve aside and said to them, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn Him to death and will hand Him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day He will be raised to life!” – Matt. 20:17-19

This time, Jesus is even more specific – He says everything – He will be mocked. He will be flogged. And He will be crucified. 

How do the disciples respond? Well, the very next verses record the disciples arguing with one another over who will get to sit at Jesus’ right and left hands in His kingdom. That had to be somewhat disappointing. In response, Jesus turned traditional honor-shame dynamics upside down and told them that if they want to be great, they must be like a servant or slave. And He finished by saying, that they must do this “just like the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”

And there is even a fourth time in Matthew that Jesus predicts His resurrection. This time it is immediately before the events themselves take place:

Then Jesus told them, “This very night you will all fall away on account of Me, for it is written: “‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.” – Matt. 26:31-32

Jesus did not doubt that He would arise 3 days after His crucifixion. But that did not make facing what was about to happen easy. Continuing in Matt. 26:

Then Jesus went with His disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and He said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with Him, and He began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then He said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with Me.” Going a little farther, He fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” – Matt. 26:36-39

And He prayed two more times. In between these, He went to check on His disciples, and they were sleeping. As far as I can tell, Jesus had never before asked His disciples for emotional or spiritual help and support – and in this time of greatest trial, they utterly failed Him.

And we know that on the cross, Jesus cried out, “My, God, my God, why have You forsaken me?” Jesus certainly intellectually knew the answer to this, as it says in Isaiah 53:

Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush Him and cause Him to suffer, and though the Lord makes His life an offering for sin, He will see His offspring and prolong His days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in His hand. – Is. 53:10 

And indeed, the Lord did “crush” Him. Not just physically, but emotionally, and I believe literally spiritually – in that God separated Himself from Jesus, removed His presence from Him. And it was in this that Jesus felt utterly forsaken. This was necessary – for our sake. He had to bear the full weight of our sin in order to be a sacrifice for us, in order to take away our sin.

With all these truths about the resurrection and crucifixion in mind, I want to turn to the time when Jesus said, as per our title, “I am the resurrection and the life.” What a provocative statement!

This passage occurs in John 11. The context is Lazarus, a man from Bethany and the brother of Martha and Mary, the Mary who poured perfume on Jesus feet and wiped His feet with her hair. Lazarus fell ill and died, and Jesus did not make it to Bethany with His disciples until Lazarus had been dead and in the tomb for four days. This was not because Jesus was unable to be there sooner; indeed, Jesus could do anything – He could blink and be there, if He wanted to. But He delayed coming, He says, for His disciples’ sake. This was to build their faith.

Upon arrival, Jesus had this conversation with Martha:   

“Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if You had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give You whatever You ask.” – John 11:21-22 

It is easy to gloss over this verse – but I think this verse shows that Martha has tremendous faith! It would have been easy to doubt in Jesus, to question whether He was who He said He was, after the seeming failure to save Lazarus. 

And this is an important lesson for us – it is easy for us to become discouraged in God when things to do go the way we had hoped or prayed. It is easy to question either God’s goodness or His power, or both. But God is always good, and He is also all-powerful. It is OK to be disappointed, and even to grieve. But it is not OK to be disappointed in Him. We need to trust in His goodness and power, that He is doing what is not only best for us, but best for everyone. And in this incident, we will see the reasons behind everything in a few verses. But in our lives, we may have situations in which we don’t see the reason for what God is doing (or not doing) until we can ask Him in heaven. But we can be sure that His answers will amaze and awe us, and we will again confirm that God is all-good, all-powerful, and the very definition of love.  

Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” – John 11:23-24

Martha is misunderstanding Jesus’ answer, but this is understandable. What is about to happen goes beyond all reasonable expectations. And again, she should be commended for her faith – in believing in the resurrection at the last day. The entire organization of Sadducees did not believe this, for example. 

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in Me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” – John 11:25-26

And so we come to Jesus’ powerful if somewhat cryptic statement. What does it mean? Well, I think we gain insight by going back to John chapter 1. 

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. – John 1:1-4

Jesus is the Word, and the Word is the author of life and the sustainer of life. “In Him was life.” Outside of Him there is no life. I am further reminded of this passage from Col. 1:

The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. – Col. 1:15-17

It’s not like Jesus will just replace a battery in us like we are some kind of toy, and turn us back on, and then leave us alone. Jesus is the battery. And much more than that – He literally holds us together. He does it now, on a temporary basis, temporary because we die, temporary because we are sinners, and the curse of sin is in this world and has been in this world since the sin of Adam and Eve. But Jesus is the resurrection and the life. Because He has paid for our sin with His life, and because we have put our faith in Him, we will receive the gift of forgiveness, and He will raise us in Him and hold us together in Him and give us life in Him, forever. Jesus is our resurrection and our eternal life!

And to demonstrate this truth, what Jesus did next was His last public miracle. And boy was it public! Bethany is only two miles outside of Jerusalem, and the news of what Jesus did next spread not only throughout Bethany, but throughout Jerusalem, and beyond. 

Now Jesus left Martha with a question: Do you believe this? And here is her response:

“Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that You are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.” – John 11:27

After a very emotional meeting with Mary, Martha’s sister, we come to the climax of this wonderfully true story:

Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. “Take away the stone,” He said. “But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.” Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard Me. I knew that You always hear Me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that You sent Me.” When He had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. – John 11:38-44

Lazarus was dead one day longer than Jesus. But that means nothing. It is no harder for Jesus to resurrect someone who has been dead for 2000 years than it is to resurrect someone who has been dead for an hour. Notice that Jesus did nothing “to” Lazarus. No medicine, no touching, nothing. The Word spoke, and Lazarus returned to life. 

And Lazarus’ resurrection created such a huge stir in Jerusalem that it set into play the plot to kill Jesus once and for all. And likely no more than a month later, it was Jesus in a tomb, not Lazarus. The Messiah, the Word, was, shockingly, dead.

Because this is Easter, let’s read about the greatest resurrection of all, the resurrection of Jesus. From John 19, picking up the account immediately after Jesus has died on the cross:

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 also may believe. These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken,” and, as another scripture says, “They will look on the one they have pierced.” – John 19:31-37

Breaking the legs of a crucified person who has not yet died causes them to die quickly, because they cannot raise themselves up to get breaths of air. Jesus had already died, so there was no reason to do this, and piercing Jesus’ side was done to be sure Jesus was already dead. 

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. 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 19:38-42

The “day of preparation” refers to being the day before the Sabbath, Friday. It was a “special” day of preparation because it also took place during the Passover week. No work was to be done once the day was over, so everything had to be done quickly. Now it is Jesus being wrapped in strips of linen instead of Lazarus. Matthew tells us that Joseph of Arimathea was rich. He had to be rich to be able to afford a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid. The tomb was in the same general location as where the crucifixion occurred. 

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put Him!” – John 20:1-2

John is the other disciple. Matt. 28 gives additional details including the fact that an angel had rolled away the stone. Despite experiencing the resurrection of Lazarus, Mary does not consider the possibility that Jesus has risen from the dead. This is understandable, because even the miracle that someone raises someone else from the dead is unbelievably rare, but the idea that someone dead could raise Himself from the dead, or that God the Father could do it without working through a person, was unprecedented and therefore unthinkable, just as, after 3 days, it was still unbelievable that Jesus was actually dead. 

So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) Then the disciples went back to where they were staying. – John 20:3-10

I love the level of detail in this passage. John wants every recorded precisely because he is describing himself and the incredible things he felt when he saw the stone rolled away and the strips of linen but no Jesus. Jesus had told him this would happen – that He would rise after the third day, and here it was coming true before their very eyes. And then we come to the most exciting part:

Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?” “They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put Him.” At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. He 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.” – John 20:11-15

There is much gentle humor in this scene. The angels are in on the good news – they know Jesus is risen. Jesus of course knows this too. But Mary is so sad that she is not observing carefully or thinking clearly. Normally angels instill fear when seen, but not in Mary’s case. And you would think that she would recognize Jesus, but Jesus apparently has this trick that He can appear to people and they don’t recognize Him. It will happen again later, with two of the male disciples on a road to Emmaus. 

Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward Him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”). Jesus said, “Do not hold on to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to My brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, to My God and your God.’” Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that He had said these things to her. – John 20:16-18

And this is what we celebrate today. Jesus is risen!

I want to leave the story at this point, and briefly talk about some evidence from archaeology that we have that the accounts of Jesus’ resurrection are true. A source I have used for this is an article entitled Jesus’ Resurrection: An Archaeological Analysis” by Matt Dawson in the Answers Research Journal, the May 2021 issue. 

Let’s start by talking about the probable location where all this took place. This is now the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, located west-northwest of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. 

What evidence is there that this is indeed the location? Let’s start from the historian Eusebius, who wrote in the early 300s AD. He explains that Constantine built a structure at the location of the Resurrection. But how did Constantine know where to put it? It was because the spot was marked by those who hated early Christianity. It is indeed a wonderful irony that we have these haters to thank for helping us stay connected to multiple key archaeological sites that date back to the time of the New Testament! Jerome, a historian from the late 300s to early 400s, explains that Hadrian had put a statue of Jupiter on the precise spot where the tomb was and the resurrection occurred, and a statue of Venus on the nearby spot where the crucifixion occurred. Hadrian died in 138 AD, only about 100 years after the death of Christ. So we are not talking about a large gap in time at all here. And Eusebius and Jerome record that when Constantine cleared the site of Hadrian’s pagan shrine, the tomb was still amazingly intact underneath the mound. And so in 330 AD, Constantine and his mother Empress Helena had built on the site a mausoleum called the Anastasis, the Greek word for resurrection, and what he called the Martyrium church (martyrium is the Greek word from which we get the word martyr), with an outdoor courtyard between the two structures. Archaeology has since uncovered some of the remains of this Constantinian complex, validating the writings of Eusebius and Jerome. 

Now within the church there today is a small structure called the Edicule, built around the remains of the burial tomb of Jesus. This structure underwent a restoration project in 2015-2017, and during this time archaeologists uncovered multiple layers including two marble plates, filling material, mortar, and bedrock. The mortar was sampled and dated to the time of Constantine. 

Other archaeological work on the site has shown that it rests on a quarry of high-quality limestone dating to 800 BC, a perfect site for later making tombs out of rock. After the highest quality stone was taken, it became a garbage dump for several centuries, and as is often the case, it then became a location for burial sites. Archaeology has also confirmed that the location in general was turned into a garden or orchard in the first century BC, based on soil analysis and dating. 

We know that the tomb that existed at the center of Constatine’s site was destroyed by a Muslim commander Calif-al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah in 1009, but remnants of the tomb remain at the Edicule. The structure has been determined to be that of an antechamber and an arcosolium, a shallow place with an arched ceiling, in contrast to a quadrosolia, which has rectangular cuts with a straight top, or kokhim, which have small openings that go deep into the rock. 

A single arcosolium in a tomb is a sign of it being the tomb of a very rich person, because having the arch is “wasteful” when you could cut multiple quadrosolia or kokhim. Note that only an arcosolium would have allowed for enough room for two angels to sit where Jesus’ head and feet had been. Additional kokhim have been found at the site of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher (away from the Edicule), confirming that the site was indeed an established burial location used around the time of Christ. 

When one enters the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, a staircase on the immediate right goes up to a location claimed to be the location of the crucifixion. But this is a relatively recent tradition. The church has three major apses. When archaeologists transpose the current site of the church with the remnants of the Martyrium Church built by Constantine, the apse of the Martyrium and the smaller apse of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher line up perfectly. Because apses were where the exact locations where commemoration of events took place, it follows that this should be the location of Golgotha, where Christ was crucified.  

Now this church is within the present-day walls of the Old City of Jerusalem, but these walls are not the same as the walls at Jesus’ time. Archaeologists have determined that this location is indeed outside the walls of Jerusalem at that time. The “third wall” only had foundations laid in AD 41-44, and even then it was not completed because Caesar worried that it would encourage the Jews in Jerusalem to revolt. And the Jews did revolt in AD 67-70 and later in the early 100s, and Hadrian built the larger city wall only upon rebuilding the city after that later revolt. 

Matt. 27:39 and Mark 15:29 imply that Jesus was crucified near a road, in a visible location. John 19:20 says that Jesus was buried “near” the city. Heb. 13:12 says that Jesus was crucified outside a city gate. Ancient writers such as Quintilian (ca. AD 35-90) agree that crucifixions are made in very public places to serve as examples to the people. The location fits all these descriptions, and recent discoveries of what is likely the “Gennath” gate would place the Church of the Holy Sepulcher just outside this gate. ‘Gennath’ means “garden”, by the way. 

Another archaeological detail we should discuss is the stone “rolled” to close the tomb described in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. (John does not give specific wording as to how it was removed.) Archaeology has found that round stones were rare and only used in the tombs of the very rich. The tomb is also described as cut out of the rock, and rock-cut tombs were also only for the rich. (Caves were used for the poor.)

Some have suggested that Jews were never crucified, but additional evidence of the crucifixion of Jews is found in a Jewish ossuary (burial container) inscribed as Jehohanan. This is one of several ossuaries found together, and one gives additional historical information that dates the dates of death to sometime between AD 7 and AD 70. 

What is interesting is the skeleton of Jehohanan, which clearly has been crucified. In fact, there is a nail remaining in the right heel bone, probably remaining there because it was too difficult to remove. Beneath the head of the nail there remained a 2cm piece of olive wood that was used to keep the heel pinned to the cross, preventing the nail from pulling through the foot. 

What is interesting is that here we have an example of a Jewish person crucified and then the body taken by Jews and buried, in contrast to the standard practice of leaving crucified bodies on the cross post-mortem for days to be eaten by birds and other animals and then taken down and thrown into large pits unburied. So we have here an example of a Jewish person not only being crucified, but also being buried after the crucifixion, just like the situation with Jesus. For even more evidence, there is also an ancient Roman document called the Digesta which states that, as long as the person was not convicted of treason, the bodies of those crucified were to be released for burial to any who asked. And Jesus, as the gospels clearly explain, was not found guilty of treason. In fact, Pilate and Herod found no fault in Him. And the process of asking permission is exactly what Joseph of Arimathea did. 

There is a lot more indirect evidence of Jesus’ resurrection. The last one we will talk about today is something called the Nazareth Inscription, which has been dated to the 40s AD, only a decade or so after Jesus’ death and resurrection. Basically, the inscription is a legal edict from Caesar that people are not allowed to move bodies from tombs with intent of “malicious deception”, and if they do, they will receive the death penalty. This is very strange, as it does not warn against robbing dead bodies, only moving the body itself. There is no rational reason to just move a dead body. It has no value. 

What is going on here is that the spread of Christianity had come to Caesar’s attention, hearing the claim that Jesus’ followers had stolen the body – the exact false claim it says that Jews said in Matthew. Not wanting such a ruckus to spread to other cities if someone stole another body, it makes sense that Caesar would issue such a law. And so, just like with Hadrian, we again see God using the enemies of the Kingdom of God to – despite their best intentions to do the opposite – provide evidence and support for the claims that Christ indeed rose from the dead. Hallelujah!

At this time, I would like us to take Communion as a church together. As it is Easter, we will do this a little more formally than we normally do. Go ahead and come up now and take the bread and the cup and bring it to your seat. 

Let’s turn to the Last Supper, and look at the account in Luke 20:

When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. And He said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God.” After taking the cup, He gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among you. For I tell you I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same way, after the supper He took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is poured out for you. – Luke 20:14-20

Here, too, Jesus was clearly predicting His resurrection. Indeed, the resurrection is completely woven into the fabric of communion. We take the bread and the cup to remember until He comes. And so, we come together to praise Jesus for not shirking back, but going forward to the cross. We take the bread to remember that His body was given for us.

And we take the cup to remember that His blood was shed for us.

And we thank Him for the new covenant in His blood, which has been poured out for us. By faith, and not by any works of our own, we join the kingdom of God, and seek to live for Him, taking part in building His kingdom until He comes.