Paula Wiseman

Faith and life meet in a story

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Posts that reference the Gospel of Matthew

He is Risen!

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He is Risen title graphic showing empty tomb because Jesus Christ raised

But [the angel] said to [the women], “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him. Mark 16:6

This is an incredible moment – literally. Too extraordinary and improbable to be believed. Jesus told them. (Matthew 16:21, 17:23, 20:19). He had raised Lazarus a week or two before. But the women (and the rest of the disciples) go on, operating on their own understanding of how life works, how it has always worked. That’s about to change. Incredibly.

God graciously sends an angel to help the women understand what had happened. Let’s break down his message.

Do not be alarmed. – Our first response to drastic change and worldview shift is … stress and worry. Things are uncertain and no longer secure. But in this case, the change is the best thing ever.

You seek Jesus of Nazareth – The angel knew the mission the women were on. And they could be confident that this message was for them,

Who was crucified – He didn’t “swoon” or faint. He died. No one survived a Roman crucifixion.

He is risen! – Jesus is no longer dead. He has been raised by the power of God.

He is not here – This is a tomb, where dead people are. He is not dead, so He is not here.

See the place where they laid Him – You are not in the wrong tomb. Here’s is the place where you saw the body laid on Friday afternoon. Now the body is gone. Jesus isn’t just “spiritually” raised. He isn’t a ghost. His body has come back to life.

The Resurrection changes everything

We change from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant.
The payment for all our sins has been accepted.
Every word Jesus said is true.
We are reconciled to God
We are adopted into His family.
We have an inheritance and eternal life.
And so much more …

If you don’t believe He is risen …

Then you don’t believe the gospel. Paul preached the Resurrection, and he said if anyone preached anything different from what he had preached, that was another gospel, a false gospel. (2 Corinthians 11:4, Galatians 1:8-9)

Then you aren’t saved. Paul says in Romans 10:9, “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” The Resurrection proves the sin debt is paid. You must believe that Jesus Christ’s death was for your sins and that He was raised, proving you are right with God.

You have no hope.

Paul walks through the logical implications if Christ is not risen from the dead.

And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up–if in fact the dead do not rise. For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.

1 Corinthians 15:14-19

Jesus Christ is risen, as He said. That is the theme of Acts and the Letters. It is the reason for the praise offered to Christ in the Revelation, praise He alone is worthy to receive.

Since that morning, the Resurrection has changed everyone who has believed it. The women. The disciples. Us.
We have hope. We have life, and we have a message to share.

Hosanna

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Hosanna title graphic

And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” Matthew 21:9

Hosanna is a Greek transliteration of a Hebrew word that simply means, Oh save! As was the custom during the Passover season, the Jewish people rehearsed the Exodus story again. Part of that observance included the recitation of the Psalms of Ascent and Psalm 118. When Jesus entered Jerusalem on the back of a young colt, the people lined the streets, waving palm branches and shouting from Psalm 118:25-26. “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.” Which was exactly what Christ was doing. But over the next few days, the people would reveal their hearts. A Christ was not what they wanted at all.

A disingenuous hosanna

The people wanted a deliverer who would save their nation.
Jesus wanted to save their souls.

The people wanted a war with Rome.
Jesus came to bring peace with God.

The people wanted a leader who could conquer the Roman army.
Jesus was about to conquer sin and death.

The people wanted a comfortable, easy life.
Jesus offered them eternal life.

The people cried for political deliverance from the oppression of Rome.
Jesus accomplished spiritual deliverance from the kingdom of darkness.

In other words, the people wanted salvation on their terms.
Jesus only offered salvation on God’s terms.

Is our cry different?

Do we want a Jesus of our own design? A Jesus who will make our lives easier but not expect too much from us in return?
Do we expect Jesus to answer our prayers but aren’t interested in His words about how to follow Him?
Do we believe we are entitled to a measure of blessings?
Are we offended by challenges, setbacks, or hard times? Do we feel like we deserve better?
Do we ever think Jesus should accept whatever effort we manage to put out, especially in view of how busy we are?

Jesus came to save us, not serve us.

From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. John 6:66

In John chapter 6, after Jesus gives His great Bread of Life Discourse where He explains He hasn’t come to meet physical needs, that His ministry doesn’t have temporal goals, the crowds thin. Drastically.

He said, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me,” (Matthew 16:24) and “In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world,” (John 16:33).

Jesus never misrepresented Himself or what following Him would mean. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? (Luke 14:28). Count the cost, He says.

If we don’t, we may end up like the crowds that first Palm Sunday. A few days later, their adulation turned to animosity. “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes,” became “Away with Him.”

Abstract vs. Reality

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Abstract vs Reality title graphic

Abstract concepts are sometimes hard to grasp. Even the dictionary struggles. “Having only intrinsic form with little or no attempt at pictorial representation or narrative content.” Okay. Then it tries again. Poem is concrete while poetry is abstract. And that’s as good as it gets. Small wonder we have trouble with concepts in Scripture that are abstract … until they aren’t. The resurrection, for example.

The resurrection was abstract … until it wasn’t

He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee. Luke 24:6

Jesus’s resurrection is so obvious in hindsight. He predicted it multiple times. As it approached, He focused more and more on His private teaching with His disciples about it. He told them. He explained it. He prepared them. He gave them instructions about what to do after it happened.

Yet, on Resurrection morning, not one of them connected the abstract with the reality. Andrew didn’t say, “It’s the third day. The tomb should be empty. Let’s head to Galilee.” Neither did Philip or John or James or any of the others. In fact, when the women came with the news that the tomb was empty and they had seen angels, “their words seemed to [the disciples] like idle tales, and they did not believe them.” (Luke 24:11) The very things that Jesus had repeatedly told them were discounted as silly stories.

Do we struggle with the abstract?

Now, with two thousand years of theological sophistication behind us, we smile a patronizing smile at these guys who were so obtuse, so faithless, so forgetful …

And we complain about a culture that is hostile to us. (Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Matthew 5:11)

And we fret about the unrest in the world. (And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. Matthew 24:6)

And we don’t understand why no one will listen to our message. (Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. Matthew 7:14)

And we wonder why things have to be difficult. (These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. John 16:33)

Jesus told us what we need to know

Like the Twelve before us, we have trouble making the jump from abstract words to real-life applications. The words Christ spoke were not empty rhetoric. They were not sound bites or slogans. They aren’t meant to be empty mantras or feel-good platitudes. He intended to instruct, inform, and prepare His immediate followers and then by extension, generations that would come after, to operate as His church in the world. We shouldn’t be disheartened, caught off-guard, or frustrated because He told us ahead of time.

In fact, the opposition and the challenges we endure as individual believers and as the body of Christ, not only testify to Christ’s deity but should serve to strengthen our faith in Him and His promises.

And now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe. John 14:29

All Things New: The Charge

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All Things New The Charge title graphic

As a new year begins, our thoughts naturally tend toward making a fresh start. As believers, we have already experienced the freshest start possible. Our sins have been wiped away completely, and we are a new creation. Paul says as much in 2 Corinthians 5:17. We have a new birth, new life, new position, new nature, new goals, new relationships, a new mission, a new purpose … and many more. But the key to all of this, we learned was God’s divine initiative. We also learned He manifested that initiative through covenants. In Jesus’s last night with His disciples, He issued a new charge that would forever mark them — and us — as His followers. We learn about it from the Apostle John.

The Charge to Love

That night in the Upper Room, before announcing He was leaving, or that He would be betrayed, even before the supper itself, Jesus gave His followers a new commandment.

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

John 13:34-35

The command to love wasn’t necessarily new. In Leviticus, God had instructed His people to love their neighbors and strangers as themselves (Lev. 19:18, 34). This charge is new for two key reasons.

“As I have loved you.”

Jesus commanded to love as He loved. That means we love sacrificially. Jesus made God’s love real and tangible. We are to do the same. People need to understand God loves them through the things we do, the ways we serve. It is a love not bound to emotions, but by commitment. It is the 1 Corinthians 13 kind of love. It is costly because it is deep and loyal but it is our highest calling.

“By this all men will know”

Loving like Christ loves is distinctive. In fact, it is THE distinctive of the new community of believers. In the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7, Jesus lays out the principles this new community would operate under.

The Motivation for Love

In Exodus 20, God began the Ten Commandments with the statement, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery (Exodus 20:2). Because of who God is and what He has done, He has a right to call for our obedience.

John expands on that, though, in his first epistle.

In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

1 John 4:10-11

That rescue from slavery was a prelude to the ultimate rescue – saving us from our sins. God did that out of His great love for us. Our proper response to His action (to His initiative) is love. We demonstrate our love for God by our love for one another.

The Charge Fulfilled

A principal established in the Old Testament is that obedience brings blessings, not in quid pro quo kind of way, but it is undeniable that living God’s way is best for us. John writes quite a bit about love, both God’s love for us and our charge to love others. If you read the Gospel of John and his epistles, especially 1 John, love is a major theme. I want to highlight three verses in particular.

The one who loves his brother abides in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling in him. 1 John 2:10 – It is evidence of a transformed life to love others the way Christ loved. Plus, if you think about it, there are a host of sins you will not commit if you love others like Christ. You won’t lie or cheat someone. You won’t commit sexual sins. You won’t be overcome with arrogance. Everything is different.

We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death. 1 John 3:14 – It is evidence and reassurance to us that we love others. If we ever have doubts about our salvation, we can always return to this checkpoint – do we love others?

No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. 1 John 4:12 – Now don’t let the word perfected cause confusion. John doesn’t mean that God’s love is somehow lacking until we get involved. That’s not it at all. This draws on an older meaning of perfected. God’s love is completed when we love others. Think of it like this — God’s love began with God the Father, with His redemptive plan. His love was manifested, made evident in Jesus Christ. God’s love then reaches a final stage when His people demonstrate love toward others, imitating Him.

Of course, we’ll never be able to love perfectly as long as we are in our natural bodies. But that is a post for another day. We’ll wrap up next week when take a closer look at the time when all things, including all of creation, are made new.

Seven Woes: Blood of the prophets

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Seven Woes blood of the prophets title graphic

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, saying, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ Matthew 23:29-30

What were the Pharisees doing?
Prophets are God’s messengers.
The monuments to martyred prophets were rightly revered.
The Pharisees were especially mindful to honor those prophets.

But they claimed superiority over their forefathers.
THEY would not have martyred God’s spokesmen.
They would have honored those prophets and their word.

Jesus knew their hearts.
He knew they were plotting His death.
He was not merely a prophet speaking FOR God.
He was Emmanuel, speaking AS God.

Every single thing the Pharisees did was for show.
They were self-serving, self-aggrandizing, and self-righteous.
They were deceived. Deluded. Blind.

Do we read Scripture and make the same mistake as the Pharisees?
Are we self-righteous when we consider others?
Do we call out a sin in others when we were committing the same sin or worse?
Do we ever tear down a messenger from God?

Jesus consistently reserved His harshest words for those who were most religious.
Here He unequivocally disabused them of the notion
That they would not have shed the blood of the prophets.

The woes are a caution to us.
Let us be authentic, humble, teachable.
Let us love God with our whole beings.
Let us devote ourselves to His word.
Let us love and serve one another.
Let us be children of God.

Seven Woes: Whitewashed tombs

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Seven woes whitewashed tombs title graphic

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. Matthew 23:27

What does this mean?
Dead bodies were unclean.
If a Jew came in contact with a dead body
He was unclean for seven days.

This was a big deal.
God required purity from His people.
Moral and ceremonial.

This set them apart.
It reminded them that sin causes separation.
It underscored their need for God’s grace.

Every spring, houses and walls were whitewashed.
But especially tombs
This was to make them easy to see.

That way someone didn’t accidentally
Come in contact with them
And become unclean through carelessness.

Jesus says the Pharisees are whitewashed tombs
They should be warning people to stay away.
Everyone they came in contact with was defiled.

Do we influence those around us to godliness or compromise?
Do we challenge those we come in contact with to be more like Christ or culture?
Do we model Christ or our own standard in the situations we face?

God is holy and calls us to be holy.
What difference would it have made if the Pharisees,
The whitewashed tombs,
Spent as much effort
Cultivating genuine holiness as they did
Covering their unholiness?

Are we cultivating or covering?

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