It is finished

Perhaps some of Jesus' most dramatic statements are his words on the cross, indeed you can do a whole preaching series on Jesus on the cross.

We see one particularly potent statement in John 19:
When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. (John 19:30 NIV)
It is finished, the phrase comes at us and demands a response, Jesus could just be talking about his crucifixion but this seems pretty deep for that, given in crucifixion you die of asphyxiation the fact Jesus says anything must be noteworthy.

Perhaps we see the answer later:
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. 32 The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. 33 But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. 35 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. 36 These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken,” 37 and, as another scripture says, “They will look on the one they have pierced.” (John 19:31-37 NIV)
There's a big focus on prophecy being fulfilled here, John wants his readers to understand that all of this is happening to fulfill prophecy even down to the minute details. This must be what Jesus was talking about, it is finished, prophecy is fulfilled.

We see even more of this as John continues:
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. 39 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. 40 Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. (John 19:38-40 NIV)
John wants to make it clear that even in his death Jesus followed the Jewish law so that no one can discredit him.

There's still one more thing, if it was finished at the cross like Jesus said, why rise? It is true that it is on the cross Christ completes the work of dying in our place (Substitutionary Atonement is the theological big word for it) but it is in the resurrection that he verifies who he's is and what he has done, Jesus said he would rise so if he didn't he couldn't have been truthful about our atonement. Paul later talks about Jesus as the first fruits of the resurrection, it proves he has defeated death and provides the basis for our resurrection.

Pride comes before a fall

We've probably all heard the expression pride comes Before a fall, but have you ever thought that this was a Biblical concept, we can see two great examples of it in 2 Chronicles 32.

First up we see Senacharib:
“This is what Sennacherib king of Assyria says: On what are you basing your confidence, that you remain in Jerusalem under siege? 11 When Hezekiah says, ‘The LORD our God will save us from the hand of the king of Assyria,’ he is misleading you, to let you die of hunger and thirst. 12 Did not Hezekiah himself remove this god’s high places and altars, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You must worship before one altar and burn sacrifices on it’?

13 “Do you not know what I and my predecessors have done to all the peoples of the other lands? Were the gods of those nations ever able to deliver their land from my hand? 14 Who of all the gods of these nations that my predecessors destroyed has been able to save his people from me? How then can your god deliver you from my hand? 15 Now do not let Hezekiah deceive you and mislead you like this. Do not believe him, for no god of any nation or kingdom has been able to deliver his people from my hand or the hand of my predecessors. How much less will your god deliver you from my hand!”

16 Sennacherib’s officers spoke further against the LORD God and against his servant Hezekiah. 17 The king also wrote letters ridiculing the LORD, the God of Israel, and saying this against him: “Just as the gods of the peoples of the other lands did not rescue their people from my hand, so the god of Hezekiah will not rescue his people from my hand.” (2 Chronicles 32:10-17 NIV)
Senacharib represents the proud atheist, Senacharib uses his reason well, even if it is flawed, the Assyrians have conquered all before them so this should be no different, he reasons that no god has hurt him thus far so surely this god will not either. Senacharib understands one thing, all the other gods are not gods but instead of looking at Israel and finding the one true God he sees another god that is below him he sets himself up as god.

So God responds:
King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz cried out in prayer to heaven about this. 21 And the LORD sent an angel, who annihilated all the fighting men and the commanders and officers in the camp of the Assyrian king. So he withdrew to his own land in disgrace. And when he went into the temple of his god, some of his sons, his own flesh and blood, cut him down with the sword.

22 So the LORD saved Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib king of Assyria and from the hand of all others. He took care of them on every side. 23 Many brought offerings to Jerusalem for the LORD and valuable gifts for Hezekiah king of Judah. From then on he was highly regarded by all the nations. (2 Chronicles 32:20-23 NIV)
God reveals himself to Senacharib he shows that he is God and is powerful and he sends Senacharib back home with his tail between his legs. It's assumed that he doesn't convert but that's not important, the important thing is he brings down Senacharib and the story of this defeat is told in Assyria.

Then we see Hezekiah:
In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. He prayed to the LORD, who answered him and gave him a miraculous sign. 25 But Hezekiah’s heart was proud and he did not respond to the kindness shown him; therefore the LORD’s wrath was on him and on Judah and Jerusalem. (2 Chronicles 32:24-25 NIV)
If Senacharib is the atheist that makes us feel good, Hezekiah is the believer that should make us pause for thought. Hezekiah recieves something from God and he gets proud of this. We can try and distance ourselves from this all we want but haven't we received something from God in his grace and how many times have Christians been accused of arrogance because of it.

Hezekiah reminds us that we should be humble, grace shows us that, the whole meaning of the word grace is that it's undeserved. How can we be arrogant for having something we've done nothing for. Let us be humble and thank our God who has saved us.

You just don't get it!

So my last blog looked at John 12 and talked about Jesus' humility, now I want to look at John 13, where we see the disciples doing their usual thing and not getting what Jesus is doing, which I think is a fantastic thing, it helps us to relate to the disciples, so often we don't get his subtlety.

Jesus starts by continuing his humility:
Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; 4 so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5 After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”

7 Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”

8 “No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.”

Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”

9 “Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!” (John 13:3-9 NIV)
So Jesus wants to demonstrate his love, by serving his disciples, he does this by doing something that the most humble servant would do, wash the disciples feet, yet this worries Peter, Jesus is HIS master it should be the other way around so he stops him. Jesus answers that it must happen for Peter to truly be his disciple, so Peter wants it all, he wants to be fully committed to Jesus.

Sounds like great devotion from Peter, but there's a problem, he doesn't get it:
Jesus answered, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” 11 For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.

12 When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. 13 “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. 14 Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. 15 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. 16 Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them. (John 13:10-17 NIV)
Jesus wasn't just washing their feet as some sort of initiation rite, it wasn't to make them part of him, it was to demonstrate what true leadership should be. The Godly leader serves, he follows God's model of serving us and Jesus' model of serving others, Jesus imitates and submits to the Father, he shows us what we should strive to be, Jesus is our model for Christian living, and the Christian leader should be a servant leader, a significant difference to the world, and one that will be mentioned in the epistles.

Things then get really interesting as Jesus predicts his own betrayal:
After he had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, “Very truly I tell you, one of you is going to betray me.”

22 His disciples stared at one another, at a loss to know which of them he meant. 23 One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him. 24 Simon Peter motioned to this disciple and said, “Ask him which one he means.”

25 Leaning back against Jesus, he asked him, “Lord, who is it?”

26 Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.” Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. 27 As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him.

So Jesus told him, “What you are about to do, do quickly.” 28 But no one at the meal understood why Jesus said this to him. 29 Since Judas had charge of the money, some thought Jesus was telling him to buy what was needed for the festival, or to give something to the poor. 30 As soon as Judas had taken the bread, he went out. And it was night. (John 13:21-30 NIV)
Jesus predicts that someone will betray him, again Peter instigates things but makes 'the disciple Jesus loved' (who turns out to be John) ask him, so Jesus reveals through a cryptic message that it is Judas, and again they completely miss it, they just think Jesus is telling Judas to go give some money for the poor or something like that.

We like to think that we'd be better, but would we really? We need to place ourselves in the disciples shoes, it's completely unthinkable that one of the twelve would betray Jesus, Judas wasn't especially significant but he did keep the money, if Judas wanted money surely he'd just steal from that (which John hinted earlier he did) rather than sell Jesus out, but that's exactly what happens.

There's another thing that we miss, John is a subtle writer, his phrase "and it was night" is a significant narrative device, it's easy to skip over it, of course it was night, they just ate dinner, but that's exactly why it must be important. John is using this as the whole shift in his narrative, from here on in it is the 'night' darkness has taken over, and from here John narrates on this, til Jesus' crucifixion.

We celebrate Jesus' birthday today, but it would mean nothing without all of this in the latter part of the Gospels, if Jesus was just some kid born in the middle east who really cares, but he's so much more than that, he's born to die, to die for the sins of the whole world, praise God for his son, whose birth we celebrate today.

Merry Christmas

Humility

We all know that Jesus displays to us what we should be like and one of these things is humble.

Zechariah prophesied one of Jesus' most humble moment:
Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!
Shout, Daughter Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you,
righteous and victorious,
lowly and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey. (Zechariah 9:9 NIV)
The king comes not on a royal horse but on a donkey, not even that but the foal of a donkey. The king has the position to claim any horse as his own to ride yet he is willing to humble himself to ride a donkey.

We see Jesus fulfil this in John 12:
The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. 13 They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,

“Hosanna!”

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

“Blessed is the king of Israel!”

14 Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written:

15 “Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion;
see, your king is coming,
seated on a donkey’s colt."

16 At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him. (John 12:12-16 NIV)
Jesus fulfils Zechariah's prophecy and confirms his status as the king. Not only is Jesus the king but he's the perfect King, he's the humble king. In confirming his kingship Jesus also demonstrates that he's completely different from other kings, rather than claim what is rightfully his, he chooses to humble himself.

This will be an important theme as John continues, but for now we remember that Jesus is our king and the perfect king, who has given himself for us. Jesus is perfectly humble, let us follow Christ's example and strive to be humble.

"He must Become greater I must become less" - John 3:30

A Common Trap

So often as Christians we can feel like the sins of the people in the Old Testament are silly and that we're so much better than them, if we saw all God did for them we'd never do that. The thing is that's not true at all, and in Zechariah 7 we here God speak against something that is overly common today.

The people themselves set up for God's rebuke:
In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the LORD came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, the month of Kislev. 2 The people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-Melek, together with their men, to entreat the LORD 3 by asking the priests of the house of the LORD Almighty and the prophets, “Should I mourn and fast in the fifth month, as I have done for so many years?” (Zechariah 7:1-3 NIV)
It all seems to be fine here, the people of Bethel come up to the priests and the prophets if they should mourn and fast in the fifth month, it's a custom that they've had for many years and so they ask if they should continue it.

It sounds like a great idea, with great intentions so what will God say:
Then the word of the LORD Almighty came to me: 5 “Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for the past seventy years, was it really for me that you fasted? 6 And when you were eating and drinking, were you not just feasting for yourselves? 7 Are these not the words the LORD proclaimed through the earlier prophets when Jerusalem and its surrounding towns were at rest and prosperous, and the Negev and the western foothills were settled?’” (Zechariah 7:4-7 NIV)
God's response is to not do it, why? Because they're only doing it for themselves. To the 21st century Christian this allows two interpretations, one is to say "A-HA see, the secularization of Christmas is evil, we should stop all the non-Christians celebrating it, they just do it for themselves" the second response is to recognize this is a challenge to the believer to examine their motives and realize how little they do things for God.

I dare say the point isn't the first option but rather the second, and it's an easy trap to fall into, I know that as a Youth Pastor it's been one I've fallen into, with the best of intentions, I want to serve God, but it eventually doesn't become about serving God but about working my way to Him or about feeling good. There's nothing wrong with church making us feel good, that's what edification is all about, but when that's our motivation for church that's an issue.

I know I have fallen into that trap before, and I pray that with God I don't fall into it again, thankfully we have a loving God who forgives us, so that when we do fall into this trap he won't leave us there but help us back to him, all we have to do is turn back to him. Why not take a moment to look at your motivation for doing things and if you find that doesn't line up with what God would want, pray and ask him to help you come in line with his will.

God sees

So often even Christians can believe that God doesn't see the persecution that happens to them, for those of us in the west our persecution isn't much more than name calling generally but for those in places where persecution can be as serious as death this is a significant dilemma, does the Bible have anything to say on this matter. Zephanaiah 2 has a good example of God's response in a similar dilemma.

God responds to those who have been taunting his people:
“I have heard the insults of Moab
and the taunts of the Ammonites,
who insulted my people
and made threats against their land.
9 Therefore, as surely as I live,”
declares the LORD Almighty,
the God of Israel,
“surely Moab will become like Sodom,
the Ammonites like Gomorrah—
a place of weeds and salt pits,
a wasteland forever.
The remnant of my people will plunder them;
the survivors of my nation will inherit their land.” (Zephaniah 2:8-9 NIV)
God's answer is that he hears he knows what is happening, and there will be justice done. Note also that there is still temporal punishment for even God's people, there is a reference still to the remnant, God doesn't say he will make his people amazing again, they will still suffer the consequences for their sin. Being one of God's people doesn't give us a free pass, it gives us access to the Father and to forgiveness but we will still suffer the consequences of our sin in this life, we will be forgiven for it but we will still face the consequences of it.

So why is God so keen on this? The punishment coming to Moab & the Ammonites is pretty severe, but why is God so interested? The simple reason is because God's people reflect him, and thus mocking them is mocking God, threatening them is threatening God. And so God will respond to their mocking & threats, God is very protective of his name and these people are besmirching it so God will take an action to protect his name.

If you do find yourself struggling with people mocking you for your beliefs know that God will see and will stand up for you, it probably won't be as dramatic as what is described in Zephaniah but God sees and loves you and will stand up for you.