Selah2020: Pause and Reflect

These thoughts were part of a series of Easter reflections prepared for, and by, members of Horley Baptist Church during April 2020. This reflection is based on Mark 15:42-47.

What might you be missing because it all seems so familiar? This passage is probably very familiar to many of us. As with most things however, the more familiar they are, the easier it is for us to miss subtle but important messages. I read it again and found a couple of things worth noting in the passage.

1 -“Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the Council,who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body.” The New Living Translation states that “Joseph of Arimathea took a risk and went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body.” We are later told that Joseph was a prominent member of the Jewish Council.

The risk he took might have been to do with his reputation, his standing in the Council, or perhaps even danger to his life. It is interesting to see how it was after Christ died that he became emboldened. We find ourselves in strange times with this corona virus issue, but we will undoubtedly have occasion to stand up and be counted for Christ, to let our lights shine. I pray that by His Spirit, we might be emboldened to do this when the situation arises.

2 –“Then he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph saw where he was laid.” I find this last section particularly interesting. The women who were there at the time saw where the body was laid, they saw the stone rolled into place. When they came back after the Sabbath, they stone had been rolled away and they could see into the empty tomb.

I have often read this and assumed that the stone was rolled away so that Christ could come out of the tomb. Clearly this is wrong, as he had already left the tomb before the stone was rolled away. The women and the disciples perhaps had to see that the tomb was empty first to be able to believe that he had risen.

You may read this passage and find other things I haven’t seen. I pray that God’s Holy Spirit will help us look again at the familiar and see hidden gems and that they may be a blessing to us and those we meet this Easter period.

Happy Easter!
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These thoughts were part of a series of Easter reflections prepared for, and by, members of Horley Baptist Church during April 2020. This reflection is based on Mark 15:21-39.

Pilate has had Jesus flogged, a cruel and harsh beating, and passed Jesus to the soldiers to be crucified. Simon of Cyrene is passing and he is press-ganged into carrying Jesus’ cross. As Jesus arrives at Golgotha, he is offered wine mixed with myrrh. This drink was a mild analgesic which may well be seen as a last act of kindness to dull the pain of crucifixion, probably given by a group of local ladies. Jesus declined.

Jesus’ pain could not be diluted. If your sin and mine is to be lifted from our shoulders, the full cost has to be paid, there can be no part payment, short cuts or lessening of the price. Christ has to suffer the full force of the consequences of our sin. Jesus did so obediently, there was no other way for the price of our sin to be paid. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. After six hours on the cross Jesus cried his last. “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

In these days of self-isolation and social distancing here we read of Jesus in isolation. Jesus had always shared fellowship with God. Jesus was with God, and he was God, from the very beginning. Yet on the cross, as Jesus took our sin upon his shoulders, that fellowship, that bond was broken. God could not gaze upon His son, as Jesus who was perfect, became sin for us. God turned his back on his only son. Jesus knew isolation and loneliness. Such was the cost of our salvation. As we go through the strictures of social isolation brought about by COVID-19 Jesus is well aware of how it is affecting you and your fears and concerns for the present and the future.

The centurion remarks “Truly this man was God’s Son!” In Luke’s account of the crucifixion we also read that another, one of the criminals crucified with Jesus, recognised that Jesus was innocent and was God’s Son as he said “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus replied,“Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” That same offer is available to all of us today.
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These thoughts were part of a series of Easter reflections prepared for, and by, members of Horley Baptist Church during April 2020. This reflection is based on Mark 14 v32-46

I wonder, if you were asked to recall something that you knew you had to face, that you were dreading so much that it made your stomach churn and your knees buckle, what thoughts and emotions would assault your senses. We’ve all been there, haven’t we – that exam you’ve been worrying about; a visit to the doctor you keep putting off because you are frightened of the possible outcome; that meeting with the bank manager about your mortgage; that dentist appointment, that … …
The worry and the dread of whatever it is seems to be unbearable.

* * * * * *

Jesus had just been sharing the last supper with the disciples when, later, He took Peter, James and John with Him to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray, because He knew that the hour of His death was now very close. “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death”, He said to them. “Stay here and keep watch.”

I wondered why it was the Garden of Gethsemane, and if we look at the same account in Luke’s gospel, he tells us that “Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives” (where the Garden of Gethsemane was located at the base of the Mount). Surely, this is the first place that His captors would look for Him, the place he usually went to. But He still went to that place, indicating that He knew the path that He must take, as it was all part of the plan.

The Garden of Gethsemane (in Hebrew known as “Oil Press”) was also full of olive trees. Oil was extracted from the olives by use of an oil press (still in use today in some places), which would create such immense pressure that the oil would seep out and become separated from the vegetation water and the solid material. What a picture those trees paint for us of the pressure that fell upon Jesus on that fateful night as He anticipated what was to come. So great was His distress, that Luke’s account portrays that “being in anguish, He prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground”. He even prayed to the Father, that perhaps there was another way, pleading that this cup might pass from Him. “Yet not my will, but yours be done”, He said. Why did He want this cup to pass from Him? What exactly was this cup? It was the cup of God’s wrath, that should have been yours and mine to drink, but instead would be poured out on the Son, as the Father turned His face away.

Just pause at this point and consider what Christ endured for each one – such raw humility and vulnerability, such great agony and the dread of God’s wrath. And yet He did not run away, and even showed concern for the disciples who, despite the situation before them, kept falling asleep instead of keeping watch. Gethsemane is, then, a picture of how Christ shared in the human condition – anguish, alienation, sadness and death. This is why we know He comes alongside us in our suffering – he understands, because He suffered so greatly in this garden, anticipating the road ahead. He was literally pressed and crushed by the very thought of what He must face.

Someone said recently, “Humility is strength”, and never more so was this demonstrated than in the Garden of Gethsemane and the events thereafter. If Jesus had not humbled himself, allowed himself to be the most vulnerable that He could possibly be, the course of mankind would forever have changed and been lost for eternity. And in that, is strength! I admit to feeling quite sad as I wrote this, but I too am humbled by remembering what happened, realising afresh just how much God loves me, how much He loves you. We must never forget what Jesus went through, but praise God, the Garden of Gethsemane was soon to be replaced with the empty tomb – hallelujah!

But that’s for another day.
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These thoughts were part of a series of Easter reflections prepared for, and by, members of Horley Baptist Church during April 2020. This reflection is based on Mark 14 v16-25.

For nearly two thousand years, millions of people have looked at this passage at Easter-time. For many people it will bring to mind Leonardo da Vinci’s famous fresco of the Last Supper; for others it forms the focus of every communion service. For those of us who have become ‘hardened’ to passages such as this, how is it possible to see something new in words that are so familiar?

The first gem in this passage came from words in verse 16 – [they] “found things just as Jesus had told them.” Jesus knew the details in advance. A similar thought can de detected in verses 18 and 21 – Jesus knew in advance. As we work our way though one of the most difficult periods in modern history we too can take comfort in the assurance that Jesus knew in advance.

“When evening came, Jesus arrived.” It had been a strange day; a simple visit to the home of some friends had turned into an event that was difficult to understand. Now it was getting dark and the disciples did not know what the evening would bring. In our insecurity about the future we too can look forward to Jesus being with us.

“He … gave it to his disciples.” He shared the meal with them. Of course, it was not an ordinary meal – it was the Passover meal when most of the city would have been recalling the way in which God had rescued his people from Egypt. We remember that we too have been delivered by the actions that Jesus foretells during this meal. All the twelve disciples were included, not even Judas was excluded. Rather, Jesus took the opportunity to warn Judas of the consequences of his actions; it was not too late to repent. Is that relevant to you?

“that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” Jesus spoke of better times to come. He was looking forward to the time when a great multitude that no one could count would stand before the throne of God. Will you be there?

He knew, he came, he shared, he reassured. Let us live with confidence knowing that this Lord is our shepherd and, whatever happens in the meantime, we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
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[Modified transcript of a midweek message published by Horley Baptist Church on YouTube^[1], April 2020]

The story of Passover, and the meaning of Easter

Jews all over the world this weekend will be celebrating the festival of Passover. Passover remembers a time when the nation of Israel was living in slavery in Egypt. They cried out to God and God heard their cries and he sent a man to speak on their behalf to Pharaoh. His name was Moses. Moses went and he pleaded with Pharaoh to let the Israelites go but Pharaoh said “No” so God sent plagues. Each plague was a way of punishing the Egyptians and encouraging them to let the Israelites go.

^00:46 When it came to 10th plague, well that certainly changed Egyptians’ minds because that final plague was a plague that caused the firstborn in every household to die. God had warned the Israelites through Moses that they needed to self isolate, they had to lock themselves up in their houses, they were to sit with their families but they were going to have a meal. They were told to sacrifice a lamb and to eat it but they would take the blood of the lamb and put it over the doorway of their houses. The idea being that when the Angel of Death came over the nation of Egypt to kill all those firstborns that actually he would pass over the houses where this blood was daubed over the doorposts and the lintel and that’s exactly what happened. The nation of Egypt was in complete anguish, the nation of Israel was safe from this plague and the Pharaoh finally let the Israelites leave. Finally they were no longer slaves but they were free.

^01:56 Now this weekend is also Easter and in the story of the first Easter we find Jesus and His disciples celebrating the Passover meal. They were remembering what God had done all those years back when he’d heard Israel’s cries; he’d rescued them, he’d freed them from slavery. They’re sharing a meal in an upper room and they’re having the various bits and pieces you would have for the Passover meal. There’s a point when Jesus goes off-script; this is when he has got the bread and he tears it and he said “this is my body broken for you” and it must have puzzled the disciples somewhat. Then he picked up the cup of wine (sometimes in the Passover meal it’s called the cup of blessing or the cup of redemption). This wine is supposed to symbolise that blood of the lamb that was put on the doorpost and instead of saying “this is the blood of the Lamb” he says “This is my blood shed for you”. What Jesus was trying to tell his disciples was that somehow his body being broken and his blood being spilled would rescue not just Israel but a whole world a whole of humanity from slavery; that somehow his death, and his resurrection that was just around the corner, would be this momentous point in history that will bring about freedom.

^03:34 In his Gospel John writes that “for God so loved the world that He sent His only Son so that whoever believes in Him shall not die but have eternal life”. It also tells us in the Bible that the consequences of sin is death and through Jesus’s death on the cross he has freed us from the curse of sin and by doing so he has also freed us from the curse of death. If we give our lives to Jesus, if we make him Lord of our lives, then because of his death, because of his resurrection, we can live forever now.

^04:20 This time of the coronavirus has really woken us up to the reality of death because suddenly it’s closer than it’s ever been before, You may dodge the bullets of COVID or you may catch it and survive but the reality is death will come to us all. For followers of Jesus Christ that need not be the end; through Jesus’s death and resurrection we are safe from sin, our relationship with God is restored and we can spend eternity with him.
I would encourage you in the same way that you are trying everything to save your lives from COVID so you should also do everything you can to find about Jesus so you can save your life for eternity.

YouTube link: Can I escape Death?
Bible references: Mark 14 v22-24, John 3 v16

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These thoughts were part of a series of Easter reflections prepared for, and by, members of Horley Baptist Church during April 2020. This reflection is based on John 13: 1-5

Do you remember just a few short weeks ago how we used to happily invite our friends and family to our home for a meal? If we were still allowed to do that now I guess we would have to say to our guests as they arrived, “Welcome. Come in. But first make sure you wash your hands for 20 seconds with the antibacterial handwash provided, and then we can enjoy our food and conversation together.” Yet we can’t even do that – how things have changed in just a short time.

However, I doubt if we would ever have to invite them to wash their feet first before starting the meal, and yet this was the accepted behaviour at the time of Jesus. Just to remind ourselves, people in those days wore open sandals and walked for miles along dusty roads, and their tired and dirty feet needed cleansing and refreshing before they could enjoy food and drink with their friends. In the best homes the washing would be done by a lowly servant.

In the above passage, Jesus was meeting with His disciples to have a last meal together with them, which they didn’t know at the time. But He knew that His life on earth would end the following day with His crucifixion, even though afterwards He would be returning to His Father and the glory from which He came. For Him the thought of enduring the crucifixion filled Him with dread but He still had so much to teach them that evening. His teaching centred round love, His love for the disciples, for the world and us, and the disciples’ love for each other. Not long before that they had argued about who was the greatest among them, but Jesus was about to show them that true greatness comes from love and humility as He washed their feet.

You can imagine the surprise and even shock of the disciples as they watched Jesus take a bowl of water and a towel and do the work of a mere servant, washing the feet of each one of them. Even included was His enemy Judas, who was about to go out and betray Him. Jesus, the One who was God before He was born as a human being, was kneeling and washing the dirty feet of people He had created, because He loved them and always would do into eternity. His action was not only an example of love but also a sign of the cleansing that He wanted to give to His disciples and ultimately to us as well. A cleansing that could only come from His sacrifice of death on the cross when He faced separation from His Father, torture and death to cleanse us from our sins.

A few days later He rose to life from the dead as a promise that we have new life through Him. Maybe it’s also a sign that the illness and death from Covid–19 will come to an end by the grace of God. At the present time it may be difficult to show the love we have seen in this passage, but we are doing it by phoning one another, helping the vulnerable by shopping for them, by keeping our distance and not going into anyone else’s home so that the virus has less chance of spreading. I have a feeling that after this is over there will be many other needs, as a result, that we shall have to meet with love. We shall need to surrender ourselves to the Spirit of Jesus so that He may continue to “wash the feet” of others in love through us.
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