Jacobs Thoughts and Doings

I am very fond of this picture taken on Easter day. Tammy and Elizabeth have a thing going!  Elizabeth’s hair bun is an Easter Bunny.  How they come up with these things is a mystery to me.  But I love to see all their antics.

Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognizing him.

He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?”

They stood still, their faces downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?”

“What things?” he asked.

“About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus.” He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

Luke 24:13 – 27

Why Jesus appeared to these two disappointed people is a question I ponder as I read this most wonderful story.  These are not two of the Eleven.  They are not in any way leaders of the Jews.  One is named Cleopas.  The other is not even named. In a way they stand for the unrecognized people of all times whose hopes, once real, are now empty longings.  And why should have the Risen Jesus appeared to them?  Is it because Jesus is tender-hearted to those whose dreams are not coming true?  Perhaps.

Is it because they are ready to see their hopes fulfilled in Jesus Christ?  I believe so. They were eager to believe and obviously did so.  Certainly their hopes were genuine and well grounded.  But Jesus is dead!  That they were sure of. But the word was spreading that two of the women had seen him alive!

Or, is it because there is something in Jesus’ conversation that has meaning for all mankind?  I believe so. I say this because they were hoping for something far less than God had planned.  They had hoped that Jesus would now, finally, redeem the nation Israel in some way, wresting it away from the powerful grasp of the Roman Empire. That is behind their lament, “We had hoped that he was the one that would redeem Israel.”  They had thought Christ could do that.  Now, what?  During the day they heard that two women claim he came to them, alive!  Their hopes were stirred, hopes that Israel would once again be a sovereign nation.

These two persons were ripe to believe.  When Jesus revealed himself as he broke the bread in their home they believed!  As they rushed to Jerusalem as the night set in they were thrilled by Jesus’ appearing to them.  One thing I have seen is that when people are converted, they are excited with faith that is ready to believe.

I believe Jesus stressed two things.  First, who he was as he reviewed the Scriptures and secondly, the fact that he had greater plans than the restoration of Israel to be free nation.  The Resurrected Christ opens the door to salvation to all mankind, Israel included, but what he came to establish is a new kind of kingdom that has no national, tribal or cultural borders but includes all who make Christ their King.

Our two friends found themselves in the flow of a new stream on the earth, the river of salvation whose source is the riven side of Jesus, now flowing into ever more channels on the earth, bringing salvation and new life to all who believe.  That is the message of Easter!

It is always fun to gather around the table and do eggs, anything goes!  So this year produced its surprises and oldies.

Low in the grave He lay,
Jesus, my Savior,
Waiting the coming day,
Jesus, my Lord!

Up from the grave He arose,
With a mighty triumph o’er His foes,
He arose a Victor from the dark domain,
And He lives forever, with His saints to reign.
He arose! He arose!  
Hallelujah! Christ arose!

Vainly they watch His bed,
Jesus, my Savior;
Vainly they seal the dead,
Jesus, my Lord!

Death cannot keep his Prey,
Jesus, my Savior;
He tore the bars away,
Jesus, my Lord!

Robert Lowry

Easter is a bit early this year.  The tulips are not yet blooming but all the bright daffodils are at their peak, reminding us of the glory of the Resurrection of Jesus, and our new life in Christ.  It is like each bloom is a trumpet inviting all to love Jesus.

Peter replied, “Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will.” Matthew 26:33

Then all the disciples left Him and fled. Matthew 26:56

Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”  Matthew 28:16 – 20

I find nothing very appealing following the scenes in the Upper Room.   Jesus is suffering in ways we hardly begin to understand.  In a few hours all the sins of the world, horrible as it sounds, all confessed sin, past present and future will fall on Jesus of Nazareth.  At this point I can only stand in astonishment for I cannot begin to fathom what is about to happen, or what has already puzzled me  – Jesus almost dying of sorrow in the Garden – uncontested arrest – the deplorable Jewish inquisition and so on.  After all this and more we read that all the disciples deserted him and fled.  That tight, small band of followers of Jesus fell apart, each to his own little “disappointment chamber,” confused and frightened – heartbroken.

Peter who was outspoken about his determination never to leave Jesus, denied, can you believe it, he ever knew Jesus at all.  It is no wonder the sun went dark, the earth shook and strange things happened. If Peter collapses, what of the rest?

The story does not end there, fortunately.  It proceeds – Jesus takes upon himself the sins of the world.  As a sacrifice He died to atone for all confessed sin.  Then He rose from the grave, inviting all mankind to be reconciled to God through faith in his cleansing blood.

The eleven clustered around Jesus once again, now reinstated.  The new day has come. There on a hill in Galilee of the nations, Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”  Matthew 28:18 – 20.

This fancy dish has been in Anna Ruth’s family for a long time. We thought it would make a nice jelly bean dish.  Have several!!

“What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’” ‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went. Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go. “Which of the two did what his father wanted?”

“The first,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.”

Matthew 21:28 – 32

Thus Jesus taught on his second day in the Temple during that Week of Weeks.  He taught, as he usually did, in parables. The first, as noted above, was about two sons of a father, neither of which wanted to go to his fields to work.  One said he would but had no intention of doing so and the other son who did not want to go either but upon reflection went after all, having repented of his unwillingness to obey the desires of his father,  The parables and stories that follow carry the same message.

Matthew records the many parables from 21:28 to 25:46, the equivalent of about 4 full chapters, a large portion of his Gospel.  As we ponder these parables we see what is on the heart of Jesus.  Basically, all contain the surprise that those whom you would have expected to repent and give God the glory by believing in Him and living for Him did nothing of the kind but refused to repent.  The mercy and grace of God, full salvation, is now poured out on all believers, thus extending the Kingdom of God to all mankind.

Jesus’ atoning work on Calvary, just a few hours away announced that all who will, from every corner of the earth, for all time, have equal access to the mercy of God if they truly bow and repent of their sins and make Jesus King of their lives together with all such believers on the earth.

A key verse to me is 24:14, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations and the end will come.”

The Kingdom is here, now in March of 2016!  Is Jesus Christ my king?  Are his followers my kingdom-fellows? That is the issue that lay heavily on the heart of Jesus as he moved toward the Cross and Empty Tomb.  He established the unshakable Kingdom that will remain after earth is but a memory.  By grace we are citizens of the Kingdom of God.

Our grandson Jody, now a full member of the Bar, visited us yesterday in his short break from community service he is now doing in Colombia in South America, a six-month stint before he begins working for a Judge in Philadelphia. His Spanish is improving and his fondness for culture grows.  Hurrah, Jody.

Early in the morning, as Jesus was on his way back to the city, he was hungry.  Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!” Immediately the tree withered.

Mathew 21:18, 19

As we noted yesterday, Jesus’ first day was dramatic as he entered Jerusalem on a donkey then visited the Temple where he healed the lame and the blind and entered the place specifically designated for Gentiles.  He was enraged at what was happening there.

That was the first day, like our Monday.  The next day, like Tuesday, Jesus made his way into Jerusalem once again.  He was hungry so passing a fig tree he stopped and looked among the lush leaves for a fig but found none. He made it clear that a fig tree should have figs, not just showy leaves.

I see, in my mind, Jerusalem as the fig-tree, dominated by the splendid new Temple, looking like it should be producing Godly fruit but producing no fruit of righteousness.

The memories of yesterday spill over into today. Jesus had already wept over what he saw in Jerusalem. It broke his heart to see them going through their ancient rituals – lifeless!

Within 35 or so years the magnificent Temple would be destroyed, completely, doomed as the fruitless fig tree was, earning divine punishment.  It had not lived up to its promise.

What do we learn from this?  How important is it that God’s children should produce the fruits of righteousness?