A Second Chance

Read John 21:1-12, 15-17
 

To understand what Jesus is doing coking breakfast for the disciples along the shores of Galilee we have to go back to the night he was arrested.  After being led from the Garden of Gethsemane

Garden of Gethsemane

 to the home of Caiaphas the High Priest,

Inside the House of Caiaphas

 Jesus was questioned by the Sanhedrin which was made up of all the religious leaders in Jerusalem.  Following along behind Jesus in the shadows of the night was Peter who most likely made his way up this stone path to the courtyard outside the home of Caiaphas.

 Peter was hiding by a fire where he could listen to Jesus being questioned by the religious leaders and he heard them making all kind of false accusations against Jesus.  The Sanhedrin was looking for a way to find Jesus guilty of a crime so they could send him to Pilate and the Romans to be condemned to death.  While Jesus was being questioned, so was Peter.

In the courtyard

Courtyard outside of Caiaphas' House

Peter was recognized by a servant girl as being part of the disciples who traveled with Jesus so she asked him, aren’t you one of his followers?  Peter replied I am not.  A second time Peter was asked if he was one of Jesus disciples and again he denied it.  A third time Peter was asked if he was one of Jesus’ disciples who was with him in the olive grove, or the Garden of Gethsemane, and a third time Peter said absolutely not and at the same moment Peter heard the cock crow and he remembered how Jesus told him he would deny Jesus three times before the cock crowed.

Three times Peter failed Jesus.  Three times he denied that he knew him and refused to stand in support of him.  That failure weighed heavy on Peter’s heart and mind even after the resurrection so in an act of grace and mercy, Jesus extends to Peter forgiveness three times.

It was after breakfast that Jesus took Peter aside and asked him, do you love me, and three times Peter had the opportunity to say, Yes, Lord you know that I love you.  Three times Peter had the opportunity to stand with Jesus and proclaim his love and affirm his devotion and commitment.  What Jesus gave Peter here was a second chance.  No longer would Peter be defined by his failure, he would now be redefined by his devotion and commitment to Jesus.

All of this took place here along the Sea of Galilee.

Along the Shores of Galilee

Today on this site where Jesus once built a fire and cooked some fish stands a church that his literally built upon the rocks.

Inside the Primacy of Peter, the Rock foundation of the church.

You see, Jesus said that he was going to build his church on Peter which is why he gave him that name.  Peter, or Petra, means rock.  The Primacy of Peter is a church built on the rocks of this shore where we believe Jesus not only forgave Peter and gave him that second chance.

The Primacy of Peter Church

When Jesus told Peter to feed my sheep he was saying – lead my people and build my church, which was exactly what Peter did.

This is one of my favorite stories in the Bible because it reminds me that God is willing to give us all a second chance.  Abraham, the father of Israel, didn’t always follow the directions God gave him.  He failed to trust God several times but God gave him a second chance.  As a young man, Joseph was filled with pride and ego but God gave him a second chance and in time God gave Joseph great authority over all of Egypt.  Moses was placed by God in the very center of Egyptian authority and power, literally in the house of Pharaoh, but instead of using that power to free God’s people, Moses ran away, but God gave him a second chance.  Out of a burning bush, God called Moses to return to Egypt and lead the people of Israel out of slavery and into the Promised Land.  Jonah was a prophet called by God to preach to the people of Nineveh but instead of going to Nineveh, Jonah ran away and was eventually tossed into the sea, but through a big fish, God gave Jonah a second chance.  King David also got a second chance after his moral failure and adulterous affair with Bathsheba.  Time and again God gave people a second chance to stand up and be faithful and Jesus extended this kind of grace and mercy to people throughout his life.

When a woman caught in adultery was brought to Jesus for him to condemn, he had every right to pass judgment on her. Jesus and all the people of the community could have easily pronounce her guilty and sentenced her to death, but Jesus gave her a second chance.  That same day, however, Jesus also gave the entire crowd a second chance.  In that story the woman was thrown in front of Jesus and the angry crowd picked up stones getting ready to kill her.  They then turned and asked Jesus what they should do.  It says Jesus bent down and wrote in the sand and while we don’t know what he wrote, many people believe that he simply started writing down the sins of the people gathered around him.

Maybe he wrote down… adultery, stealing, pride, greed, gossip… The crowd, curious at what he was doing, started reading the words on the ground and then Jesus said, if anyone is without sin – let him be the one to cast the first stone.  When they realized that they too were sinners, it says they started dropping their stones and walking away until no was left to condemn the woman.  Jesus then said to her, where are they?  Is there no one to condemn you, and she said, no one sir.  Then Jesus said, neither do I condemn you – go and sin no more.  Jesus gave her a second chance, but he also gave everyone in the crowd a second chance because after coming face to face with the reality of their own sin, the crowd was shown mercy by Jesus and sent home.  Whether they understood it or not, they also got a second chance.

Our God is a God of second chances.  In golf it’s called a mulligan, in children’s games it called a do-over.  When we don’t get it right the first time, God gives us another chance to be faithful and stand strong.  When Jesus took Peter aside after breakfast and asked him three times, do you love me, he was giving Peter a second chance and in this story we being to understand what a second chance for us is all about.  When we are given a second chance, or if we desire one, the first thing we need to do is come to Jesus who helps us face our failure.

Being questioned three times clearly reminded Peter of his three denials and it forced him to come to terms with the reality of his failure.  Jesus didn’t let him off the hook he forced Peter to remember what happened, be honest about it and confess it, but Jesus doesn’t hold it against him.  Jesus didn’t let the woman caught in adultery of the hook – when he said, go and sin no more, he was making sure she understood that her past actions were sinful – but he didn’t hold it against her.  He gives her a second chance.  Adultery was not going to define this woman’s life and the denial of Jesus was not going to define Peter’s life but for them to move forward they had to first own up to and confess their failure.

God gives us a second chance in life but we have to own up to our failures and confess our sin.  This doesn’t mean we wallow in despair and focus on the negative, but it is important for us to be honest and real before God and at times other people and admit that we are sinful and broken and that we have failed God and others.  As they say, confession is good for the soul – it is honest and freeing and cleansing and so it’s important to take a hard look in the mirror and acknowledge that we have moments of failure when the choices we have made have broken relationships and jeopardized our futures.  Maybe it was spending beyond our means, being unfaithful in our marriage, not being more supportive of our children or placing unreasonable expectations upon them.  We have all made choices that if we could change - we would.  Maybe even this week we wish we could take back words that were said or choices that we made and while we can’t go back and change the past, we can be honest about it, confess it and seek forgiveness.  That’s what Jesus did with people – he helped them face their sin and confess their failures so they could accept the forgiveness God offers.

Jesus forgave Peter and Peter grabbed hold of that grace.  A second chance isn’t just about confessing our sin it’s also about accepting God’s forgiveness and allowing that grace and mercy to help wipe away the past.  What we see in Peter is a man willing to accept God’s forgiveness.  He didn’t keep his distance from Jesus wallowing in a pit of despair, in fact it says when he heard that it was Jesus on the shore he jumped into the water and made his way to Jesus as fast as he could.  Forget the boat and the fish, forget everything – Peter just wanted to be with Jesus.

These are not the actions of a man who is holding on to his past, Peter accepted God’s grace and mercy and he was looking to move beyond his failures.  If we are going to make the most of the second chance God gives us in any situation then we also need to learn to accept the forgiveness God offers which often means learning to forgive ourselves.  As long as we are holding on to our past sins, we can’t move forward, all we can do is re-live the past.  Peter didn’t relive his failure in the courtyard of Caiaphas.  He didn’t remain in that moment and allow it to define him.  Peter used the mercy of God and the love Jesus offered to help him forgive himself.

For many of us, this is the hard part of getting a second chance – forgiving ourselves.  In fact, many second chances are wasted because we don’t forgive ourselves enough to be able to move forward.  So how do we have grace with ourselves?  How do we stop kicking ourselves and beating ourselves up for the things we have done or failed to do?  Well, once I figure it out, I’ll let you know, but what I do know is that I’ve learned to have a measure of grace with myself by seeing grace and forgiveness at work in others.  When I am able to forgive someone else or when I see people forgive others it shows me that forgiveness is possible and so forgiving myself is possible.  As a pastor I can easily see how God can forgive others and when I encourage them to make that forgiveness their own I have to tell myself that same forgiveness is also there for me.  So stories of forgiveness and grace are important for us to hear because it shows us how we can be gracious with ourselves.  Maybe that is why the Bible is full of stories about God’s grace and forgiveness.  If God can forgive Abraham, Moses, David, Jonah and Peter – then God can forgive me.

So second chances begin by facing our failures and learning to forgive ourselves but then the whole point of a second chance is making the most of the future God opens up for us.  Look again at Peter along the Sea of Galilee.  Jesus didn’t ask three times, Peter, do you love me and then say, Thanks, I appreciate that.  What Jesus did was give Peter a true second chance – he opened up the future for Peter to be all God created him to be, which was the Rock or the foundation of the church.  The second chance for David allowed him to be a better King of Israel.  The second chance for Jonah allowed him to be an effective prophet to the people of Nineveh.  A true second chance means we are given the opportunity to live for God and serve God in some capacity.

In many ways I feel like my life has been a glorious second chance.  In college I spent some time running away from God.  Like Peter I knew what God wanted from me, but I failed and yet God gave me a second chance.  God confronted me with the reality of my failure, but didn’t hold it against me, instead he forgave and said, ok Andy, now it’s time to get to work.  Love me, live for me, and serve me.  And I’ve tried to make the most of this second chance.  Any time God gives a second chance God is giving us the opportunity to live life differently.  In a marriage a second chance means we learn to forgive and be patient and communicate better.  As parents a second chance means we pay more attention, offer more love give more support, discipline and direction to our children.  In finances a second chance means we order our lives according to God’s principles of earning, saving and giving.  A second chance really does mean that we live differently and so we need to look at how God is calling us to live differently.

For Peter, living differently and feeding God’s people meant preaching and teaching with boldness and courage, which he did.  What does it mean for us?  What does a second chance look like for you?  Where is change needed?  Where is grace is needed?  God offers each of us a second chance but it does mean confessing our sin, accepting God’s forgiveness and then moving forward with faith and trusting in God’s purpose and plan for our lies.  Paul, a man who got a huge second chance, understood this. He said, forgetting what lies behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.  (Philippians 3:13b-14)

Pressing on toward the goal, that’s making the most of God’s second chance.


Next Steps
A Second Chance

1. Take an honest look in the mirror
• Are there failures you need to acknowledge?
• Sins you need to confess?
• People you have hurt of disappointed?
Own up to these shortcomings and confess them to God and others.  A second chance begins with some honest reflection.

2. God offers forgiveness and grace so we need to learn how to forgive ourselves.  Read the following scriptures that tell us that God forgives, we are to forgive and so we CAN forgive ourselves.
• 2 Chronicles 7:14
• Psalm 103:8-13
• Micah 7:18
• Matthew 6:9-14
• Ephesians 4:32
• Colossians 3:13
• 1 John 1:9

3. A second chance means God opens the door to our future.
• What door is God opening in your life today?
• What do you need to do to move through that door?
• Who can help you take this next step?

4. If God’s second chance for you includes stepping out in faith to connect with Faith Church, join us this evening (Sunday, April 27) at 6:30 for our new member orientation.


Forgetting what lies behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:13b-14

The Miracles of Jesus ~ The Resurrection!

The Bible is full of miracles.  Maybe the first one is the story of Noah.

From the recent movie "Noah"

I haven’t seen the new movie, but regardless of what Russell Crowe does and how Hollywood portrays it, it took some divine intervention to not only build a boat that big but to collect 2 every animal and then survive for 40 days and nights with all those animals on the raging waters.  Then there is the miracle of the plagues that struck Egypt and Moses parting the Red Sea, immortalized in another movie, 10 Commandments, with Charlton Heston.

But there are other miracles in the Old Testament that have not been made into blockbuster movies.  There is Elijah calling down the fire of God and Jonah being swallowed by a big fish when he was cast into the sea.  Through his people, God performed many miracles in the Old Testament

Jesus certainly continued the work of God and performed many miracles.  Through this season of Lent we looked at the miracles of Jesus and how he healed the woman who had been bleeding for many years

 as well as 10 lepers,

Jesus healed a Canaanite woman’s daughter,

 turned water into wine at a wedding in Cana

 and fed close to 20,000 people with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish.

But clearly the most important miracle of Jesus and the miracle to end all miracles was his own Resurrection.

As we have looked at the miracles of Jesus these past 6 weeks I have tried to share some pictures from the locations where these miracles took place, so today I want to do the same thing and show you the 2 empty tombs of Jesus.  Yes, you heard that right -2 empty tombs.  You see the reality is that we do not know what tomb Jesus was laid in after he was taken down from the cross which means we do not know where he rose from the dead.  We might think it was strange that the disciples didn’t somehow mark the grave and celebrate it as the location of this miracle, but they didn’t do that because they had the presence of Jesus with them.  Why go back to an empty tomb when you have the living Jesus at your side?  So the tomb or grave of Jesus didn’t become any kind of shrine or holy site until 300 years after Jesus’ resurrection and by then no one knew for sure where the tomb was located.

It was about 325 AD when Christianity had become a dominant world religion under Constantine that people started to think about the locations of where Jesus was born and died.  It was Constantine’s mother, Helena, who traveled to Jerusalem and investigated the city to try and determine where Jesus was crucified and buried.  What she found was a hill that would have been right outside the walls of Jerusalem in the first century which was also along a main road so they began looking there.  As a means of execution, crucifixion was not only used to put a criminal to death, it was to be deterrent to other people so we believe that Jesus was executed along a main road somewhere outside the walls of the city.  We also know it was on a hill that they called Golgotha which means the place of the skull, so the hill may have looked like or resembled the shape of a skull.

Helena located a spot and close to it they also found an old tomb so they did a little more digging and exploration and Helena said that she found pieces of Jesus’ actual cross so she declared that to be the place where Jesus was crucified and buried.

Church of the Holy Sepulcher

Today that site is located in a massive basilica called the Church of the Holy Sepulcher where you climb some stairs to reach the top of the hill and under an altar you can reach down and touch the ground where many believe that Jesus was crucified.

Under the Altar

You then you make your way down to the place where they found the tomb  and what they did in 325 / 326 AD was remove the mountain that would have been on top of the tomb but leave the actual stones in place where the bodies would have laid and then they built a church around it.

The Chapel of the Angel INSIDE the Church of the Holy Sepulcher

This is called the Chapel of the Angel, since it was only angels that were in the tomb when the disciples arrived.

I have to say that this chapel and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher had to be the most amazing structure I saw in the Holy Land beyond maybe the Temple walls, and inside the tomb, beyond the candles and icons and pictures of Jesus, there is just a slab of rock.

The tomb of Jesus inside the Chapel of the Angel

It has been worn smooth through 1700 years of people laying their hands on it and imagining what it would have been like to be the disciples rushing in there that Resurrection day.

Now I did say there are two empty tombs and the other one actually looks a lot more like what you might think of as the empty tomb because it is in a garden about a half mile outside the current walls of Jerusalem.

The Garden Tomb

 Many believe that Jesus may have been crucified and buried here because not only is there a grave that dates to the first century,

but there is also a hill that looks like a skull.

Today you only see the eyes of the skull but if you can see in this older photo there is what looks like a full skull which leads some people to think that this was Golgotha.

Look at the older picture in this picture to see the full "skull"

Again, near this hill is a tomb that dates back to the first century or the time of Jesus and it is the rolling stone type of tomb, which means there would have been a giant stone here that would have rolled in this track and sealed the grave.

Track that would have held the Grave Stone

We know this is the kind of tomb Jesus was laid in because the women wondered how they would roll the stone away.  There is no stone anymore, but the grave is still here and it has been damaged

You can see the stones that have been used to repair the opening

and there is some thought it could have been damaged in the first century by an earthquake, maybe the earthquake the bible talks about when Jesus rose.

What makes this sight compelling as the tomb of Jesus is that it is located in a garden and we know that because they found here an ancient wine press.

The grapes would have been crushed on one side and you can’t really see it here, but this side is higher and the juice would have flowed to the other side and used to make the wine.  Now if there was a wine press here this large, then they would have grown the grapes here as well because they wouldn’t have added work to the process by transporting the grapes from a vineyard or garden far away.  So this was a garden, a working garden, full of grapevines and the Bible says the tomb of Jesus was in a garden.  In fact, Jesus was even mistaken for the gardener by Mary.

The reason I think this is more likely the tomb of Jesus

Inside the Garden Tomb

is because it is located in a garden, it is the right kind of tomb, the rolling stone kind, and it is a half mile away from where Jesus was crucified.  If Jesus had been crucified literally steps from the cross then everyone would have known where he was buried but the Bible makes a point of telling us that the women followed and watched Joseph take the body away to the tomb - Luke 23:52-56.  If the tomb was in the same spot as the cross, this wouldn’t be needed.  I also have a hard time thinking they would hold a crucifixion so close to a working vineyard that makes wine and tomb belonged to Joseph of Arimathea, a wealthy and religious man, who wouldn’t have had a tomb along a road next to the location where Rome crucified prisoners.

So those are the two sites and for what it’s worth, I believe Jesus was crucified at the site of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher which would have been closer to the city which means it would have been more visible, therefore more of a deterrent which the Romans would have wanted, but that he was buried in the garden tomb which was farther away, the right kind of tomb and in a garden.

Seeing all of this helps us understand that the story is true, all the evidence points to the fact that it is true, but the location of the empty tomb really isn’t important for us today for the same reason it wasn’t important for the disciples, because the resurrection of Jesus is not a past event to be remembered it is a present reality to be lived.  Jesus is alive – today – here and now – with us.  Jesus is alive and if God has the power to raise Jesus from the dead.  Then God can do anything.

Let’s go back to the tomb for a moment.  We say it was empty, but it wasn’t really empty because the grave clothes of Jesus were there.  The cloth that they used to wrap Jesus body was lying there as if the body of Jesus had just passed right through it.  It was an empty shell.  We don’t know what happened to those clothes – you have to wonder if they were ever used again or the disciples took them that day – but I can imagine Peter, James and John thinking back on that moment of seeing the clothes and then seeing Jesus and thinking to themselves, if God can do this?  Then God can do anything.
If God has the power to raise Jesus from the dead, then God has the power to do anything and everything.  If God can overcome the power of sin and death then God has the power to overcome any obstacle or problem in life.  If God can do this…. Then the potential and possibilities are endless.

What is it that we need God to do in our lives?  Where do we need this miraculous power of God to bring us resurrection and new life?  Mary needed the restoration of a relationship.  She needed to know that she was still loved and cared for and not alone in this world.  Many of us need the same thing today and the power of the resurrection can restore relationships.  Today you might think your marriage is dead – but God can heal and restore relationships.  You might think your relationship with a parent or child is forever broken and gone, but God can restore and redeem.  You might think there will be no relationship for you and that no one notices or cares for you and that you are destined to be alone and lonely in this world – but if God can do this….  If God reached out to love and redeem Mary than God can restore our relationship and heal broken hearts and lives and marriages and families.

One thing we all need the power of God to do in our lives is bring forgiveness.  We have all sinned, we have all failed God and others, we all make a mess of our lives at times and that might be exactly where you are today and if it is, think about Peter.  He failed Jesus when Jesus needed him the most.  Three times he denied that he even knew Jesus as Jesus stood alone being unjustly condemned.  What Peter needed as he stood in the empty tomb and touched the empty grave clothes was to know that Jesus forgave him.  And he did.  Later that day when Jesus appeared to the disciples he offered them all peace and it was then a few days or even weeks later when Jesus personally forgave Peter here along the shores of the Sea of Galilee.

Peter was forgiven and the empty tomb means that we are forgiven.  Our sin is forgiven.  Jesus not only paid the price for our sin on the cross but his resurrection means that he has overcome sin and so we are can be set free from our sin and from the guilt and shame that often clings to us through that sin.  If we need to experience the freedom of forgiveness today – we can.  If God can do this… then we know that God can forgive.

If what we need today is direction for our lives and sense of hope for the future, then the power of God that raised Jesus from the dead can give us just that.  Again, think about the disciples.  They thought their lives and future were over.  All that they had given themselves to for three years had come to an end.  The future for them which once seemed so powerful had come to crashing halt and a crushing defeat when the tomb was sealed, but if God can do this…. Then the potential and possibilities for the future are truly unlimited.  The community that Jesus talked about is still possible.  The kingdom of God that Jesus said was here could still be built among them and that mission was still something they could work for and give their lives to.  Their future looked promising once again.

There are many times when we experience crushing defeats in life.  We might lose a job, watch our financial security fade away or struggle with a the larger question of what is my life all about – do I matter and does God really have a plan for me?  I have asked those questions many times in my life and I can imagine the disciple Andrew asking that question in the days after Jesus died.  Did he matter?  Did God have a plan?  But then there was the empty tomb and the empty grave clothes and if God can do this… then God can do anything.

God does have a plan for us and God is here today to give us the power we need to accomplish that plan.  Jesus gave his power to the disciples so that they could find their way in this world and accomplish far more than Jesus ever did.  The disciples and the followers of Jesus took the story of his life, death and resurrection and spread it far beyond Jerusalem and Galilee.  Within 30 years the good news of Jesus had spread all over the Roman Empire and was on its way to spreading all over the world.  God’s plan was at work through them and today God’s plan is at work in us and through us if we will open ourselves up to God and accept for ourselves his grace and love and power.


Today we can experience for ourselves the miracle of resurrection, the miracle of God’s power and find healing for our hearts, minds and bodies.  Today we can experience the power of forgiveness.  We can be set free from sin and from the guilt and shame of our sin and today we can experience the guiding hand of God which can lead us to lasting relationships, healthier families, stronger communities and a world that can experience the power of God’s eternal kingdom because…

If God can do this… God can do anything.
If God can do this… God can do everything.

Whatever we need God to do today, whatever miraculous power we need from Jesus today, he is here to do it.  The tomb, wherever it was, was empty and after that first day they never went back, they didn’t need to because Jesus was then and he is today a present reality with us.  Jesus is here to do anything and everything we need.

Christ is risen…
He is risen indeed!!

Next Steps

The Miracles of Jesus ~ The Resurrection

1. Each story of the resurrection adds its own dimension and detail to the miracle.  Read the four gospel accounts of Jesus’ resurrection to get a full picture of what happened on the very first Easter.

• Matthew 28:1-15

• Mark 16:1-18

• Luke 24:1-49

• John 20:1-23

2. We don’t know the exact location of Jesus’ tomb because there was no need for the disciples to go back to an empty grave - Jesus was alive and with them.  Today Jesus is still alive and He is with us.  Give thanks for this and ask Jesus into your heart and life.

3. If God can raise Jesus from the dead, God can do anything.  What is it that you need God to do in your life?  

• Forgive your sin?

• Heal your body, mind and soul?

• Strengthen your spirit?

• Guide your future?

• Restore your relationships?

• Remove your shame?

• Add dignity and value to your life?

Whatever you need, God can do it.  Ask Him for what you need today.

4.  When Jesus rose from the dead He returned to His friends, the church.  If you would like to become part of 

Faith Church, please join us next Sunday at 6:30 PM 

for a new member orientation.  Our faith increases as we 

connect, serve and grow together.  

Sunrise Worship - Promise Fulfilled

Sunrise over the Sea of Galilee, Februar2014

The tomb was empty when the women arrived and that emptiness must have been unsettling and painful.  The silence must have increased their sense of loneliness because they couldn’t even visit Jesus grave.  Emptiness is usually a sign of broken promises and shattered dreams but Jesus redefined emptiness because what the angel said in that emptiness is that Jesus kept his promise.  “Do not be afraid, the angel said, for I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified.  He is not here (the tomb is empty).  He has risen, just as he said”.  While there are many messages that are proclaimed in the resurrection story from the forgiveness of sin to the victory of life over death and the hope of God’s kingdom here and now, perhaps one of the simplest messages of the empty tomb is that Jesus keeps his promises.  Isn’t that what the angel is saying when he says, Jesus has risen, just as he said.  While that line, just as he said, is often overshadowed by the powerful line, Jesus has risen, the message we are being told here is that Jesus keeps his word – and he did.  Look at Matthew 20:17-19.  

And this wasn’t the only time Jesus said he would rise from the dead.  On at least 2 other occasions, in Matthew 16 and 17 Jesus also made this promise.  So when Jesus is not in the tomb and the angel says, he has risen just as he said, what we are learning is that Jesus is indeed a man of his word.  He fulfills his promises.  

But it’s not just this promise that Jesus keeps, Jesus keeps all his promises, and we celebrate that this morning because Jesus made a lot of promises.  In his Sermon on the Mount Jesus said: Matthew 7:7-8.  Jesus promised that when we turn to God in faith and ask – it will be given to us, and when we seek God we will find him and when we knock – when we ask God to enter into our lives – God will enter in.  What Jesus is promising here is a relationship with God where we can come to Him openly and honestly and share who we are and what we need and when we do God will not reject us.  That’s a promise that Jesus makes and fulfills and so when we ask and seek and knock  - God will be there.

Jesus also promises us strength in times of weakness.  Look at Matthew 11:28-30.  Jesus promises that when we come to him in weakness, burdened down by the weight of our sin or simply weary from all the pain and sorrow we see and experience in life, when we come to him, we will find rest.  This is an important promise for us to claim today because in so many ways we are weary and need rest – not more sleep – although right now that sounds good – but what we need isn’t sleep but spiritual rest and peace.  

Many times it is the emptiness that we see in the world that makes us weary, empty wallets, empty tables, empty beds, empty mailboxes.  We are weary from the financial stress and uncertainty we see around us.  We are weary seeing friends struggle to find jobs.  We are weary when we hear about another person who has to fight cancer, or another family breaking up.  And we are weary when we see and hear about all the violence, anger and mean spirited discourse in our world.  This darkness makes us weary and so we need to come to Jesus and trust his promise that when we come to him we will find rest for our souls because his yoke is easy and when we walk with him, his burden is light.  

Some of the most powerful promises Jesus makes are found in John 14 because it’s in these words that Jesus promises to prepare a place for us in heaven (14:1-2).  Jesus also promises to come back for us and take us to that heavenly home (14:3)  Clearly the empty tomb tells us that Jesus has conquered the grave and so death has been defeated once and for all.  There is an eternal life that awaits for us in heaven.  That is a promise Jesus makes and fulfills.  But in John Jesus also promises that until that day comes, he will not abandon us or leave us as orphans in this world because he will send us the Holy Spirit (14:25-27).

In that last promise there is not only the promise of God’s Holy Spirit to lead us, but there is the promise of peace – peace I leave with you, my peace I give you, and then I love how Jesus says, and I don’t give to you as the world gives.

Jesus isn’t making an empty promise here, Jesus doesn’t give to us one day and then change his mind and take it away the next.  Jesus doesn’t say one thing and do another, he doesn’t change his mind – he is a man of his word and his strength and peace endures through all the difficult times we go through.  The peace that Jesus gives is strong, stronger than we think it is, and it holds up when we need it and it lasts from one problem to the next.  Jesus promises us his peace and today that promise is fulfilled

Also found in John 14 is perhaps the single most powerful promise Jesus makes and it’s the promise that often makes me feel uncomfortable because it is so daringly bold.  Look at John 14:12-14.  Jesus promises that if we have faith, we will do even great things than he did, and if we ask God for help – we will receive it.  Can we trust that promise this morning?  As the people of God, as the Faith Church community can we claim this promise and begin to allow the power of God to build us up and flow through us into a dark and empty world that needs the fullness of God.  

The resurrection of Jesus doesn’t just mean that we are forgiven and it doesn’t just mean that the door to heaven is opened and that God is with us, it also means that the power of God that raised Jesus from the dead is available to the people of God and so just as he said, we can do more in this world than Jesus ever did.  We can change our families, our community and our world if we will have faith in the one who rose from the dead just as he said.  

If Jesus keeps his promises, then why do we act as if his words are empty?   Why don’t we step out in faith and trust Jesus to follow through on his word?  Why didn’t Mary, Peter, James and John, trust Jesus to keep his promise?  If Jesus said he would rise from the dead, then why didn’t the disciples camp out at the tomb and wait for that promise to be fulfilled?  Part of it was due to fear.  We forget how dangerous Jerusalem was for the followers of Jesus.  They had just crucified Jesus so the religious leaders and Roman authority would not hesitate to crucify or at least flog, beat and imprison the followers of Jesus.  

Part of it may have been their shame because of their failure.  Each of the disciples knew how they failed Jesus when he needed them.  Peter disowned Jesus 3 times but all the rest of the disciples ran away too.  In fact even before things got dangerous, they couldn’t even stay awake and pray with Jesus when he needed their support.  So instead of focusing on the promise of Jesus to rise from the dead, maybe all they could only focus on was their own empty words and broken promises.  

Part of it may have been their depth of sorrow and pain.  Their friend and leader had just been betrayed, arrested, beaten and crucified.  They watched as he was taken down from the cross and laid into the tomb and they knew the tomb was sealed.  Maybe it was the reality of such a cruel and painful death that robbed their hearts of even thinking that Jesus could keep his promise and rise again.  

Fear, failure, frustration and sorrow are all part of what held the disciples back from trusting Jesus to keep his word and living with boldness and those are the same things that hold us back.  We are afraid of what others might think if we started living our lives as if the word of God was true.  People might think we have really lost it if we start claiming God’s promises, and so we shrink back in fear.  We also don’t claim God’s promises because of our own sin and failure.  We may believe God will keep his promise to love and support someone who is faithful, but since I’m a failure, so God won’t help me.  But doesn’t the story of Easter tell us the exact opposite?  The disciples weren’t faithful, they weren’t there waiting for Jesus to rise from the grave and yet Jesus fulfilled his promise to them.  If we wait until we are perfect until we trust in the promises of God, then we never will trust in them because we will never be perfect.  We need to trust in God’s forgiveness and grace today and then ask God to fulfill his word in our hearts and lives to help us become more faithful and obedient.  

It’s also hard for us to claim God’s promises when we see the reality of darkness and evil in the world around us.  When so many things are beyond our control, and when the world seems like it is moving quickly away from God – it’s hard to claim the promise of Jesus that says we will be able to do more than he did.  But maybe it is for just such a time as this that Jesus made this promise.  Maybe it was for today, sunrise on Easter 2014, that Jesus made the promise, you will do even greater things because I am going to the Father.  We need to look at the empty tomb and the risen savior and affirm in our own hearts and live that yes indeed, something is about to start because Jesus keeps his word.

Whatever promise we need fulfilled today, Jesus will do it because he is a man of his word.  

If we ask – we will receive.  

If we seek – we will find.  

If we knock the door will be opened.  

If we need forgiveness – it is offered.  

If we need the love of a Father in heaven – it flows from Jesus.  

If we are weary – we are given rest.

If we need strength it is given - freely.  

And if we as a church need power to shine the light and love of God into a dark and needy world, then we have it because Jesus has fulfilled his promise to us and he gives us the power of God through the Holy Spirit.  

So whatever promise we need fulfilled today, Jesus will do it, because he is a man of his word.  Jesus redefines empty and through the emptiness of tomb Jesus brings us the fullness of life.  And how do we know all this, because he has risen, just as he said.  

The Miracles of Jesus ~ Cursing the Fig Tree

Today is Palm Sunday which is the day that we celebrate and remember Jesus making his way down from the Mount of Olives and into Jerusalem.  

Mt. of Olives from Jerusalem

Jerusalem from the Mt. of Olives with the Kidron Valley below the city walls.

The Kidron Valley is below the city walls.
 A Jewish Cemetery is in the foreground with all the graves pointing to Jerusalem

The Walls of Jerusalem taken from the road leading down from the Mt. of Olives.
This picture was taken from the Garden of Gethsemane.  

Jesus would have entered the city through this gate which is called the Golden Gate.  

The Golden Gate

This is not the actual gate Jesus would have traveled through because the entire Temple was destroyed in 70 AD, but this is one of the oldest city gates dating back to about 520 AD when the Temple was rebuilt and it was built directly upon the remains of the old gate.  It was sealed when the Ottoman’s reigned in Jerusalem in 1541 in order for them to protect the city from invaders.  This is the only gate that leads directly into the Temple of Jerusalem.  So this is where Jesus would have entered the city.  

Crowds would have gathered all along the road leading down from the Mt of Olives and across the Kidron Valley and what I never realized is that along this route is the Garden of Gethsemane which is the place where Jesus was betrayed by Judas, arrested by the Romans and deserted by his disciples.  So as Jesus is making his way into the city with a cheering crowd he would have come face to face with the reality that his closest friends would all fail him.  These pictures of the Golden Gate were actually taken from the Garden of Gethsemane so you can see how close the garden was to the city.  As we will hear today, Jesus entered and left Jerusalem several times that week and each time he went into or out of the city he would have seen or even travelled through Gethsemane which would have been a constant reminder of all that was coming.  

When Jesus made his way into the city the people lined the streets with palm branches and shouted, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.  This cheer tells us that the people were looking for Jesus to be their king.  They wanted him be their political and military leader who would rescue them from the occupation of Rome.  While they were looking for Jesus to be their king, I wonder what Jesus was thinking as he looked at them?  Was he looking into their eyes and hearts to see how much faith they had?  Was he looking to see how committed they were and how faithful they would be?  We always read this story and talk about what the people were looking for in Jesus but today I want us to think about what Jesus was looking for in the people, because the miracle we will read today tells us Jesus was looking for something.

So Jesus enters the city and immediately goes to the Temple and it says that all he did was look around.  What Jesus would have seen were people making preparations to celebrate the Passover.  People were making sure they had the animals they needed for the sacrifices and the right money to pay the Temple taxes and make their offerings.  Jesus doesn’t say or do anything this day, it says he just looked around and then returned to Bethany.  The next day Jesus returned to the city and this time there were no cheering crowds, it was just Jesus and the disciples and as they entered the city Jesus was hungry so approached a fig tree to look for food.  Mark 11:12-14

Jesus went to the tree because it looked promising.  He saw a fig tree full of leaves but there were no figs on it.  It wasn’t bearing any fruit so Jesus cursed it.  Why would Jesus curse a tree?  Was he just really hungry and mad that the tree didn’t have any fruit?  Was he having a bad day and in need of his first cup of coffee?  What is Jesus doing cursing a tree?  The disciples must have asked themselves the same question and since they didn’t get an answer right away, let’s move on and come back to this later.  So Jesus enters the city for the second time – Mark 11:15-19.

The courtyard of the Temple was where everyone came to make preparations for the Passover.  Since people came to Jerusalem from all over the region many of them didn’t have the right currency for the offering and Temple taxes and people wouldn’t bring the animals they needed for the sacrifice on the long trip so they would buy them here. So the money changers and those selling animals would set up in the Temple to help people get what they needed so they could worship and celebrate the Passover with ease.  

In many ways what they were doing in the Temple was good because it helped people, but the downside was that these vendors were overcharging people and taking advantage of those from foreign countries and the poor.  It was the foreigners who needed to have their money changed and it was the poor who needed to buy the doves because the rich would have brought a lamb.  So it’s nice that the buyers and sellers are there to provide this service, but they were gouging those they said they were helping.  Jesus is upset by the injustice he sees and does something drastic and out of character, he creates a riot by turning over the tables and benches and sends the temple courtyard into chaos.  This is the second time that day that Jesus has done something drastic and out of character, he cursed a tree and now he has created a scene in the Temple.  Maybe there is something more going on here – maybe these two events are related.  Hold on to that thought.

So they leave the city and return to Bethany and the next day as they make their way back into Jerusalem they came across that same tree.  Mark 11:20-22. 

A withered fig tree

So the tree Jesus cursed is now dead.  The tree has withered from the roots outward which means it is completely dead.  Now trees don’t wither and die overnight, so we know that what has happened here is because Jesus cursed the tree.  It happened by the power of God.  It is a miracle – not a happy miracle that brings healing or life but one that brings a message.  

So let’s step back and look at the larger picture for a moment:

• Jesus curses a fig tree 

• Jesus clears out the temple  

• The fig tree has died. 

The meaning of this miracle and the answer to why Jesus cursed the fig tree is found in what happened in the Temple.  When Jesus drove out the buyers and sellers he was making a statement about what he found not in the heart of the Temple but in the heats of the people.  Along the road leading into the city and in the Temple courtyard when Jesus looked into people’s eyes and hearts what he found was that they were not being faithful.  Their worship had become empty.  

Jesus knew that their praise was shallow.  In fact every time he passed by Gethsemane he knew that he would be standing there alone in just 4 days.  Even his own disciples were going to desert him.  The worship of the people was empty, their sacrifices where just a ritual that they went through and their buying and selling was hurting others.  The faith of the people and their worship of God was dead, from the inside out.  Jesus knew that when he rode into the city and he knew it when he walked into the Temple after that parade so the next morning when Jesus curses the tree he does it make a statement.  The faith of God’s people is dead.  They might look good on the outside, their worship and activity might look good on the outside, but on the inside there is nothing.    

That Jesus is making a larger statement here makes sense when we understand that fig trees where often used as the symbol of God’s people in the Old Testament.  Listen to what the prophet Micah says, Micah 7:1- 3.  Micah is looking at the people of God and he is searching to see if they are faithful.  Are they bearing any fruit?  The answer is no.  There are no early figs on the tree.  The people were not being faithful to God.  This is exactly what Jesus said when he comes to the tree looking for fruit but finds none.  Jesus curse of the tree is a statement about the lack of faith he sees in God’s people.  They look good on the outside, they look like they are doing all that God has asked of them, they are worshiping God and maybe even helping others, but their hearts are far from God.   Their worship isn’t meaningful and it is not bringing them or others life.  Their faith has become routine and empty so Jesus not only curses the tree to make a statement that he is looking for more, but he clears out the Temple as a sign that things need to change.    

There is one more message that Jesus is giving the people here.  In Mark 11: 16 it says Jesus would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts.  This would have included all the vessels that would have been used in worship so what Jesus is doing is actually stopping the entire process of worship in Jerusalem.  Jesus is saying that the worship of God was going to change forever.  And it did.  The first change came the moment Jesus died because it was at that moment that the curtain that separated the holy of holies from the rest of the Temple was torn from top to the bottom.  The holy of holies was where God dwelled on earth and only the high priest could enter this area once a year, but with the curtain torn from top to bottom it’s as if God is opening up the holy of holies himself.  God is saying that his presence was no longer going to be bound up in the Temple but available to all people.  The worship of God through sacrifices was now replaced by the worship of Jesus, the ultimate sacrifice.  God was replacing the sacrificial worship system with the worship of Jesus as savior and lord.  

The second change coming was that the Temple was going to be completely destroyed so worship there was going to come to an end.  Jesus said this in Mark 13:2.  Not one stone here will be left on another; everyone will be thrown down.  35 years later that is exactly what happened and here is the evidence.  

Temple Stones lying where they fell in 70 AD

Temple Stones lying where they fell in 70 AD

These stones were part of the Temple in Jesus’ day and this is exactly where they landed when in 70 AD the Temple was destroyed.  After that time there was no more worship of God and sacrifices to God in the Temple in Jerusalem.  

So Jesus cursing the fig tree was first a statement that worship for God’s people was dead and producing neither faith nor fruit and the second statement it made was that the worship of God was going to change.  This miracle was Jesus way of calling people to examine their hearts and change their lives and today it is calling us to do the same.  This miracle calls us to reflect on our relationship with God and ask some tough questions.  

• Is our faith producing fruit?  

• Are we growing in our knowledge of God?

• Are we growing in our love for God?  

• Is our worship from the heart or are we just going through the motions?  

• Do we sing from the heart or from our voice?  

• Do we pray from deep within our spirit or from the outer parts of our mind?  

• Do we serve God out of duty and obligation or from a longing to see God’s kingdom formed in the lives of others and in our world?  

This is what Jesus was looking for when he looked at the people as he rode into Jerusalem and this is what Jesus was looking for in the Temple and in his disciples and this is what Jesus is looking for in us.  Is our worship and our faith producing fruit?  Palm Sunday, Holy Week and Easter provide us the perfect opportunity to examine our hearts and lives to see if our worship has become empty, shallow and routine and if it has, now is the time to resurrect it.  We can’t come to worship this week and next Sunday just because we are supposed to, we need to come with humility and a hunger to give more to God and receive more from God and allow the power of Jesus, a power that performed many and might miracles, to change our hearts and lives forever.  Let us open our hearts and lives to God’s miraculous power, amazing grace and unconditional love.  

 

Next Steps

The Miracles of Jesus ~ Cursing the Fig Tree

1.  This miracle calls for some honest reflection about our relationship with God.:

• Is our faith producing fruit?  

• Are we growing in our knowledge of God?

• Are we growing in our love for God?  

• Is our worship from the heart or are we just going through the motions?  

• Do we sing from the heart or from our voice?  

• Do we pray from deep within our spirit or from the outer parts of our mind?  

• Do we serve God out of duty and obligation or from a longing to see God’s kingdom formed in the lives of others and in our world?  

Answer these questions and offer your findings to God.

2.  Enter into worship this coming week and on Easter Sunday with this prayer:

Almighty God, open my ears and my eyes and my heart as I enter into your presence so that this time of worship may not be empty and shallow but filled with your spirit which can strengthen my faith and change my life.  AMEN

3. Read and Reflect on the Last Week of Jesus life:

• Monday:  Mark 14:12-25 - The Last Supper

• Tuesday:  Mark 14:26-31 – Predicting Peter’s denial

• Wednesday:  Mark 14:32-42 - Garden of Gethsemane

• Thursday:  Mark 14:43-72 - Jesus is arrested and tried

• Friday:  Mark 15:1-47 - Crucifixion, Death and Burial

• Saturday:  Mark 16:1-8 - Women go to the tomb