He Knows My Name

Monday, March 31, 2014            He Knows My Name

John  20: 11-18

The details in the conversation between Mary and Jesus in today’s passage are life transforming for me!

Mary is lost in her grief. The tomb is empty. In every other encounter between humans and angels, the humans pull back in fear and awe. Mary’s grief is so consuming, she seems unmoved by her encounter with the angels, and offers the angels a simple reply to their question. In her grief, she didn’t recognize Jesus standing before her, and offered him a simple reply to his question. Then Jesus called her by name, and everything changed.

Has Jesus every called you by name? I haven’t had this experience often, but I have heard him call me by name. I remember a time in March 1990 when I was weary and burned-out. As I sang in a chapel service during a Tres Dias retreat, I heard Jesus say to me, “Alex, I have left the 90 and nine and come for you.” My life changed that day because the promise of scripture was fulfilled in my life: Jesus “calls his own sheep by name. . .” (John 10:3b).

Next, consider the message Jesus gave to Mary: “But go find my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God’” (John 20:17b). Jesus didn’t say, “go find my disciples” or, “go find my servants” or even, “go find my friends.” Jesus said, “go find my brothers.” Another name Jesus has for you my dear friends is, brother or sister! The Lord of the universe knows you as his brothers and sisters. Jesus, the Lord of the universe, was preparing to ascend to his Father and our Father, to his God and our God. Jesus related to Mary, and he relates to us, in the perfect Trinitarian unity he prayed for us in John 17.

Take time today and open your heart and your mind to embrace the intimacy of the way the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit relate to you, and “be transformed by the renewing of your minds” (Romans 12:2a NRSV).

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.

I Am the Resurrection and the Life

Friday, March 28, 2014    I Am the Resurrection and the Life

John  20:     1-10

John is still supplying important details. First, there is Mary Magdalene. She is only mentioned three times in John’s Gospel. She is identified as being at the foot of the cross (John 19:25) and in today’s passage she is the first person to discover the empty tomb. In the following passage, she was the first person to see the risen Lord. John tells us a woman was the first to speak with our Risen Savior. I suspect John would be just a bit incredulous that the twenty-first century church still struggles over the role of women in church leadership.

In the previous passage we learned that, “Following Jewish burial custom, (Joseph and Nicodemus) wrapped Jesus’ body with the spices in long sheets of linen cloth” (John 19:40). In today’s passage we learn that Jesus’ tomb was empty except for the “linen wrappings lying there, while the cloth that had covered Jesus’ head was folded up and lying apart from the other wrappings” (John 20:6-7). John follows this with an autobiographical statement, “Then the disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in, and he saw and believed” (John 20:8). What did John believe and how did the linen cloths factor in his leap of faith?

First, if someone was going to steal Jesus’ body, I doubt they would have taken the time to unwrap all the linen cloths before moving the body. Secondly, I suspect John immediately thought of the scene recorded in John 11:43-44, “Then Jesus shouted, “Lazarus, come out!” And the dead man came out, his hands and feet bound in graveclothes, his face wrapped in a headcloth. Jesus told them, “Unwrap him and let him go!” I suspect John also remembered the words of Jesus, “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25a). And, I suspect John may have been the first person to say,

He is Risen!

He is Risen indeed!

Sē’lah

<><  <><  <><  <><

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.

Enough Oil and Spices for a King’s Burial

Thursday, March 27, 2014          

Enough Oil and Spices for a King’s Burial

John  19: 38-42

Jesus was dead. John supplies several more important details as he describes the burial of Jesus.  First, the other two named eyewitnesses are identified: Joseph and Nicodemus, Secondly, in preparation for placing Jesus’ body in a tomb, a huge amount of oil and spices, enough for a King’s burial, are used: “(Nicodemus) brought about seventy-five pounds of perfumed ointment made from myrrh and aloes. Following Jewish burial custom, they wrapped Jesus’ body with the spices in long sheets of linen cloth” (John 19:39-40). Next, John tells us the tomb was in a garden. Humankind fell out of a right relationship with God in the Garden of Eden. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus committed his will to God so that humankind could be redeemed by God. In this unnamed Garden, Jesus, crucified and dead, is laid in a tomb.

Jesus was laid in a tomb so that he could spend the seventh day in a Sabbath rest; but God wasn’t through. The first day of the new week was coming. Sunday promised to be the first day of God’s New Creation.

Sē’lah

<><  <><  <><  <><

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.

John’s Faith Rested on the Word of God

Wednesday, March 26, 2014       

John’s Faith Rested on the Word of God

John  19: 31-37

We have seen that John’s account of Jesus’ crucifixion and burial is full of specific details that point to the fulfillment of scripture that Jesus is God’s Messiah. In today’s passage, John’s details emphasize two points: the death of Jesus and the manner of his death.

Remember that fairly early after the crucifixion, groups opposing Jesus’ resurrection claimed that Jesus never died. We have already observed that John’s account identifies six eyewitnesses to Jesus’ death, five by name and one by inference. In today’s passage, John again emphasizes the actual death of Jesus: “But when they came to Jesus, they saw that he was already dead, so they didn’t break his legs. One of the soldiers, however, pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water flowed out. (This report is from an eyewitness giving an accurate account. He speaks the truth so that you also can believe)” (John 19:33-35). Although this eyewitness isn’t mentioned by name, I believe the intended inference is that the witness is the author of this Gospel, John. John also tells us that the piercing of Jesus was in fulfillment of Zechariah 12:10, “They will look on the one they pierced” (John 19:37).

John also provided the detail that unlike the two persons crucified on either side of Jesus, the soldiers did not have to break the bones in Jesus’ legs to hasten his death, because Jesus was already dead. This omission by the soldiers fulfilled three Old Testament prophecies about God’s Messiah: Exodus 12:46, Numbers 9:12, and Psalm 34:20.

It was hugely important to John that Jesus wasn’t just a good and innocent man put to death by the Romans; Jesus is God’s Messiah who was crucified in the manner that fulfilled Old Testament prophesies of the Messiah. John’s faith rested securely on the Word of God. Does yours?

Sē’lah

<><  <><  <><  <><

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.