Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” And when He had said this, He showed them both His hands and His side. The disciples then rejoiced when they saw the Lord. John 20:19-20 (read verses 19-23)
INTRO: The day after Easter 2004, I had an impression as if God were speaking to me
Church attendance swells on Easter–more than any other day of the year
– so there was always a lot of preparation for Easter weekend and we treated Easter Day as a big event
– then, like all big events, the day after we would experience an emotional let down
• but that year, I felt that God was saying, “Don’t draw an ‘X’ through that box on calendar–Easter isn’t over”
The following weekend I visited the Camadoli hermitage near Big Sur for first time
– there I met Fr. Romuald, and through his love and wisdom I discovered a new level of intimacy with God
– one morning that same weekend, while meditating in scripture, I received another impression, as though God was saying, “I am bringing something new to birth in you”
– this coincided with Easter, which they celebrate, not for a day, but all through April and May read more…
Draw near to God and He will draw near to youThe role of the media in our culture has resulted in a blurring of image and identity, of surface and substance. Public personalities who have created scandals do not try to live with greater integrity, they work on improving their image. How much can we learn about a product in fifteen seconds or analyze a political debate in one hour of television time? We know only the surface of things and that is all we want to know. It is also all we want to know about ourselves.
Jesus raised a bold and courageous protest against superficiality–notice the number of times he used the word hypocrites in this chapter! “Go to work on the inside,” he told his audience, “and the outside will take care of itself.”
Jesus had not given up on the Pharisees, but made an appeal to them to wake up to what they had missed, yet was so obvious. At least four times in this speech Jesus accused the Pharisees of being blind (vv. 16, 17, 19, 26). Their blindness was a typical trait of human nature: We cannot learn what we think we already know–our prejudice gets in the way. Unfortunately, what they had not seen would cost them everything (vv. 32-33).
O Lord, may You ever find us open to seeing new things and learning new ideas. May we be teachable. We are wrong about many things, but we cannot see how we are wrong. Patiently show us, enlighten us, and disciple us into Your truth. May we always remember that what God sees is different from what humans see, because we look only on the appearance whereas God looks into the heart. Lord, Jesus, make our hearts beautiful for Him.
As soon as He was approaching, near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles which they had seen, shouting:
“Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord
Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.” But Jesus answered, “I tell you, if these become silent, the stones will cry out!” Luke 19:37-40
INTRO: Almost everyone says they feel closer to God in nature
So why don’t we go into country, desert, forest, or walk by the ocean more often?
– beside having schedules that are overbooked, we add to them unnecessary responsibilities
When Jesus entered Jerusalem, some Pharisees told him to restrain his disciples
– but as it was, the voice of the people was restraining the rocks — all nature was ready to breakout in praise
Religion is supposed to prepare us for life on this planet, but instead it sometimes declares war on nature
– for example, a practice of silence and solitude can be spiritually refreshing and make us better listeners, etc.
– but to never speak or interact with others goes against both nature and scripture
Ecc. 3:7, there’s “a time to be silent and a time to speak” read more…
Draw near to God and He will draw near to youRemarkably, Jesus told the crowds and disciples to do as the Pharisees taught when they took the teacher’s chair in the synagogue, yet the point of Jesus’ conflict with the Pharisees was precisely their interpretation of the Law of Moses–for example, Sabbath-keeping, purification rituals, fasting, and so on. On a positive note, however, the scribes and Pharisees did demonstrate a great devotion to the Scriptures.
The first of Jesus’ criticism of the scribes and Pharisees was that they did not live up to what they taught and, furthermore, they placed heavy burdens on people they themselves were unwilling to help carry. Religion will always have its people who say the right words, but do not live the truth, people who play for a human audience and love positions and official titles, people who are more image than substance.
Is living for God a heavy burden? Is a righteous life a heavy burden? Is it not sin and guilt that are the heavy burdens? But there is a way that some people define Christian duties and obligations that make it a burden–a bundle of rules.
We give You thanks, Lord God, for what this teaching tells us about the Teacher. There are times when we are bent over with a great burden that we must carry–and we have enough of them without the added load that religious people would place on us. Jesus, who invites those who are “heavy laden” to come to Him, gets under our burdens with us and carries them as if they belonged to Him. Yoked with Him, Jesus is forever with us, our closest Companion, our Savior.
But let a man examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. 1 Corinthians 11:28-29
INTRO: Today we’re going to read through three passages
Each passage brings us to a new understanding of the relationship between our bodies and Jesus
– as we read, pay attention to what Paul says is the wrong thing to do, think, or say, and the right things
1 Corinthians 11:23-32 – instructions regarding the Lord’s Supper
What does he say is wrong (or wrong way to approach the Lord’s Supper)?
– “unworthy” – specifically, 29, “not discerning the body”
What does he say is right (or right way to approach it)?
– we must examine ourselves and with that inward focus eat and drink
The Lord’s Supper is where we symbolically begin with Jesus
– whatever happens when we meet him and receive him, it is celebrated in the Lord’s Supper
– we return to this place of our beginning repeatedly read more…
Draw near to God and He will draw near to youUntil now, Jesus had been answering questions put to him in the temple, but in this passage he asked the Pharisees a question. Reading this episode, we sense that Jesus enjoyed presenting a riddle they could not solve. His question seems to take them by surprise, as though they had never considered the logical problem entailed in David referring to the Messiah as his son (Ps. 110:1).
The way Jesus stated the problem, it sounds as if either they were wrong or David was wrong. In their culture, where the ancestor was always considered to be greater than the descendant and honor moved only one direction generationally, it was impossible for the Messiah to be both David’s son and David’s Lord.
The book of Matthew opens with an introduction to “Jesus the Messiah, the son of David” (1:1). But once we get through Jesus’ genealogy “according to the flesh” (Ro. 1:3), we discover he was conceived of the Holy Spirit (Mt. 1:20). Therefore, he is also “the Son of God” (Ro. 1:4). Jesus’ riddle brings to the surface a secret regarding the Messiah. Jesus led them into this quagmire because there was only one road out–a new understanding of the Messiah.
We cannot answer all of Your questions, Lord Jesus, but still we enjoy the opportunity to learn more about You. For the same reason we are not afraid to ask You questions. We consider it unfortunate that the Pharisees used questions like weapons rather than \a means of receiving the best theological education in the history of humankind. Lord, we respect You, admire You, revere You, and love You.
For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. Romans 8:5 (read vv. 1-17)
INTRO: In the last six weeks, we’ve gone over the body in scripture from head to toe and from the outside in
We have been exploring the role their bodies (and parts) played in their spiritual understanding
– we have seen that men and women in the Bible listened to their bodies, searching for deeper meanings to what they felt and experienced
For example, when Rebekah was pregnant with twins and they jostled each other in her womb, she asked, “‘If it is so, then why am I this way?’ So she went to inquire of the LORD” (Ge. 25:26). It was then that God revealed to her the destiny of her two sons. The point is that she believed that what went on inside of her had a meaning that only God could make clear.
Draw near to God and He will draw near to youThe interrogation of Jesus in this chapter was not a quest for truth, but an ongoing attempt to “trap Him in what He said” (v. 15). His enemies kept dangling a baited hook in front of him, asking him trick questions, and hoping he would slip up and say something that would get him into trouble with the authorities or make him unpopular with the people.
There was a bright side to this bantering, however, in that it gave Jesus the opportunity to clarify and expand on important spiritual issues. Of all the issues Jesus addressed, none was more important than the “great and foremost commandment.” According to Jesus, every requirement of God in the entire Scriptures–Law and Prophets–was summed up in the two commandments to love God and to love one’s neighbor. After this dialogue, there could be no more question regarding the greatest commandment, because all the others were themes and variations on these two.
Oh Lord, we are tempted to congratulate ourselves because we know the greatest commandment. But for You, it has never been a matter of knowing what God desires most from us, but doing what He desires. It is as if You were looking us in the eye and saying, “If you want to live, then love. Love the Father by surrendering your heart to Him, and love others by treating them the way you wish to be treated. . . . So, why are you still sitting there?”
Body Parts In Scripture
The internal organs
The Abdomen – meim
- the belly or “bowels”
– includes intestines and internal reproductive organs (Ge. 15:4) - specifically, female reproductive organs – rechem, the womb (Jer. 20:17)
- male and female reproductive organs — beten — also “belly” or appetite
- the innermost parts of the body are hadre beten
– the bed chamber and inner rooms of the temple — hadre/heder (2 Ki. 6:12 and 1 Chr. 28:11)
– Yahweh searches these inner places of the person (Pr. 20:27) - all of the “inner parts” located in the body cavity — qereb (Pr. 14:33)
- the liver – kebed
– from kbd, “heavy,” “weight” – probably for its size
Lam. 2:11, “My heart (kebed) is poured out on the earth”
“This is a way of describing measureless grief; in his sorrow the poet is no longer in control of his innermost feelings; his very life is poured out with his liver.” Hans W. Wolf, Anthropology of the Old Testament read more…
Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being,
And in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom. Psalm 51:6 (read entire Psalm)
INTRO: What is your body trying to tell you?
Antonio Damasio is a respected scientist and one of his fields of research is the neurology of emotion
– he had identified a brain-body loop that is necessary for processing emotions
– messages are carried from the body to the brain chemically (in the blood) and electrically (in the nervous system)
Think about this for a moment? How do we know we’re hungry? We feel sensations of hunger
– there are some people, who when really hungry, slip into a bad mood
-the body affects the brain, producing emotional responses to various sensations
Damasio says that in our western society today, we cut ourselves off from a lot of the body’s messages
– he guesses that in earlier times that was not the case
“It must have been easier to sense life within . . . . I suspect they were able to sense more about themselves than many of us, the unforewarned, are able to sense these days.”
There’s no need to guess that ancient people were more aware of went on in their bodies – all we have to do is read the Old Testament
– I’ll point out just one example I read a couple months ago: read more…
Daily Meditations From the Scriptures