The Things that God Hates 5: A Heart that Plots Wicked Plans

Proverbs 6:16-18; 1 Samuel 18:8-27; Esther 8:3; Psalm 51:10-11.

This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on September 12, 2021.

We have made it to the fourth thing that God hates.  I would take a second to remind those who balk at the concept of God hating something to read the first sermon on this topic dated August 13, 2021 on this blog.

God hates a heart that plots wicked plans

Proverbs 6:18 moves to the heart and the wicked plans that are often plotted in it.  We have many examples of such in the Old Testament.  Let’s start with Saul plotting against David in 1 Samuel 18:8-27.

By this time, Saul has already been told by Samuel that God has rejected him as king because of his rebellions against God.  It is in 1 Samuel 15 that Saul is confronted by the prophet and two things are pointed out.  First, Saul’s problem began when he ceased to be “little in his own eyes” (1 Sam. 15:17), aka pride.  Second, Saul’s rebellion was like the sin of witchcraft, and his stubbornness was like idolatry.  Of course, Saul is king.  Such things are not always evident to the common people in a nation or republic.  God rejected Saul because Saul had continually rejected His words and instructions.

This is the context of David’s great deliverance over Goliath, and his subsequent rise to public glory.  The women had been singing a song that said “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.”  Saul becomes jealous of David’s popularity that has risen above his own.  In his jealousy, he flat out tries to kill David with his spear.  When this doesn’t work, he talks David into marrying his daughter with a steep dowry.  He hopes that David will be caught in a Philistine trap with his own daughter as the bait.  Despite Saul’s hopes, David is doubly successful and Saul became David’s enemy “continually,” or literally “all the days.” (verse 28).  Saul begins to publicly slander David as a rebel and an outlaw to the people of Israel, when this is exactly what Saul was.  He had become a rebel against God plotting plans that were against the Law of God (shedding innocent blood).

Another example is found in the book of Esther, and is mentioned specifically in 8:3.  Haman plotted against Mordecai and the Jews.  Notice that this story begins when Haman’s pride (ceased to be little in his own eyes) was wounded by the fact that Mordecai the Jew did not bow in his presence.  Haman plots against Mordecai in order to hang him on gallows that he had specially made for the occasion.  Yet, this was not enough for Haman.  Haman wants to exterminate the people that Mordecai belongs to, the Jews. 

It is worth noting that Haman is called an Agagite.  This means he is descended from Agag the Amalekite king who Saul did not kill when he was instructed to do so by God.  That is an interesting twist in the story.  However, through Esther, God moves the heart of the King of Persia to be against Haman and with the Jews.

When you compare this plotting to Saul’s, you find that Saul’s plotting is focused on one man, David.  Yet, he is also plotting against the Lord, and the interests of the people of Israel.  He may not be trying to kill the Israelites, but he is injuring them by his actions.  Haman is actively plotting against the people of God out of wounded pride.  Perhaps, he knew the history of the death of his ancestor, and that fueled his hatred.  Ultimately, even though he wouldn’t think so, Haman is plotting against the plans of God.

Always remember when you are worried about the plans of the wicked that the High King of heaven has plans as well.  The plans of the wicked will eventually come to nothing, but the plans of the Lord are established forever!

Lastly, I would point to the plotting that the chief priests and elders of Israel did against Jesus.  It is the same story as before.  Their pride is injured because Jesus exposes their sins.  Instead of choosing repentance, which is the proper action, they plot to kill him.

Even today, the world is plotting against the Word of God, and King Jesus whom the Father has installed as the authority above all in heaven and on earth.  It is not just “wicked Jews,” or any other ethnic group, that we should be pointing the finger at.  Just as God has people from every tribe, nation, and tongue who are his, so Satan has workers from them all.  They are a proud people who bristle at having their sin exposed, who even hate that the things they love are called sins.  They imagine that their plans against God’s people will be successful, but they walk the path of Saul the Benjamite, and Haman the Agagite, men who are like the wicked one.

Many are the designs of the wicked, but those plans are all an abomination to God, and He will destroy them.  Choose this day whose side you are on, the Lord’s or Satan’s. 

Yet, many who are going along with these plans are unwitting.  They are unaware of the wicked plotting and slander.  They are duped in speaking for the cause by the one who disguises himself as an angel of light.  Our job is not to hate even those who plot.  Our job is to spread the Gospel.  God does not delight in the destruction of the wicked.  He would rather that they see their coming judgment, repent, and be saved from it, and so must we.  Now is not a day to get offended and hurt.  It is a day to take a kiss on the cheek and a knife in the back, all the while sharing the good news that they can be saved from their sin and guilt.

This is what God hates.  So, what is it that He loves?  Psalm 51 teaches us that God loves a clean heart.

God loves a clean heart

It is interesting that David had been hated and abused by King Saul.  God delivered David from the wicked plans of Saul, but He did not deliver Uriah from the wicked plans of David.  This mystery, of when God steps in and when He doesn’t, often angers people, but the true issues of life are not about getting justice.  The ultimate issue of life is my heart, what is in it, and what am I becoming.  David ends up becoming the very thing that he prayed God would save him from.

When David was faced with his sin by the prophet Nathan, David was forced to make a choice.  He could kill another man, and add to his guilt, or he could stop and repent.  This is the setting of Psalm 51, which begins with the cry, “Have mercy on me, O God!”  This is a cry that should rise up from every person around the globe and in every language on earth. (Hebrew) חָנֵּנִי אֱלֹהִים. (Greek)  ἐλέησόν με ὁ θεός. 

In verse 10 of Psalm 51, David recognizes that his heart needed cleaning.  It had become defiled.  That defilement began when he contemplated, plotted, to sin.  His plots grew until he was trapped by his sins.  Everyone would know when Bathsheba began to show her pregnancy.  He then plotted to neutralize the trap by adding to his sins the murder of Uriah the Hittite.  How ironic it is to see that Uriah the Hittite, that is not an Israelite, had more integrity at this juncture than David who had been the poster-child for integrity in his youth.

David had no one to blame, but his own heart.  Saul was no longer around to blame.  Jesus reminds us in the New Testament that a man is not defiled by what goes into his body, but by what comes up out of his heart.  Adultery, murder, and deception (lies), came up out of David’s heart and flowed into his life.  David is proof that even the most righteous among us are faced with a heart that gravitates to sin.  Unless we are daily vigilant at keeping it clean of those “gravitations,” we can do the basest of things.  My heart, your heart, needs cleaning.  All the hearts on this planet need a clean heart more than they need justice for the sins done against them.

David recognizes that he can’t do this cleaning by himself.  He needs God’s help.  This is not the cry of a man on the couch asking God to get him a drink from the fridge (I.e., do for me what I don’t want to do).  This is a man who is broken over his sin and realizing that he cannot remove it by himself.

Throughout this whole Psalm, there is wording that makes it clear that David recognizes that he has become what Saul had been.  In verse 11, David begs that God will not cast him away (as a rebel), and also remove His Holy Spirit from him.  When Saul was rejected by God, an evil spirit began to bother him.  David recognized what comes next.  He should be cast away and harassed by an evil spirit.  Such is the lot of those who rebel against God.  Yet, this is not God’s desire for Saul or David.  David begs for mercy where Saul only doubled down on his insolence.

Let us not fool ourselves.  If we fail in embracing God’s heart-cleansing program through pride and arrogance, then we will eventually come under the judgment of God.  It is not enough to be a church member, or to have been a Christian for decades.  Each time we are faced with defilement in our heart, we must humble ourselves and take our medicine.

Cleaning begins with a broken spirit and a contrite heart.  In verse 16, David points to the sacrifices that God is not looking for, those that could be done on a public altar, but are not from the heart.  Interesting, Saul had several times used public sacrifices as an excuse for his sin.  One time, he did the sacrifice himself instead of waiting for the prophet.  The second time, he tried to justify his disobedience to God by saying he wanted to make a big sacrifice out of it.  Saul tried to create a moral fig leaf for his sin, but God saw through it to the heart behind the actions. 

God has not called us to do what we want for Him.  There are a lot of Church leaders today who have great plans they are promoting for God, but they are not doing what He told them to do.  In short, they are rebelling.

May God stop us from only seeing their sin and their defilement.  May He help us to first deal with our own through a broken spirit and a contrite heart.  My heart must be broken, not because I am devastated to learn that I can sin, but because I realize that God’s love is only by His grace, that I never deserved, and even now only deserve His wrath.  It must be contrite.  Contrition requires two aspects: a sense of guilt over our sin, and a desire for God’s cleansing.  May we come to Him today with contrite hearts, and may we learn to do the actions of repentance in every aspect of our life.

Lessons from the Underground Church 6: The Moment of Crisis

This is a 13 week series that will not be posted on our website.  If you would like an audio of the sermon or a written article on the sermon contents then please contact the church at AbundantLifeEverett@frontier.com.  You can also leave a message at 425.438.1500.  Thank you for your interest.

Seated at the Right Hand of God

Mark 16:15-20.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on April 11, 2021.

The authority and power of Jesus is something that the world pays little attention to.  It seems to have no bearing upon the process of answering the problems of our society.  Yet, God’s Word tells us that Jesus is seated at the right hand of God the Father.

May God help us to hold on to this truth, and to live it out in a society that is increasingly casting off the truth of Jesus.  Don’t give up your inheritance for a bowl of beans.  Don’t cast aside the only thing that can give your life meaning today, and prepare yourself for the eternity that awaits once you die.

The textual issue of Mark 16:9-20

I did not go over this last week, but will do so now.  There is an issue with the text of Mark 16:9-20.  The NKJV just has a footnote that mentions that these verses are missing in Codex Sinaiticus & Codex Vaticanus, but are in nearly all other manuscripts- codex simply means a book.  This makes it sound like there is little contrary evidence to retaining these verses.  The NIV states, “The earliest manuscripts and some other ancient witnesses do not have Mark 16:9-20.”  This makes it sound like most of the evidence, or at least the best evidence, is on the side of omitting these verses.  The NLT actually lists a shorter ending, and a longer ending and gives some footnotes.  So, what is up with these verses and should they be in the Bible?

Let’s look at the manuscript evidence first.  We do not have the originals of any biblical books and, in fact, do not have whole copies of the New Testament that date any further back than the 4^th century, or the 300’s AD.  So, the two codices (plural for codex) that the NKJV list are considered the most ancient full copies of the Bible, even though they are old and have some pages missing, etc.  There is another codex called Codex Alexandrinus that is considered just as important as the other two mentioned.  They were created within 50 years of each other.  In this case, Sinaiticus and Vaticanus omit the verses and Alexandrinus retains the verses.  It is important to know that Sinaiticus and Vaticanus do not always agree in textual issues.  For example, there are times when Sinaiticus agrees with Alexandrinus against Vaticanus, and other times that Vaticanus agrees with Alexandrinus against Sinaiticus.  This should give us pause and make us ask why this would be so in this case.

Another issue regarding the manuscripts is that 99% of the manuscripts have the verses in them.  However, two of the most ancient copies of Mark that we have do not have the verses.  This causes a pause for all scholars.

Another line of evidence is found in ancient translations.  The Latin translation by Jerome that was done in the 300’s AD has the verses in them.  Interestingly, Jerome mentions some of the manuscripts from his day (we do not have these) did not have verses 9-20.  Weighing the evidence of his day, he determined that they should be retained.  There are some other translations to other languages that occur later, which leave these verses out.  However, this only reiterates the reality that there was a question in this area.  Most ancient translations retained the verses.  So, this line doesn’t really help to determine anything more than that a question existed from the 300’s on that most scholars chose on the side of retaining the verses.

Lastly, we do have evidence that is older than the 300’s and this comes from writing of the early Church Fathers, or Leaders.  Some of these are from the 100’s AD and some from the 200’s AD.  Tatian created a harmony of all 4 gospels between 150 and 170 AD.  He essentially collated the verses in an approximate order so that all 4 gospels were in one book.  He has these verses in his harmony, called the Diatessaron.  Irenaeus, in his book Against Heresies, quotes from these verses (this would be around 180 AD).  There are no writers from the 100’s AD that dispute its veracity.  It is in the 200’s that we begin to run into writers that mention some manuscripts not having the verses.  So, now we know that the issue at least goes back to the 200’s, and that if it was known about earlier, either no one felt it important enough to point out, or were unaware of any issue.

This leaves scholars to try and come up with a scenario that would explain these facts.  The most likely of the proposed scenarios so far is that it is possible that the original copy of Mark’s Gospel had its last page/leaf/(scroll) damaged or lost.  Perhaps later when it was being copied the verses were supplied from memory (by Mark? Or someone else?).  It is difficult to know for sure.  It is hard to believe that someone could just add verses that had no connection to the Gospel without others disputing it.  So, the verses must have been original or very close to the original so as to cause no alarm. 

The main problem with omitting these verses is that verse 8 of chapter 16 would be a strange place to stop for the Gospel.  I believe that the evidence points to the fact that they should be included, but even then, everything that we find in these verses can be verified from the other Gospels and the book of Acts.

The mission of the followers of Jesus

Back on January 24, 2021, we looked at the Great Commission from all four Gospels.  There, we recognized that they clearly detail the same event, but have different emphases.  Jesus was getting ready to leave his disciples in the sense that he would not be physically appearing to them again, like he had been doing for nearly 40 days.  Thus, he gives them the work, or mission, that he wants them to focus on as they move forward.

The scope of this mission is “all the world,” and “to every creature.”  Previously, they were restricted to go to the “House of Israel,” but now Christ is expanding their task.  They are to go to all the world.  This was not an idea that the world of those days held.  Pagans saw the world as controlled by territorial spirits.  You appeased the spirits of your location.  It wouldn’t make sense for everyone to worship only one God.  On the other hand, Jews saw the nations as rejected by God, though they would teach those who were interested, but that was it.

Christ would no longer leave the nations in the dark, but sends his disciples out with the truth that would set the Gentiles free from the long servitude under ignorance and the false teaching of evil spirits, and fallen angels.  “Every creature” emphasizes that which is created by God, and clearly is focused on humans.  God had created all of humanity to bear His image, not just Israel.  It was time to aggressively enter the nations and remind them of this truth, and the Good News of Jesus.

We have our marching orders and should not stop until our commander returns.

The activity of this mission is to preach the Gospel.  Mark emphasizes proclaiming the Gospel (the word translated preach is a simple proclamation made by anybody).  From the other Gospels, we know that this is to include discipling those who believe.  It is a critical component of the teaching of Jesus that we are to persuasively proclaim him to others.  However, the idea that Christians should leave others alone in their belief systems is growing in its adherents today.  At the same time that a case for Christians leaving others alone is made, there is an aggressive proselytizing of Christians to believe what the world wants us to believe.

The hallmark of Christianity is the arena of ideas and truth claims.  Christians are not to be afraid to go toe to toe with other religions or philosophies because we have been sent by the Truth.  Yet, we should also remain humble.  We are not the Truth itself.  To the degree that we rightly represent Christ is to the degree that we are right.  This point has often been transgressed much to the harm of the cause of Christ.

The response to this proclamation will be either belief or rejection.  Many will reject the Gospel and Jesus that we proclaim, but some will believe.  Mark mentions that those who believe and are baptized will be saved.  This is not a statement of what saves, I.e., one is not saved until baptized, but of what should happen.  Baptism was seen as symbolic of what had happened in responding hearts, and a public declaration of a person’s inclusion into the Christian Community, and identification with them and Jesus.

Christians should always be a community that makes room for new believers, who are new spiritual babies.  We are to be a family that is learning to become like Jesus together.  This requires a lot of work beyond baptism, which Matthew calls “teaching” and “discipling.”  Of course, God’s response will always be to save those who believe.  That gives us three important “responses:” the believer who responds to Christ’s command by proclaiming the Gospel, the receiver of the Gospel who believes the message, and God who responds to that faith by saving them.

The signs that follow the mission that is done in Christ’s name are noted as: casting out demons, speaking in new tongues, not harmed by venom or poison, and healing of the sick.  It is important to note the wording here.  “These signs will follow those who believe.”  Though Christ is in heaven, he would be with his disciples by the Holy Spirit.  Christ would confirm the Gospel preached by his disciples with powerful signs at his determination.  Thus, this is a list of the types of things that would happen and not a command for us to do them.  We can be guilty of associating too closely the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the person through whom they happen.  This wording is a balance to that.  The power is always in Jesus and from Jesus, not us.  We are to be faithful and he will confirm as he determines.  Our mission is the proclamation, not doing signs and wonders.

None of these signs should be controversial among believers, but they sometimes are.  Casting out demons may not be acceptable to secular psychologists, but it is clear that their theories do not explain all things.  Speaking with new tongues is a reference to Acts chapter two, and outpouring of the Holy Spirit.  The venom of snakes and poison is not a test of faith, nor a statement that no true Christian can be harmed by them.  The Bible even records an example of this in Acts 28.  Notice in that story that Paul is not purposefully looking for a serpent to prove himself.  The healing of the sick, has sometimes become a mockery and a scam by the activity of pretenders.  This is a tragedy and a sin against Christ.  In all of these things, we should recognize that these are signs that would happen from time to time, and they did, and they are even today.

The ascension of Jesus

In verse 19, the translation “received up” is probably better translated “taken up” due to its usage today.  From Acts 1, we know that Jesus lifted up into the air until he went into the clouds, and they could no longer see him.  This would function to cement in their minds that they would not see him again, until he came back on the clouds in judgment.  The continual appearances that had happened in the weeks after the Resurrection had now come to an end.  Jesus was now residing in heaven, at the right hand of God the Father.  Thus, Jesus has come full circle, back where he started.  However, now he has the additional nature of a man, and the only rightful claim to the earth’s title.

We are then told that Jesus sits at the right hand of God.  This speaks to the closeness with the Father, he is the right-hand man of God, and it speaks to his authority and power.  Romans 8:34 adds that in that place Christ is interceding for believers.  We have a savior who intercedes on our behalf before God the Father daily.  This ought to comfort us a great deal and should always quash the idea that God doesn’t care about us, or doesn’t know about our problems.

Ultimately, we see that the disciples began the work that Christ gave them, and Christ fulfilled his duties.  He worked with them by confirming the word that they preached with signs.  How important it is for us to make sure that we are proclaiming the words of Jesus and the Bible.  If we are proclaiming our ideas and opinions then why would Christ confirm those?  We aren’t always right, but He is!

May this be our testimony today that we are a people living out the word of Christ and sharing that with others.  May we be a people who are making room for those who are being saved, and may we be helping them to become followers of Jesus, and imagers of God, along with us.

Seated at the right Hand audio

The Lord of Life

Mark 16:1-14.  This sermon was preached on Resurrection Sunday by Pastor Marty Bonner on April 4, 2021.

There are those in the Church who only value Jesus as an inspiring tale of love and hope.  Similarly, they value the Bible as a text that can inspire us to great good, but which does not place any truth claims upon us.  To them, it is not important what the Bible claims to be true, but only what it inspires us to do.

If you have never run into such a person then be thankful.  The problem with this view is that it somehow thinks the greatest problem of mankind is that we are without a good vision, or are simply short-sighted.  However, the claim of the Bible is that our true problem lies deep within our soul, and it is sin.  We are all bent away from that which is good and towards satisfying the selfish desires of our flesh.  If Jesus was not resurrected from the grave then we are still stuck without an answer to this “sin problem.”  If Jesus was only showing us a supreme example of love, and not the power of One who was saving us by it, then we are still stuck in our sins, and the world is without hope.

It is sad to see the world continually doubling down upon the idea that we can save ourselves.  Whether through science and technology, or the progress of our great wisdom, we continue to think that we can fix every problem, if we only gave more power to the right people.  Such solutions are destined to fail in the same dust bin of all that have gone on before because in the end all men, women, boys, and girls fall short of that which is right and good.  We need a savior, and Jesus is God’s answer for the sin problem that we all have.

They discover that the tomb is empty

Our passage starts on Sunday morning at dawn, when it will be found that Jesus is no longer in the tomb.  Mark clearly emphasizes the female followers of Jesus in these last two chapters.  In chapter 15, he remarks that it was they who stood at a distance when Jesus died, and followed to see where he would be buried.  Where are the men?  They are hiding.  Yes, John was at the cross for a time, but it appears he leaves with Mary the mother of Jesus at some point.  This opening scene of chapter 16 has these women going to the tomb early on Sunday morning. 

So, who are these women?  The women listed are Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the lesser, and Salome (we know from Matthew that she is the mother of James and John the sons of Zebedee).  All of them, were deeply impacted by the healing and teaching of Jesus.

Of course, technically the Sabbath would be over on Saturday evening.  However, these women needed light to do the work that they intend, which is to put spices upon and around the body of Jesus.  Why?  This was done to cut down on the smell of decomposition while family members visited and grieved their loved one.  It was not an attempt at mummification at all.  This type of tomb would have a place where the dead body would be laid.  It would be left in this location until decomposition had left only bones.  The bones would then be put into an ossuary, or bone box, and stored in the tomb.  Thus, a whole family could be buried within the same tomb.

Notice that there is no indication that these women are thinking that Jesus might be resurrected.  They are not coming on the third day to check if Jesus had risen from the dead like he said he would.  They are simply coming to do for their master teacher what they could in such a bad situation.  Jesus was dead and they believe that he will remain dead, decompose, and be buried in a bone box.  It is one of the worse days of their lives.  However, Resurrection Sunday teaches us that sometimes the worst day of our lives turns out to be the best.  Christians are called to be a people of hope in the most dire of situations because we know that even in death things are not over for us!

The main problem on their mind as they approach the tomb is the stone.  How are they going to get the stone moved from the mouth of the tomb so that they can get in?  Perhaps they intend to ask the guards, but are not sure the guards will help them.  The Gospel of Matthew tells us that there was an earthquake that morning and that an angel came down and moved the stone aside.  It is unclear whether this happens as the women arrive or that it has happened just before they arrived.  I like to think that the resurrection happened at that earthquake.  The stone is not being moved so that the risen Lord can get out, but so that the women can get in and witness that Jesus is no longer there.  The guards are scared to death by the earthquake and the angel and take off.

Thus, the women find the tomb open and they go in, only to find “a young man clothed in a long white robe sitting on the right side.”  This has them in a state of alarm, unsure of what is going on.  From the other Gospels, we know that this young man is a heavenly messenger, an angel.  Why would Mark call him a young man when other accounts call him an angel?  Is this a contradiction?  No, it is not.  Rather, this follows a typical Old Testament pattern.  Most angels appeared to look like men and are often initially called such until they are identified as heavenly by their activity. 

An example of this is in Judges 13.  There the story of Samson’s parents is found when they encounter the Angel of the LORD.  The narrator lets us know up front that Samson’s parents are interacting with an angel, but the woman and the man think he is a “man of God.”  It is not until the “man of God” ascended in the flame of an offering to God that they were burning that they realized they had seen the Angel of the LORD.  We see the same thing in Genesis 18 and 19, when Abraham is visited by “three men.”  By the end of the story, we find out that two of the “men” were angels who went down to Sodom to deliver Lot, and the third “man” was the LORD Himself.  The only heavenly beings described as having wings are the throne guardians referred to as Cherubim and Seraphim.

I take the time to go through this because there is a lot of confusion in this area of understanding angels and heavenly beings.  Angels who were sent to be messengers for God appeared to be men and were typically called such until their activity made it clear that they were heavenly messengers (not just a man of God, but an actual heavenly being).

So, what does the angel in the tomb tell them?  First, he tells them that they are looking for Jesus, but he is risen and not there.  The tomb is empty and Jesus has risen from the dead.  It is amazing how Jesus has a tendency not to stay in the boxes that we try to put him in.  They tried to get rid of the problem of Jesus by putting him in the grave, but that didn’t work.  People are still trying to put Jesus in boxes today, whether unbelievers or believers.  Be careful of thinking that you have Jesus all figured out.  He is the Lord of Life and we would all do well to be very humble in how we think about him.

The angel then tells them to go tell the disciples, and Peter, that Jesus is planning to meet them in Galilee.  I think the angel purposefully adds Peter’s name separate to the disciples.  It both emphasizes the reality of what Peter has done, and the reality of what Peter feels like, separated from what he was a part of.  Jesus had told them before his death that he would rise again and meet them on a certain mountain in Galilee.  However, their unbelief regarding what would happen got in the way of their understanding.

The descriptions of these women are understandable: trembled, amazed, and afraid.  Oh, that moment when your natural mind is assailed by the supernatural power of Jesus.  It is enough to make you quite afraid, but that is not where Jesus intended to leave them, or us.  A new relationship with the risen Lord has begun, and they don’t even know the half of it yet.

Jesus appears to his disciples

Mark does not give a timeline with details of the post-resurrection visitations of Jesus, but he does note a least three of them.  Each time, the unbelieving response of the disciples is highlighted.  These were not bold tomb-robbers trying to invent a new religion, as some try to accuse, nor were they giants of faith, ready to receive the good word.  They were just like we would be in the moment, freaked out and unbelieving at first.

Jesus first appears to Mary Magdalene.  I believe the first appearance has nothing to do with conspiracy ideas that circulate today.  Contrary to the conspiracy theories, Mary Magdalene was not a romantic interest of Jesus.  Even the gnostic text that is used as proof that she was, does not say this, and it is clearly not from the first century and from eye-witnesses.  I believe that God is here rebuking their society and his disciples by appearing to a woman first.  She was not only a woman, but was a woman who had been possessed by 7 demons.  Jesus purposefully picks one who they would not look up to, nor believe.  God is the God of the lowly and humble, those whom society often has little time for.  He did not appear to Herod, Pilate, Caiaphas, or Caesar for that matter.  He appeared to someone who may have been possessed by demons, but was now set free.  She had used her income to help support the ministry of Jesus, and was faithful even in his death.  This is the testimony of the risen Lord to you today.  It matters not how bad your history is, or how low you are viewed in this society.  What matters is that Jesus wants to reveal his power over death, his power over your sin, and his love for you, to you.

Mark does not describe the interaction, but focuses on Mary’s attempt to tell the disciples that she had seen Jesus alive.  She enters the place where the disciples are weeping and mourning, and tells them that Jesus is alive, that she has seen him!  However, they did not believe her.  Why not?  Maybe it seemed preposterous that he would be alive at all, or maybe it was preposterous that he would appear to her before them?  Whatever the reason, they did not believe her.

Mark then relates that Jesus secondly appeared to two disciples on the road outside of Jerusalem.  This is clearly the two men on the road to Emmaus that are mentioned in Luke 24:13-35.  Emmaus is described as a village that is about 7 miles from Jerusalem.  Jesus walks up to them and talks with them, has a meal with them when they reach Emmaus, and vanishes from the table after blessing the bread.  They hadn’t recognized him at first, but they did when he blessed the bread and handed it to them.  It was close to evening, but they ran back to Jerusalem and told the disciples what they had seen.  However, again, Mark emphasizes that the disciples did not believe these men either.  

The unbelief of The Eleven at this point can help us to understand why Jesus purposefully does not appear to them first.  Even we can complain that Jesus didn’t appear to us personally.  Why must I only believe upon the witness of others?  Many today proudly state that if God did something spectacular for them then they would believe, but these guys had seen Jesus do all manner of spectacular things, and yet they didn’t believe.  Are we lying to ourselves, and to God, when we make such bold statements?  Most likely, we are.  Our pride needs to be humbled before we are ready to meet the risen Lord!

Lastly, Jesus finally appears to The Eleven (verse 14).  He rebukes their unbelief and their hardness of heart.  This is the hallmark of the Gospel to this very day.  Jesus is always being introduced by those who have encountered him to those who have not yet.

If you find yourself wrestling with unbelief then know that you are not alone.  However, that is not a place to stay and hang out.  Unbelief in the face of so much evidence is not just being careful.  It often is more than that; it is having a hard heart.  May God help us by softening our hearts this morning to see just who Jesus is.  He is the Lord of Life.  He has the command of life and power over death.

This generation is chomping at the bit of moving past Jesus as an answer to this world’s problems, but he is the only answer.  Revolutions and new laws will not fix this world because the real problem is inside each and every one of us.  It has nothing to do with your gender, skin color, sexual preference, economic station, or political party.  It is the fact that each and everyone of us has a sin problem that cannot be solved through justice.  It can only be solved through letting go of justice and embracing the grace of Jesus Christ, who alone gives eternal life!

Lord of Life audio