New Thoughts (03/27/13-04/02/13)
I shall start by considering a few technicalities, the first of which concerns the proper translation of pros as it appears in John 20:12. I only bring this up because Wuest, in his translation, speaks of the angels sitting ‘one facing the head and one facing the feet’. To begin with, that seems a rather odd description, but then, Wuest’s efforts to convey particulars of Greek grammar in his translation often lead to odd constructs in English.
Further, such a description is, to my mind, very suggestive of the description of the Seraphim in the temple. If this be the case, then the scene is exceedingly significant, as those Seraphim would have been set above the mercy seat, and Jesus, as our propitiation, has a distinct connection with being the fulfillment of the mercy seat. That would make the symbolism of this verse very powerful were that the way this ought to be understood.
However, the three lexicons I generally reference are in full agreement as to how pros is to be translated, and it is very dependent upon case. The Genitive case of pros indicates motion from some point. The Accusative case indicates motion towards, or being directed towards. Were the Accusative case utilized here, then Wuest would certainly be justified in choosing the phrasing he did. However, the text has the Dative case, which indicates resting by or near. Thus, it seems pretty clear that the bulk of the translations are better aligned to the Greek when they offer, taking the NASB for example, ‘one at the head, and one at the feet’.
Is there more that could or should be made of this mention of their position? I am not aware of any. It seems more the case that in mentioning this detail, John makes clear that Mary’s observation of that tomb was sufficient to have lodged the memory of this detail in her thoughts in spite of her extremes of sorrow. Put another way, it makes clear that the angels made much more of an impression on her than her response to their question might suggest.
Considering Mary in preparation of this study, I noted how unusual her response is. It seems so much a universal aspect of angelic encounters as Scripture describes them that those involved are all but overwhelmed by the occasion. Fear, a sudden urge to worship, awe; all of these are effectively normal responses to such encounters. But, Mary shows zero evidence of tending towards any such response. How is it that she alone of all those involved in this Gospel story is seemingly unimpressed by these beings?
That mystery may be resolved, then, by the mention of how these two were situated on the ledge where Jesus had lain. They did make an impression. There was a sense of awe in Mary. But, the depth of her grief overwhelmed her capacity for awe. Her sorrows had effectively damped out any other emotion. Of course, we could also set the angels as cause for her exotic capacity to remain unaffected by their presence. Yet, were this the case, it would seem reasonable to expect they would exercise that same calming power in their other encounters. Why, for instance, no effort to be less overwhelming to the other women who had seen them? Why no lessening of their impact on the shepherds back at the start of things?
Well, obviously, they are at liberty to pursue their commands as best suits each occasion, and equally obvious is their capability to alter and modulate their appearance. Whether, however, they have the capacity to impact the thoughts and emotions of mankind is, I think, more questionable. I cannot think of an occasion where Scripture relates angelic capacity for reading or writing the internal state of man. That is a thing, I believe, reserved to God Himself, and thank God for it! Consider that if the angels were capable of so directly injecting thought and feeling, so, too, would be those fallen angels in Satan’s employ. I am not (at least this morning) convinced they hold any such power. To be sure, they are quite adept at so arranging circumstances around us as to lead us into temptations we are all too happy to accept. And, I am mindful of that marvelous sermon from my early years, pointing out that Satan has one mode of assault, to begin with, one path, that being your mind. But, direct influence? Injecting of thoughts not my own? I would need to ponder it more, but for the moment I would say no. Not in the repertoire of angels.
Shifting subjects, then: One of the passages brought out as paralleling this narrative is Hebrews 2:17. There, the author explains how Jesus had to be made like His brothers in all regards. This was a necessary precursor to His taking up the eternal office of high priest for us, of fulfilling that propitiatory aspect of the mercy seat on behalf of God’s people. The question that comes to mind, reading that in conjunction with this scene of death and resurrection, is whether that necessity of being made like us encompassed His death as well?
Here is something, to be sure, that God never has and never could experience in Himself. How can the Eternal ever understand death, even though it is by His own Law that death is imposed? Yet, in our fallen condition, it is most assuredly a thing that shall lie at some point within our experience. Consider the reason set forth for this necessity. It is so that He could serve effectively as our high priest. Elsewhere, that same author notes that He experienced all that we experience, every temptation, every weakness and aspect of suffering – yet without sin. And, He did this why? So as to be able to better sympathize with our weaknesses as our high priest (Heb 4:15), so that we could know confidence in approaching His throne for mercy in time of need (Heb 4:16).
Well, certainly fear of death is high on our list of weaknesses. We dread very few things more than our exit from this life. Yes, we who have put our faith in Christ know a certain joy in the prospect as well. And yes, we can certainly see, in those who precede us, many an occasion where the certitude of death is clearly to be preferred over the incessant pain of living with incurable disease. Yet, even with that, even with our knowledge of Who awaits us on the other side, it is rare indeed to find one who is anxiously hoping to move the date forward on that happy event. Indeed, we would hold that suicide, even were it pursued solely in hopes of getting home to the Lord the sooner, is an act sinful in God’s sight, a violence done against the body created in His image every bit as much as the murder of another.
But, Jesus faced it head on. He knew firsthand the agony of seeing death approaching. He knew it better than most of us will ever know it. Think of the ways death generally comes to us. There are accidental deaths, which offer little to no notice and so avoid the agony of the approach. There are those deaths which come of disease and aging which, though we recognize they are inevitable barring death by other means, still tend to be outside the scope of our active thoughts. Sure, we know we’re getting older, and that the body doesn’t operate so well as it once did, but death remains distant. Eventually, we are aware that the distance is no longer so great, that we had best set affairs in order. But, it’s not, at least as I’ve observed it, an agony and fear. It’s acceptance. Quite often, even that awareness of the end is attenuated by the impacts of aging.
Closer to the death Jesus faced would be that of a man on death row. The date certain is set for his final payment for his crimes. There is no hope of reprieve, no pardon coming from the governor. There is only the expectation, the ritual of final meal, the long walk to the end. And even that, I must say, pales in comparison. We may assume, for example, that the one making that walk is at least aware of his own crimes, can sense a certain justice to the proceedings however much he would prefer it otherwise. There is also the impact of our efforts to make even this most extreme of punishments more humane. The criminal must pay his life for his crimes, but there’s no need to make it worse than that. What value the agony, if death is the outcome anyway? The Romans, of course, would consider that agony valuable indeed, serving as it did to deter any copycat crimes. Death might not seem so big a deal to some. But, crucifixion? The utter humiliation and the intentional maximizing of pain on the way to death? That’s another thing entirely. No heroic rebel wants to be publicly observed as he is reduced to a whimpering, begging, pleading, bloody mess.
But, Jesus just walked to it. He knew it was coming. He’d known it before ever He left Galilee. That it has registered is very clear from His prayer there in the garden of Gethsemane before His arrest. He knew what lay ahead, and He knew that He in no way deserved it. He also knew it was necessary. It was necessary that He experience this worst of all possible deaths, that He experience this worst of all human experiences, knowing not only the incredible agony of that death, but the equally incredible agony of anticipation. Why? So that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest on our behalf.
Whoa! That becomes the more powerful if we consider why He died. He died because what He was going through on the cross, not just the physical torments, but also the spiritual anguish of being separated from the Father, was what lay ahead for every one of us. It was the just recompense for our crimes. The wages of sin is death, and death, at its absolute worst, consists not merely in the cessation of bodily function, of decay and return to the earth. Death’s worst element is that eternal separation from the God Who created us. Never mind all Dante’s conceptions of the torments of hell. This one alone is enough! Even those who, in their present state of darkness have no thought and no desire for God, will know the agony that consists in that separation. Their present lack of thought and desire is a function of darkness and ignorance. They think not because they want not. They want not because they are convinced there is no such being.
If you wish to sense the bitterness of such a one, go read a bit of modern science fiction! There is so great an animosity towards God amongst the authors currently writing in that genre! Why? What has He ever done to them, apart from give them life? But, they are victims of the oldest lie, the idea that man is fit to serve in God’s role. We are as gods. We can create life. We can shift the atoms, terraform worlds. We need no greater being. We are supreme! We shall decide what is good and what is evil. We shall set aside all the unnecessary bonds of morality and tradition. And yet, it seems to me the worlds they envision developing so unbound and free are inevitably cheerless places. Their conception of heaven seems always to be hell. Curious, that.
But, we live in an age where opposition to God is not a function of ignorance, but a very vocal, very antagonistic opposition built on awareness. I cannot say built on knowledge, for such is so clearly not the case. But, it is an awareness that, if there is a Supreme Being, then He by right has a say about our affairs. It is an awareness that if there is a Supreme Being, then He shall indeed sit in judgment as He has said, and that said judgment is not going to look favorably upon them. They know this, and yet their sense of self requires that they deny that knowledge vehemently! Why? To admit to God necessitates accepting a lower self-estimate, requires accepting limits on what constitutes an acceptable choice, requires acknowledging one’s personal responsibility for one’s personal moral suasion. And, that would never do! Better by far, they think, to maintain the mental fiction that there is no God, that there is nothing beyond death, that this life is all there is, so may as well enjoy it to the full, and to hell and be damned with anybody who says otherwise!
But, come the end, when the error of their self-delusion can no longer be denied, when the God they rejected rejects them! When it’s too late to alter course, the eternal denouement pronounced, and knowledge of God has been fused with knowledge that He shall forever be out of your reach! Then, that separation and isolation from Him that seemed such a comfort in earthly life shall be an agony that at least approaches what Jesus experienced on our behalf.
This may seem a warping of perspective, but I truly do believe that the agony Jesus experienced in those few hours, when one factors in the extreme agony of experiencing even so brief a tear in the eternal fellowship of the Godhead, is far and away beyond the agony the worst of the condemned shall experience across the span of eternity. Oh, their agony shall be great indeed, have no doubt! But, they suffer for their own sins alone. Jesus was made to endure the suffering of the penalty due for us all, who have been saved by His blood. Think about that! Our due penalty was every bit as eternal as that which awaits the vilest reprobate. And we are a countless number, a people drawn from every tribe and nation. All of this, eternal punishment multiplied nigh unto infinity, was laid upon Him in the course of at most three days.
And, He was willing! This is the most thoroughly incredible thing! He was willing. God did not have to do this. Jesus did not have to come. He did not have to suffer, even if He did come. None of this could be legally required of God. He could have left every one of us to die in our sins and remained perfectly just, perfectly holy. But, He made it necessary for Himself. He bound Himself to our rescue there outside Eden when our forebears become the first practicing atheists. There in God’s marvelous garden, they decided He didn’t matter, and they would do as they pleased. Like every atheist since, they talked themselves into disregarding the inevitable death and punishment that must come of rebelling against an all-powerful, all knowing Creator. And, in that moment of rebellion, God spoke of the day we are witnessing in these final chapters of the Gospel. In that moment, He committed Himself to a course. In that moment, He made His own death necessary. Having sworn by Himself, as Hebrews notes, He made the matter sure by two unchangeable things – His Word and His Oath.
Another curious aspect arises from comparing the accounts. Matthew speaks of the other women who, seeing Jesus, came and ‘took hold of His feet’, worshiping Him (Mt 28:9). Meanwhile, when Jesus meets Mary, He tells her to, “Stop clinging to Me!” Surely this must lead us to ask why it is that she, seemingly alone amongst all who saw Him, was told not to cling. Indeed, having looked at the term used in speaking of those other women, we have there the term, ekrateesan [2902], a word that speaks of seizing His feet, restraining Him, whereas what Jesus commands Mary not to do is haptou [680] which, while it can certainly connote that sense of clinging, can also mean simply to touch. Taking the middle ground, it might suggest touching so as to influence. The thing is, it seems difficult not to find the actions of those other women far stronger so why this admonition?
Thayer suggests the problem lay with Mary’s faith, that she was too much concerned with the Man and not so much with the God. In that sense, he suggests, Jesus is redirecting her attention to, ‘My God and your God’. Perhaps. The contrast with those other women who, though they clung even more tightly than she did, were also swift to worship. That worship indicates recognition that Jesus is indeed very God of very God. Mary’s reaction of, “Teacher!” does seem to emphasize the Man. We could take that as indicative that she had not yet made the advance from seeing a fine Teacher and Prophet to recognizing God Incarnate.
I would bring in, at this point, the question of how the events described by Matthew and John sort themselves out as to order. Mark insists that Mary was the first to see Jesus. Of course, that passage is also universally recognized as being a scribal addition to Mark’s original text. Yet, it is accepted into the canon. But, it would seem, given His words to Mary, that Jesus was not yet in a position to be in two places at one time. “I have not yet ascended.” It would seem to imply that He has likewise not yet reclaimed His heavenly prerogatives. So, then, let us accept the scribe’s additional note as to who saw Him first. We must also accept that these two sightings could not have been far separated in time. Mary, after all, has already run to find Peter and John, come running back with them, and watched them depart once again while the ladies are yet returning to tell the disciples.
I could almost believe that Jesus appears to them, then, as something of a delaying tactic to allow Mary the honor of first report. Alternately understood, it could simply have been to ensure two independent reports. For, certainly the experience of Mary and that of the others are distinct. Luke’s account offers another possible explanation for these ladies lagging Mary’s announcement of, “I have seen the Lord!” Notice how Luke first identifies those we have seen together in the past, Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary of James. One could easily accept that his list needn’t imply that they all came as one to report to the disciples, so we need not suppose this contradicts the accounts of Mary coming to them on her own.
But, then, there is that other bit: “Also the other women with them were telling these things to the apostles” (Lk 24:9b). Interesting. It doesn’t strike me as all that likely that all these women had gone out to the tomb in the morning. Considering the description of this cave hewn out of the hillside, with its entrance so small one had to pretty much crawl in, what were a dozen women going to do at the site, stand about? What is suggested to my thinking is that the other women, those Matthew has been following, went first to their fellow women rather than going directly to the disciples. Their report was incredible, after all. Consider Mark’s description of their state of mind. They told nobody, so great was their fear. Fear of what? They had, after all, been commanded from on high to do that exact thing, go tell!
It strikes me that what they feared was exactly what they encountered, being dismissed as talking nonsense. This also gives a further impetus for Jesus appearing to them. When they left the grave, fear was yet holding sway over that joy that Matthew noted. And, in his account we find Jesus pretty much repeating the instructions the angels had already given. “Go tell them! Tell them to head for Galilee, and I’ll see them there” (Mt 28:10, Mt 28:7). Even so, they need greater confidence to bring this before the apostles. They are women after all. Who believes women? They’re not even allowed to testify in court! And, there’s a reason we still have that sense of an old wives’ tale as so ingrained a part of culture. Hint: It’s not because women are all silly geese. It’s because of the societal norms that suggested it was so. One needn’t be a proponent of women’s liberation movements to recognize that a patriarchal society such as almost all of western and eastern civilization was composed at the time, would develop such a mindset.
At any rate, between stopping to worship Jesus and then going to their friends for moral support before seeking the apostles, they arrive after Mary, or so I assess the event. Could it have been a simple matter of orchestration, then, that led to Jesus’ instruction to Mary? It’s possible, although I don’t know that I would count it likely. I am more of a mind to find the explanation in the nature of the terms used to describe her action versus that of the others. They truly clung to Him, stopping Him in His tracks as they worshiped. But it is the aspect of worship that controls the scene in that case. Mary, on the other hand, whether consciously or not, sought to manipulate Him. I don’t mean that in a negative sense. Let us rather say that her actions held the potential to tempt Him to another course of action.
If we but see His compassion expressed in that tender encounter, it’s not hard to see how the depth of her sorrow at His loss, and the depth of her joy at His return could well stir His heart to remain. I am put in mind of that agony of decision we read of from Paul. “To me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. Yet, if I continue in the flesh, it will mean fruitful labor. I don’t know which I should choose. I am hard-pressed! My desire is great to depart and be with Christ, which is so very much better. Yet, to remain in the flesh is the more necessary for your sake” (Php 1:21-24). I do not suppose that Jesus was any less subject to such anguish of soul, particularly stirred to compassion as He is by the anguish of His nearest and dearest companions.
Given that, I am inclined to hear His words more as a plea for His own sake than for hers. Don’t do that! It’s breaking My heart, and if this should continue, I would find it most difficult to complete My mission and ascend to heaven as I must. Yet, if I do not, that is very much the worse for you than if I should stay as you would have Me do. Don’t cling to Me, dear woman. I must depart this land. But, Lo! I am with you even to the end of the age!
That, I have to say, is a far more satisfying bit of imagery, to my way of thinking. Is that what we ought to understand as happening here? I cannot say. Yet, I find it at least as reasonable an explanation as supposing some weakness of faith on Mary’s part.
And, speaking of weakness of faith, let us turn now to those apostles to whom these women made their report. This is not something I say in condemnation, but the litany of unbelief that is pronounced over these guys is unrelenting. Mary tells them. They don’t believe her. The women come with the same report. They write it off as nonsense. Others, men this time, come with a similar report of having seen Him, but the apostles aren’t buying it (Mk 16:13). Even when they saw Him with their own eyes, Luke says, they still couldn’t quite believe it (Lk 24:41). And, of course, there’s Thomas, last among the eleven to submit to the evidence (Jn 20:25). And Jesus, it is recorded, reproached them for their unbelief and their hardness of heart (Mk 16:14). And that, in short order, brings us to the declaration of Jesus on that occasion. “He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved. He who has disbelieved shall be condemned” (Mk 16:16). Now, I ask you, how do you suppose the apostles were feeling when they heard that?
More to the point, I think it necessary that we examine our own condition. Look, we have this marvelous record of the Scriptures set before us, record upon record of those who were there at the time reporting the events of their day. We have the insights of the prophets, careful examiners of their contemporaries and clear as to what recompense those contemporaries could expect from a holy God. We have the wisdom of the Psalmist and the Teacher. We have this four-fold witness of the Gospels to the most incredible of events. The question is whether we really believe it.
That is, I suspect, a more difficult question than we will readily admit. If I am asked whether I believe in Jesus, I would readily respond that yes, I do. Even as I make that response, though, I must be mindful of that comment James makes. “The demons also believe… and shudder” (Jas 2:19). One of the questions that has stuck with me through these studies is that which Jesus asked Martha, “Do you believe this?” (Jn 11:26). How often that question applies! For Martha, it was to do with the resurrection. She believed the theory, but the application was more difficult. What of myself? When I read of Lazarus restored from death, do I believe it? Do I really? Do I honestly accept the ramifications?
Break that down. If I stick with the historical event, then yes, I believe that there was a real man named Lazarus, that he was declared dead, and that he thereafter walked the streets of Jerusalem. There are too many witnesses for it to be otherwise. Considering the historical veracity of the Gospels, I think the same must be said. There were too many witnesses, still alive and well, and even referred to by the authors, for the eleven to have somehow managed to fabricate the entire thing.
Now: Do I really believe that Lazarus was resurrected? That’s a harder thing. We live in this scientific age, don’t we? And we’re encouraged to be skeptical. Sadly, for my part, that takes very little encouraging. Look! The people of that time figured before three days, there was the possibility of calling that body back to life but after that, no. We’re not so very far removed from that same understanding. Medical science can do a lot. It can do a lot which we might even be inclined to describe as miraculous. But, there comes a point where we understand that the best efforts of the medicos cannot alter the outcome. Dead is dead.
Let’s put that in application. There is an acquaintance of ours who, in recent days, was rushed to hospital in an induced coma. Aneurism, heart attack? It’s unclear. But, the prayers go up. She’s so young. Her newborn twins have such great need for her return to health. Surely God would not take so dear a child of His so early? Oh! The very throne room of heaven is stormed by many on her account. The question is this: Do you believe this? Do you believe that God heals? Or, do you pay it lip service, but in reality count on the doctors alone? I will say this much: It’s not necessary, nor even wise, to cast the doctors aside as somehow demonstrating a lack of faith. But, it is equally unwise to go parading prayers before God that you don’t really believe He will answer.
This is my concern. This is, to my thinking, the measure of faith, or at least a measure. When you pray, are you merely putting out the words you know to be deemed correct for the occasion? I know, for example, that the life of faith ought to suppose God might heal. Do I, however, really believe He does? That He will? In this particular instance? I think of the number of times we have prayed for the elderly parents of this or that member. They are fading. They’ve lived a good, long life, as we measure it. And yet, we are praying constantly that they not be taken. To what end? Do we honestly believe that God might, on their behalf, decide to set aside the effects of the Fall ahead of schedule? Do we suppose they measure up to Enoch, and ought to be translated directly? Do we even believe that happened in the first place, or have we allowed the constant drip of ‘oh, that’s just myth’ to seep into our own thinking?
I fear that for my own case, I am entirely too ready to put forth the words that ought to be said, without any real conviction as to their validity. I mean, it is one thing to recognize the need and propriety of appending, “Thy will be done” to any request we might think to bring before our Father. His ways are yet far and away beyond our capacity to grasp, even with the abiding Holy Spirit to guide us. He guides. He is not required to give us full and perfect understanding of every aspect of what God is doing.
So, yes, “Thy will be done” is one side of the coin. But, on the other side: Let him ask in faith without doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. Let not that man expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being double-minded and unstable in all his ways (Jas 1:6-8)! Indeed! You have not because you ask not, or because, in asking, you ask wrongly. There are, to be sure, prayers the very object of which are improper to bring before Him: ATM prayers, prayers whose holy motive is self-satisfaction. One could reasonably set the whole health and wealth approach to prayer under that heading. But, there’s another aspect as well: Those prayers brought with no real faith, no real belief that the answer will be forthcoming. How can God be honored by such a mindset? How can He be pleased to hear His own children nattering away at His feet, and not believing Him willing or able?
I must shout this at myself! Be thou careful, my soul! Consider what you would pray and why. Remain mindful of Him with Whom you have to do, that He is holy, that He is Almighty. If, then, the prayer you would offer is made in recognition of Him, and in full acceptance that He, having declared His intentions and inclinations, would see that request as a matter whose granting would give Him glory; if you can honestly proclaim belief that He can and will answer, then by all means, pray! But, if it’s only fulfilling the expectations of another, to fulfill a duty; if those words you would offer have as little value as a politician’s promises, then hold your tongue! To pray would be vanity and wind.
It is necessary to work out this faith. There is, to be sure, far more than sufficient evidence to justify faith. Faith does not, contrary to the opinions of some, preclude knowledge. Faith and science are not, or need not be, at enmity. But, the society around us, being at enmity with God, seeks to set everything to opposing the Church which represents God. Education seeks to education all thought of God from the student. Science attempts to demand the impossibility of faith in the face of what is known. But, faith is established upon what is known! Faith is a matter of being convinced by the evidence, not of ignoring the evidence. This is the grand mistake of our age, that so many suppose faith to be the latter.
With that in mind, we might be a bit more gentle in our assessment of the apostles. What they were being asked to believe was, quite simply, unbelievable. Yes, they had seen Jesus restore Lazarus to life. They had every good cause to accept that resurrection was a reality. Yes, they had seen Jesus do some amazing things, truly amazing! They had seen healings far and away beyond the ability of the science of their day. They had seen nature itself set under His control. But, this was something more, even, than all that they had witnessed. This was Jesus effectively calling Himself back out of the grave! There is simply no precedent for that!
We might also add this: Those whom Jesus had resurrected in the last several years (and there had been others besides Lazarus) had died of natural causes. Disease had taken their life, and this One who could heal diseases had healed diseases even to that degree. But, they had watched Jesus die. Natural causes didn’t enter into it! They had seen His whipped and beaten body. They had seen His agony up there on the cross. They had seen His side pierced and the blood and water spewing forth. This was one seriously dead man! There just can’t be any coming back from that! And yet, He did!
Today is Easter Sunday. Many will insist on speaking of it as Resurrection Sunday, for fear of accidentally honoring some other idol. But, there is only one God, and today we celebrate that most amazing, most unbelievable, incomprehensible fact that He rose! From such a death as that, He rose! He did not rise at the command of someone greater than Himself, for there is no such one to issue the command. He arose on His own authority, even as He laid down His life, there on the cross, on His own authority. That is the thing. That is what made this so unbelievable then, what makes it so unbelievable now. And yet, we are called to believe. We are called to believe, it is true, that which we have not seen and handled for ourselves. But, we are called to believe because the vast body of evidence demands it.
Some of us have heard Him speak. Some of us have witnessed His hand altering the course of our lives. Many of us, I suspect, have only recognized that intervention in retrospect. I know that is my own case. But all of us who believe have encountered the Living God. We have been given ample evidence upon which to set our faith. We have found the Rock, Christ Jesus, the Cornerstone, the Firm Foundation. The atheists may rant and rage. The very laws of the land may be corrupted in efforts to quiet the Truth of God from being proclaimed. But, there is absolutely nothing that this can do to disrupt a faith that is real. He lives! He reigns! And, of His kingdom there shall be no end. That is the plain, simple fact which cannot be altered. The nations may rage against Him, but it matters not. Every knee shall bow. Some, it is true, will bow only when broken by the rod of His anger. But, bow, they shall. Better by far to know Him as Lord and Savior.
Now, I shall turn myself to consider that question Jesus asks of Mary. “Whom are you seeking?” It is, we should note, the same question He had asked of those sent out to arrest Him in the garden (Jn 18:4, Jn 18:7). Consider what a response that had led to! When they had replied, “Jesus of Nazareth,” He in turn responded, “I AM”, and they fell back from Him to the ground. That had been what? Three days, four days ago? And, certainly the shock of waking up to find the Roman guard in your camp would tend to fix memories of those events in your mind. Was Mary there? Did she hear that exchange, see them fall back? I don’t really know. We know that the apostles were there, and that to a man they fell asleep as Jesus prayed. As to the women who accompanied them, it’s less certain, but it cannot be ruled out. It was feast week in Jerusalem. Where else were they going to find accommodations?
It’s possible, then, that Mary, hearing that question from Jesus, was brought in her thoughts back to the moment of His arrest, to the question He had asked, and the shocking image of that armed party falling down at a word from Him. It’s possible that this was also exactly what Jesus intended by the question. Let me get to that in its turn. I must also accept the possibility that this question is to be taken quite simply at face value, as an expression of compassionate concern, or even just an expected bit of social interaction on such an occasion. The question is, apart from that history, certainly innocuous enough.
I will interject a small observation at this point, from a most unlikely corner. My other morning habit is perusing the comics that used to come in the paper, but now travel the wires. One of these comics had been following one of its lesser protagonists as she went to her husband’s grave. While there, she encounters an elderly fellow there who asks a question not terribly unlike that which Jesus asks Mary here. “Why are you crying?” Although, I recall the cartoon’s question being more simply, “Are you crying?” I bring this up because what struck me as the more revealing was the response that came from the readership. “What a stupid question!” It’s a cemetery, after all. Who in their right mind would ask such an inane thing of somebody grieving graveside? Well, the truth of the matter is that pretty much anybody with a heart, finding themselves in such a situation, is likely to inject words that are equally inane.
Grief is a very difficult thing to encounter, more difficult still to aid and comfort. I suppose there is little that unsettles us more fully than to see the depths of another’s sorrows exposed like this. Maybe it’s just a New England thing. We’re such a closed lot, particularly the men. We’re supposed to suck it up. We’re supposed to maintain appearances. The upshot is that when appearances aren’t being maintained we are often at a loss as to how to respond. Had it been the gardener come up to her as Mary supposed, I should think such a question from him fairly normal. The one thing that might strike me as demonstrating more knowledge of events than the gardener had cause to possess is that second question, “Whom are you seeking?”
And, it is to that question I find myself constantly returning. “Whom are you seeking?” Coming from a gardener, that would seem to indicate knowledge that a body had been moved. But, then, if that knowledge were held by the gardener, there would be little cause to ask, would there? How many bodies were likely to have been moved on the Sabbath? Mary is unlikely to have been thinking along such lines. They are avenues of thought that are open to us as we observe her from such great distance, but for her, in the midst, still overwhelmed in grief, there is only the suggestion that this gardener has information. “Just tell me where you’ve taken the body, and I’ll see to it. Sorry for any disruption.”
It is also the curious impropriety of the question which makes it stand out for me, and has me looking back to that other garden where Jesus had asked the question. “Whom are you seeking?” Now, I will point out again that I may very well be stretching the material to find such power in this question as I do, yet I think it just as possible that I am not doing so. Consider that earlier encounter. The Q&A that Jesus began was not solely to make possible His plea on behalf of His apostles, surely! They must be preserved, it is true, that Scripture might be fulfilled. But, there is so much more happening in that moment. It is there to be seen in the guards’ response to His, “I AM”.
That answer, and their reaction makes it clear to me that the question was operative at two levels. There is that obvious and mundane level of determining the nature of their visit to the garden, whose name or names were on the warrant. Who have you been sent to round up? “Jesus of Nazareth.” But, there is a second level to the question: And Who is He? “I AM!” It wasn’t the surprise of Him admitting His identity that threw a Roman guard into disarray. That’s beyond doubt. Something in that response held power, and I think it not only fair but necessary to hear in His response the unspoken name of God Himself. There is indeed power in the name! It is, after a fashion, as though He is making certain that these men are fully aware of what they have been sent to do, Who they have been sent to arrest. It is, if you will, a filling up of their sins. There will be no plea of ignorance for them. How shall they claim ignorance of His identity who felt themselves felled by its revealing?
So, He comes to Mary, Mary who is so overcome by grief that even two angels sitting in an empty tomb weren’t enough to penetrate the gloom. “Whom are you seeking?” Mary! Do you still not understand Who I AM? You heard Peter’s confession. “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God!” Did I not tell you all that he was quite correct in that? Did you not yourself walk and talk with Lazarus whom I raised from the dead? Did you not hear Me say over and over again that this death of Mine must come, but it cannot last? Do you still not know Who you’re dealing with?
It’s of a piece with the angels’ question: Why do you seek the living among the dead? Don’t you know Who it is you’re looking for? Did you really think the True God could be slain so easily? Look! He told you He would rise. He told you when He would rise. WHO are you looking for? Think about it! This is God you’re dealing with, not some no name peasant.
I would note in passing that Strong indicates a particular sense of this word zeeteis, seeking, as the Hebrews utilized it. That sense holds the meaning of ‘to worship’. Is that particular use to be heard here? Maybe, maybe not. How many overtones or connotations of a word do we hear in normal conversation? I think that rather depends on many factors; one’s mindset, the situation at hand, and so on. But, it’s not beyond the realm of possibility that Mary was intended to have that thought of worship added to the question. “Whom are you seeking? Whom do you worship?”
It is that aspect of things that I find myself drawing forth for the present day application, the moral import of this scene. It’s a question worth asking oneself. Who am I seeking? It is a particularly necessary question if that seeking bears the mantle of worshiping. Who am I worshiping? Who am I exalting? It is a necessary question because we are all of us so terribly prone to idolatry. It is shocking to consider how many idols bear the name of Jesus, even of Jesus the Christ of God! How many variations do we see on the theme of man seeking to apply the character of Jesus to whatever pet cause has their favor? What would Jesus drive? Who would Jesus tax? How would Jesus move to stave off global warming? We recognize these as the patent nonsense they are, I trust, but they are only the more egregious examples of a tendency we have in ourselves.
We are all of us inclined to lessen Jesus in our own fashion, to make Him more amenable to ourselves. The Truth of God is hard; the standards He sets us impossibly high. Try as we may, it seems our nature is such that we simply must find the means to make His standards low enough that we can attain to them. Worse, there is in each of us that idol factory that Calvin spoke of, ready, willing and able to produce a Jesus that fits our opinions in preference for shaping our opinions after the Jesus Who Is.
It can show up in the forms our worship takes. It can show up in our tendency to find certain sins more forgivable than others – typically those we suffer from personally. It can show up as holding up one particular aspect of Scripture as having paramount importance to the degree that we diminish all else; something along the line of that straining after gnats that the Pharisees suffered from. We are, in short, forever at risk of setting up a Jesus more to our liking, and of setting aside the True Jesus.
I can do that even in this time I spend in Scripture each morning. Do I suppose it the necessary strut to uphold righteousness? Do I consider nearly a capital crime that anybody would fail to study as I do? Does it become a point of pride for me? Why, yes. Yes, it does. Pride is an ever present enemy. It’s easy to fall into its trap. Look what I do for You, Lord! See my obedience and pat my head! But, please, don’t come back later today to see how I’m doing with application, OK? No. I’d prefer You be just a bit less omnipresent, thanks. But, He isn’t going to do that. God does not change for you or I. His standards do not drop lower for us because we’re trying so hard. He is unchanging. It is we who must change, who must ever seek His help in straightening us out on the question of just Who it is we seek.
In light of that point, it is the more telling for me that I found this message from the Revelation reverberating so with me. Wake up! Strengthen what remains, for it’s about to die! I have not found your deeds complete in God’s sight (Rev 3:2). Just so! I have become satisfied with where I’m at. I have been fooled into thinking it’s enough that I study and I teach and there’s that degree of change which comes, as it were by osmosis. I have been thinking that I’m doing enough and more than enough for God. Wake up! Who are you seeking?
I could do worse than to reflect on Pastor’s message yesterday. If you think your works are earning your way in, or that you just need to work harder, then you have not yet understood the power of “It is finished!” I think that for my part there are moments when I get it and other moments where it seems like it can’t possibly be that easy. It is finished! He is risen. The resurrection of my Lord and Savior assuredly sealed the deal. And yet, there is that in me which knows that as much as I rely on that Truth alone to find myself accepted by God, there is also that in me which knows that I could never do enough, say enough, change enough to properly express my gratitude.
There is that in me which does not know how to bow down, as well, which does not comprehend this talk of Kings and Lords. There is that in me which, like those proud Pharisees in the courtyard, wants to shout Him down. “We are not slaves! We have never been slaves!” But, that fails to recognize my true condition. I am a slave to many things. Things! I am a slave to pride, to self-satisfaction. Were it not for my God, that should be the sum-total of it. But, I, like Paul, can claim something greater, something far more powerful. I am a bondslave of Christ Jesus! A lousy one, it may very well be, a most disobedient and worthless slave, left to my own devices. But, I am His. Hear this, my soul! “You belong to Christ and Christ belongs to God” (1Co 3:23)! It is both admonition and encouragement. It is at once, “How could you?” and “Fear not!” And this is, if not how it should be, then really, how it must be in the Christian soul: Never near enough to heaven to relax and be satisfied, never so far from heaven as to give up.
Lord God, my God, my King, though I know not how to deal with that as I ought, I thank You even as I come seeking forgiveness. I thank You that Your mercy is yet so great. I repent, as best I may, of my tendency to try and bring You down to my level, to convince myself that I can manage You. Oh, Holy One! Come! Clarify my sight and my thinking that I might treat You as I ought, that I would be put clear of any way in which I have shaped my worship to my own liking rather than Yours. If I have made it about me rather than about You, then may that prideful streak be crushed out of me once for all! Lord, there is nothing I do that can make me worthy before You. I know this, and yet I am so easily moved to act as if I don’t. This ought not to be! But, I know me. Not as well as You do, to be sure, and I thank You for that mercy as well. But, I know me enough not to trust me. Father, if it please You, do Thou Your work in me and through me. I am Your servant. This is truth. I am Your servant, yet I know so little about how to serve You. Train me, Lord, and make of me the servant You require, You desire. Help me, Lord, to heed that call to wake up and strengthen what remains. God! I recall the fiery passions of those first years when You called me, and it seems but a dim memory. This is not as it should be! Reignite those passions, Oh God, that I might know a renewed vigor for Your glory.
Meeting the People - Mary Magdalene (04/02/13)
