Hide and Seek

This morning I was listening to our pastor's message from Resurrection Sunday last week, and I was thinking of all of the appearances of Jesus after He rose from the dead. They are so surreal! For someone who spent His time on Earth revealing Himself and His Father clearly and plainly, after He rose it's like He was playing games with them. First He appeared to a woman at His own tomb, but He seems just fine letting her think He was the gardener at first. He didn't lead with "Hey, check me out, I'm Jesus!" Then He appeared to two of His own disciples who were traveling, and He let them think He was just some random guy the whole time. They're telling Jesus the story of what happened to Jesus, and He never said "Um guys, did you notice that here I am, I'm that guy?" What He does do is explain to them what He had told them before He was crucified, without actually telling them that He is Jesus. Then as soon as they finally recognize Him, does He hang out and visit? Nope... He vanishes!

Then later he reveals Himeself to Thomas by just sort of appearing in a house with all of the doors locked. Then later the guys go fishing, and Jesus just shows up on the shore of the lake, and Jesus is like, "Hey guys! Catch anything?" He doesn't say "Hi, I'm your risen Messiah!" He just acts like He's a guy talking shop with fishermen. This time, though, John recognizes Jesus, and when he tells Peter, Peter recognizes Him too, and jumps in the water to get to Him faster!

Was Jesus just messing with them? That's the question I asked myself this morning. Was this a childish game of hide and seek or something? BOOM I'm here, BOOM I'm gone, hey check out my disguise, haha you didn't know it was Me! Obviously, that's not what Jesus is like. I think what was really happening was that Jesus was showing what it's like for believers between the Resurrection and the Second Coming. It's rare that someone actually visually sees Jesus. Sometimes things happen that are the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, and we have to recognize them with the eyes of faith because they're not obvious. But Jesus is there, popping up at unexpected times and in unexpected places! We just have to open our eyes, remember what He has told us and what His Word says, and recognize the work of Christ in our lives!

Song thoughts: "Your Love Awakens Me"

I'm writing up a series of short devotionals for the worship team at my church, based on the songs we do during the service, and I thought it would be cool to share them here too. Here's the first one!

“In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” – John 1:4-5 ESV

I love how this song uses the images of death/darkness interchangeably, and life/light interchangeably. In our culture when we think of light, we tend to think of knowledge – which is a totally valid way of looking at it, and when Jesus brings “light” to our lives by saving us, spiritual understanding is certainly a part of it. But to ancient peoples, light was synonymous with life itself. With no sunshine, your crops will die, and eventually so will you. The light that Jesus brings is more than a source of knowing stuff about God… it is a source of life itself!

I also love the way the first verse uses words that relate to being imprisoned, but then in the pre-chorus we realize that the prison we were released from was actually death! How vivid is that idea of being in a cold, dark, deathly prison – but then suddenly God bursts in, kicking down walls and tearing off chains, and leading us into bright sunshine and light!

Did you notice that the first verse and pre-chorus are in past tense – things Jesus has done – and the chorus and second verse are in present tense? God did something for humanity on the Cross, and the effects continue to be felt and to cause things to happen. None of us is perfect – there are things in each of our lives that still haven’t found their way into the light of God’s life. Jesus continues to draw us out, wake us up, bring those parts of us back to life! Everything in creation sings “We’re alive ‘cause You’re alive!”, and we shout it out too!

There were walls between us,
By the cross you came and broke them down – You broke them down!
There were chains around us,
By Your grace we are no longer bound, no longer bound!

You called me out from the grave, You called me into the light!
You called my name and then my heart came alive!

Your love is greater!
Your love is stronger!
Your love awakens, awakens, awakens me!

Feel the darkness shaking!
All the dead are coming back to life, oh, back to life!
Hear the song awaken, 
All creation singing “We’re alive ‘cause You’re alive!”

You called me out from the grave, You called me into the light!
You called my name and then my heart came alive!

Your love is greater!
Your love is stronger!
Your love awakens, awakens, awakens me!

What a love we found!
Death can’t hold us down!
We shout it out, “We’re alive ‘cause You’re alive!”

Your love is greater!
Your love is stronger!
Your love awakens, awakens, awakens me!

Peace, part 1 - epilogue

© 2007 James Emery, Flickr | CC-BY | via Wylio

A few days after I wrote this post, I was listening to John chapter 20 in audiobook form, and I heard this familiar story:

    Early on Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. She ran and found Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. She said, "They have taken the Lord’s body out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!"

    Peter and the other disciple started out for the tomb. They were both running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He stooped and looked in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he didn’t go in. Then Simon Peter arrived and went inside. He also noticed the linen wrappings lying there, while the cloth that had covered Jesus’ head was folded up and lying apart from the other wrappings. Then the disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in, and he saw and believed—for until then they still hadn’t understood the Scriptures that said Jesus must rise from the dead. Then they went home.

As many times as I've heard this, this part struck me as weird. They did what? A hysterical woman ran to find them and showed them evidence of the most amazing miracle in the history of the world, and they took a look and then just... went home?

    Mary was standing outside the tomb crying, and as she wept, she stooped and looked in. She saw two white-robed angels, one sitting at the head and the other at the foot of the place where the body of Jesus had been lying. "Dear woman, why are you crying?" the angels asked her.

     "Because they have taken away my Lord," she replied, "and I don't know where they have put him."

     She turned to leave and saw someone standing there. It was Jesus, but she didn’t recognize him. "Dear woman, why are you crying?" Jesus asked her. "Who are you looking for?"

     She thought he was the gardener. "Sir," she said, "if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and get him."

     "Mary!" Jesus said.

     She turned to him and cried out, "Rabboni!" (which is Hebrew for "Teacher").

     "Don't cling to me," Jesus said, "for I haven’t yet ascended to the Father. But go find my brothers and tell them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'"

     Mary Magdalene found the disciples and told them, "I have seen the Lord!" Then she gave them his message.

Peter and John ("the other disciple" was John) came to the tomb, understood what had happened, satisfied their minds, and went home. Mary, on the other hand, was so emotionally wrapped up in her love for Jesus that she stayed around... and was there long enough to experience Jesus.

Don't be satisfied to approach Jesus intellectually, Theologically, methodically. Take time to reach out to Jesus with your heart. When you do, He will show up.