JESUS MEETS US ON THE WAY

“Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus Himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognizing Him… As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if He were going farther. But they urged Him strongly, ‘Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.’ So He went in to stay with them. When He was at the table with them, He took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him…” (Luke 28:13-16, 28-31a NIV)

There are times when all of us long for the companionship of Christ. When we are facing some deep loneliness that seems to darken the brightest day, some great sorrow that has broken our heart and changed our lives, or some heavy burden that comes through no action or fault of our own. At times like these we long for the presence of one who speaks our name, understands our plight, and can break the hold of loneliness, sorrow, despair, and burdens we bear.

There are other times when we are at the peak of our powers and all is going well that we want someone to walk with us, to share our challenge, excitement, and reward of the path we have chosen. We desire a companion who can appreciate the challenge and victory of life in the days when all is well.

There are still other times when we need a companion to whom we can say thank you. There are those times when we are overwhelmed with gratitude. We know that the goodness we enjoy is not just the result of our good work but that someone else had a hand in our well-being, comfort, and success.

At times like these it is good to remember that the risen Christ walks beside us – awaiting our invitation to stay with us, break bread with us, interpret life for us, give us hope, and share in our thanksgiving. May we, like the disciples before us, have our eyes opened to recognize Christ as He comes to walk beside us this day. 

-- Rueben P. Job in “A Guide to Prayer for All Who Seek God”

#6345

GIVING TESTIMONY – Part 2 of 2

“Jesus said, ‘You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’”  (Acts 1:8 NIV)

The women returned early in the morning of the first day of the week with the amazing word of an empty tomb and the astounding news, "He is risen!"  The actors playing the disciples remained true to their assigned parts, expressing disbelief and confidence that this news from the women was but an "idle tale."

But then the script called for three members of the congregation to stand up and give testimony, to bear witness in court as it were, to the truth of the resurrection. "I know He is alive," each one was to begin.  The first was Angie.  "I know that He is alive," she said, "because He is alive in me."  She then told how she was abused by her father, how she fell into despair and alcoholism, and became HIV-positive. But then she responded to the welcome of the church, then she started attending worship, then a Bible study, and bit by bit she rose from the grave of her life. Now she is a seminary student, studying to be a pastor. "I am now alive because Jesus Christ lives in me and through me," Angie said, her face aglow. "I am a temple of the Holy Spirit."

The two other witnesses stood in turn, each reciting the assigned part of the script: "I know that He is alive."  Then that portion of the play was done, and it was time to move on. But the testimony would not stop. Others in the sanctuary began to rise spontaneously. "I know that He is alive," they would say, "because He is alive in me." Homeless people, addicts now clean, the least and the lost, stood one by one. Nothing could stop them. "I know that He is alive," they shouted, all giving corroborating testimony to the witness of Jesus, adding their own word to the great witness of Easter, telling the truth about what they had seen, heard, and experienced.

-- Excerpted from “Testimony: Talking Ourselves into Being Christian” by Thomas G. Long

#6344

GIVING TESTIMONY – Part 1 of 2

“Jesus said, ‘You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’”  (Acts 1:8 NIV)

From the beginning, putting the Christian faith into words out in the everyday arenas of life has been called testimony or witness. These are the strong and good words… Often when witness and testimony are employed in Christian circles, they refer only to autobiographical accounts of how somebody became a Christian …

Witness and testimony are big words, and we need to recover their full range of meaning. They are borrowed from the world of the law court, and in a court of law, something important is being contested, something or someone is "on trial." …

Jesus is the true and faithful witness, and Christians, as a part of God's people, are corroborating witnesses. Our testimony is, in effect, "What Jesus said and did is the truth about God and about human life, and we ourselves can attest in our own lives to the power of this truth."

A friend of mine, Heidi Neumark, served for several years as the pastor of a Lutheran church in the South Bronx, in perhaps the poorest of all poor neighborhoods in America. Her first Sunday as pastor, Heidi understood what kind of church she was serving when she found under the altar a box of rat poison next to the communion wafers. Members of her congregation include former addicts and undocumented aliens, the unemployed and the recently homeless. It is the kind of congregation Paul was talking about when he wrote, "Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise" (I Corinthians 1:26-27).

During Holy Week several years ago, this congregation decided to reenact in a passion play the whole sweep of Holy Week, from Palm Sunday to Easter.  They began by dramatizing Jesus' entry into the city, borrowing a live donkey and, led by an actor playing the part of Jesus, parading in a long procession around the block of the shabby storefronts and run-down apartments shouting, "Hosanna!"  When they got around the block and back to the door of the church, the Palm Sunday procession ran into a street demonstration protesting police brutality. It was fitting, really, as Jesus and the protesters, the congregation and the street crowds, the cries of "Hosanna!" and the cries of social outrage mingled together in a swirl of movement and noise. In fact, someone passing by on the street, seeing the confusion and fearing trouble, even called the police, whose arrival brought a bit of added color and drama. Somehow the processional managed to make it inside the church, where, as the play unfolded, Jesus was tried, condemned, and executed. But then women returned early in the morning of the first day of the week with the amazing word of an empty tomb and the astounding news, "He is risen!"  The actors playing the disciples remained true to their assigned parts, expressing disbelief and confidence that this news from the women was but an "idle tale."

-- Excerpted from “Testimony: Talking Ourselves into Being Christian” by Thomas G. Long

#6343

THE LAST WORD

“Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance.”  (John 20:1 NIV)

Early on the first day of the week, some of those who had loved Jesus the most came to pay Him love’s continuing respect. Especially, there was Mary of Magdala. She had been such a bewildered, mixed-up, self-destructive soul until Jesus came into her life, and He had turned her all around. But now He was gone. She had heard the last word: death. She had heard it right from hell, for hell is always trying to tell us that it has the last word.

When she got to the tomb, she found the body missing. This seemed like the final indignity, cruelty heaped on sorrow, for she felt someone had stolen His body. So she stood there weeping. That’s what you do, if you think the last word is the devil’s word: you weep.

Then a voice asked her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Who is it you are looking for?” Mary was so broken by sorrow that she didn’t even look up, and so dulled by tragedy that she didn’t recognize the voice. “Sir,” she said, “if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have put Him, and I will get Him.” She may have been grief-stricken, but to her credit, she hadn’t stopped loving.

Then Jesus said just one word. “Mary.” He called her by name. It must have been reminiscent of that day, months or years before, when He spoke her name and in doing so, called her out of the darkness and confusion which had so long characterized her life. At any rate, it was all she needed. “Teacher!” she cried. Then she hurried back to the disciples. “I have seen the Lord!” she told them. Which is to say -- death was not the last word. It wasn’t even the next-to-last word. Hell tried to tell her, when they took her Lord from the cross and carried Him off to a tomb, that the last word had been spoken, but it hadn’t. Because the last word is God. And then, the exclamation point.

-- J. Ellsworth Kalas (1923-2015), excerpted from a sermon entitled “In the End, the Exclamation Point”, February 28, 1990 

#6342

“IT IS FINISHED”

“When He had received the drink, Jesus said, ‘It is finished.’ With that, He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.”  (John 19:30)

Good Friday brings us to the foot of the cross, where the final words of Jesus ring out with earth‑shaking power: “It is finished.” In Greek, the word is tetelestai -- a single word that carries the weight of eternity.

In the ancient world, tetelestai was written on receipts to mean “paid in full.” It was spoken by servants reporting a completed task, by artists stepping back from a masterpiece, by priests announcing that a sacrifice had been offered without blemish. It was a word of completion, fulfillment, and victory.

And Jesus chose that word. Not “I am finished,” as if His life were slipping away. But “It is finished” -- a declaration, not of defeat, but of triumph.

At that moment: The debt of sin was paid in full. The long‑awaited sacrifice was complete. The work the Father gave Him to do was accomplished. The barrier between God and humanity cause by our sin was torn down. The serpent’s claim on humanity was shattered. What began in a garden with a forbidden tree ends on a hill with a rugged cross. What sin broke, Christ restored. What we could never do, He did perfectly. And He did it willingly.

When Jesus cried tetelestai, He wasn’t whispering resignation, He was proclaiming redemption. The Lamb of God was not overcome by death, He was offering Himself in love. The cross was not a tragedy to endure but a mission to complete.

Good Friday reminds us that our salvation does not rest on our striving, our goodness, or our spiritual performance. It rests entirely on the finished work of Christ. We don’t add to it. We don’t improve it. We simply receive it.

Because of tetelestai, you can rest.  The work that saves you is done. The grace that holds you is secure. The love that claimed you is complete. It is finished! 

-- SOUND BITES Ministry™

#6341