Always the Teacher

Matthew 28:16-20

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.

Jesus is always the Teacher! That’s what He indicates, isn’t it?

He sends His students to make new students in all nations. He tells them to baptize those who decide to become His students!

This is first and foremost the heart’s desire of Jesus for everyone in this world. That we all become His students! Obey His teaching! Become more like Him!

Then He adds - Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age!

Here Jesus is ascending to heaven, back to the Father. But there is a sense in which Jesus never left. He’s still with His students every day – always!

Today, we close this reading of the book of Matthew. May we reflect a moment on our relationship with the Teacher? And pray for strength and focus of heart to seek His approval above all else!

It was his first public concert. The crowd cheered wildly as the young pianist walked off the stage. The concert manager said - It’s a standing ovation! Go back out and play an encore.

The young man answered - No, I can’t.

The manager exclaimed - Listen to the crowd. They love you! They want to hear you again.

The young man said - Not everybody is standing. There’s one man in the balcony who remains seated.

So what? The manager responded.

The pianist replied - That man is my teacher.

The Tomb Is Empty

Matthew 28:1-15

There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it.

The angel did not roll away the stone from the entrance so Jesus could come out, but to show the tomb was already empty!

The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.

Angels heralded the birth of Jesus. Now an angel announces a rebirth - the resurrection of Jesus!

The angel says – Do not be afraid! Angels always say this to humans! They are God’s messengers, so why does God send this message all the time?

He knows our tendency to fear. Yes, all the usual stuff; Will I have enough money to pay the bills? Is my family safe? Is everything going to be ok?

That’s why Jesus always speaks peace to our hearts too.

To the deeper, often unexpressed fears about our guilt He speaks the blood of His cross. Peace with God! You are forgiven!

Now to the nagging fear of our own mortality His resurrection speaks promise of a life after our death.

Joy in place of fear! Though sometimes the fear lingers a little doesn’t it? In such times Jesus comes to us.

So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy… Suddenly Jesus met them. "Greetings," he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him.

Unlikely Pallbearer

Matthew 27:57-66

After Jesus died there was no elaborate funeral. The large adoring crowds that once followed Him are gone. In many ways Jesus’ burial is very sad.

Sad not only because He has died, but because with few exceptions, His closest friends deserted Him! Jesus deserved better.

We would reasonably expect His closest disciples to carry His body to the place of burial. They were His chosen ones! Students who lived with Him and followed Him for nearly three years.

Where are they now?

Except for John, to whom Jesus entrusted the care of His mother, they have all run away.

What we have left is an unlikely pallbearer named Joseph and a few faithful women looking on.

As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus' body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away.

There is no eulogy. No words in praise of a life well-lived. No flowers or sad songs.

Oh yes, there were some unkind words His enemies spoke to Pilate:

“We remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, 'After three days I will rise again.’”

"Take a guard," Pilate answered. "Go make the tomb as secure as you know how." So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.

The Torn Curtain

Matthew 27:50-56

The moment Jesus’ spirit leaves His body there are amazing signs. Earth shaking! Tombs opening! The veil of the temple ripping in two!

When the soldiers crucifying Jesus saw what happened - they were terrified and exclaimed, “Surely He was the Son of God!”

First there was darkness for three hours and now all this! No wonder they believe! Anyone would lose their skepticism under these circumstances.

It is doubtful; however, these Roman soldiers understood the significance of the torn curtain.

This large thick curtain - 50 feet high and 4 inches thick - hung inside the temple in front of the Holy of Holies. Here was the very presence of God on the earth!

Traditionally, only the high priest was allowed to go past this veil and only one day in each year. The Day of Atonement! On this day the priest would sprinkle the blood of an animal there as a sacrifice for the sins of the people.

Did you notice? The curtain was quickly torn from the top down. Not as a man might have done, only with incredible difficulty from the bottom up. The historian, Josephus, wrote that two horses could not provide sufficient power to rip it. Clearly, God is making a statement!

And there is powerful symbolism here. God is physically removing the barrier between Himself and humanity.

There is now direct access to the presence of God. The death of His Son on the cross has opened a new way for us!

God rips away the veil because this is the final Day of Atonement! Jesus sacrificed His life’s blood for our sins.

He is our new High Priest. It is to Him we now come for cleansing and access to the Father.

Eclipse of the Son

Matthew 27:39-49

From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land. About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice…"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

Don’t look at it! That’s what my parents told me and my sisters as we anxiously waited to experience our first solar eclipse.

Gradually, as the moon moved between the earth and sun, the light of day turned to eerie darkness. We took turns looking through the welder’s mask dad brought out on the lawn.

This was something most unusual – an eclipse of the sun! It didn’t last long though. Soon the brightness of day returned.

But there was another dark day – three full hours of blackness as Jesus hung on the cross! Was this the Father’s way of saying – Don’t look at this!

There on the cross something moved between Jesus and His Father. We know what it was. The sin of the world Jesus bore that day.

As His Father pulled down the shade of night to cover the scene, the world should have understood the blackness of sin.

In this cover of darkness – this eclipse of the Son - Jesus cried out, My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?

This was not a cry for explanation. Jesus knew why? Rather it was a cry of anguish over the pain and loneliness.

We know the rest of this story. The glad brightness of day would return. And very soon a resurrection Sonrise!

Via Dolorosa

Matthew 27:26-38

“Way of Grief” or “Way of Suffering.” It's also the name of a street in old Jerusalem – traditionally thought to be the path Jesus took from Pilate’s judgment seat to Golgotha.

Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.

Then the governor's soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him.

They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head.

They put a staff in his right hand and knelt in front of him and mocked him. "Hail, king of the Jews!" they said.

They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again.

After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him.

Then they led him away to crucify him.

As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross.

They came to a place called Golgotha (which means The Place of the Skull).

There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it.

When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots. And sitting down, they kept watch over him there.

Above his head they placed the written charge against him: THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS.

It's Me! Barabbas

Matthew 27:15-25

You know me. I’m famous! I’m the guy who was on death row when Jesus stood in judgment before Pilate.

Unfortunately, my appeals were exhausted and a Roman cross had my name written all over it!

That is until Jesus took my place. That’s how I got free.

Yeah, I was guilty. I killed a few Romans. They all say Jesus was innocent though. I read later how Pilate’s wife even interrupted the trial to warn her husband:

While Pilate was sitting on the judge's seat, his wife sent him this message: "Don't have anything to do with that innocent man…"

I guess Pilate really wanted to let him go. Too bad for him though. The religious leaders stirred up the people and persuaded them to ask for my release instead.

Then they all cried out for Jesus to be crucified.

Pilate didn’t like it. He tried to argue with the crowd. I was afraid there for a minute they might change their minds. Lucky for me they were too worked up to think clearly!

That’s when Pilate called for a basin of water and washed his hands in front of the whole crowd – “I am innocent of this man's blood," he said. "It is your responsibility!"

It was great! I got off scott-free!

Things worked out unexpectedly well for me, don’t you think?

Hey, what are you staring at?

Don’t you Christians believe He died in your place too?

Silence Of The Lamb

Matthew 27:11-14

Jesus is silent! First before the Sanhedrin and now before Pilate and those bringing charges against Him. Why?

Is it detachment? Acquiescence? Despair?

When he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer. Then Pilate asked him, "Don't you hear the testimony they are bringing against you?" But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge—to the great amazement of the governor.

Along with Pilate, we too are amazed. Why doesn’t Jesus defend Himself? At least win a few verbal rounds!

No way! Our Teacher is living out what He taught. Didn’t He say that we shouldn’t be anxious because our Heavenly Father knows what we need and will respond?

And we remember a sermon in which He said whoever tries to save his life will lose it and whoever loses his life will save it!

And then there was that about loving enemies and praying for them. And wasn’t there something else about agreeing with your adversaries and even turning the other cheek?

Everything Jesus taught is on the line! The Teacher chooses to stand by His ideals, proving they work, are viable, will stand up even in the worst of times. Otherwise, it’s all been for nothing!

And isn't this the silence glimpsed by the prophet Isaiah?

He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.

It’s an impressively splendid thing to behold – this silence of the Lamb.

Mission Impossible?

Matthew 26:69-27:10

Regrets – it’s impossible to live without having them! Things we said or didn’t say! Some things we should have done differently!

Here Judas and Peter both do something they very much regret. One betrays the Lord, the other denies Him.

Feelings of regret can be overwhelming. A deep mental distress and sorrow that clings to us – can’t seem to shake!

Unresolved regrets just keep chipping away at our life and bringing us down. If we don’t find the way to cope with them, they can even destroy us.

Dealing with regret was Mission Impossible for Judas.

“I have sinned," he said, "for I have betrayed innocent blood." So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.

Peter, on the other hand seems to successfully deal with his regret - And he went outside and wept bitterly.

This is the healthy response to regret. He properly grieves! Tears, self-recrimination, confessional prayer! All of that!

In time, the raw inflamed memory is soothed by Jesus’ forgiveness and Peter rises above regret to live and serve again.

Learning to get past regret is possible! Must be! For our regrets ultimately play a role in our destiny. If we hang onto them, they only serve as painful reminders of our failures and become stones in our hearts.

If we grieve and take them to Jesus, they can become valuable lessons in character-building, stepping stones on the way to fulfilling our destiny to become more like the Teacher.

Dealing with our regrets isn't Mission Impossible. With Jesus it is Mission Accomplished!

Kangaroo Court

Matthew 26:57-68

Of course, the Sanhedrin, the Supreme Court of Israel, has authority to judge an accused. But an illegal trial in the middle of the night?

This is a kangaroo court. Obviously, this proceeding isn’t about getting at the truth. The hastily assembled false witnesses reveal the court’s prejudice.

Finally, the high priest, exasperated by Jesus’ silence in the face of this farce, poses a direct question - I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.

Only then, Jesus breaks silence - Yes, it is as you say!

The undignified reaction of the court unmasks the true face of the proceedings. It’s merely a mob in disguise!

Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, "He has spoken blasphemy!” "He is worthy of death," they answered. Then they spit in his face and struck him with their fists. Others slapped him and said, "Prophesy to us, Christ. Who hit you?"

Of course, it’s only blasphemy to say you are The Christ, if in fact you are not. Where is all the evidence in defense of His claim? The miracles, the signs, the teaching!

Oh yes, His teaching. This is really what’s on trial here. And the Teacher knows it. This explains His silence in the face of this travesty of justice.

He understands everything He taught and lived about truth, love, forgiveness, gentleness, humility and faith in God are now on trial!

That’s why Jesus must face these grueling tests armed only with His teaching!

To do otherwise will graphically demonstrate to the world they were only fine sounding speeches that don’t work very well when circumstances turn ugly – when your life is on the line!

If the Teacher expects His students to fully entrust their lives to Him - His teaching - then He must now rely upon them exclusively Himself.

Unarmed?

Matthew 26:47-56

The arrest of Jesus does not surprise Him. He saw it coming. He doesn’t hide. He rises from prayer in Gethsemane and goes out to meet the mob unarmed!

Yet, the manner in which He was arrested must have been a source of great disappointment. After all, He had simply been a Teacher - one who also cared for the needs of the poor and the sick.

Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me? Every day I sat in the temple courts teaching, and you did not arrest me.

This Teacher didn’t lead an uprising! Seek an insurgency against the powers that be! His voice was never heard in the streets fomenting rebellion!

Even now, he says to His misguided student - Put your sword back in its place, for all who draw the sword will die by the sword!

If He wanted to impose His will, there were better options available to Him - Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?

Instead, this Teacher seeks a revolution in every heart. A free and willing embrace of the loving principles He espoused and lived!

But there’s a question. How workable are His teachings? In real life? When life itself depends on them?

That’s why He is resolved now to face everything before Him, armed only with His teaching.

And He will do this virtually alone - Then all the disciples deserted him and fled.

This may not be all bad. If the Teacher stands alone armed only with His teaching, if the principles He taught are sufficient to sustain Him through His trials, if they really work for Him, then His students will clearly see and understand the power in them.

Cup of Suffering

Matthew 26:36-46

Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane.

How fitting! The word Gethsemane means olive press. In such a press, under a large rolling stone, crushed olives gave up their precious oil.

Here on the Mount of Olives, Jesus endures a crushing weight of suffering - My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.

As the cross creeps closer, He prays - My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me.

Is it only the prospect of losing His life that is pressing down on Him?

Crucifixion was an especially agonizing death. Anyone would recoil at the prospect of such a violent end.

But there is something worse than death pressing in on Jesus’ mind. For Him, the cross will be more than a painful way to die. At the same time He must also bear the sins of the whole world!

In some very real sense, Jesus would not only be dying physically. He would taste death for every person. The pang of the penalty of sin - separation from the Father!

Nobody understands what that really means. At least, not as deeply as Jesus when He fell on His face in lonely Gethsemane that night.

Only Jesus - one with the Father throughout all of eternity past - could even begin to understand the unfathomable pain of interrupting such a relationship. For Him, this must be the true horror and revulsion of the cross!

Here in the garden He anticipates the abandonment that will soon crescendo from the cross in the heart-rending cry – My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?

He is in the press! Crushed, His spirit yields the sweet oil of obedience - Yet not as I will, but as you will.

Best of Intentions

Matthew 26:31-35

"This very night you will all fall away on account of me…This very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times."

But Peter declared, "Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you." And all the other disciples said the same.

You have to love Peter and the others. They have the best of intentions. They pledge allegiance to their Teacher – You can count on us!

They sound like us sometimes, don’t they? We are not ashamed to be a student of Jesus. But then it happens.

We face people and circumstances hostile to Jesus. We hang back. Go along. Blend in.

It’s easy to stand up for Jesus during Sunday worship. The test comes on Monday around the water cooler. Or on Tuesday at the club meeting!

On Sunday we are ready to die for Jesus. On Wednesday we lose the courage to even speak His name. When it will cost us!

At church we easily sing, O’ How I Love Jesus, but on Thursday peer pressure causes us to say – Jesus who?

And on Friday, we still have the best of intentions.

Then it’s Saturday evening. Time to get ready for worship tomorrow!

We understand Peter and the others very well. Jesus does too. He doesn’t condemn them. He just warns them.

Jesus knows after His resurrection, they will renew their courage and stand up. Most will even give their lives for Him.

But until then - for now - they only have the best of intentions.

More Than A Teacher

Matthew 26:26-30

Jesus is the Teacher, but He’s much more! This Teacher dies for His students! This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

During the Last Supper, Jesus tells His students about a new covenant. A union with God in which His life is the basis of an unbroken relationship!

His perfect sacrifice, not our imperfect performance!

There can be no enduring accord with God that depends on our performance alone. There must be a covenant filled with grace! Didn’t we see that from the very beginning?

Adam and Eve’s relationship with God depended on their performance. And actually not much was required to maintain their part of the bargain. Just don’t eat the fruit of one tree!

How hard could that be? Apparently, difficult enough because they did not – could not - live up to it!

Next came the Law of Moses, with not one command but over 600 of them. Quite expectedly, nobody could keep all those either.

Surely, we are supposed to understand an entirely new kind of arrangement is needed. One that recognizes our inherent weakness! One that accounts for the fact we always break our side of any pact!

The prophets predicted and longed for such a relation with God. And now Jesus announces – It’s here! I’m here!

Jesus offers a relationship with God that is sustainable because He takes the punishment for our failures in advance. Now there is constant forgiveness even as we fail.

Finally! A covenant we can keep. Even energizes us to do our very best to please this Teacher!

What's He Worth?

Matthew 26:14-25

It’s a fair question, I think. What is a relationship with Jesus worth?

Judas has an answer. 30 pieces of silver!

He trades three years of friendship for some shiny metal.

Only good for a few months of bread! Perhaps a week’s cruise on the Mediterranean or a few days of luxury on the beaches of the Red Sea!

We don’t know what he planned to do with the money.

But we know where it was eventually spent - on a cemetery plot! His own! That’s all he got out of it, as it turned out.

Judas didn’t trade his friendship with the Teacher for 30 coins. He was deceived. He traded his own life for it!

That’s what a relationship with Jesus is worth. It’s worth our life. We shouldn’t be deceived. Our life depends on our connection to Him.

Poor Judas didn’t understand that until it was too late.

It’s still a good question to ask. What’s He worth?

The answer is the same for us as it was for Judas, isn’t it?

If we betray our association with Jesus, like Judas, we betray ourselves.

Judas’ story is a sad one. Like the other apostles, he could have done great things. The saddest words of tongue or pen, it might have been!

What is a relationship with Jesus worth? The story of Judas answers the question for all of us. It’s worth our lives.

Something Beautiful

Matthew 26:1-13

Jesus is only a few days from the cross. The wheels are spinning faster now. His enemies are ramping up their plan to kill Him.

The Teacher knows and informs His students that He will soon be crucified. They seem oblivious. There is only one who understands!

A woman came to Him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table.

The disciples object to this extravagance! Jesus doesn’t.

When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. I tell you the truth, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.

There, it’s happened again! Just as the Teacher said it would! Her lavish display of love has been told once more in memory of her!

What is more important this woman saw into the future and her love for the Teacher led her to devoted action. She led with her heart!

Does Jesus still notice when we do something beautiful for Him? When we listen – believe what He says – and then our love and affection for Him moves us to extravagance?

We know how Jesus was touched by her attention and love - She has done a beautiful thing to me!

Looking For Jesus

Matthew 25: 31-46

When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

Some think of the final judgment as a kind of trial. The judge will decide who is good and who is not! But here the Teacher refutes that concept.

Notice carefully. Here Jesus is not pictured as deciding who is a sheep and who is a goat. Everyone is already one or the other! He is merely separating them for final sentencing.

The sentence? To the righteous on His right hand, He says - Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. Those on the left are not so fortunate!

The righteous are surprised by His reason for their acceptance:

For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.

The cursed are equally surprised when they are told of their failure to help Jesus when He was in need. So, both the righteous and the cursed ask essentially the same question – When did we see you hungry or thirsty or sick or in prison?

I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me! And, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.

If this is how it will be – how it is - should we start looking for Jesus every day?

Lost Interest

Matthew 25:24-30

In these uncertain economic times, we certainly indentify with one of the classic observations of American humorist, Will Rogers. The return of my money concerns me more than the return on my money!

Here, however, the Teacher seems vitally concerned with the return on His money. The one talent man faithfully returns all the money His master entrusted to Him. But the master is not pleased!

Why? Because of the lost interest!

Of course this parable is not really about money. The Teacher is talking about how it is in the kingdom of heaven. And the main idea is that we are all trustees of everything God has given us and we will one day be called to account.

Everything we have - our talents, our time, our opportunities to do good, our money, indeed our very lives – are on loan from God. And the Master expects us to turn this into some eternal profit!

The one talent man is condemned because he is a lousy trustee. He buries the talent, squanders the potential for making any increase for the Master.

Why did he do it? He says because he was afraid. The Master says he was wicked and lazy.

Who do you think is right? Could they both be right?

And how do we reconcile the fact we are saved by grace with the idea that as trustees we must give an account for lost interest on gifts entrusted to us?

What Now?

Matthew 25:14-23

Jesus is our Savior. This means we have a hope of heaven one day!

But…what now? What are we to do in the meantime?

This is the question the Teacher begins to answer in this parable. And His answer involves using what God has entrusted to us in His service.

Here, the approved servants were motivated to be diligent in their service because they believed the Master would show up some day to settle accounts. And he did!

They believed the quality of their service mattered. And they were right again! What difference did it make? They received the Master’s approval and increased opportunity for service!

Of course, we understand it is only through Jesus’ sacrifice that anyone can be saved. It by His grace, not by our works! No room for boasting!

But clearly what we do with what God has entrusted to us really does matter. And it answers the question, What Now?

Serious students know their progress in becoming more like the Teacher counts for something, both now and then! They want to use their lives to do what He thinks is important today!

Of course, we understand good service doesn’t save us. Only what Jesus did on the cross can do that. But clearly becoming better students now will make a significant difference for us in the final coming of the kingdom of heaven.

Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!

They Won't Share

Matthew 25:1-13

The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.

Even as a child this parable seemed clear to me. Jesus is the expected but seemingly late bridegroom. The ten virgins are Christians preparing and waiting for His Second Coming.

Five were actually prepared and expectant. Five were foolish. As the bridegroom delayed His coming, some of them became drowsy. Stopped watching for Him and fell asleep!

Suddenly the bridegroom comes. The unprepared ones can’t go forth to meet Him. Their lights have gone out! They don’t have oil for their lamps.

They desperately attempt to borrow some from the others who have extra oil. However, they won’t share!

As a child I remember feeling sorry for these foolish ones. And it really bothered me that these supposedly wise virgins were too selfish to share their oil!

If they won’t share, how wise is that? I know, they said there wasn’t enough oil to go around. Ok, but they can still fix this problem, can’t they? Why not offer to share their light, walk out together to meet the bridegroom!

Only later, I understood. There are some things that simply cannot be borrowed or shared. A prepared character is one such thing!

If you’ve been paying attention to the Teacher and I haven’t, I won’t be able to borrow the oil of your prepared heart! A watchful, prepared Christian character is not something others can provide for us.

'Sir! Sir!' they said. 'Open the door for us!' But he replied, 'I tell you the truth, I don't know you.' Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.