John 20:1-18: Premature Conclusions

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. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”

So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.

Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.

They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”

“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.

He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”

Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”

Jesus said to her, “Mary.”

She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).

Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her. - John 20:1-18

One thing that strikes me in this story is how making premature conclusions prevent us from seeing what God is doing right in front of us. John and Peter and Mary went the tomb and had constructed whole narratives about what might have happened. Option "A" or "B" or "C" John and Peter ran to the tomb, saw that it was clearly empty, body missin, linen folded neatly but "They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead" Mary looked inside, saw two angels and then "saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus."  But she had Jesus right in front of her but still she asked  "if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him"

We (two thousand plus years later) take it for granted: Jesus rose from the dead. But "living" after being "dead" was not option "A" or "B" or "C" for them. It was so inconceivable that when they were adding up what had happened, they never reached the sum that equaled resurrection. Option "D" simply did not exist.

It is too simple to stop at this point and say that it was because they were not expecting Jesus alive so they kept filling in the blanks with anything but Jesus. What we need to ask is: what could God be putting right in front of us that we miss because we are cynical or too often disappointed or it is not how  God works? Am I so good at figuring out how things work but not how God works?

For me, it can be not seeing the person in front of me as the one God has sent me to meet OR who God knows I need to learn from. For me the ordinariness of a situation can disguise the God who orchestrates the ordinary and gives them purpose. We might (as Hebrews 13:2 says) be entertaining angels unaware. Will we leave our minds open to option "D" or will we be looking around mystified for the God who is reaching out his hand to us but who we will not see. 

 

 

Hebrews 13:1-21: The Lure of Conspiracy and Special Knowledge

Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.

Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. 

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?”

Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by eating ceremonial foods, which is of no benefit to those who do so.  We have an altar from which those who minister at the tabernacle have no right to eat. The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp. And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore. For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.

Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority, because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account. Do this so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no benefit to you.

Pray for us. We are sure that we have a clear conscience and desire to live honorably in every way. I particularly urge you to pray so that I may be restored to you soon.

Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. - Hebrews 13:1-21

We are always tempted to conspiracy theories. Since the time of the Gnostics and the apocryphal gospel of Thomas, these theories promise us a special blessing for those who are in possession of special knowledge. Life can be hard and frankly, mundane. So there is always the lure that says, "If only we knew X" or "did X" or in the case of these verses, "ate X" we would be partakers in a special blessing from God, bypass the lines of ordinary believers and achieve status before the throne of God. In both of his letters to Timothy, Paul has to warn to "avoid the worldly and empty chatter which some have professed and thus gone astray from the faith." That chatter is the delicious but ultimately hollow knowledge that makes up conspiracy theories of the faith.

But the author of Hebrews says that Christ is the mystery. There is no more special place than where God transformed the place of Christ's execution into an altar. There is no special food or drink, just the remembrance of his body and blood shed. (see John 6:54-55). There is no special act of obedience, just doing the ordinary acts of hospitality and love of brother and sisters well. There is no special act of purification, just the keeping of marriage as holy. There is no special act of humility, just giving honor to those who God is using as your leader. I want to do the ordinary things as if they were holy; as if each one is on the altar.

I will take the author's prayer, that I would be able to live with a clear conscience and a desire to live honorably in every way. Even as Paul said, My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. (1 Cor 4:4) I want to do the ordinary things as if they 

 

Hebrews 13:2: Treat People As Permanent Features Of My New Life

Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. - Hebrews 13:2

It is easy to write off (or tell off) people on the road. After all, you may never see them again. You don't know them and they don't know you. Cashiers, attendants, ushers, ticket takers, pedestrians, fellow elevator travelers--so many people flow past us, their roles and our interactions prescribed by job, geography, time and cultural convention. The way we treat these people--they are people, not just roles or functions--shows what we think of God.

This is obvious in the way we treat strangers. The Bible reminds us that the "stranger" can be the messenger of God. Strangers might be angels (Heb. 13:2), or Jesus himself (Luke 24:13ff) or a fellow traveler. Jesus said, "...I was a stranger and you invited me in...whatever you did for the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me." (Matt. 25:35)

How does this work in real life? My friend and colleague, Kevin Davis, taught me one way in my job: "Treat the people with whom I interact as permanent features of my new life."[1] We both travel a lot for work, and there are tons of interactions with customers, potential customers, overseas co-workers, hotel staff and restaurant workers. We may see them again in a few months, or maybe never again.

But Kevin uses each visit as a chance to start a relationship or build on one. "...[T]reat everyone as a permanent friend. Learn as much about them as possible. Keep a little spot in your heart just for them. Your heart will grow to make room for all of them," he said. Why? "At one point I realized that every person can teach me something new if I let them."

So, make the effort to reserve space--to learn, to care. It can be frustrating, because I want to, but it is not my natural tendency. I am too often friendly, but not interested in being a friend.

Lord, prompt me to build relationships with those passing through until it is my habit and then my character; not to gain me anything except what you would teach me through them.

[1]More about this by Kevin at The Day (https://medium.com/happy-trails-yall/the-day-c232dc59b540), retrieved on April 30, 2017.