FBC Daily Devotions

I’ve been looking at Christ’s post-resurrection activities in the gospels and in Acts. It seems fitting since we just celebrated Easter last Sunday. Most of us are familiar with “doubting” Thomas, who was unwilling to believe on someone else’s testimony (John 20:24-29). Thank You, Lord, for putting his story in the Bible because I am sure I would fall right in line with good ol’ Thomas!  

Notice that Jesus has Thomas put his fingers in his wounds. A visual confirmation wasn’t enough for Thomas (cf.20:25). He had to feel the reality. One can be fooled with the eyes, but a physical touch is difficult to sneak by.

Thomas is a picture of today’s skeptical world. The world today is not looking for a visual confirmation of Jesus. They are lookng for a real and physical encounter with the living Jesus. They want to feel the wounds to know with certainty they aren’t being fooled by false hope. The illusion of hope is everywhere. The “Thomas-world” is right to want more in my view. But where do they get such physical evidence? Does Jesus need to meet every skeptic face-to-face and offer His wounds for inspection? No. A real encounter with Jesus will come from the experience of the Church in the life of the skeptic. The Church is the physical touch that the Thomas-world is looking for. I’ve said much about this in past posts that I need not say more here. I think the challenge for us today is giving the unbelieving, searching world more than just something to see. They want to experience the reality of Jesus. A touch of compassion validates many words and many pictures. How can you offer a phyiscal encounter of Jesus with the Thomas’ around you? I pray that those encounters might lead others to see just how real Jesus is –

Thomas said to him, “My Lord and My God!” (Jn. 20:28)

Reading John 19:1-16, I am amazed and appalled at the Jewish response to the potential release of Jesus (maybe I shouldn’t be). They were determined to see Jesus crucified no matter how many times Pilate offered a compromise. Pilate desperately tries to release this innocent man. Three times (according to Luke 23:22) he tries to convince the people that Jesus is an innocent man, and three times the response was “Crucify him!” He has Jesus flogged, but that was not enough. He is further mocked and tortured with a crown of thorns. Still not enough. Finally Pilate relents and siezes an interesting opportunity…

In John 19:12, the people cry out, “If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.” At this Pilate presents Jesus as their king (vv. 14-15) – making Jesus an enemy of Caesar, and thus forcing the Jews to proclaim allegiance to Caesar. Pilate successfully turns the fervor of the Jews against King Jesus toward a proclamation of allegiance to “king” Caesar. It is a sad day when people are so opposed to Jesus that they are willing to bow down to the enemy. And these are supposed to be God’s leaders, the chief priests, who make this awful statement: “We have no king but Caesar.” Truly these people had fallen so far away from God, so far from justice, so far from listening, so hardened with rebellion and determination.

You know what really hits me here? It is that these hardened ones are the ones Jesus died for. Jesus could have called on a host of angels to fight back. But no, He chose to take it. What tremendous love! What tremendous forgiveness!

Romans 5:6-10

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!

Yes, the people were full of rebellion and determination, but O how much greater the love of God is!

Read John 18:28-40.

As I was reading through this passage, a number of random observations came to mind. It is ironic that:

1. A leader of a Gentile nation (Pilate) is more honest in his judgment of Jesus than the Jewish leaders. How pride and wreckless determination on the part of the Jewish leaders created so much blindness!
2. The Jewish leaders needed to use Gentile law to rid themselves of Jesus. If the Jews thought so lowly of the Gentiles, how much more lowly did they think of Jesus. How low they stooped to kill Jesus!
3. One man held the destiny of the other in his hands. Who really held whose?

There is a lot going on here. The interaction of the different people make for a very interesting story. Pilate pressured by the Jews; Jesus knowing the certainty of His death; the disciples nowhere to be found; the crowds angered and disappointed in Jesus. Yet in some of these people there is a little bit of me and you to be found. Maybe you have felt the pressure to act against Jesus (e.g. Pilate). Maybe you have felt the fear of being associated with Jesus (e.g. the disciples). Maybe you have braved the threat, humiliation, and pain of injustice (e.g. Jesus). Yes, the story in our passage today happened a long, long time ago, but the story is really no different today, is it?

Is anyone in this story innocent except Jesus? No one is. And neither are any of us without Christ. It is no surprise, then, that Barabbas ends the story today. A man justly imprisoned, a man sentenced to die. A man who was guilty, but… set free because Jesus took his place.

Were you there? Yes, of course you were. But so was Jesus.

Read John 18:12-27.

This passage actually contains two intertwined stories. There is the story of what is happening inside and what is happening outside. Jesus and His disciple (most agree it is John) are on the inside facing the high priest, Annas. Peter is outside warming himself over a fire waiting from a short distance to see what would happen to Jesus. Two disciples with two different responses to Jesus’ arrest and unknown future.

John was known by the high priest. How could he hide? He was identifiable. Peter was unfamiliar. He could hide among the people and watch from the sidelines. John perhaps afraid wants the support of a fellow disciple so he talks to the doorkeeper to let Peter in (v. 16). But Peter is simply too afraid to face the possible consequences of being associated with Jesus, not to mention also leaving John to suffer alone with Jesus. Consequently, Peter responds to the doorkeeper with a denial of knowing Jesus.

Two disciples. One alone with Jesus; the other alone without Jesus. Where would you rather be?

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The above words were from one of last year’s Easter week devotions. As I reflect today on that final question, “Where would you rather be?”, it strikes me that that is not an easy question. We know where we should be, but I am afraid it is not always where we might want to be. It is a hard thing at times to be associated with Christ. Like Peter, the fear of rejection and the potential emotional and/or physical consequences can influence one’s decision. Who can blame Peter? We all have no doubt related to him at some time in our lives.

Let me challenge you this week, though – in hindsight, if you have ever stood alone with Jesus, you probably know with confidence that that is the right place to be. And so this week, find the courage that comes from the Holy Spirit to stand with Jesus. When someone talks to you about Easter, be bold and share about what an important day that was and continues to be. When someone is in need of something more than this world can offer, talk to them about Jesus. When someone criticizes Christians, point them to Jesus (not Christians). Let’s be a “John” this week – on this week when Christ went to bat for us and died in the process.

When Jesus said faith can move mountains, it meant that God can accomplish so much through faithful people. The things that seem impossible are possible when God is involved. At the beginning of any work worthy of God lies faith. For without faith, it is impossible to please God. (Heb. 11:6)

When we look at Luke 17:11-19, we find a group of leprous men who are eager to be healed. And what we see from these men is an exercise in great faith. This really is a great story… take a minute and read it: Luke 17:11-19.

Ten men rejected because of leprosy are forced to live outside the village. No doubt for years they have lived isolated lives, only able to see from a distance what life could have been like if not for this wretched disease. But then one day, Jesus walks by – the man known to heal people of all kinds of sicknesses — and they yell to Him, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” And the compassionate Jesus says but one thing on record:  “Go, show yourselves to the priests.”

Now my first reaction was to wonder why Jesus would tell them to go to the priests, almost as if to say, “I can’t do anything about it. Go to the priests and let them take care of it.” But upon further study, I found in Lev. 14 that whenever someone was healed of an infectious skin disease, they had to get it confirmed by the priests before they could be deemed “clean”. So in reality, when Jesus tells them to go to the priests, He is telling them to show the priests that they were healed.

Why are these men of great faith? They are faithful because the passage says they weren’t healed until after they started on their way. They didn’t wait to be healed before getting up and going. They literally walked in faith. What a picture of obedient faith! We could all learn a lesson from these lepers to act in belief even before it happens.

But unfortunately, that is not the end of the story. They had a great start, but a lowsy ending… except for one Samaritan (an outcast in the eyes of the Jews making him doubly rejected both as a Samaritan and a leper). This lowest of outcasts turned back to give honor and praise to Jesus for the healing he had received. He was so thankful that he threw himself at Jesus’ feet in worship. The other nine, they just kept right on going. They presumably were interested only in the fact that they were going to get to rejoin society. Indeed, that is a great blessing. But Jesus, perhaps sadly, perhaps surprised, was critical of the other nine who were so greatly blessed, yet failed to give an ounce of thanks to God.

Worship. It is supposed to be the end-product of faith. Faith is not merely to give us what we want, but rather to lead us to worship the One who gives. We walk by faith in order to develop our worship. That single Samaritan man showed us that.

God can do the impossible through faithful servants. No doubt you have seen Him move mountains by faith – maybe in your life, maybe in the life of a friend or family member. No doubt you have seen Him work by faith in something on the scale of a mole hill in your life. Don’t get me wrong, God wants to bless His children. But from the passage today, His greater desire is that our faith might lead to worship. That is my prayer for us all (myself included), that our stepping out in faith might lead not only to God’s blessing, but more importantly, to our worship of Him.