Author: Louis

Misreading the Bible: Galatians

In an otherwise good sermon, the recent talk at a large evangelical church once again misuses the word “grace” in a way that undermines the very scripture on which the sermon was based, Galatians.
(Oct. 13, 2025, Own Your Freedom | BE FREE | Week 2, Flatirons Community Church)

The same problem has been discussed clearly in Evangelical Misuse of “Grace” and “Truth”. The reason this sermon merits attention is because it uses Galatians as its primary text.

Galatians is Paul’s letter that warns believers in Jesus to remain free from the law. It is the letter in which Paul is so concerned about those who require circumcision that he wishes they’d go ahead and castrate themselves. The reason he went to such great lengths is not because cutting off the foreskin is necessarily a bad thing but because circumcision was being used to replace the grace of God with one more act of human effort.

The verse the sermon uses is, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5:1). It’s a wonderful verse, and, as the sermon illustrated, can be applied to our being set free from many things, including anger, fear, and lust. Of course, if one is set free from those things (or anything), one should not allow him- or herself to be enslaved once again (although we do from time to time).

Those sinful things, though, are not what Paul is addressing in Galatians. They are, in fact, the result of what he’s addressing, but not the root cause.

The root cause of all persistent sin is what Paul called the law—the moral demand on humans to be good (for starters) and acceptable to God (for the grand prize). However, as Paul points out in another letter, 1 Corinthians, the law is the strength of sin. The law puts demands on us. We attempt to meet those demands and instantly are relying on ourselves, discovering eventually that as we try to be good we become slaves to sin. If we happen to win the battles against common sins such as anger or lust, we fall prey to pride. We were never intended to be good by effort, only by faith.

When the sermon mentioned Galatians my first thought was, “Finally, correcting the false dichotomy between grace and truth!” Soon, however, the dichotomy gets repeated as this quote illustrates:

That that’s why Jesus came full of both grace and truth. Both of them. Grace and truth. Here’s what Jesus says is true and we’ve all fallen short of it, but it’s still true and it leads to freedom. Which is why we’re dependent on grace because we fall short of it all the time. But we continue to pursue truth. We don’t have grace so we can continue to sin. We have grace so we don’t have to worry about condemnation coming back online chaining us back up as we’re trying to align our lives with Jesus. We’re what Jesus says is true and we’re saved by grace when we when we fall short and we all do. (just after minute 33)

The dichotomy is that truth tells us what to do, while grace pardons us when we fall short. Both “truth” and “grace” are undermined by this dichotomy.

If “truth” means being told the right thing to do, any moralist or Buddhist could tell us more truth than we could master in a lifetime. Moses’ law did that just fine, and it never achieved true freedom or righteousness. When Jesus uses the word “truth,” he refers to the illumination of who he is as the complete savior. Truth, in Jesus’ mouth, sets us free. It’s not a hoop to jump through; it’s the revelation that Jesus has already become our wisdom, righteousness, holiness, and redemption (1 Corinthians 1:30). When Jesus says he’s the truth, once again he’s using truth in the elevated sense, as the revelation of the way and the life (John 14:6).

If, as the sermon suggests, “grace” kicks in only after “we fall short,” then grace is no more than mercy. We all need mercy, and it’s forever ours in Christ. But grace is much more than mercy. It is the power of God forming Christ in us. Whereas the law puts demands on us (do this, be like that), grace makes promises (I give you my life and my name). Grace is not the cleanup crew after we lose our struggle with the law. Grace is the way out of the struggle altogether. Only when we accept the grace of God can we trust instead of try. The life of the little self trying to be good is over. The life of Christ in us has begun.

One could re-read the quote above, but replace “law” for every instance of “truth” and “mercy” for every instance of “grace.” That highlights both the fact that “law” and “mercy” are being described and that the sermon never explains how truth differs from and is superior to the law.

Any sermon that uses Galatians as the primary text should stress the fact that if we do anything in order to be right with God we nullify Christ’s death (Galatians 2:21). The church has never fully accepted what Paul stresses: we are dead to the law and alive to God. We don’t do things to be right with God; we appreciate what Jesus already did to make us right, to make us his brothers and sisters.

If what is written above seems too fine a distinction, just remember that the law makes demands and is the strength of sin; the truth sets us free (John 8:31-32). Mercy allows us to get fresh starts; grace keeps us going. Never pit “truth” against “grace,” as if truth is no more than a set of moral demands and grace is no more than forgiveness.

 

Publishing Info
First published Oct. 16, 2025. Last revision: Oct. 16, 202.

The Great Grace Divide

What I am about to describe changed the course of Western history and, consequently, the history of the world. If the controversy had not been settled as it was, I would not be writing this post, nor would you be reading anything like it (even if you are Jewish).

Soon after Jesus rose from the dead, his followers received the Holy Spirit and began to spread the news as quickly as possible, often with signs and wonders accompanying their message. However, they preached exclusively to Jews and proselytes to Judaism. It took over five years before they wholeheartedly included non-Jewish audiences. It took about nine more years to understand the extent to which the gospel was intended for the whole world—and what that meant for gaining God’s acceptance.[1]

The text of Acts 10-15 tells the story of how the early church came to see the fullness of God’s grace expressed in Jesus. This watershed period settled two related controversies that affect our lives today. Neither controversy was settled easily, nor peacefully.

First, the apostles concluded that the good news about Jesus was for the whole world, not just for the Jews. The apostles and their Jewish countrymen had been taught for hundreds of years to remain separate from non-Jews, also known as Gentiles. Religion, culture, race, and nationality all depended on this separation. Relatively suddenly, those who followed Jesus were asked to share their faith with everyone. To many (or most) Jews, this was unforgivably scandalous.

Second, this period in the early church galvanized the replacement of the law with grace. It shifted the emphasis from what humans can do for God to what God has done for humans. It established the complete salvation achieved by Jesus, who was made the wisdom, righteousness, holiness, and redemption of all who believed (1 Corinthians 1:30).

The reason the inclusion of all humans came about “relatively suddenly” is because it was always waiting in the wings. As early as Genesis 3, we get a glimpse of Jesus redeeming not only Jews, but the human race:

“And I will make enemies
Of you and the woman,
And of your offspring and her Descendant;
He shall bruise you on the head,
And you shall bruise Him on the heel.”

This early reference to some kind of messiah (Descendant) preceded the formation of the Jewish people, addressing instead the known human race. As Christians understand it, Eve’s descendant, Jesus, would bruise the head of Satan, although Satan would bruise his feet—a memorable image of the suffering and the meaning of the crucifixion.

Later in the book of Genesis, Abraham is called to be the father of not only Jews, but of many nations. He is told by God, that “all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:3). For hundreds of years, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob represented the beginnings of the Jewish people. Only later, in the early church, did “all peoples” gain acceptance as a literal promise.

Many other Old Testament prophecies point to a messiah who would not only redeem the Jews, but also would redeem the rest of the world. One of these in the book of Isaiah states,

“It is too small a thing for you to be my servant
    to restore the tribes of Jacob
    and bring back those of Israel I have kept.
I will also make you a light for the Gentiles,
    that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth” (Isaiah 49:6).

Christians interpret “you” as Jesus the servant (the same servant vividly described in Isaiah 53).[2] This servant is endowed with power not only to help the Jews but to be a light for the Gentiles.[3]

When Jesus arrived in Galilee about 600 years later, he, too, pointed to the breadth of the kingdom of heaven. During his recorded ministry, he praised the faith of only two individuals, both Gentiles. One was the Roman centurion, who understood that creation must obey its master (Matthew 8:5 – 10). The other was the Canaanite woman, who, after Jesus recited the usual bias against Gentiles, insisted that Jesus nevertheless had something to give to her (Matthew 15:21 – 28).

Even after the resurrection of Jesus, though, none of the apostles shared the news with Gentiles. The Jews had been taught to remain separate from Gentiles, and the early believers in Jesus, rightly considering themselves Jews, practiced their faith as a Jewish sect. All along, they may have seen the gospel was intended for the world, but their traditions, culture, nation, and even their holiness forbade them from reaching out to the Gentile world. Only in 37 A.D. did this change, years after the resurrection.

The change began when Peter was praying on a rooftop and had the same vision three times in a row. He saw many unclean animals and was told by God to kill and eat them. He declared he had never eaten an unclean animal. God declared that he should never call “unclean” what God had called “clean.” This change in dietary commandments could have confused Peter except that immediately after the vision, he was visited by three Gentiles who had been miraculously guided to the house where he was staying. He accepted their invitation to go to their master’s home, as they told him, “We have come from Cornelius the centurion. He is a righteous and God-fearing man, who is respected by all the Jewish people. A holy angel told him to ask you to come to his house so that he could hear what you have to say” (Acts 10:22).

Arriving at their house, Peter told them that although traditionally it was wrong for him to enter the house of a Gentile, he now saw (in light of his vision) that “God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right.” He shared that through the name of Jesus all people could be forgiven. As he spoke, the Holy Spirit fell on the Gentile listeners in a visible manner and they were soon baptized in water (Acts 10:27-48).

The story is beautifully consistent with both the prophecies about the light of the world and about the hesitation the early believers shared concerning Gentiles. It tilted the scales in favor of every human being invited to believe in Christ. But as this timeline shows, it took years for the early disciples to offer the gospel to Gentiles with no strings attached.

  • 30-33 A.D.
    • Christ rises from the dead
  • 39-40 A.D.
    • Peter shares the gospel with Cornelius (Acts 10:1-48)
    • Word gets out that Peter visited Gentiles. The rigidly Jewish believers, who are called “circumcised believers,” criticize Peter for visiting Cornelius. In response, Peter goes to Jerusalem to explain the vision and the encounter with Cornelius. “When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, ‘So then, even to Gentiles God has granted repentance that leads to life'” (Acts 11:18).
    • During this time, Paul goes to Jerusalem to make sure the apostles agree with his gospel (Galatians 2:1-10). The apostles agree that Paul is on track and that his message is primarily for the Gentiles.
  • 41-42 A.D.
    • Antioch promotes the gospel for all (Acts 11)
    • Acts 11:19-21 speaks for itself:
      “Now those who had been scattered by the persecution that broke out when Stephen was killed traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, spreading the word only among Jews. Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus.”
       
      Notice the role that Cyrene in Libya and the island Cyprus play: these were popular havens for Jews who lived outside of Israel, including Simon, the Cyrene, who helped carry Jesus’ cross. Perhaps the combination of being Jews yet not being in Israel allowed Cyrenians and Cypriots to see the universality of the gospel more easily.
       
      At any rate, when the Jewish believers in Jerusalem heard about the preaching to the Gentiles, they sent another person from Cyrene, Barnabas, to check up on the activity. Barnabas, a man full of the Holy Spirit, saw what the grace of God was doing, and encouraged the conversions, so that many Gentiles were converted (Acts 11:23-24).
  • 46-49 A.D.
    • Paul and Barnabas journey through Gentile lands, preaching first to available Jews and then to the Gentiles. All is going well (outside of Paul being frequently persecuted by the Jews).
       
      However, some followers of Jesus referred to as Judaizers, come to Antioch. They have a strong belief in the importance of converting Gentiles to Judaism, insisting that the Gentiles get circumcised, the act of circumcision being the most obvious (and painful) sign of converting to Judaism. While Paul saw social advantages to circumcision (Acts 16:3), he was no doubt outraged on the insistence that, “Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved” (Acts 15:1-5).
       
      Around this time (~47 A.D.), Peter himself visits Antioch. He and Paul’s missionary partner Barnabas had been eating with uncircumcised Gentiles. Unfortunately, when the Judaizers who follow the apostle James show up, both Peter and Barnabas capitulate and separate themselves from the Gentiles. Paul not only rebukes them publicly, but also succeeds in leading the Gentile controversy toward its glorious end.
       
      The apostles in Jerusalem convene to issue a final decision. Peter recounts his experience with Cornelius, which in itself provided a full justification for Gentiles (who received the Holy Spirit without changing a thing in their lifestyles). James himself refers to Peter’s experience with Cornelius and urges the apostles to admit that Gentiles are justified in God’s sight by faith in Jesus alone and never need to become Jews.
       
      The only recommendation to Gentiles is that they avoid common pagan worship practices. They should refrain from eating “food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood” (spoken in Acts 15:20, written in a letter according to Acts 15:29). The rest of behavior should be governed by love, which is the fulfillment of the law (Romans 13:8, Galatians 5:14).

The verdict on Who Can Belong To God is unanimous. Quoting Peter when he met with Cornelius: “God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right” (Acts 10:34). The apostles of Jesus came to agreement that the good news is truly good for Jews and Gentiles alike. Each can keep their traditions with respect to each other.

The verdict on What Parts of God’s Law Make Us Righteous is unanimous. Quoting Paul, in his rebuke to Peter:

We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified. (Galatians 2:15-16)

Paul mentions the reprimand of Peter to stress the seductive power of religion to substitute human effort for faith. Later in the same letter to the Galatians he summarizes the point with a crystal clear statement that is unfortunately not always understood: “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5:1). The misunderstood phrase is “yoke of slavery” which automatically sends modern readers into thoughts about drug and sex addiction. Bad as those states may be, the yoke of slavery to which Paul refers is worse, the strength of all sin, the impossible task of pleasing God by one’s behavior…in short, the law.

It’s worth noting that it was years after Peter’s visit to Cornelius when Peter momentarily capitulated, believing that being Jewish and acting accordingly made one a little bit more righteous. We are wrong to think this episode highlights a particular weakness in Peter’s character. The reliable Barnabas also capitulated. Instead, the episode demonstrates how deeply attached humans are to trying to be better by following rules. It shows how even those who might be considered superstars in the early church found the pull of legalistic righteousness almost inescapable. If it could happen to them, it is happening to us more frequently.

Today, the pull of legalism remains strong. Christian sermons overemphasize behavior and neglect the unqualified acceptance of God through Jesus. They might teach unmerited forgiveness, but they usually add some kind of qualifier, such as, “but you must also become disciples,” or “but we must balance forgiveness with obedience,” or some other truly undermining qualifier. What they should add is what Paul stresses, that “Nothing can ever make you more righteous than you are right now through faith in Jesus alone.” Things as helpful as keeping the Sabbath, avoiding cigarettes or wine, tithing, attending church, or reading the Bible are offered as substitutes for luxuriating in the grace of God which demonstrates plainly both God’s character and Jesus’ gift…the stuff heaven is made of.

The grace divide is clearly defined. Do one thing to obtain righteousness and you have made Jesus’ death count for nothing. Whether it is circumcision or circumscribing this or that pleasure, anything done to justify ourselves nullifies the grace of God. We can have God’s righteousness as a gift or we can work for our own unachievable righteousness—but we cannot have both. There has been only one obedient act that reconciles us to God, the one act that makes Jesus our wisdom, righteousness, holiness, and redemption (1 Corinthians 1:30).

§ Footnotes §

[1] These three sources agree on the approximate timeline in the Books of Acts:

[2] The servant songs are passages in Isaiah that describe (what Christians recognize as) Jesus. They prophesy some of his most significant moments in great detail:

[3] Concerning dates, both the prophecies of Genesis and those of Isaiah were composed about the same time (800-600 B.C.). The difference is that Genesis was looking backward about a thousand years, while Isaiah was addressing contemporaries. The dating of scriptures is always controversial, which is why I provide a time span.

Publishing Info
This post was first published on: November 26, 2025. If this article is significantly updated, the publication date beneath the title may change, just as it might change in order to bring current posts to the top (or bottom) of the directory.

Grammatical Tense Brings Good News from Jesus

What’s So Important about Tense and Language?

Under differing circumstances, we exercise both hope and faith. Hope looks to the future; faith to the unseen present. Here, I emphasize faith because it has been misrepresented as hope by so many preachers, a misunderstanding reinforced by our emotions. On the emotional level, nearly everyone finds solace in the thought that things may get better in the future. Discomfort arises when we are to trust that we already have what we are not yet able to see or feel. One purpose of this post is to help us become comfortable with the invisible, intangible provision of God.

I am neither a Greek scholar nor a grammarian, but I am aware, as my readers are or will soon be, that “tense” matters when it comes to faith in Jesus.

By “tense” I mean the way verbs may point to past, present, and future events (I ran yesterday, I run or am running today, and I will run tomorrow). Or, to use a Bible verse: “God delivered us (past tense) from so great a death, and does deliver us (present tense); in whom we trust that He will still deliver us (future tense)” (2 Corinthians 1:10)

Let me begin with a pedestrian example. Assume a 12-year-old daughter who loved to ride her bicycle could no longer ride it as a result of a flat tire. It would be encouraging for her to hear her father later that evening say, “I will fix your tire soon” (speaking in the future tense). It would be even better if, instead, he said, “I saw your bicycle when I got home and repaired the tire” (speaking in the past tense). The “fix your tire soon” would inspire hope, even though some distraction might arise to prevent the father from following through. The past tense “repaired the tire” would inspire faith. The girl could relax and be thankful that the problem had already been known and resolved by her father.

When we pay attention to the past tense in the Bible, we see that God is already aware of our needs before we pray. We also see that much of what we pray for has already been provided by Jesus. The past tense redirects our attention from ourselves and our circumstances to God’s awareness and provision. Faith does not involve us reminding God of his promises. Rather, faith reminds us of God’s preparation. We are the one’s getting up to speed and not the reverse.

Note the past tense in the following passage, one of the most concise and profound teachings on prayer in the Bible.[1]

Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. (Mark 11:24)

Who would have guessed that the key to faith is to believe you have already received what you are about to ask for? Yet as Mark recites it, we are instructed to believe that we have already received whatever we ask for and then we shall have it.[2]

Many of us have read this verse all our lives and have not caught its meaning. However, its meaning points directly to the one to whom we are praying: the eternal creator who knows everything and stands outside of time. If you are not praying to this being, you are probably praying to someone created in your own image, most likely a “god” who is occasionally forgetful and sometimes indifferent.

We often pray as though God is a hopefully caring individual who will assist us if we can just get his attention, and this, frankly, indicates we are already living in disbelief. It’s essential to believe in the present that God both understands and has provided for this moment’s needs. He knows before we ask what we have need of (Matthew 6:8). For that reason, Jesus says, we should not keep repeating our prayers. We do not “remind” God of anything. We remind ourselves that God has already numbered the hairs on our head and knows what we need (Luke 12:6 – 7). We never make God aware of our needs. We wake up to his constant awareness. As we trust that God already knows and cares, we are living in faith.

What do we do in the mean time—the time between trusting we “have received” and actually experiencing it? Two things stand out in the gospels and elsewhere: be thankful and act on our faith.

Gratitude, especially when we are distressed, may not be automatic. It may require studying the goodness of God and the life of Jesus before we are able to thank God from our heart. It does no good to pretend anything when it comes to prayer, so it’s better to spend time renewing our minds by reading the scriptures than by mouthing words of thankfulness while our hearts remain troubled. In quietness and trust shall be our strength. Let’s stay in that place.

In quietness and trust, you have prayed for something you are sure is God’s will (such as for wisdom, for physical healing, or for the means to provide for yourself and your dependents). You followed Mark 11:24 and believe you have received what you are praying for. Yet you do not see what you have prayed for. This is where we often revert to walking by sight and living in doubt. But you remain focused on the goodness and foresight of our Father in Heaven. You persevere and assume God has set the answer to prayer in motion. Because you prayed according to his will, you are thankful that he has said “yes, so be it.” You thank God for the thing you prayed for because you are trusting it is yours. When worries arise, you retrace the steps of faith (hearing, believing, confessing) and thank God again. Your focus is on God’s focus, not on your feelings which ebb and flow as they will.

To act on our faith is to make decisions based on the answer to prayer. Remember how often Jesus told people to do something to receive their healing? Stand up, pick up your bed, stretch out your hand…. Typically those things simply would not happen unless the person were healed. A paralytic wouldn’t think of standing up and walking, just as someone with a thoroughly withered hand would not attempt to stretch it out (Mark 2:1-12, Mark 3:1 – 5).

This need to act has been misunderstood by some who are better at acting daringly than quietly trusting. Jesus never said, “stop taking your meds,” which anyone can do, healed or sick, at times to their or their children’s detriment. The point is to be open to attempting things that presuppose either a healing or the path to healing, never trying to force God’s hand, which simply isn’t how things work.

Examples of acting on faith abound in the scriptures, including these examples:

  • Naaman dipped himself into the Jordan River seven times and was cured of leprosy (2 Kings 5),
  • The paralytic stood up, picked up his mat, and walked away (Mark 2).
  • The man with the shriveled hand extended it fully (Mark 3:1 – 5).
  • The man who was lame from birth got up and walked upon Peter’s command (Acts 3:1-10).

The next passage reveals that not only does God know our needs before we mention them, but that God knew our needs before time itself began:

He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. (2 Timothy 1:9-10)

This passage takes the past tense to the extreme (“before the beginning of time”). It does so to reveal that our greatest need—to have his life inside us—has been given before we even existed. The statement assures us that we have been in God’s mind long before we had minds of our own. As we know, grace is nothing to be begged for or worked for, but only to be recognized and received. That’s why it’s called grace, coming from χάρις (charis), meaning favor or gift. It’s the last thing you want to try to deserve, because it was the first thing God chose to share with us through Jesus, even before time.

Paying attention to how God has provided in the past stirs our faith. We are no longer relying on what we see in the present. We rely on what we hear about the past. We learn to think of God as truly eternal, a Father who considered everything involved in creation before he created. He is a being for whom nothing is impossible, a being who can only be accessed by faith. Because God has always existed, cared, and provided, any inspired communication from him cannot help but involve the past tense.

Although faith is uncomfortable for those of us who rely solely on our senses, it is ultimately the most reliable way to live. Most will agree that the past seems stable, while the present may be daunting, and the future remains uncertain. If the present is difficult (such as with ill health, bad circumstances, or demoralization), we will find more consolation in learning that something for our benefit has been done in the past than we will in finding something may be done for our benefit in the future. It is my wish that the readers of this post will walk away with increased confidence that our Father has already foreseen and addressed the majority of their needs. This revelation will result in peace for the believer who can respond with thanksgiving instead of with worry.

Christians often talk about promises. They are indeed valuable, and they always refer to the future. Facts are sometimes ignored. They, too are valuable, and they often refer to the past. It’s often the facts that stir up our faith.

Think of our redemption as it is explained in Romans: we have died with Christ (fact), we have been forgiven (fact), we are dead to the law (fact), the spirit of life has set us free from sin and death (fact), we are more than conquerors (fact), and nothing can separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus (fact). To pray for any of these things is to pray in vain. Pray instead that the eyes of our heart may be opened to see these things, to accept them, and to be thankful for them.

The grammar of the past tense serves to remind us of the eternal nature of God. In spite of copious divine facts, we often remain resistant, finding it much easier to worry in the present that to rest in the knowledge that God has already addressed our needs. For this difficulty there are at least two reasons.

First, the facts to which I’m referring are not obvious to natural observation. These must be revealed in the scriptures and by the Holy Spirit. This is why Paul prayed that believers would have a spirit of wisdom and revelation. Similarly, Jesus taught that only by revelation could we know the true God: “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do” ( Ephesians 1:18, Matthew 11:15, 25-26). Let us shed our pride and, like little children, admit to our Father that we do not understand.

The second reason we think in terms of God responding in the future instead of the past is that we have been misled by poor sermons. They often emphasize the importance of hope at the expense of faith. They may stipulate that if something is God’s will, it will happen. True, but that is largely a matter of hope: I hope it’s God’s will and I hope it will happen. There’s a generous place for hope in such things as the second coming of Christ or the resurrection of our bodies from the dead. But in many circles, the place for faith is overlooked. We are told that faith comes by hearing the word of God. We must hear the word of God, with all it’s emphasis on the past tense, if we are to experience now what God has already provided.

Our greatest needs—have already been known by God, addressed by God, and accomplished by Jesus. To use a crude analogy, the check is not in the mail, it has been deposited before we knew we needed the money and awaits only for us to draw upon the account. When we pray, we are not called to beg that God makes an exception, we are called to agree that God is our provider. Prayer is closer to praise than we often realize.

If you are indifferent to what I’m pointing out, please know that the difference is immense. Trusting what God already knows, what God already intends, and what Jesus already accomplished delivers us from a life of fretful worry to a life of peace and joy. We may not instantly experience much, but the knowledge that the matter is in hands greater than ours creates trust.

Assurance without tangible evidence may be considered the foundation of faith, which, as we learn in Hebrews 11:1 is “the substance [in the present] of things hoped for [in the future], the evidence [in the present] of things not [yet] seen.” The litmus test of prayer is whether, when we are done expressing it, we walk away with assurance that it’s being taken care of or whether we feel it all remains up to us to accomplish. We may have to remind ourselves that we’ve been heard; we never need wonder whether or not our Father has listened.

This assurance comes by being convinced that we know God’s will; that it is good, perfect, and acceptable; that it is for our welfare and not our destruction; and that it is full of grace and mercy. We must rid ourselves of institutional disbelief—teachings and practices that reduce God to a lesser being. Among the worst examples, God is an inexplicable being that prefers to teach through sickness rather than healing, through punishment rather than forgiveness. Other institutional disbelief portrays God as a weak, memory challenged being who requires many reminders in order to act—if indeed this God acts at all. We are taught to keep confessing sins that are already, once and forever, forgiven—which is one example of how disbelief puts us right under the law again. If the good news is anything, it is good and, yes, even at this late date, it is still news.

Once you are keyed into the importance of the past tense as a gateway to faith, you find it throughout the gospel.

The great scripture that is so often quoted as to become a mere jingle to our ears epitomizes the role of tense for conveying divine truth: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Note that the loving deed has been done in the past; we need not pray it happens nor can we make it happen: “he gave his one and only son….” Note, also, that we who live in the present can believe in this son: “whoever believes in him….” And, finally, observe that the effect of this past deed believed in the present will result in future effects for they “shall have eternal life.”

Another wonderful scripture highlights the role of tense:

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 person, though for a good person 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!
(Romans 5:6 – 9)

The “right time” is the historical past, about 33 A.D. This is followed by the literary (or eternal) present, “God demonstrates his own love.” And, again, “While we were still sinners,” refers to the past in two respects. First, the author, Paul the Apostle, was alive and sinning (by his own confession) when Christ died for him. Second, those who were born after the crucifixion (that’s us) discover that, while we may be still sinning in the present, Christ already died for us in the past. As a result, whether a person lives in the first or twenty-first century, “we have now been justified” (past perfect tense—to indicate that one event happened before another in the past).

In a final example, the apostle Peter applies the past tense to the majestic prophecy of Isaiah 53:
“‘He himself bore our sins’ in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; ‘by his wounds you have been healed'” (I Peter 2:24, quoting Isaiah 53:5. Peter changes Isaiah’s text from “by his wounds we are healed” to “by his wounds you have been healed—past perfect tense. Both the present “are” or the past perfect “have been” assures us of healing. But Peter’s use of the past tense “have been healed” reminds us that what was done in the past has real effects in the present. Before we were born, the drama of our rebirth into Christ had been transacted.

Finally, not only does faith put us in tune with God, it also makes our part in the process perfectly clear. We are truly recipients. We have nothing to brag or feel superior about. One cannot brag about things someone else achieved, especially if someone else achieved it in the past, most especially before we were born. We can only be grateful. When we realize that the vast majority of our needs have already been met by Christ—through his sufferings and his resurrection—we have nothing to boast about, to anxiously work for, to fear concerning, or to earn. We are already home.

This recognition that we are already recipients of a great gift is what Paul’s opening statement to the Corinthian believers makes clear:

It is because of God that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.” (I Corinthians 1:30-31, NIV)

God has already placed us in Christ. We are neither waiting to gain entrance to God’s presence nor to be near Jesus. We are there, feel it or not. We are not waiting for Jesus to give us wisdom, righteousness, holiness (sanctification), or redemption. We now have them by virtue of already being in Christ. All we need are the eyes to continually see this and the heart to insist on it when this life tells us we are on the outside, far away from Christ.

Consequently, three attitudes should inform our prayers.

  1. No matter what you are praying for, God already knows the need and the solution. Your prayer is permission for God to involve his good, perfect, and acceptable will.
  2. No matter how much guilt or futility you experience, by faith God has put you in Christ, who shares his wisdom, righteousness, holiness, and redemption with you. That is the real you. Living this out in our old bodies may be difficult, but the difficulty is to trust we are exactly who we should be in all the ways that count most.
  3. No matter how ungrateful we feel, that feeling itself stands as a reminder that we have forgotten what God has already given us, whether it’s our new life in Christ or that thing we have prayed for.

delete this below ul:

  • No matter what you are praying for, God already knows the need and the solution. Your prayer is permission for God to involve his good, perfect, and acceptable will.
  • No matter how much guilt or futility you experience, by faith God has put you in Christ, who shares his wisdom, righteousness, holiness, and redemption with you. That is the real you. Living this out in our old bodies may be difficult, but the difficulty is to trust we are exactly who we should be in all the ways that count most.
  • No matter how ungrateful we feel, that feeling itself stands as a reminder that we have forgotten what God has already given us, whether it’s our new life in Christ or that thing we have prayed for.

Footnotes

[1] This teaching occurs after Jesus cursed the fig tree and it died. The cursing of the fig tree is puzzling to most of us who see Jesus as constructive and the fig tree as innocent (it was out of season according to the passage in Mark 11). Without pretending to know why Jesus did it, I can only point out that the cursing of the fig tree and the cleansing of the temple occur on the same day, an extremely emotional one that demonstrates both the misuse of the temple and the impending death of Jesus, who, like the fig tree, would die prematurely.

[2] The past tense in Mark 11:24 is undeniable. The Greek text reads πιστεύετε ὅτι ἐλάβετε καὶ ἔσται. “ἐλάβετε” is the aorist (past perfect) of “λαμβάνω” (to take or receive). The New International captures the tense (believe that you have received it, and it will be yours), as does the New American Standard (believe that you have received them, and they will be [granted] you), as does the Revised Standard version (believe that you have received it, and it will be yours). Some translations hedge slightly, such as King James (believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them). “Ye receive” is present tense. Perhaps the translators could not believe the past tense was intended. The verse, however, retains its meaning that the believing comes before the receiving and that is the most important point.

 

This is the original April 22, 2024 version of the post (17 minutes), which, in its overenthusiastic way, included what is now a separate post on healing and forgiveness:

 

Publishing Info
This post was first published on: April 22, 2024 at 15:00. Revised Apr 23, 2025. If this article is significantly updated, the publication date beneath the title may change in order to bring current posts to the top of the directory.

Healing and Salvation: Sides of the Same Coin


Physical healing is coupled with spiritual healing throughout the Bible. This may be particularly true in Isaiah’s detailed prophecy about Jesus (Isaiah 53) and in the gospel accounts of Jesus. Healing and salvation are often inseparable. There are many scriptures where the same words can be translated either as “healed” or “saved.” Long before “faith healers” or “Pentecostals” existed, physical healing was revealed to be the will of God.

In fact an argument can be made that in the Old Testament, belief in an afterlife was less relevant and less pervasive than belief in the physical welfare of God’s people who were promised “none of these diseases” if they remained faithful. The Jewish community was divided on the the question of the afterlife, when Jesus appeared in Galilee. At the same time, many Jewish leaders apparently thought healing acceptable, but only as long as it did not occur on the Sabbath. In the face of all this ambivalence, Jesus wholeheartedly believed in the afterlife and in physical healing (any day of the week).

You may be thinking at this point, “Spiritual healing, I’m convinced of, but physical healing rarely occurs, not in the supernatural sense. I’m saved, but I haven’t seen a person healed for a long time, if ever.”

The “supernatural sense” provides a useful qualification. As you may have guessed, this post is about supernatural healing—healing that cannot be accounted for by natural explanations. I am not, though, discounting other healings. We all see our bodies healing themselves, often as medical care helps heal them. These healings should be received as gifts from God, just as should all sunshine, groceries, friends, and pets.

Most healing will be medical, even as supernatural healings increase. It is one purpose of humanity for people to help each other, in many things including the practice of medicine. But not all diseases and conditions can be or are healed by medicine, and for these the supernatural becomes vital.

The fact that Christians believe unanimously in spiritual salvation but only occasionally in divine healing should make us wonder what has happened since the early church. It gives us an opportunity to ask ourselves these scandalous questions:

  • If the only parts of the gospel that I believe are the ones that cannot be verified, am I really believing? Or is my “faith” just religious hopefulness?
  • Is it possible that I’m walking in disbelief in spite of my intentions?
  • Is widespread disbelief among Christians what Jesus suspected when he asked, “when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8)

If you want to know whether or not it’s God’s will to heal you, look at Jesus in the gospels. He did only what he saw his father doing (John 5:19):

Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. (Matthew 4:23)

When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick (Matthew 8:16 & Luke 4:40).

Great crowds came to him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and laid them at his feet; and he healed them. The people were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled made well, the lame walking and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel. (Matthew 15:30)

Jesus never told a sick person to learn to live with an illness, nor did he ever say that God wanted to teach the person a lesson through the sickness. He never used his prayer from the Garden of Gethsemanee, “If it be your will,” when confronting sickness. He healed all who came to him. Even in his home town where there was so little faith, “He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them” (Mark 6:4 – 6).

Because God’s will to see us healed is crystal clear, we must ask why it’s so easily disputed and discounted. Among the reasons are the following:

  • we pray and remain sick
  • we pay more attention to feelings than scripture
  • we let our experience define our theology
  • we ignore the gospels and instead listen to sermons and teachings that promote disbelief

Instead of focusing on these deterrents, we do well to focus on Jesus’ unabated habit of healing. Even in the Garden of Gethsemanee, when Peter cut of the servant’s ear, Jesus healed it (Luke 22:49 – 51). It was the eve of his crucifixion and he still healed. Who are we following, after all? Our feelings? Our experience? Our institutions? Or the Jesus who is the same yesterday, today, and forever? (Hebrews 13:8)

As I write this, I’m aware of faithful Christians with chronic conditions, including blindness and polio—and I’d venture that these people are in many ways closer to God than am I. My concern is not to explain away our experience but to focus on what God revealed through Jesus. Then we are at least waging our war against disease on solid ground.

Modern languages and practices have drawn a fairly sharp line between physical healing and spiritual salvation. You go to the doctor for one and go to the alter for the other. This kind of thinking is tidy but it also hinders faith in divine healing.

Ancient Hebrew and Greek, the main languages of the Bible, combine physical and spiritual healing. That means that the language of the Bible may be referring to physical healing more often than we realize, just as Jesus practiced physical healing more than many recognize. Once we see that the same words are used to describe both physical healing and spiritual redemption, we have greater assurance that God’s will is comprehensive: good, perfect, and acceptable (Romans 12:1 – 2).

Three words in Greek are used to refer to both healing and salvation: sozo/σώζω, therapeuo/θεραπεύω, and iaomai/ἰάομαι (Three New Testament Words for Healing). Each of these words is used in the New Testament, and each refers to both physical healing and spiritual salvation. The Gospel (incarnated in Jesus) reveals that the whole person is under the purview of God’s love, with the result that no hair is too short for him to number, nor life too poor for him to care. On more than one occasion, Jesus healed and forgave the person, making the person whole physically, freeing the person emotionally, and enlightening the person spiritually. Let us learn, then, to think of the divine touch as complete, sufficient for all our needs.

We all know that spiritual healing, being eternal, is the most important transformation any of us can (and should) undergo. If I have everything this life can offer—health, friends, and family—but am riddled with guilt and shame, these things mean little. But if I’m a new person, a person adopted by God and endowed with the righteousness of Jesus—I’m well off, even if I have not received my healing. This life may be painfully lacking, but when we sow our earthly bodies to the grave, we can await our eventual restoration as forever healthy children of God.

Although physical healing is less important in the long run, we will see it promised or even stated as a fact in many scriptures, especially when we are aware that many times spiritual redemption and physical healing are both suggested in a promise.

Sometimes a New Testament writer will interpret the Old Testament in a way we would not suspect, even in ways that might distress a Biblical scholar. Apparently, apostolic authority trumps tradition. It happens in Matthew’s gospel, where the writer insists that the healing is physical. After word got out that Jesus could heal people and deliver them from demons, Jesus was flooded with requests:

When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah:

“He took up our infirmities
    and bore our diseases.”

(Matthew 8:16 – 17)

The words “infirmities” and “diseases” are Matthew’s interpretation. In Isaiah 53:4 itself, you find words that refer to the emotions, specifically griefs and sorrows. But Matthew insists that the scourging and crucifixion allowed Jesus to take up and carry physical illness. This overlap between physical and spiritual healing is of course consistent with the Greek words that refer to both kinds of healing.

How are we to take hold of the physical healing so strongly promised in the Bible and so clearly demonstrated in the life of Jesus? The answers may be many and the results few, but one thing remains clear, that true faith is the key. The sooner we believe God wants us healed, the sooner we can trust God for the healing.

The classical passage on how to pray in faith occurs in the gospel of Mark:

Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. (Mark 11:24)

The fact that Jesus begins with “whatever you ask” implies that physical healing is included. It may come naturally or supernaturally. In believing that we have received something before we experience it, we are moving from hope to faith. The bridge between faith and our feelings involves admitting our feelings and adding, “Nevertheless, not my feelings but your will be done.”

God cares about your health just as he cares about your spirit. He allowed his apostles to freely use words that refer at the same time to physical and spiritual healing (σώζω, θεραπεύω, and ἰάομαι). Only the context determines the intended use, and the New Testament provides plenty of examples of both kind of healing. Matthew reads healing into the passage of Isaiah, stressing its importance.

The message we get from the scriptures differs from what we get from many pulpits and most of our experiences. God wants us healed. As John writes to his friend Gaius, may we all think accordingly: “I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well” (3 John 1:2).

 

This is the original April 22, 2024 version of the post (17 minutes), in the author’s voice (more improvisational, far less organized):

 

Publishing Info
This post was first published on: April 22, 2024 at 15:00. Revised Apr 24, 2025. If this article is significantly updated, the publication date beneath the title may change in order to bring current posts to the top of the directory. The word “Gethsemanee” uses an accent so the help the voice software.

What I Learned through Spinal Stenosis

They have lost connection with the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow. (Colossians 2:19)

Before I was diagnosed, I spent months if not years struggling with my legs. They tired very easily and they felt wooden. Finally, I met with Andrea, a nurse practitioner. Somewhere during the exam, I had a revelation that I spoke aloud: When my hand or foot is asleep, all my muscles are there; they just cannot do much. Suddenly, I realized that my problem probably was not a lack of muscles, but of nerves. All the exercising I had been doing could not make me better, if the problem were in the nervous system.

Andrea did not need my revelation, but it concurred with her thoughts. At the end of the appointment, she assured me that what I was suffering was not normal aging, and she referred me to neurology. That led to Magnetic Resonance Images and X-rays. Both types of imaging showed my spinal column was pinching my spinal cord in my neck, causing partial paralysis. The good news was that the diagnosis ruled out multiple sclerosis. The bad news was that it required major neck surgery (discectomy with fusion).

I had a month to prepare for the surgery. Being a student of the good news taught and exemplified by Jesus, I sought a miraculous cure, a divine healing. This didn’t arise purely from cowardice. The surgery is indeed imperfect, whereas divine healing could undo all the damage that had occurred. As I write this, I do not know whether my healing will be divine or surgical. Even if surgical, I’m looking to the healing power of Jesus to make it more successful than usual.

Last night my conscience spoke to me: Louis, you are so inconsistent, applying your faith to your medical condition but not to your human condition. Believe for healing. Believe also for meaningful decisions all day long. Believe you can hear my voice at every juncture. There’s much more divine grace to go around than you realize.

For years, I have needed this realization, now galvanized by all the frustration my infirmity gives me. There’s a scripture in Isaiah that describes my worst moments, moments that occur when fatigued and discouraged: “your tormentors said to you, ‘Fall prostrate that we may walk on you.’ And you made your back like the ground, like a street to be walked on” (Isaiah 51:23). Surely, the creator who can touch the lame can guide me through better days and nights. While I’m believing for great health, why not believe for all the love and communication Jesus shared with his first disciples?

Perhaps the most important thing I’ve learned is the importance of our nervous system. No matter how healthy a limb might be, if it’s not connected to the head, it’s nearly useless. This is the metaphor Paul suggests in Colossians: Jesus is the head of the body; all who belong to him must get their signals from the head; the signals are delivered by the Holy Spirit.

Clearly the body of Christ is often missing the signals the head is sending. Instead of being guided by the head, many members follow their own impulses. To make a short list, some impulses lead to needless divisions, others to self-destructive behavior, and others to watered-down beliefs. There seems no more important task than to be sure we are connected to the head and to help others be so.

However I’m healed, I expect my limbs to respond much better to my brain, and I want my recovery to propel me on a lifelong course of helping members of Christ get better connected to the head.

Who is the Accuser? Who is the Liar?

This post defines a type—a personality that we’ve all met in one form or another. Much blood has been shed, much fear and guilt have been endured because of this type. Whether it’s a person, a spiritual entity, or a voice in our heads, we do well to ignore it.

I’ll start with a couple of pertinent quotations.

Now have come the salvation and the power
and the kingdom of our God,
and the authority of his Messiah.
For the accuser of our brothers and sisters,
who accuses them before our God day and night,
has been hurled down. (Revelation 12:10)

and

You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. (John 8:44)

Taking these passages as a point of departure, we find that the Accuser and the Liar are the same entity: the devil or Satan. That’s not a coincidence. Accusations and lies go hand in hand. The more one lies, the more easily one can accuse others.

Accusations temporarily indemnify the accuser. As long as I’m accusing others, my faults escape notice. Accusations give the accuser the superior vantage point from which the accuser can make others feel guilty and shameful.

Some accusations are based on facts. Of course they are. Each of us has a complete repertoire of things we’ve done wrong or not done right. In the hands of the accuser, though, they become the sole focus. The fact that love covers the multitude of sins is ignored. The statement that mercy triumphs over judgment is silenced. The truth that Jesus has become our redemption is completely forgotten.

Once lies are mingled with facts, the picture gets exceedingly dark. The accuser knows no limit to the fear and shame that may be inspired in others. If anything goes wrong, it is the fault of others. If anything goes right, it is the achievement of the accuser. This is how dictators are made, both spiritual and political.

All people do bad things, meaning everyone is selfish. Some curb their selfishness, others do not. There’s enough need for ownership and honesty in these matters to occupy the human race. But it gets worse: some people are evil. The evil person first injures others and then makes them feel responsible for their injury. Child abusers are expert in this. They sexually or emotionally damage a child and then tell the child it is really the child’s fault. The shame and fear they inspire insures they are unlikely to be exposed. To seal this assurance, they threaten the child (you or your family or friends will suffer even worse if you ever talk about this).

Accusers may be found in many disguises: as teachers, pastors, bosses, spouses, parents, and presidents. We must not listen to them, for when we are, we are listening to Satan.

Miracles Now or in Another Life?

I had met Kirk for breakfast. I liked him. We met on a water taxi from Belize to an island, Caye Caulker. We were now having breakfast at Amor y Cafe. Kirk is younger than I but still feeling the weight of his sixth decade of life. He observed that aging is not enjoyable. I concurred wholeheartedly, for that was the reason I had come to this island: to swim and hopefully regain some of my health.

I quickly added: “But then there’s Isaiah 65, 

Never again will there be in it
    an infant who lives but a few days,
    or an old man who does not live out his years;
the one who dies at a hundred
    will be thought a mere child

It is a verse I have been “claiming” in an approximate way, hoping that I have many good years ahead of me.

To this, Kirk quickly and confidently rejoined, “Ah, yes. The Millennium!”

I knew exactly what he meant: Christ would return someday, Satan would be imprisoned, and earth would be well for a thousand years. During that time, we will experience a wealth of miracles, all the healing imaginable.

If we had been keeping score, Kirk would get a point for allowing the statement about the hundred-year-old child to be true (even literally) and at the same time entirely futuristic. I’d get a point afterward for writing that the statement is hyperbolic. Whether someone lives to be a hundred this year or in the Millennium, there’s something rhetorical and exaggerative about calling that person “a child.” Similarly, if someone dies at, say, 95 years, calling that person “accursed” (as Isaiah 65 soon states) is equally hyperbolic. The obvious point of Isaiah 65 is that things will, at an unspecified time and under unspecified conditions, get incredibly better for people.

Enough of Isaiah 65 for now, beautiful as the vision is. Enough of Kirk, too—only because he had to leave the island the next day and I never questioned him further about his beliefs.

But the conversation we started at the cafe continued a debate within me. On one hand, I am one who believes miracles are for today. On the other hand, I looked at the advantages of those who believe miracles are for the Millennium.

I see miracles, especially healings, as part of our daily bread, the sort of thing Jesus illustrated while on earth, the thing the disciples illustrated after Jesus ascended, and the thing occasionally experienced, sometimes in crowds, sometimes alone, by people across the ages.

The other school, sometimes called dispensationalism, sees the one miracle of being born again as the miracle we can both count on and help manifest in our lifetime. Salvation, period. The physical miracles can wait until the Millennium.

Unlike Millennial thinkers, I cannot wait passively. If miracles, especially of healing, were needed and delivered to the people in Jesus’ Palestine, they are equally needed today. Yes, medicine does much, but medicine doesn’t come close to curing many, many ailments. Look at the disease stricken world and realize the need is greater than ever. The reason, I think, people join the Millennial school, is because they don’t understand why divine healings are so rare. When I am pressed for why miracles occur so rarely (few people I know have documentable divine healings), I think of the one thing for which Jesus criticized his disciples most frequently: disbelief.

If Peter had enough faith to get out of a boat and take a few steps on stormy water, began to sink, cried for help from Jesus, and was met by, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”—if that, then why in the world are we satisfied with our level of faith? Most of us are still sitting in the boat. Many of of us cry out for help. Few of us even imagine walking on water or doing anything that suggests that a great reality undergirds us.

I bring up disbelief because it was a problem among the disciples and is surely a problem among most modern “believers.” There is no condemnation in admitting one has disbelief, just as there’s no condemnation in admitting one has a past. We all need to start somewhere. The question isn’t, “Where did we start?” but “Where are we headed?”

Faith has little to do with with our will power and much more to do with what we are listening to. To become absorbed in the teachings of Jesus, including the prophetic voices of, say, Isaiah, is to be on the path to faith. Learning to see what is real for God (read Romans 8 for a sample) is learning to doubt our experiences and instead trust in the good news.

In conclusion, on one hand, I like the tidiness of Millennial thinking. The plan is to appreciate the miracle of being reconciled to God. Not only do we appreciate the one miracle but we also propagate it. We have churches that teach the gospel. We are all able to share in one capacity or another the gospel. Those who believe, start a new life with Jesus and our Father. Those that don’t may later. Someday we will die and experience much, much more. It’s beautiful.

It is beautiful! And I need to appreciate this vision. Of course the standard way of sharing the gospel needs constant tweaking. After all, it’s often preached to the choir. But beneath the cliches and rote understandings lie treasures that cannot be measured and shouldn’t be missed. Being born spiritually means never being alone again. It means always being in Christ, always being loved by God. It dwarfs about any other experience imaginable.

On the other hand (of my internal debate) I love the hope of the early gospel, the message that Jesus lives in us, that he is the same yesterday, today, and forever. I love the promises that whatever we ask in his name, we shall receive so that our joy may be full. And I love the occasional testimonies of those who were so ill that nothing could be done until the Spirit of God miraculously healed them. More than health, they gained a better knowledge of Jesus than otherwise possible.

So I do think I gained more appreciation of the purely spiritual salvation message that Kirk got me thinking about.

It in no way dislodged my appreciation of the physically miraculous.

I pay attention to all the stories of healing in the Bible, closely, as though I’m reading the news. Even when I’m not healed (and at the moment I’m imagining a divine touch), I’m coming closer and closer to learning God’s will. Just because things happen frequently in this world doesn’t mean God wills them. And just because things don’t happen, doesn’t mean God doesn’t will them. God’s will is revealed in Jesus, and it is expressed wherever there is faith and obedience. God’s will is wholesome, meaning God wants us whole, body, mind, and spirit. It will not be realized completely in this life—we all see through a darkly lighted mirror. But there’s not a bit of confusion of how Jesus treated sickness, never turning anyone away, always healing, always delivering.

Call me little faith, and I’m encouraged! If a little faith untangles God’s will from all the evil that happens, a little more faith will brings us in touch with the “God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not”—yes, the God who enabled geriatric Abraham and Sarah to give birth to a son (Romans 4:17).

When Nothing Happens

What do you do, how do you think, should you even pray when for days on end nothing happens? Put differently, lately nothing of the invisible realm seems real. My materialist friends of course could step in with a solemn, “That, Louis, is because it isn’t real, there’s no there there.” I can think that thought on my own of course.

There are two problems, then. The question of reality: what if the gospels and the other brilliant passages in the Bible are made up? The question of futility: even if I do believe the scriptures, what am I to do about it if, in Hamlet’s words, the entire realm of faith seems “weary, stale, flat and unprofitable”?

I’ve been wasting away in the doldrums for days or weeks now. The materialist version (no there there) doesn’t shake me, not after years of reading and appreciating the best news. The question of futility, though, persists.

One thing faith in the invisible Father who notices each fallen sparrow teaches is that lip service is of no value. If my heart is not behind my prayers, they are not worth the time of day. But how can my heart be behind something that seems utterly absent? Yes, I know, this sounds like a classical “dark night of the soul,” and it may be, but it’s not for me a concept. It’s a current event.

Faith has always required remembering that there is more than meets the eye, but what I’m undergoing is a state when the remembering itself seems forced, fictitious. For a while I push the thoughts out of my mind, perhaps distracting myself with practical affairs (which are always available for such purposes). But later, I realize I’m free falling, not, mind you, into hedonism or even self pity. I’m falling freely with nothing—no emotion, thought, or relation—to support me.

And here is the surprising thing. I finally stop fighting it, the feeling of helplessness. I even stop worrying. Something deeper than my academic faith or my moral compass kicks in. Perhaps it doesn’t kick in so much as appear as the things that buried it are swept away.

I smile. I think, so there, mister, you can trust but you cannot trounce. You can relax, you can always get weaker, you can have this hope that the “you” that is losing its grip is not the real, naked you. It’s a pretender who has tried to make things work instead of letting the invisible God work them out in his time, his way.

On the emotional plane, my weakness assures me that I’ll wait and see the grace of God.

Occasionally, I think of Peter’s words that trials come to us “so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.” So this is what’s happening…things are being stripped away to reveal genuine faith. If so, and I think it so, I no longer need to worry. Wince, perhaps, but not worry.

In a lesser known (and I think wonderful) essay, C.S. Lewis makes a case for the virtue of obstinacy when it comes to our belief in Jesus. As one of my friends quickly pointed out, “obstinacy” is generally regarded as a character defect. It usually means a person is holding onto the wrong idea or conviction for the wrong reasons…from pure stubbornness, perhaps.

But as Lewis writes in On Obstinacy in Belief, it is the lifeblood of a good relationship under duress.

The argument unfolds on two main points. First, Christianity never asks us to believe the message without good reason. That reason can be a personal revelation that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, or it can be less dramatic, a realization that the scriptures provide a crucial, missing piece to our search for meaning in this life. In my case, both reasons apply. Lewis adds another aspect: that each generation supplies a different argument why Christianity is not true, a tacit acknowledgement that its claims merit a constant attack. He says this all much better of course, but I’m moving quickly toward the bit about obstinacy.

While we are never asked to believe in any truth without good reason, we will all come to places where those reasons seem insubstantial as our feelings and perceptions whither away. And here is where obstinacy comes into play. Consider a human relationship, say a marriage. While adultery does occur among marriages, it would be a fault for a wife to accuse her husband of infidelity on the first shred of evidence—the kind of evidence that could be construed to mean many things. The obstinacy to trust the husband (until proven wrong) is similarly important in all sorts of relationships where distrust ruins all.

A humorous example of evidential adultery occurred in the life of David and Nancy French. When they moved to New York, Nancy began receiving too many phone calls from women asking for David. I do not know how long this went on, but it was resolved (and the marriage survived) after they learned that their New York phone number had previously belonged to the rock singer David Lee Roth (who of course shared the same first name as Nancy’s husband).

Lewis writes, “There are times when we can do all that a fellow creature needs if only he will trust us. In getting a dog out of a trap, in extracting a thorn from a child’s finger, in teaching a boy to swim or rescuing one who can’t, in getting a frightened beginner over a nasty place on a mountain, the one fatal obstacle may be their distrust. We are asking them to trust us in the teeth of their senses, their imagination, and their intelligence. We ask them to believe that what is painful will relieve their pain and that what looks dangerous is their only safety. . . .” The passage goes on but the point is clear: we are the one in need of help and we cannot see how the present silence or emptiness is part of the answer, but if we do not trust, we will not receive the aid.

In particular, my free fall is beginning to show the outline of something needed. I started out the year writing that trust not trying will be my way of life. Occasions have arisen that make me want to put things together or to change things while, at the same time, I realize I cannot, not if the outcome is to be more than a scaffold built by worry and fear. And so I let go. It’s not my hands that hold me. If my Father is as Jesus said, his hands…that is, his invisible power will keep me and make me more alive than all my machinations could ever achieve.

Listen to the Crucifixion and Resurrection from all Four Gospels

First, I’ll reproduce the Crucifixion of Jesus as recorded in Matthew 27, Mark 15, Luke 23, and John 19. Each one provides information left out from the others.

Second, I’ll do the same with the Resurrection stories, with the exception of beginning with John for the sake of continuity. I’ve chosen to keep the shorter version of the story from Mark, although the longer version, which was added later, is consistent with the rest of the gospels.

Matthew – Crucifixion

Early in the morning, all the chief priests and the elders of the people made their plans how to have Jesus executed. So they bound him, led him away and handed him over to Pilate the governor.

When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. “I have sinned,” he said, “for I have betrayed innocent blood.”

“What is that to us?” they replied. “That’s your responsibility.”

So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.

The chief priests picked up the coins and said, “It is against the law to put this into the treasury, since it is blood money.” So they decided to use the money to buy the potter’s field as a burial place for foreigners. That is why it has been called the Field of Blood to this day. Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: “They took the thirty pieces of silver, the price set on him by the people of Israel, and they used them to buy the potter’s field, as the Lord commanded me.”

Meanwhile Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

“You have said so,” Jesus replied.

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.

Now it was the governor’s custom at the festival to release a prisoner chosen by the crowd. At that time they had a well-known prisoner whose name was Jesus Barabbas. So when the crowd had gathered, Pilate asked them, “Which one do you want me to release to you: Jesus Barabbas, or Jesus who is called the Messiah?” For he knew it was out of self-interest that they had handed Jesus over to him.

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, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him.”

But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed.

“Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” asked the governor.

“Barabbas,” they answered.

“What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called the Messiah?” Pilate asked.

They all answered, “Crucify him!”

“Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate.

But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!”

When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “It is your responsibility!”

All the people answered, “His blood is on us and on our children!”

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. Then they 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.

Two rebels were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!” In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! He’s the king of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” In the same way the rebels who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him.

From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land. About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).

When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “He’s calling Elijah.”

Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. The rest said, “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to save him.”

And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.

At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people.

When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God!”

Many women were there, watching from a distance. They had followed Jesus from Galilee to care for his needs. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons.

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. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb.

The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. “Sir,” they said, “we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.”

“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.

Mark – Crucifixion

Very early in the morning, the chief priests, with the elders, the teachers of the law and the whole Sanhedrin, made their plans. So they bound Jesus, led him away and handed him over to Pilate.

“Are you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate.

“You have said so,” Jesus replied.

The chief priests accused him of many things. So again Pilate asked him, “Aren’t you going to answer? See how many things they are accusing you of.”

But Jesus still made no reply, and Pilate was amazed.

Now it was the custom at the festival to release a prisoner whom the people requested. A man called Barabbas was in prison with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the uprising. The crowd came up and asked Pilate to do for them what he usually did.

“Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate, knowing it was out of self-interest that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas instead.

“What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews?” Pilate asked them.

“Crucify him!” they shouted.

“Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate.

But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!”

Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.

The soldiers led Jesus away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium) and called together the whole company of soldiers. They put a purple robe on him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him. And they began to call out to him, “Hail, king of the Jews!” Again and again they struck him on the head with a staff and spit on him. Falling on their knees, they paid homage to him. And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.

A certain man from Cyrene, Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing by on his way in from the country, and they forced him to carry the cross. They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means “the place of the skull”). Then they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. And they crucified him. Dividing up his clothes, they cast lots to see what each would get.

It was nine in the morning when they crucified him. The written notice of the charge against him read: THE KING OF THE JEWS.

They crucified two rebels with him, one on his right and one on his left. Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, “So! You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, come down from the cross and save yourself!” In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked him among themselves. “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! Let this Messiah, this king of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe.” Those crucified with him also heaped insults on him.

At noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”)

When some of those standing near heard this, they said, “Listen, he’s calling Elijah.”

Someone ran, filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to take him down,” he said.

With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.

The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, saw how he died, he said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!”

Some women were watching from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joseph, and Salome. In Galilee these women had followed him and cared for his needs. Many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem were also there.

It was Preparation Day (that is, the day before the Sabbath). So as evening approached, Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the Council, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. Pilate was surprised to hear that he was already dead. Summoning the centurion, he asked him if Jesus had already died. When he learned from the centurion that it was so, he gave the body to Joseph. So Joseph bought some linen cloth, took down the body, wrapped it in the linen, and placed it in a tomb cut out of rock. Then he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph saw where he was laid.

Luke – Crucifixion

Then the whole assembly rose and led him off to Pilate. And they began to accuse him, saying, “We have found this man subverting our nation. He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar and claims to be Messiah, a king.”

So Pilate asked Jesus, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

“You have said so,” Jesus replied.

Then Pilate announced to the chief priests and the crowd, “I find no basis for a charge against this man.”

But they insisted, “He stirs up the people all over Judea by his teaching. He started in Galilee and has come all the way here.”

On hearing this, Pilate asked if the man was a Galilean. When he learned that Jesus was under Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at that time.

When Herod saw Jesus, he was greatly pleased, because for a long time he had been wanting to see him. From what he had heard about him, he hoped to see him perform a sign of some sort. He plied him with many questions, but Jesus gave him no answer. The chief priests and the teachers of the law were standing there, vehemently accusing him. Then Herod and his soldiers ridiculed and mocked him. Dressing him in an elegant robe, they sent him back to Pilate. That day Herod and Pilate became friends—before this they had been enemies.

Pilate called together the chief priests, the rulers and the people, and said to them, “You brought me this man as one who was inciting the people to rebellion. I have examined him in your presence and have found no basis for your charges against him. Neither has Herod, for he sent him back to us; as you can see, he has done nothing to deserve death. Therefore, I will punish him and then release him.”

But the whole crowd shouted, “Away with this man! Release Barabbas to us!” (Barabbas had been thrown into prison for an insurrection in the city, and for murder.)

Wanting to release Jesus, Pilate appealed to them again. But they kept shouting, “Crucify him! Crucify him!”

For the third time he spoke to them: “Why? What crime has this man committed? I have found in him no grounds for the death penalty. Therefore I will have him punished and then release him.”

But with loud shouts they insistently demanded that he be crucified, and their shouts prevailed. So Pilate decided to grant their demand. He released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, the one they asked for, and surrendered Jesus to their will.

As the soldiers led him away, they seized Simon from Cyrene, who was on his way in from the country, and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus. A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him. Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children. For the time will come when you will say, ‘Blessed are the childless women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ Then

“‘they will say to the mountains, “Fall on us!”
and to the hills, “Cover us!”’

For if people do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”

Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.

The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.”

The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.”

There was a written notice above him, which read: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.

One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”

But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”

Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.

The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, “Surely this was a righteous man.” When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away. But all those who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.

Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the Council, a good and upright man, who had not consented to their decision and action. He came from the Judean town of Arimathea, and he himself was waiting for the kingdom of God. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body. Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid. It was Preparation Day, and the Sabbath was about to begin.

The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.

John – Crucifixion

Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe and went up to him again and again, saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” And they slapped him in the face.

Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews gathered there, “Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him.” When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!”

As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!”

But Pilate answered, “You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him.”

The Jewish leaders insisted, “We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God.”

When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, and he went back inside the palace. “Where do you come from?” he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer. “Do you refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?”

Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.”

From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jewish leaders kept shouting, “If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.”

When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge’s seat at a place known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic is Gabbatha). It was the day of Preparation of the Passover; it was about noon.

“Here is your king,” Pilate said to the Jews.

But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!”

“Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked.

“We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered.

Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified.

So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). There they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle.

Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews.”

Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”

When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom.

“Let’s not tear it,” they said to one another. “Let’s decide by lot who will get it.”

This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled that said,

“They divided my clothes among them
and cast lots for my garment.”

So this is what the soldiers did.

Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman, here is your son,” and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.

Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken,” and, as another scripture says, “They will look on the one they have pierced.”

Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

John – Resurrection

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.

On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.

Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”

But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”

Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”

Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Galilee. It happened this way: Simon Peter, Thomas (also known as Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. “I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.

He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?”

“No,” they answered.

He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.

Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, “It is the Lord,” he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water. The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards. When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread.

Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.” So Simon Peter climbed back into the boat and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, , but even with so many the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.

When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”

“Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”

Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”

The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”

Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. (This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and had said, “Lord, who is going to betray you?”) When Peter saw him, he asked, “Lord, what about him?”

Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.” Because of this, the rumor spread among the believers that this disciple would not die. But Jesus did not say that he would not die; he only said, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?”

This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true.

Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.

Matthew – Resurrection

After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.

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. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.

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. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”

So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”

While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.

Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “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.”

Mark – Resurrection

When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body. Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?”

But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.

“Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’”

Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.

Luke – Resurrection

On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” Then they remembered his words.

When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.

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.

He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?”

They stood still, their faces downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?”

“What things?” he asked.

“About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus.”

He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

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, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”

They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.

While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”

They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”

When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate it in their presence.

He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”

Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God.

Credits

Thank you to GSpeech for making the audio so simple! I’m using the New International Version for the English translation. The text is provided by Bible Gateway.

Genuine Miracles (contributions welcome!)

What is a genuine miracle for the purpose of this post? The short answer is that it is one that I find convincing because (1) it is beneficial and (2) cannot be more easily explained as a natural occurrence.

The longer answer (but not dreadfully long) goes like this. On one hand, every thing is a miracle. But as soon as we admit that, the term loses its usefulness. Perhaps it’s better to say everything is a gift and some gifts are miraculous.

A physician’s report that says an individual recovered in spite of medical predictions would be bonafide in my mind, whether or not we knew that someone had prayed for that healing. Missing a flight or a ride that happened to culminate in an accident might be a miracle. Finding oneself in an airport and receiving a call from one’s grandmother warning one not to board the flight that did culminate in an accident would be an even more convincing example of divine intervention.

You get the idea: the less probable and the more helpful an otherwise difficult-to-explain event is, the more likely it is to be a miracle.

As a reminder, we believe in Jesus because his Father has revealed him to us (Matthew 16:16-18). That revelation—that conviction that Jesus is the Christ—is less tangible but more reliable than a reported miracle.

Even so, miracles that reveal the love and kindness of God deserve our attention. Frequently in the New Testament, they serve two purposes at the same time, to help the individual and to reveal the goodness and power of God (John 9:1-6).

In my experience, Christians talk about miracles and even imagine miracles far more often than they experience them. What counts as miracles here are experiences that cannot be more easily accounted for as coincidences or instances of random luck. Bonafide miracles in this context result from the Spirit of God somehow moving in this physical world to make a much-needed change.

So, if you will, in the comments below, please share any bonafide miracles you’ve witnessed. Please be as honest as you can. When I was in high school I told a friend my van had miraculously started running well. She told her dad. He was a skeptic. I stood my ground. The truth is, I didn’t mention that I had replaced a spark plug. This was something I didn’t even think about in my zeal. If I could go back in time, I’d simply thank God for the ability to put a new plug in my car and leave the miraculous out of the picture.

If I see a need to edit your comment, I’ll send you an email letting you know the reasons (for clarity and integrity). Let’s start with one of the few documented miracles in my life. There are many events that I think are divinely guided but they do not make compelling stories to outsiders.