FRIES WITH THAT?

Imagine...                                                                                                                
Your Master has been arrested by powerful priests - then crucified by the Roman army!

He has miraculously risen from the dead and told you to wait for Him in Galilee, so... let’s play it safe hey, keep a low profile...   Why not go back to fishing? (Jn 21)

Jesus once said to his disciples: “I will make you fishers of men” ... but what did He say to them at the end?...  “...without me ye can do nothing”.




'...that night they caught NOTHING.'

Notice our team of SEVEN (7) includes 3 commercial fishermen – Peter, James and John (who have also seen the glory of Jesus on the mount of transfiguration)    

If they can’t show the others how it’s done, no-one can!  

Who else has come along?...                                                                                       

Nathanael said 3 years ago: “Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel!”                  

Thomas has just said of Jesus: “My Lord and my God!”



'Peter...cast himself into the sea'

Now these experts can’t even catch one lousy fish for breakfast!... and that Stranger on the shore is calling out: “Children, have you caught anything?”     

Children??  How dare He... we’re fishermen!...or used to be.

"Cast the net on the right side of the ship and ye shall find.”                     

What difference would that make? Okay, we’re desperate....

What a humbling experience, especially for Peter – caught naked, only to find God Manifest has a breakfast of fishburgers right ready on the beach.  

‘Would you like fries with that?’

John has given us SEVEN public miracles from Jesus and now here’s the bonus – very gracious – and private, just for friends.

Why 153 large fish??                                                        
John helped count them. Yes... he can count past 7 after all!

NEXT:  What is Jesus going to say to them?
http://guvsdesk.blogspot.com.au/2017/03/you-follow-me.html

FAITHLESS...or BELIEVING?

Notice the difference!... Mary of Magdala runs thru the dark streets with the wonderful news that she has seen Jesus, risen from the dead.                        
Meanwhile the disciples hide away behind closed doors - only to be interrupted by Jesus! (Jn20:19-)                                                                                                   

Does He get mad with them for letting Him down?                                                  
No, He graciously greets them with “Peace!”...3 times!... and breathes on them the Holy Spirit... WOW!... and gives them authority too!                                      
Why? There’s work to be done.

What an uplifting day this is! It’s no ordinary day, that’s for sure.                           
No wonder the apostles will continue to remember Jesus by ‘breaking of bread’ on the first day of the week, the day they were empowered by God Himself.

"Reach here with your finger..."

"My Lord and my God!"

Poor Thomas – eye-witness is not good enough for him – not even his own eyes! He insists on feeling Jesus’ wounds for himself. How gross!

Is eye-witness good enough for you?                                                                                        

Or will you stay ‘apistos’ – faithless?...refusing to believe until you are forced to.

At last John tells us why he wrote, even at his own expense, that we might believe that ‘Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God’ -then we will have ‘life through His Name.’


NEXT: 7 miracles, resurrection from the dead... How about a bonus?
http://guvsdesk.blogspot.com.au/2017/02/fries-with-that.html

BUT MARY... she gets the scoop!

Will Jesus keep His promise to rise from among the dead?...and who will get the scoop?

Here comes Mary of Magdala risking the dark streets, only to find the stone door rolled away... (Jn 20:1-18)     

He’s gone!!...  So Mary RUNS to tell Jesus’ disciples, who come for a look.  John seems to admit they forgot this psalm...

“Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.”   


But Mary...  she doesn’t just wander home...  “Woman, why weep?”       She is entrusted with the world’s best news:
Jesus has defeated death!... He is risen from among the dead!... and it’s time to get the message to His Brethren:   

“I ascend unto My Father, and to your Father; and to My God and to your God.”

If John was making this up, why tell this against himself, in favour of an unlikely woman chosen to be the very first Christian evangelist?

How wonderful our God is! Nothing but nothing will stop Him so who better to use but Mary  - a woman who demonstrates her love; who was once under the lordship of Satan but now her Lord is...

Jesus Christ!

  

LOVE TRIUMPHS

John, you’ve taken Jesus’ mother home and now hurried back to watch your Master die.  Last night’s supper is just a memory as Jesus’ lifeless body hangs from the nails - the Lamb of God slain on Passover day!... while everybody rushes around after this morning’s drama to prepare for the big ‘holy convocation’ tomorrow: the Feast of Unleavened Bread. (John 19:31-42)                                           

The apostle Paul explains it for us: “For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us: therefore let us keep the feast... neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”

Is there malice and wickedness in this feast?                   
To uphold the Law, the Jews want those shameful bodies out of sight so here come the soldiers to smash their legs and hasten death. Imagine the agonies.       

Now don’t forget – Jesus has been bleeding ALL DAY!

Such is the hatred, they feel cheated that Jesus has died first so... ‘one of the soldiers with a spear pierced His side, and forthwith came there out blood and water’ ...from Christ’s dead body!  

It’s no wonder John insists... “And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true: and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe.” 
They’ve unwittingly fulfilled yet more prophecies!...

• “When I see the blood I will pass over you”
• “neither shall ye break a bone thereof”
• ‘He keepeth all His bones, not one of them is broken’
• “they shall look upon Me whom they have pierced”
• ‘with the rich in His death’  ... as Joseph of Arimathaea and Nicodemus, now in disregard for their reputations, lovingly place the body of Jesus in a new tomb nearby.

 God’s love triumphs over Man’s hatred!

PATHETIC...or PROPHETIC?

Jesus has been rejected by the Jews as their King – on Passover Day!                  

Now listen to John as he watches his Master being crucified as a criminal by Roman soldiers, outside the city....  
(Jn 19:17-30)                                                                                                     

Much he doesn’t mention so take note of the detail he does give us about this King of the Jews...

• Pontius Pilate hasn’t finished with Him: he PERSONALLY identifies to the whole world ‘Jesus of Nazareth’– a final insult!

• This King is being crucified stark naked! ...while the soldiers help themselves to His clothes

• This King has only 4 women and a lone disciple for support... and that soon goes

• This King gets only vinegar to drink

What a horribly pathetic coronation under a crown of thorns!...or is it?             

They have unwittingly fulfilled so many prophecies!...

• ‘the plowers plowed upon my back’
• ‘they pierced my hands and my feet’
• ‘they part my garments...and cast lots’
• “so must the Son of Man be lifted up”
• “Behold the Lamb of God”
• 'He was numbered with the transgressors’
• ‘reproach of men and despised of the people’
• ‘in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink’
• ‘...shall Messiah be cut off’

Finally, who is really in control here?...the Roman governor??  Maybe not.           

Jesus says: “It is finished” then... ‘bowed His head and gave up the ghost’     

(Why do they ‘sacrifice’ Him again every day at Mass?)  

NEXT:  Surely Rome’s governor and his soldiers have finished with this King of the Jews?   Perhaps they will unwittingly fulfil more prophecies!

"BEHOLD THE MAN!"

What was it Pontius Pilate said of Jesus?... “I find in Him no fault at all”                       
So you will immediately release Him, right?                                                            
Umm...not so quick – they haven’t quite finished with Him just yet...                        
Let’s try to forget what the artists and Mel Gibson portray and read what John actually wrote: ‘oun lambano Pilatos – Iesous kai mastigoo’...  

‘then Pilate took Jesus and scourged [him]’



Healing hands

Yes, the barbarity of this man is unbelievable - watch what happens!... Jn 19:1-16

• The Roman governor is taking an innocent Man and is PERSONALLY FLOGGING HIM! (yes, other gospel writers agree)

• His soldiers now tie a crown of thorns on the head of the King of the Jews, then mock Him in a purple robe and punch Him

• Pilate now proudly shows off his bruised and bloody victim to the Jews:  “Behold the Man!”

• 3 times Pontius Pilate declares he finds: “No fault in Him”

• Next he drags this innocent Man - His back shredded from flogging - back into the Judgment Hall for another civil trial!...

• ...then out to the Judgment Seat for sentencing – all before 9 o’clock in the morning!

3 times Pilate identifies Jesus as the King of the Jews.                                                  
They realize the religious charge: “He made Himself the Son of God” was only making Pilate afraid, so switch to: “We have no king but Caesar”.                                                

3 times they beg: “Crucify Him!”  These ‘pious’ Jews at Passover would rather recognise a pagan emperor than God as their King.                                                               

Finally Jesus is released as a free Man?... oh no, He’s led outside the city walls as a criminal, wearing Rome’s curse of thorns, to be hung on a crucifix tree - a Jewish curse.

Okay Guv, now you can get back to your breakfast...enjoy!

The 'I AM' meets 'JUSTICE'

Can you imagine yourself in this position?...



Healing Hands

Last night you were hanging out with friends in a park, only to be arrested by a cohort of ~500 soldiers led by religious officers then dragged off to 2 illegal mock trials during the night.                                                                 



It is now early morning and very cold as you are led to the Roman judgment hall for a 3^rd trial. (Jn18:28- )  You are supposed to be innocent until proven guilty but the priests have got a festival on (the Lord’s Passover!) and you are considered a pest – even a criminal deserving of death.                                                           

"What's truth!?"

What is the indictment?   There is no indictment!

Who are the witnesses?   There are no witnesses!

The governor cross-examines you over hearsay, expecting you to incriminate yourself.  You came to tell the truth.

Your judge snorts: “What’s truth!?” ...but obviously you are no threat to the emperor, so the finding is... “No fault at all”

No indictment, no witnesses, no conviction, no sentence.... so you will now be released?   

The ‘pure’ priests would rather a real criminal: “Not this Man but Barabbas!”  

Yes, it’s all happening as Jesus predicted – of course.

 

NEXT: What to do with this innocent Man in custody?