He is risen! He is risen, indeed!

Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.” So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.” (Matthew 28.1 – 10, ESV)

It’s Holy Saturday, and Jesus is in a tomb:

When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who also was a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut in the rock. And he rolled a great stone to the entrance of the tomb and went away. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb. (Matthew 27.57 – 61, ESV)

A friend of mine gave me an intriguing book, Descent, which is described as:

Part of a series inspired by key events in the New Testament, this book presents a sequence of over 100 great works of art depicting the moving final scene of Christ’s earthly sojourn – the removal of His body from the Cross.

The art had one thing in common: Jesus was dead.

It’s hard to find a picture of Jesus in the tomb as I have posted below. Most tomb pictures are empty. We want to jump straight to the resurrection. But there was a time when Jesus was dead. His followers knew he was dead. No one expected the resurrection. They had no thought of his coming back. It was over.

How would that have felt?

It’s intriguing that his enemies seemed to have a better recollection of Jesus’ words than the disciples!

The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate and said, “Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise.’ Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last fraud will be worse than the first.” Pilate said to them, “You have a guard of soldiers. Go, make it as secure as you can.” So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard. (Matthew 27.62 – 66, ESV)

[Originally published in the Ewellogy on April 8, 2023.]

It’s Good Friday, and we conclude our Lenten meditations with the closing stanzas 54 – 62 of George Herbert’s poem “The Sacrifice.” If you clicked that link, you got the original version of the poem with 1633 spellings. I have been posting my version with current spellings. I now make that version available to you in its entirety: “The Sacrifice,” by George Herbert with modernized spellings.

• Shame tears my soul, my body many a wound;
• Sharp nails pierce this, but sharper that confound;
• Reproaches, which are free, while I am bound.
•                                               Was ever grief like mine?

• Now heal thy self, Physician; now come down.
• Alas! I did so, when I left my crown
• And fathers smile for you, to feel his frown:
•                                               Was ever grief like mine?

• In healing not myself, there doth consist
• All that salvation, which ye now resist;
• Your safety in my sickness doth subsist:
•                                               Was ever grief like mine?

• Betwixt two thieves I spend my utmost breath,
• As he that for some robbery suffereth.
• Alas! what have I stolen from you?  Death.
•                                               Was ever grief like mine?

• A king my title is, prefixed on high;
• Yet by my subjects am condemned to die
• A servile death in servile company:
•                                               Was ever grief like mine?

• They give me vinegar mingled with gall,
• But more with malice: yet, when they did call,
• With Manna, Angels’ food, I fed them all:
•                                               Was ever grief like mine?

• They part my garments, and by lot dispose
• My coat, the type of love, which once cured those
• Who sought for help, never malicious foes:
•                                               Was ever grief like mine?

• Nay, after death their spite shall further go;
• For they will pierce my side, I full well know;
• That as sin came, so Sacraments might flow:
•                                               Was ever grief like mine?

• But now I die; now all is finished.
• My woe, man’s weal: and now I bow my head.     [weal = wealth, common good]
• Only let others say, when I am dead,
•                                               Never was grief like mine. –“The Sacrifice” by George Herbert, stanzas 54 – 62.

And when they came to a place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull), they offered him wine to drink, mixed with gall, but when he tasted it, he would not drink it. And when they had crucified him, they divided his garments among them by casting lots…And over his head they put the charge against him, which read, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.” Then two robbers were crucified with him, one on the right and one on the left. And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way. Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour…And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. (Matthew 27.33 – 45, 50, ESV)

So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who had been crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. He who saw it has borne witness—his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth—that you also may believe. For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken.” And again another Scripture says, “They will look on him whom they have pierced.” (John 19.32 – 37, ESV)

Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand. (John 13.1 – 7, ESV)

…Jesus was troubled in his spirit, and testified, “Truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he spoke. One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was reclining at table at Jesus’ side, so Simon Peter motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking. So that disciple, leaning back against Jesus, said to him, “Lord, who is it?” Jesus answered, “It is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it.” So when he had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. (John 13.21 – 26, ESV)

Jesus washed the feet of Peter who denied him and Judas who betrayed him.

Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” (Matthew 26.26 – 29, ESV)

Paul brings it home, quoting Jesus:

Do this in remembrance of me…Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. (1 Corinthians 11.23 – 26, ESV)

Last week I attended a presentation on the Shroud of Turin given by Dr. Rolf Enger, Colonel, USAF (retired), Professor Emeritus of Physics at the US Air Force Academy, follower of Jesus. I knew Rolf back in the 1990s. Rolf has a doctorate in Laser Physics/Holography and was on a team that investigated the Shroud. This account of Rolf’s presentation makes for a fitting Holy Week meditation.

This short introductory paragraph on Wikipedia is all I had known about the Shroud:

The Shroud of Turin is a length of linen cloth that bears a faint image of the front and back of a man. It has been venerated for centuries, especially by members of the Catholic Church, as the actual burial shroud used to wrap the body of Jesus of Nazareth after his crucifixion, and upon which Jesus’s bodily image is miraculously imprinted.

Rolf’s presentation included these facts, also in the Wikipedia article:

The human image on the shroud can be discerned more clearly in a black and white photographic negative than in its natural sepia color, an effect discovered in 1898 by Secondo Pia, who produced the first photographs of the shroud…The documented history of the shroud goes back to 1357.

Full-length image of the Shroud, which is 14 feet 5 inches by 3 feet 7 inches or, as Rolf said, 8 cubits by 2 cubits.

Here are my takeaways from Rolf’s presentation:

• “I don’t know if the Shroud is the burial cloth of Jesus Christ…We will never be able to prove that it is.”
• The image on the Shroud is like a photographic negative, something Rolf’s younger audiences have never heard of!
• Rolf’s team investigated the question: Is the image on the Shroud a painting? They determined it is not a painting but a scorch.
• The team also investigated the question: Are the stains on the Shroud bloodstains? Answer: yes.
• There are mysteries. For example, the Shroud contained spores from 49 different plants, 33 of which grow only in Palestine, the southern steppes of Turkey, or Istanbul. If the Shroud were created in the 1300s in Europe, and has been in Europe since 1357, how did those spores get on it?

Rolf told us that the image on the Shroud is a crucified man, consistent with the gospel accounts of Jesus:

• The image was a crucified Jew, a mature adult
• The face had been beaten.
• The nose was broken, consistent with the victim falling while carrying the crossbeam.
• There were marks of puncture wounds consistent with the crown of thorns, which could have been 2 – 3 inches long
• The victim was scourged – the marks are there. Romans weren’t limited to 40 lashes. Lashes were distributed across the whole body, consistent with “punishment” but not execution.
• The victim in the image had marks in the wrist, consistent with being nailed to a cross. There is no thumb image on the Shroud. The thumb would have contracted.
• It was a criminal’s death but a rich person’s shroud. Compare Isaiah 53.

Rolf closed with thoughts on the importance of the Shroud of Turin to a Christian:

I told my kids that I was 7 before I had a TV. My kids were incredulous: “What did you do?” We listened to the radio and imagined…

It doesn’t matter if the Shroud is real. It helps us imagine. The crucifixion is the most documented event in history. And there’s no way 11 people would go to their death for a story that wasn’t true. We don’t need the cloth.

Crucifixion is an incredibly painful, inhumane form of execution. God could have sent Jesus at any time in history. But the emphasis is “no greater love.”

When you think about the shroud, focus on God’s love. God is saying, “I love you.” God wants to have fellowship with us and wants it so badly that he willing to put his son through this kind of death. John 3.16.

Holy Week and Resurrection Sunday are approaching. This is a time to focus on what Jesus did for us. It’s not enough to “believe” like the demons did. How strong is my faith? Commitment involves turning toward God, away from the world. Make that commitment. Look at the price he paid for you.

Jesus said:

Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. (John 15.13 – 14, ESV)

Dr. Rolf Enger, speaking at Monument Community Presbyterian Church, March 20, 2024. Rolf was kind enough to check a draft of this blog for accuracy. Any remaining errors are my responsibility.

As we move into Holy Week, it’s useful to remember that Jesus died on the cross because none of us is good enough to save ourselves.

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5.8, ESV)

I’m reminded of the memorial service for astronaut Jim Irwin. I’ve written about it before, but it’s worth retelling the main point. The service was preached by Nicky Cruz, former New York City gang member whose story was told in the book Cross and the Switchblade by David Wilkerson. Here’s what Nicky said as best I can remember – I was there:

The miracle is not that I was saved by grace. I was a Puerto Rican street kid. I’ve killed people in gang warfare. I understand grace. I needed grace. The miracle is that Jim Irwin, a good, white, Baptist kid from Pittsburgh, understood grace. – Nicky Cruz at the memorial service for astronaut Jim Irwin

Paul summed it up:

He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. (Titus 3.5 – 7, NIV)

I was processing with Ray Bandi the recent homegoing of friend and Navigator colleague Mike Schmid, who passed on his 72nd birthday, March 5 after a four or five-year battle with cancer. A complete obit is here, including the fact that he was able to speak to all of The Navigators Military Ministry staff in Dallas in November. An encouraging friend. A good man.

Anyway, back to my friend Ray who knew Mike when they were both at the Air Force Academy. Ray is class of ’72; Mike, ’74. Ray was talking about another Academy graduate who was in the Navigators’ ministry there, Gary Combs, class of ’69.

Ray said that Gary contracted a fatal disease in his 20s, not that long after graduation, and set up a reunion of Academy grads who had been in the Navigators ministry while they were students. This would have been in the early to mid-1970s, 50 years ago, and Ray still remembers clearly what Gary told them:

Don’t be sad for me. I know the Lord, and he used me. What more could a man ask? What more could a man ask? – Gary Combs, US Air Force Academy, Class of 1969, shortly before his death as a young man

I don’t know if Mike Schmid was at that meeting, but he would have said the same thing. “I know the Lord, and he used me…” for 50 years to disciple men who are following Jesus and discipling others. Mike’s was a life well-lived.

He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose. – Jim Elliot, journal entry, October 28, 1949.

Jim was killed in Ecuador by the very people he and four others were trying to reach, the Huaorani Indians of Ecuador, on January 8, 1956.

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. (The Apostle Paul, Philippians 1.21, ESV)

Sixth Sunday of Lent…and also Palm Sunday. But it’s hard to get excited about Palm Sunday because I think it’s quite likely that some of the crowds of the Triumphal Entry…

And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?” And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.” (Matthew 21.9 – 11, ESV)

…were among this crowd:

Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. The governor again said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?” And they said, “Barabbas.” Pilate said to them, “Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” They all said, “Let him be crucified!” And he said, “Why, what evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Let him be crucified!” (Matthew 27.20 – 23, ESV)

For sure, many, if not most, in the Palm Sunday crowd were erroneously expecting Jesus to lead a charge to overthrow the Romans. The disciples were still expecting that in Acts 1!

So let’s get right back to our Lenten meditations with stanzas 48 – 53 of George Herbert’s poem “The Sacrifice.” 

(The bullets allow me to single-space the lines.)

• They lead me in once more, and  putting then
• Mine own clothes on, they lead me out again.
• Whom devils fly, thus is he tossed of men:
•                                               Was ever grief like mine?

• And now weary of sport, glad to engross
• All spite in one, counting my life their loss,
• They carry me to my most bitter cross:
•                                               Was ever grief like mine?

• O all ye who pass by, behold and see;
• Man stole the fruit, but I must climb the tree;
• The tree of life to all, but only me:
•                                               Was ever grief like mine?

• Lo, here I hang, charged with a world of sin,
• The greater world o’ th’ two; for that came in
• By words, but this by sorrow I must win:
•                                               Was ever grief like mine?

• Such sorrow as, if sinful man could feel,
• Or feel his part, he would not cease to kneel.
• Till all were melted, though he were all steel:
•                                               Was ever grief like mine?

• But, O my God, my God! why leav’st thou me,
• The son, in whom  thou dost delight to be?
• My God, my God ——
•                                               Never was grief like mine. –“The Sacrifice” by George Herbert, stanzas 48 – 53.

And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him and led him away to crucify him. (Matthew 27.31, ESV)

And when they had crucified him, they divided his garments among them by casting lots. Then they sat down and kept watch over him there. (Matthew 27.35 – 36, ESV)

Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27.45 – 46, ESV)

We come to 1 Samuel 8, a transition from the time of the judges, ad hoc rulers, to the monarchy. It begins with the failure of Samuel’s sons:

When Samuel got to be an old man, he set his sons up as judges in Israel…But his sons didn’t take after him; they were out for what they could get for themselves, taking bribes, corrupting justice. Fed up, all the elders of Israel got together and confronted Samuel at Ramah. They presented their case: “Look, you’re an old man, and your sons aren’t following in your footsteps. Here’s what we want you to do: Appoint a king to rule us, just like everybody else.” (1 Samuel 8.1 – 5, MSG)

Appoint us a king because your sons aren’t doing a good job. This demand makes no sense. So when there’s a king, and he dies leaving the kingdom to his son(s), the king’s sons will do a good job?

GOD answered Samuel, “Go ahead and do what they’re asking. They are not rejecting you. They’ve rejected me as their King. From the day I brought them out of Egypt until this very day they’ve been behaving like this, leaving me for other gods. And now they’re doing it to you. So let them have their own way. But warn them of what they’re in for. Tell them the way kings operate, just what they’re likely to get from a king.” (1 Samuel 8.7, MSG)

The people’s idea was that our “king will rule us and lead us and fight our battles” (verses 19, 20). Samuel told them the truth about a king in this prescient paragraph:

So Samuel told them, delivered GOD’s warning to the people who were asking him to give them a king. He said, “This is the way the kind of king you’re talking about operates.

• He’ll take your sons and make soldiers of them—chariotry, cavalry, infantry, regimented in battalions and squadrons.
• He’ll put some to forced labor on his farms, plowing and harvesting, and
• others to making either weapons of war or chariots in which he can ride in luxury.
• He’ll put your daughters to work as beauticians and waitresses and cooks.
• He’ll conscript your best fields, vineyards, and orchards and hand them over to his special friends.
• He’ll tax your harvests and vintage to support his extensive bureaucracy.
• Your prize workers and best animals he’ll take for his own use.
• He’ll lay a tax on your flocks and
• you’ll end up no better than slaves. (1 Samuel 8.10 – 17, MSG, bulleted for clarity)

It is always thus. People like to have a king, and this is what kings do. The Russians deposed the Tsars and are now ruled by “presidents” instead: men like Lenin, Stalin,…, Putin. See the difference? Adolf Hitler was called “Der Fuhrer” – the leader – but the “Fuhrer” concept already existed in Germany. Hitler just put himself into it. The US Presidency has ballooned into a royal position of sorts, quite unlike when, say, Thomas Jefferson was inaugurated:

When [the inauguration] was over, he simply walked back. Returning to the boarding house late for dinner, Jefferson took one of the only remaining seats at the far end of the table. Given the occasion, someone offered him a better seat near the fireplace. Staying true to his egalitarian platform, Jefferson refused. From an official account of Jefferson’s inauguration

God is clear about the dangers of not looking to God as our leader but looking to men instead.

The day will come when you will cry in desperation because of this king you so much want for yourselves. But don’t expect GOD to answer. (1 Samuel 8.18, MSG, bulleted for clarity)

It’s chilling that the nation of Israel wanted a king so they could “be like everyone else.” But when God sent them their true King, they rejected him, the very series of events we commemorate starting tomorrow.

They shouted back, “Kill him! Kill him! Crucify him!” Pilate said, “I am to crucify your king?” The high priests answered, “We have no king except Caesar.” (John 19.15, MSG)

Sometimes I read something that’s too good not to pass on. This is from Sahil Bloom’s The Friday Five, February 23, 2024.

In 2002, Charlie Rose interviewed Will Smith on his television show.

During the interview, Smith tells a story from his childhood about his father asking him and his little brother to rebuild a 16×30 wall on the front of his shop.

The task was understandably daunting for the two boys:

“I remember standing back looking at that wall saying, there’s gonna be a hole here, forever.”

But a year and a half of daily work later, they completed the wall. Reflecting on the experience, Will Smith offered a piece of timeless wisdom:

“You don’t try to build a wall…You don’t start by saying, I’m going to build the biggest, baddest wall that’s ever been built. You say, I’m going to lay this brick as perfectly as a brick can be laid…you do that every single day, and soon you have a wall.”

This is a powerful mentality for life:

No matter how big the task or project may seem at the start, you just have to lay one brick.

The wall may be daunting, but today’s brick is all that matters.

Extraordinary results are simply the macro result of tens, hundreds, or thousands of tiny daily actions.

Remember: Small things become big things.

So today and all days, let’s lay one brick as perfectly as a brick can be laid… -Sahil Bloom, quoting Charlie Rose, emphasis mine

I wrote about this concept back in August of 2019. It’s worth today’s reminder. Here’s part of a poem from that blog:

Sometimes we don’t know what to do, but quitting is not an option. (2 Corinthians 4.8, Passion Translation)