The Everyday Prayer

Re:Verse passage – John 19:38-42 (day five)

This morning,  a longer quote by Gavin Ortlund. Wonderful questions and an amazing truth-True obedience is never wasted  .  May we all desire to faithfully serve and follow Christ in obedience (like Joseph and Nicodemus)!!

“One wonders: how would the events of Easter weekend look different apart from the courage of Joseph and Nicodemus? Obviously God could have raised Jesus’s body from another location. Or he could have transported it to the tomb by other means. But God honored the loyalty and sacrifice of these men by having them play a critical role in the gospel narrative.

Joseph and Nicodemus didn’t know that. As Saturday was dawning (Luke 23:54), it would have been easy for them to think that their life was over. They had spent their money and lost much of their status. Their future did not look particularly bright in that moment. But through this very act, God prepared the conditions for the turning point of all history. God took what seemed like a dismal ending and turned it into a glorious beginning.

Friend, does the path of obedience feel to you dark and difficult? Are you in the midst of a long Friday night or lonely Saturday of your own?

Remember that the ultimate Sunday morning — the restoration of all things — is still to come. Like Joseph and Nicodemus, we don’t know what God may do tomorrow with our efforts today. True obedience is never wasted. Who knows what glory might still be reverberating on the new earth, a trillion years from now, because of your difficult obedience today?”

Funerals evoke all sorts of emotions. We feel sad as we miss our lost loved one. We might feel angry at ourselves for things left unsaid. We might feel relief that the person is free from pain. We might be fearful as we consider a future without that loved one. We experience these darker emotions at funerals because they remind us of the darkest part of the human experience – death.

But can you imagine what Joseph and Nicodemus felt at this funeral? This surely isn’t how they thought it would go. They would have never thought that their Savior and Messiah would be left alone at his death. They wouldn’t have imagined that they would have to come out of hiding in order to be both pallbearer and undertaker to their King. As they gently took care of Jesus’ body and laid him to rest, I’m sure this felt like the darkest moment in their entire lives. Almost as dark as Genesis 1:2, when “darkness hovered over the surface of the deep.” Thankfully, the Light they knew could not be extinguished. As John says in the beginning of his gospel, “The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it” (John 1:5).

Re:Verse passage – John 19:38-42 (day three)

“So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen wrappings with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews.”

Beyond the group of twelve and the group of women who looked after Jesus, this partnership of Joseph and Nicodemus seems to be one of the earliest expressions of what would become a company of those united in their devotion to serving Christ. In one of the most tender accounts in scripture, these two men – careful, deliberative, and deadly serious in their attention to all that Jesus said and did – acted according to their regard for Jesus as one worthy of their reverence. What did they think about the future of Jesus’s teachings? What did they believe about Messiah? These questions aren’t addressed. What John does show is this somber little fellowship doing all they know to do.

Re:Verse passage – John 19:38-42 (day two)

After these things Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but a secret one for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus; and Pilate granted permission. So he came and took away His body. vs. 38

It has become a common occurrence today to refer to your faith as ‘a private matter.’ This is often the case when you hear public officials talk about their own personal beliefs. We see people willing to take a stand on any number of issues, but when it comes to a personal conviction about their relationship to Jesus Christ, they obfuscate. This is not what John meant when he referred to Joseph and Nicodemus as ‘secret disciples.’ Their reality dealt with not just popular opinion, but life itself. There are places where the mention of your trust in Jesus will still bring retribution. That is distinctly different from making people feel uncomfortable. There are times when it is prudent to hold your tongue, but we should be careful not to hide behind some social nicety when it comes to sharing our faith.

Re:Verse passage – John 19:31-37 (day seven)

A command from the very first Passover and reiterated by the psalmist:

He keeps all his bones,
Not one of them is broken. Psalm 34:20

This may not mean much to us, but to John and the other followers looking on, this is a moment of hope in day of despair. This is where it begins to click. This is the Passover Lamb. This Passover Lamb is The Lord. Even if our heart stops beating, He can bring dry bones to life.

Thus says the Lord God to these bones, ‘Behold, I will cause breath to enter you that you may come to life.’ Ezekiel 37:5

His body may be broken, but His bones tell a different story. Sunday is coming. He will bring His own dry bones to life. There may be scars on His hands, but He will run out of that grave on unbroken legs!

Re:Verse passage – John 19:31-37 (day six)

(This report is from an eyewitness giving an accurate account. He speaks the truth so that you also may continue to believe.^[a]) John 19:35

How else would we know apart from the testimony of the Apostles? All the gospel writers, but especially John, longed for us to believe. He knew, and so did Jesus, that what was required was the reliable testimony of others (John 17:20). All along the road to the cross, John wanted us to see how Jesus fulfilled the prophets, he wanted us to see that the cross was God’s plan all along, and he wanted us to see that Jesus really suffered, and really died.

It was important for John to make clear there was no way Jesus could have survived, thus the spear, and blood and water. He wanted to leave no doubt as to the outcome of the cross.

Why? Simply, so that all who read his testimony would believe that it is not a sham, but in fact it is the real deal; to those being saved the message of the cross is the power of God to save sinners (1 Corinthians 1:18).

Re:Verse passage – John 19:31-37 (day five)

“And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you also may believe.”
He then answered, “Whether He is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I do know, that thought I was blind, now I see.”

What is it that you know about Jesus, or that you have seen God do in your life?  What experiences have you had with Jesus that have shaped and changed your life?  We call these testimonies. Just simply telling the truth of what has happened in your heart and life. (It’s what John has done in his gospel) Share what you have seen and experienced- things God has done in your life and the lives of others.

Talk about those things early and often. Talk about what you have seen and experienced (what you know). Tell those stories when you get opportunity. They are your testimony. No one can take them away from you. Share so that others might believe too.

Re:Verse passage – John 19:31-37 (day four)

“Then the Jews, because it was the day of preparation, so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.”

Have you noticed the small differences in John’s gospel from Matthew, Mark, and Luke? Throughout the whole book, John focuses less on what Jesus said and did, and focuses more on showing us who Jesus really is. Here, John is showing us that Jesus is the true Lamb of God. John takes the time to remind us that this is all taking place during Passover, the annual Jewish festival commemorating God’s faithfulness as the angel of death “passed over” Jewish homes with the blood of a sacrificial lamb over their door. The Jewish people knew that they couldn’t leave the crucified bodies out in public on the holy day of Passover, so they asked for them to be taken down.

It’s ironic, isn’t it? The Jewish people made sure to keep their Passover customs, even though they had just put to death the One who would fulfill the Passover for all eternity. Jesus is the true Passover Lamb, breaking the chains of captivity and sparing His people from death. John is bringing us back to his first chapter, verse 29, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” This was lost on the Jewish people at the time, but John makes it clear that Jesus is the Son of God, the one who’s blood spares the sinner from death. That is who our savior is.

Re:Verse passage – John 19:31-37 (day three)

“Not a bone of him shall be broken.”

Loneliness is one of the most horrific circumstances that a human being can experience. It will lead to severe distress, which can manifest as despair, depression, even psychosis. It is agony. To be lonely is to suffer. Jesus knew loneliness. His hometown turned its back on him. A disciple betrayed him. Hoped-for companionship in the garden of anguish did not materialize. Most of the others left him prior to his execution. His Psalm 22 quote on the cross became his cry of utter abandonment. He remained alone until the very end. No one came to hasten his demise by the breaking of his legs to force bodily collapse and suffocation. He went all the way through without solidarity, without fellowship, without the intimacy of God the Father, without even an assist to speed his death.