John 19:31-42 Death Confirmed, Jesus Buried

We look at the Empty Tomb as significant evidence for Jesus’ resurrection.  But had it not been for the actions of Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, both of whom were members of the Sanhedrin and who had come to believe in Jesus, the body of Jesus would not have been buried in a marked grave.  Those who were crucified typically did not make it into tombs.  Their bodies were disposed of in less honorable manners.

Here we are told of how the death of Jesus was verified.  His side was pierced, where as the other two men crucified with Jesus had their legs broken.  They had not yet expired.  Breaking their legs would hasten death because they would not be able to push against their feet to take pressure off their lungs so they could breathe.  This was not necessary with Jesus.  He had already died, so a secondary test was made, the piercing of his side to determine that he was indeed dead.

This act alone, disproves one of the theories which was circulated to discredit the resurrection, that being Jesus had not actually died, but that he had merely passed into unconsciousness.  So indeed Jesus had died.

Now Joseph of Arimathea is used by God to give Christianity for all time an irrefutable evidence for the resurrection.  By requesting Jesus’ body and donating his own tomb (Matthew 27:60 tells us the tomb belonged to Joseph) Joseph gives us a great gift.  Jesus body was placed in a tomb, one which the location was known, and could not be disputed.  Also this passage makes clear that Nicodemus, following his conversation with Jesus recorded in John 3, has indeed become a believer.  Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, may have been the only two members of the ruling council who had accepted Jesus as the Messiah prior to his death, resurrection, and the preaching of the disciples following Pentecost.  And here they stuck their necks out for Jesus.  They couldn’t persuade the other members at his trial, but they could see that he had an honorable burial.

What kindness and love they show to Jesus by caring for his body!  It was an act of true devotion.

And their actions probably led to the request by others of the ruling council that a Roman guard be placed at the tomb, and that the tomb be sealed.  Understand that this act of sealing was the placement of wax with an insignia stamped in it after the stone had been rolled in place.  It would tell officials if the stone had been removed, which would break the seal and disrupt the insignia.

The reporting of these details–the piercing of Jesus’ side and his burial in the tomb of someone as prominent as Joseph of Arimathea–are not insignificant.  They set the stage for Christian apologetics to point to these pieces of evidence for the bodily resurrection of Jesus:  No one ever produced a body saying, here this is the dead Jesus of Nazareth, and no one ever disputed that his tomb was empty.  Jesus did not appear to anyone after his resurrection who was not already among his followers–except for these noted exceptions his half-brothers and Paul on the road to Damascus.  The resurrection appearances were for believers.  They would bear witness to others.  They would tell what they had seen and touched.  But for everyone else, they would have to accept their testimony, and look at the evidence of the empty tomb, and no body to present as Jesus’.

Thank you Joseph and Nicodemus.  Thank you God for making these events come to pass.

January 22–John 11:38-57; Raising Lazarus

(Note:  In this post all Scripture quotations are from the NIV.)

The raising of Lazarus is a truly powerful moment.  He had been dead and in the tomb four days.  Jesus tells  Martha, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”  But in John the apex of the glory of God is Jesus’ death and resurrection.

In John 1:14 we read, “We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”   John develops this further when he records these words of Jesus, “Now is the time for judgement on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out.  But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself” (John 12:31-32,  italics mine).  Again in John 13:1, John tips us off to the beginning of the end.  The course is set.  The path will not be reversed.  John writes, “Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father.”  And in John 17:1, Jesus prays, “Father, the time has come.  Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.”

If I’m commenting on the raising of Lazarus, why say these things?  It is because the power of the moment of Lazarus being raised from the dead is magnified by how it brought Jesus’ purpose to climax.  Beyond the ministry to Mary and Martha, Lazarus and friends, Jesus pushes the Pharisees, the Sanhedrin, and the high priest over the edge.  Now they must stop him.  Now they must arrest him.  Now they must kill him.

Why did Jesus delay going to help Lazarus?  Jesus tells his disciples about Lazarus’ sickness, John 11:4, “This sickness will not end in death.  No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.”  Does he only mean the glory Jesus will receive by having more people believe in him because of Lazarus being raised?  Or does Jesus mean the glory he will receive by ”drawing all men to” himself?  The glory he means is the glory he will receive because he dies lifted up on the cross, just like Moses lifted up the snake in the desert (cf. John 3:14-15).  The glory he means is the “It is finished”–his death (cf. John 19:30) and resurrection.

Note the irony which the Holy Spirit and John paint for us.  After delaying two more days, Jesus tells his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea” (John 11:7).  They ask, “But Rabbi…a short while ago the Jews tried to stone you, and yet you are going back there?” (John 11:8).  And Thomas bravely says to the other disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” (John 11:16).

So whose death and resurrection is chapter 11 of John about?  Is it about Lazarus’ death and resurrection as it seems?  Or is it really about the prelude to Jesus’ death and resurrection?

The raising of Lazarus gets Jesus killed.  One powerful moment of glory leads to an even more powerful moment.  When Jesus says to Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life…and whoever believes in me will never die”  he is referring to a larger event than the raising of her brother.  Jesus speaks of his own resurrection.  He speaks of our future resurrection.  He speaks of eternal life for all who will believe in him.

Make no mistake,  the sequence in John 11:38-57 demonstrates cause and effect.  John discloses the plot to kill Jesus following on the heels of the raising of Lazarus for this reason.  Oh yes there are many things Jesus did to aggravate the religious leaders, beginning in John with the cleansing of the temple told in John 2.  But the breaking point is when Jesus raises Lazarus.

January 5-Genesis 7:1-8:22

In many places the Bible speaks of God’s wrath–anger against sin.  Two examples:  Isaiah 13:13 says, “Therefore I will make the heavens tremble; and the earth shake from its place at the wrath of the Lord Almighty, in the day of his burning anger.”; and Revelation 19:15 says, “Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations.  ‘He will rule them with an iron scepter.’  He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty.”

It must certainly have been terrifying.  Look again at Genesis 7:22-23.  “Everything on dry land…died.  Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; men and animals…Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark.”

Many people want to craft God in their own image.  They want Him to be kind and loving all the time.  They never want Him to be terrifying in judgment. 

If we are to have any chance of grasping the complexity of God’s character, and this truly is impossible because of our finitude and His infinitude, nevertheless He reveals Himself to us, and wants us to grasp what we can, so to have a chance we must not deny parts of God’s character that are revealed in Scripture, and revealed repeatedly.  Here, as when God put Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden, and when God placed a mark on Cain, we see the judgment of God.  In this case God decided that the populated earth had become too wicked to continue.

Look at the forces God released in judgment.  The floodgates of heaven are released.  No meteorologist has ever seen these on doppler radar.  This phrase surely means atmospheric conditions brought about when God calls all water molecules to battle stations.  Please don’t laugh at my non-scientific expressions.  I am simply saying God has resources we haven’t seen.  Paul writing in Colossians 1:17 says of Jesus Christ, “He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”  The writer of Hebrews similarly says, “…sustaining all things by his powerful word” (Hebrews 1:3).  If energy and matter are theoretically interchangeable, just imagine what God can do with the molecules at His command.  Also Genesis 7:11 says, “the springs of the great deep burst forth.”  This suggests that the flood was caused not only by rains from heaven, but also by gushers from deep within the earth.  Perhaps from the bottoms of the seas, but not necessarily even limited to that.

Consider the three actors in this drama.  The first actor is a group–all the wicked who are being wiped from the face of the earth.  Are they deserving of this judgment?  Yes.  God had told Adam that the punishment for sin is death.  And in chapter  6, God tells us that the wickedness of humankind had become exceedingly great. 

The second actor is Noah and his family and the pairs of animals brought on the ark.  Some will surely say this alone makes this story ridiculous.  How could two of every living creature be gathered together and fit in the ark?  I simply answer, the Almighty God does miraculous things, even preposterous things.  But lest I get sidetracked,  let’s consider Noah.  God has declared him righteous, and only he among his whole generation.  Righteousness is more than being extremely moral.  It is being acceptable to God.  And as revelation unfolds we will see that righteousness does not come from being excessively good, but rather from placing one’s faith in God.  So it is with Abraham later in the book of Genesis.  And so Paul declares in the book of Romans.  God was pleased with Noah.  Noah is saved from God’s judgment because God chooses to save him and his family. 

Finally the third actor is God.  God is more than just the actor, he is the director, the stunt man, the camera crew, special effects operator, screen writer and every other member of the crew.  He even shuts the door of the ark for Noah after everyone is inside.  This story, and I believe it truly happened, is not only a story of judgment but also a story of grace.  Judgment and grace meet in the holiness of God.  It is unloving and irresponsible for a parent to let a child do as he or she pleases.  Permitting such behavior repeatedly to the point that it dominates the child’s thinking, emotions, and every action is abusive.  God could not be God and tolerate the wickedness that was going on in Noah’s day.  So God’s act of judgment was also an act of grace.  God saved Noah and started again.

Now are we to conclude that there never again has been a time of wickedness comparable to Noah’s time?  No.  After Noah’s generation was judged God declared He would not again act to judge the world with such severity (Genesis 8:21-22).  Does this mean that the return of Jesus Christ will not involve extreme judgment?  Again the answer is no.  When Christ comes again in final judgment a new heaven and a new earth will be created to replace this present earth.

Dramas are designed to draw us in and to make us identify with a character.  With whom do you identify?  None of us are God, so we can only identify either with Noah, or the wicked.  Praise be to God, that because of Jesus Christ we can be made righteous like Noah.  We can be among those who please God.  Even the wicked can be forgiven and be made righteous in Jesus Christ.

The proclamation of the Gospel begins even in Genesis with Noah and his family saved by grace.

January 5-John 3:1-21

Yea!  We come to John 3:16.  It’s a great verse.  But don’t miss that it is the climax of a great one on one encounter between Jesus, and a rabbi who was seeking the truth about Jesus.

The more I contemplate the motive of Nicodemus’ night time visit to Jesus, the more I am convinced that he has come because of a personal hunger.  Truly he may have been sent, or even volunteered, to represent the Jewish ruling body, the Sanhedrin, to inquire of Jesus’ purposes.  Nicodemus addresses Jesus, “Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God.  For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him” (John 3:2; NIV).  But even though he says “we know”, it seems most likely that Nicodemus is stating his own assessment than that of the ruling body.  According to John’s placement of the cleansing of the temple, which is immediately before Nicodemus’ night time visit, the ruling body has to be furious with him.  Nicodemus’ words are an olive branch extended in peace.  I believe they must be his own.

And I think Jesus acts as they are.  He begins to tell Nicodemus how he can personally see the things of God, how he can have his spiritual eyes opened.  I am certainly no expert on rabbinic teaching styles or methods of dialogue, but my hunch is that Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus takes on such a tone.  Jesus is now the teacher, and Nicodemus is the inquiring disciple.

A man must be born again.  But how can he enter his mother’s womb a second time.  How can this be?  You are Israel’s teacher and do you not understand these things?

There is profound content in their discussion of spiritual matters.  Jesus is the one leading and Nicodemus, learned as he is, is many steps behind.  Jesus says, “Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.”  Much of the teaching of the New Testament is aimed at training Christians to live according to the Spirit and not the flesh.  It all begins here with this conversation with Nicodemus–”You must be born again.”

When Jesus gets to the words we know so well in verse 16, he has just reminded Nicodemus of a well known story from Moses.  It is about the grumbling Hebrews wandering in the desert, and how God permitted snakes to bite them, and people were dying.  Moses prayed.  And God gave him this answer, make a bronze snake and raise it high on a pole in the midst of the camp for all to see.  If anyone should be snake bitten all they need to do is look at the bronze snake on the pole and they will be healed.  Well, Jesus tells Nicodemus that like the bronze snake, the Son of Man (Jesus Christ) will be lifted up, and everyone who looks to the cross and believes in Him will have eternal life.

This is the context of John 3:16.  How does one avoid perishing?  By believing in God’s only Son.  The Father gives Him for the world so that sin bitten people may be saved.

As you continue reading John, watch for Nicodemus to appear again.  It will be many chapters before he does, but look for him again.

Pastor Don

January 4-Genesis 5:1-6:22

Could people really live so long as chapter 5 of Genesis records?  Methuselah lived 969 years and became a father at age 187.  Today, men in their 50′s do not want to become fathers.  So what was going on before the flood?

There is a notable difference in the material in Genesis before chapter 11:10 and following it.  After Genesis 11:10 the story is focused on the family of Abraham.  This is the family through whom the Hebrew people come, and through whom Jesus Christ comes.  The chapters before are not legends, but they are more of a distant recollection.

Chapter 6 is pivotal the material before chapter 11.  In chapter 6 God is grieved with what humankind has become.  First he says in verse 3 that he will limit the length of their lives.  This explains the long lives before, recorded in chapter 5.  They lived so long because God allowed it.  In verse  3 he says, “My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for his is mortal; his days will be a hundred and twenty years.”  Note in Psalm 90:10 Moses laments, “The length of our days is seventy years–or eighty, if we have strength;…”  Now that is sounding more like what we see in our age.

God is so grieved in Gen. 6:7 that he says, “I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth–men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air–for I am grieved that I have made them” (NIV).  How bad had things become?  How sinful had they become?  Gen. 6:5 tells us, “The Lord saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.”  This is a great degeneration from God looking upon His creation, Gen. 1:31, and the narration reporting, “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.”  Gen. 6:11 says the earth was “full of violence.”

But there was one man, Noah, who pleased God.  And with Noah God would preserve humankind and all created life.  God would start over.  Gen. 6:8-9 describes Noah twice.  First, “But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.”  And second, “Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God.”  God let Noah know about His plan to destroy the earth.  And he gave him directions to build the Ark.  Pay attention to the details for they tell us how mammoth a project Noah was asked to do.  But most of all meditate prayerfully on verse 22, “Noah did everything just as God commanded him.”  It is one of those Biblical statements like Mary saying to the angel Gabriel in Luke 1:38, “I am the Lord’s servant.  May it be to me as you have said.”  These are statements of incredible faith.  God calls on Noah, He calls on Mary, for a ginormous task.  And in faith they lean upon God to do what He has asked of them.

So it is to be for you and me.  We are to rise to the calling God gives us, whether great or small.  And who is to say one calling is great and another is small?  God is the one who weighs these things in the balance.  What we can know is what Noah, and what Mary knew.  God is dependable.  If He asks, He will provide.

What is God asking you to do?

Pastor Don

January 4-John 2:1-25

If you are familiar with Matthew, Mark, and Luke, then you have already recognized discrepancies between their chronology and the sequence of events John reports.  How do we resolve the conflicts?  Some will try and harmonize and say for example that Jesus cleansed the temple twice–once at the beginning of his ministry as reported here in John 2:12-25, and again following Palm Sunday at the end of his ministry as Matthew, Mark, and Luke report.  I don’t think this is the solution.

First we must recognize that all of the material found in each of the gospels circulated in the church for a period of  twenty to seventy years before it was gathered into its present format.  The material was told in many settings as illustration for sermon points and teachings.  The intent of each writer of the gospels is to communicate to his audience what they need to know to put faith in Jesus Christ and to follow him.  It is an evangelical purpose rather than a biographical purpose.  I believe that their culture of the time was perfect for preserving these events accurately.  They had a strong attention to detail and to memorization–a strong oral tradition.  I believe the events are accurate and that each of the four gospels are inspired by the Holy Spirit.  The criterion for how they should report them for a chronological historical record is just different than our agenda today.

So, the cleansing of the temple happened once.  For John’s inspired purpose it is best that he tells about this confrontation early on in his Gospel.  For the other writers, also having inspired purposes, it is best told as part of the Holy Week events leading to Jesus’ death.

Regarding the miracle at the Wedding of Cana, we see something into the relationship of Mary and Jesus.  She apparently knew what he could do, and he said to her, “why do you involve me.”  But she goes ahead and instructs the servants to “do whatever he tells you.”  So Jesus does go to work.  The servants are instructed to fill six jars with water.  By the way these are no small jars, each holding 20 to 30 gallons.  Then Jesus instructs them to draw some of the liquid and take it to the master of the banquet.  They did so, and somewhere in the process the water had turned to wine, not just any wine, but fermented, aged wine.  The master of the banquet told the bridegroom he had saved the best wine till last.

Verse 11 tells us the important impact of the event:  “He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.”  So far from John we know these to be among his disciples:  Andrew, Simon Peter, Philip, Nathanael, and John.

The most remarkable aspect of the cleansing of the temple is the demand for a sign and Jesus’ reply.  The religious leaders, here referred to simply as the Jews, demanded, “What miraculous sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?”  Jesus replied, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”  The Jewish leaders obviously thought this was insane.  The temple had taken forty-six years to build.  But as John notes in verse 22 the disciples remembered this after Jesus was raised from the dead.  Then they understood he was referring to his own body as the temple.  Again they believed Jesus.

Do you see what is happening through these early chapters of John?  John is showing how the disciples came to trust and believe completely in Jesus.  At the same time John is letting us know that the disciples were privileged to see things others did not.  The bridegroom and the master of the banquet did not perceive the miracle of the water changed into wine.  But the disciples did.  The Jewish leaders did not catch the bigger picture of the true temple of God, but the disciples did.

God bless you as you pray, read and study.

Pastor Don

January 3-Genesis 3:1-4:26

Theologically these two chapters are extremely important.  I will try to hit the highlights.

God had set up a test for Adam and Eve.  Genesis 2:9 tells us that among the many trees in the Garden of Eden God had set two special trees:  the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  Genesis 2:16-17 tells us that God had told Adam that he could eat freely from any tree in the garden, except he was forbidden to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  God said eating of it would bring death.

Genesis 3:1-7 tells of Eve being tempted and giving into the temptation.  Adam is present as well and both of them eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  The tempter, the devil in the form of a serpent, tells them “You will not surely die…for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Gen. 3:4).  So they listen to the devil, and trust their own aptitude to judge for themselves as to what is right and wrong, and they disobey God.

This is the origin of sin.  The first sin.  Did it bring death as God had promised?  Yes.  Immediately they experienced a spiritual death.  The innocence of being without sin was gone.  The grandeur of having been created in the image of God was tarnished.  Now they were aware of their nakedness.  They were ashamed and they hid from God.

God’s words to them in the remainder of chapter 3 are of great importance.  They tell us that sin does not go unpunished.  For Adam work will be harder, thorns and thistles will compete with his crops for nutrients.  Because of his sin, the ground is cursed, and he is told that he will die.  He will return to the ground from which he came.  For Eve, childbearing will be more painful.  And the tempter is cursed.  Genesis 3:15 are prophetic words even in the midst of these curses telling of God’s future remedy for sin.  God says to the serpent, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”

The ultimate fulfilment of these prophetic words in Genesis 3:15 are at Calvary where Satan strikes Jesus Christ the ultimate offspring of Eve.  Jesus appears defeated as he is nailed to the cross.  But it is a momentary set back.  It is only a striking of the heel.  Jesus rises from the dead, crushing Satan forever.

Chapter 4 is also of great theological significance because we see the escalation of sin to the point of the first murder, and that of one brother killing another.  Cain kills Abel out of jealousy.  And God spoke to Cain about his anger warning him to not let it lead to sin.  But Cain would not heed God.

In both chapters 3 and 4, God responds to these early sins with compassion and mercy.  For Adam and Eve he clothes them.  Animals are killed as a sacrifice so that their skins may become clothes for Adam and Eve.  Following Cain’s sin, God places a mark on him so that no one would take vengeance on him and kill him.

These passages surely raise questions.  There is so much that can be said.

January 3-John 1:29-51

Were some of Jesus disciples, John the Baptist’s disciples first?  Looks like it.  Andrew for one (see Jn 1:40).  He went and found his brother Simon and told him “We have found the Messiah.”  Then Andrew brought Simon to Jesus and Jesus sized him up and changed his name to Peter. 

In verse 40, John the writer of the Gospel is probably the other disciple of John the Baptist who followed Jesus.  This would explain his knowledge of these events, and it is typical of the way he cloaks himself in the shadows in his Gospel.

The call of Nathanael is profound.  Jesus first finds Philip and says to him “Follow me.”  Philip,  like Andrew and Peter, (vs. 44) are from the town of Bethsaida.  Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, (see Deuteronomy 18:15ff.) and about whom the prophets also wrote–Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”  Nathanael shrieks, “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?”

Then Nathanael meets Jesus, who gives this assessment of Nate, “Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false.”  In other words Jesus, compliments him as “One who pulls no punches, but speaks his mind.”  This causes Nathanael to ask, “How do you know me?”  Jesus answers, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.”

Immediately Nathanael recognizes that Jesus has supernatural knowledge–like the Psalmist said of God in Psalm 139:2, “You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.”  Now Nathanael accepts Philip’s testimony.  He exclaims, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God.”  Jesus tells him he will see greater things–even the fulfilment of the ladder which Jacob saw at Bethel in his dream (Genesis 28:12ff) of heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending.  Only here the stairway or ladder is Jesus himself–the Son of Man.

Consider Jesus call to us today to follow him.  Does he give us a new name like he did to Simon?  Certainly he changes our lives and gives us new direction.  Does he demonstrate that he knows our heart as he did to Nathanael?  Certainly he convicts us and brings us to new beliefs.

Again I welcome your questions or comments.

Ready, Set, Go!

I am starting this blog with the purpose of posting commentary on some of the Bible passages in plans 1, 2, 3, and 4 for reading through the Bible in 2010.  These Bible Reading plans are available on our church website www.fumcjohnson.com.

Since I am new to blogging, this may be cumbersome at first.  My plan at this point is to post at least once a week and possibly more frequently.  Obviously I will not be able to comment on each passage or to go in great depth on the ones I do comment on.  My hope is that this can be a forum for you to ask questions as you read.  I will do my best to answer the questions.

I can’t stress enough how important Bible reading and Bible study are to your Christian growth.  Invest your time in reading the Scripture and God will honor you by revealing Himself to you.

Blessings,

Pastor Don

Day 1-Genesis 1:1-2:25

Genesis means beginning.  This Old Testament book is filled with beginnings–Creation, Humankind’s Initial Innocence, Humankind’s Fall From Grace (the first sin), and the beginning of salvation history in many events (God’s response to Adam and Eve’s sin, His call of Noah, His call of Abraham).  Because of these many beginnings, the book of Genesis is extremely important to Christian Theology.

I believe in the verbal/plenery inspiration of the Scriptures.  This means that I believe everything recorded in the Bible (understanding we must use the best methods of textual criticism to arrive at the texts closest to the original manuscripts) is how God wanted it recorded.  The Holy Spirit is the inspirer, yet men, and very possibly women also, are the human writers.  Their personalities are stamped upon their writing.  However, God insures that what he wants communicated is written, and preserved.  To understand this, we must recognize the numerous genres utilized in Scripture.  Parables are a good example of metaphor and fiction being used.  In some cases hyperbole is used–exageration.  Narratives report the way something happened, and not necessarily the way God wants it to happen.  Amazingly, the Scriptures report the failings of heroes and heroines as well as their strengths.  I find the consistent revelation of God through the 66 books of the Bible, written over two millenia, to be very compelling.

So, in today’s reading we hear the story of Creation told twice.  I see the two accounts not as competing stories but as complimentary.

Genesis 1:1-2:4 tells us God’s creative activity over a six day period, and then God rested.  The first five books of the Bible are attributed to Moses.  Obviously Moses was not an eyewitness to the events of the six days.  But Moses spent forty days on Mt. Sinai in the presence of God receiving the Ten Commandments and other instructions for leading the nation of Israel.  Did God tell Moses verbatim the story of the six days of Creation?  He might have.  What is clear is that God instituted the Sabbath for the Hebrews to obey.  And this story is told in a Sabbath format.

Moreover, theologically there is no doubt as to how Creation came about.  Everything came into existence at God’s command.  He spoke and it came to be.  Furthermore, everything was created good.  God was satisfied with His creation.  Science can and should ask questions about the origins of the universe and all living species.  But science should also recognize the limitations of its methodologies and the limitations of finite humankind to answer questions which can only be understood by an infinite God.  I take the faith position that God can do what God wills.  Can he create galaxies so far away that their light could not be seen for a million years, and have it happen in an instant with their light already visible on earth?  I believe he can.  Did he do it this way?  The Bible tells it this simply.

The second story is more intimate.  It speaks of God creating Adam from the dust and breathing life into him.  It tells of God creating other creatures also from the ground.  God showed Adam that none of these would be suitable for him as a mate.  Then God creates woman from the side of man.  This sequence of creation was never meant by God to give superiority to males.  Rather this story is intended to show the complimentary nature of females and males.  The climax of the story tells how they are to live together as a married couple, Genesis 2:24; NRSV–”Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife and they become one flesh.”  The teaching of this verse is that strong marriages are built on the combination of establishing a separate identity from the homes of origin, a decisive commitment to each other, and a shared intimacy which involves trust.  To us, in the twenty-first century, the language may sound sexist.  But we would do well to acknowledge the limits of culture of the time when it was written.  This is an example of what I spoke of earlier, the Holy Spirit inspiring, but permitting the personality of the writers to show through.

Is there disagreement between the two stories?  There appears to be in the order of creation.  Which came first animals or humans?  But again the points of the stories are singular.  God created.  He did so at His command.  He was intimately involved in His act of creating.

Again, reply with your comments or questions.  Keep reading.  Do so prayerfully.  Rejoice with each new insight, with each new question, and with each glimpse into the majesty of God.

Blessings,

Pastor Don Hasty