Good Saint Nic

LIFE!  I thought it was supposed to slow down as you approached retirement age but that doesn't seem to be the case here.  Recently I realized that I need to re-do my bucket list because there are still so many things I want to do!

But that's another lament for another time.  At this moment I just want to put down for posterity another beautiful treasure I found this week in the pages of that dusty old book called the Bible.  Here goes!

There's this guy named Leroy.  We share a ride to or from our closest large city every now and again.  He's an elderly gentleman who drives slow and enjoys good conversation. He's sharp and loves to talk about the Bible and things in Scripture.  It's always an enjoyable ride.

Last week we chanced to be together again and got to talking about Nicodemus.  If you're not familiar Nicodemus is the guy who came to Jesus by night asking (my paraphrase) "WHO are you???" It was blowing the old teachers mind that this young roughneck was doing such miracles.  Plus I think he remembered a 12 year old boy who was left at the temple by some neglectful parents some years before and wondered if it was the same guy.   Whether by omnipotence or memory or both, Jesus obviously knew who he was. . . . all speculation on my part but the the pieces fit the puzzle.  Regardless, that question started the conversation that led to the most famous verse in the Bible:  John 3:16.

I have long believed from Nic's actions following that encounter that he truly came to believe that Jesus was the Messiah. One of the reasons is that he so tenderly and lavishly cared for the body of our Lord after the crucifixion.  Seriously.  Who dresses the wounds of a dead man??  They didn't have open casket funerals back then.  The best you could do was slow down the smell long enough to get them sealed up or buried.

So when I was studying some stuff putting together a children's lesson I bumped into a fascinating message about the immutability of God. Immutability is that characteristic where God Never Changes.  Even if He changes his mind about something, it will be in keeping with His character.

Anyway . . . Acts 2:24   . . . "Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it." Why would Peter say it was impossible for Jesus not to raise from the dead?  Because the Bible had already said it!  Psalm 16:10: " For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption."  That verse was a statement of God's character, a prophecy and a promise.  My paraphrase again:  "you're not going to leave me in the grave just like you're not going to let your Holy One rot in a grave!"

BAM!  There you go!  Nick knew that verse.  The old teacher guy who had taught the Old Testament all his life knew that body wasn't going to stay there cause God had said so years before and Nic knew God meant exactly what He said.

I didn't know all that during the drive with Leroy.  We had to agree that my belief about Nicodemus  was a personal conclusion since it wasn't specifically spelled out in the Bible.

But I've got the goods now and I can't WAIT to ride with him again and share this!

Martha and Mary Revisited

I love Martha.  She has a servant's heart, she holds herself together, she's practical and not afraid to work.  And she's been preached "against" for as long as I remember.  There's no getting around that Jesus gently turned her attention to more important matters in Luke 10, but the whole picture seems greatly out of focus when John 11 is taken into consideration.

So here we are -  two sisters and a dead brother.  Both heartbroken.  Both mourning.  Both wishing the friend they love had been there four days earlier.  And Martha finds out he's on his way.

"Rabbi, if you had been here my brother would not have died."

And here's where her true faith comes through:  " But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee."

And with these words Martha was the first one to receive some of the most powerful words recorded in the Bible, "I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE . . . "

Consider Mary now.  She's back at the house being consoled by a  bunch of people who get up and follow her to Jesus.  I don't know about you, but that tells me that Martha's being able to slip away unnoticed meant that she was holding it together.  The crowd gathered around Mary was trying to help the emotionally fragile sister from falling apart.  Or they were enjoying the show.

Think I'm being hard on Mary?  Look closer.  After falling at Jesus feet Mary said the exact same words to Jesus. "Rabbi, if you had been here my brother would not have died."

The Savior's response is dramatically different.  Instead of powerful words of comfort  he "groaned in the spirit, and was troubled."

Why would that be?  Why would Jesus offer powerful words of comfort to Martha and be troubled with Mary?

Because He knew where each was at in their spiritual progress.  Martha showed a mature faith.  Mary didn't show any faith at all.

OK, I'm going to jump off a theological cliff here and propose something radical . . .  Luke 10 happened after John 11.

It makes sense.  Jesus's gentle reprimand of Martha in Luke 10 wasn't that she was doing anything wrong . .  she had simply failed to notice that Mary finally got it!  Emotionally frail Mary's choosing that "good part" was the step of faith she had taken in coming to real  faith in the Savior, the kind that Martha had already demonstrated.  Mary later demonstrated her own faith in washing Jesus's feet.

There are Marthas in this world and there are Marys.  Some have strong faith, others struggle to come to faith at all. While the orthodox challenge to balance service with worship is a valid one, I personally think Luke 10 is more of a challenge to the Marthas of this world to be gentle and understanding of the Marys.

They are after all our sisters.

Bible Bum Raps

Call me a champion for the underdog.  I find myself taking that position in a lot of situations so it should be no wonder that I admire these people in Scripture as well.  So today starts a new tag - the same as this title.

I have believed for a long time that old St. Nick (Nicodemous - the teacher of the teachers in Jesus day) truly did understand who Jesus was and believe on Him as the Messiah.  It's one of those things that I didn't broadcast as traditional Christian thinking is to rag on St. Nick as an unbeliever.  Truth is,  John 3 doesn't tell what his response to that amazing conversation with Jesus was.  Maybe he worshiped, maybe he had to go home and think about it.  Maybe they continued talking over a latte.  Of course I'm being facetious, but you get the point.

So it was most refreshing to learn that I was not alone.  Kyle Idleman, author of Not A Fan,  gives better explanation of Nick's conversion than I care to attempt. Highly recommended reading.

John 19:39  is an interesting passage:  And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight.

Jesus is dead.  His body had been torn to bits even before the Romans put nails in his hands and feet.  An emergency room staff would have spent several hours disinfecting and suturing the wounds from the barbaric lashes he received had they got him before the crucifixion.  No doubt they would have started antibiotics by iv and put him in icu.  Hundreds of years before it had been prophesied. 

But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.  All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.  He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.  He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.  Isaiah 53: 5-8

Nick was one of "them", at least one from their social economic circle, one of the ones who would have lost their power and authority had Jesus taken his rightful place as the ruler of Israel.  Nick had  tried to talk sense into them.  He saw their hatred for this man who claimed to be the Son of God. And he knew the scriptures and saw the prophesies being fulfilled. It was probably not a surprise to him when Jesus actually died.

So he did what he could.  He treated the bloodied, torn, dead and limp body of the Son of God with the greatest honor and respect possible . . . by using 100 pounds of ointment on Him for burial.  A King's burial.  This was unheard of for a common man, but Nick knew this was not a common man that had been tortured and executed. He knew that the Messiah would not, could not, remain dead.  Other prophesies still had to be fulfilled!  And whether the Messiah would return in the same body or another form, Nick seized the opportunity for his last act of worship recorded in scripture by lavishing resources, perhaps more than Mary's box of spikenard,  on his God.