After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the Week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. – Matthew 28:1

Today's Scripture Reading (January 7, 2021): Matthew 28

For almost the Christian Church's entire existence, we have met on the first day of the Week. The day that we worship has become less important to some contemporary Christians in recent years, yet even now, more church-going Christians attend a worship gathering on Sunday than they do on any other day. And it is here that we find a mystery; the Christian Church grew out of Judaism, which honors the Sabbath as the appropriate day for worshipping God. For some older Christians, the idea of not worshipping on Sunday is an almost unthinkable concept. Muddying the issue even further, most Christians sincerely believe that Sunday is the biblical Sabbath. It isn't. Strictly speaking, Sunday is "the Lord's Day," and Saturday is "the Sabbath." This leads us to an important question; what happened?

The answer; Jesus rose from the dead on the first day of the Week. If you wonder if there is any proof that Jesus rose from the dead, your starting place for the investigation should begin with the disciples' behavioral change, which took place almost immediately after the events of that first Easter. What could cause a group of Jewish men to begin to hold their most sacred religious celebrations on Sunday rather than on Saturday as they had for their entire lives? No, they did not stop going to synagogue on the Sabbath. Still, the act of going to the synagogue was more about trying to reach other Jews with the message of the Messiah than it was worshipping the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The act of worship was reserved for Sunday. Because it was on Sunday that Jesus rose from the dead.

Mary and her friends waited, probably not too patiently, for the Sabbath to pass so that they could get to the work of preparing the body of Jesus for burial. It was a task that was Illegal on the Sabbath, and so they paused. Early on Sunday morning, the women gathered the species and supplies that would be needed to complete the preparation of the body for death. They walked, weighted down by these spices, to the place where Jesus's body had been left. It was the first day of the Week, Sunday; this was the first Lord's Day.

We may not recognize it, but every time we gather on a Sunday for worship, we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. In a few weeks, we will observe Lent's six-week fast, but the fast will only be from Monday to Saturday because Sunday, the Lord's Day, is always a day of celebration, even during Lent. On Sunday, every Sunday, it is Easter, the day that changed the behavior of a group of Jewish men in Judea, and one that affects who we are today. We are, and always will be, the children of the resurrection.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Mark 16

Jesus answered, "You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin." – John 19:11

 Today's Scripture Reading (January 6, 2021): John 19

We live in a world that is dominated by fake news. Fake news is not just news that has a conservative or liberal bent, or information that serves the agenda of one aspect of the political agenda, but blatantly false news. It consists of theories based on what someone thinks without evidence or a story that someone invents to make money or prove a dubious political point. And too often, we pass on the theories for which there is simply no, or precious little, evidence, making the situation even worse. Add in the existence of deep fakes and eloquently photoshopped images that we receive through our social media accounts, and fake news becomes a significant part of our daily lives and often what it is that we believe.

As I write this, there is no evidence that the United States or Canadian governments plan to make the COVID-19 vaccine mandatory. Not only does it not make sense that governments, some of whom can't figure out how to enforce a mask mandate and business closures because of constitutional concerns, are suddenly going to get their act together and force a needle in our arms, but politicians from all stripes and levels keep denying that forced vaccinations are on anyone's agenda. And yet, it is a message that I am hearing from intelligent and discerning people, maybe even you. And the message is beginning to cause a panic. A more likely scenario is that there may be limitations on what you can do if you are not vaccinated. Boarding a plane or crossing borders might, at some point in the future, be restricted to people who have been vaccinated, but even that is still a future decision. Our problem is that in a world where fake news is so prevalent all around us, it is sometimes hard for us to identify what is truth. This is especially true when people who want to lie to us are so good at making their lies sound like the truth; and when they are giving us a message that deep down we want to believe.

One of the questions for all of us who live in a fake news world is simply this: what is our responsibility for sharing fake news? It is a good question and one that deserves an answer.

Pilate has become one of the main villains of the Good Friday/Easter saga. He is the one who made the final decision to deliver Jesus over to the Roman guards to be crucified. It is quite possible that the Jews wanted a level of deniability between them and the decision to kill Jesus. After all, it wasn't them; it was Rome who made the final decision. But it was the Jews who set the conditions for the execution. They were both the Rabbi's accusers and the ones who were in control of inventing the story.

Jesus neither absolves Pilate of his guilt concerning what was taking place nor accuses him of being the leading player. There is no doubt that Pilate, in deciding to hand Jesus over to be crucified, bore some of the guilt. He could have stood up to the Jewish leadership and stopped the process. But Jesus is clear; it is the ones who invented the fake news of his guilt that bore the most blame in the telling of the story.

We shouldn't miss the application in our lives. Woe to the one who strives to find some way to invent lies for us to believe, regardless of the subject matter. Most of the guilt lies with those people. We should not ever be involved in the process of inventing evidence to support our private positions, trying to shape the landscape with our fake news.

But when we share what is false or act on fake news, like Pilate, we are not absolved of our guilt. Part of the blame lies squarely on our shoulders because we could have been the ones to stop the process and decided not to do it.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Matthew 28

Pilate said, "Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law." "But we have no right to execute anyone," they objected. – John 18:31

Today's Scripture Reading (January 5, 2021): John 18

The first martyr of the Christian era was a Christ-follower named Stephen. Stephen got into conflict with the Sanhedrin and was forced to give an impassioned speech to Israel's leaders. And then he crossed a line. He was charged with blasphemy and executed on the spot by the standard Jewish method of killing a criminal, stoning. Stephen was probably in his late twenties. The stoning of Stephen took place just a couple of years after the crucifixion of Jesus.

Herod the Great was known for his great cruelty. Some question whether the slaughter of the innocents (Matthew 2:16) actually took place or if Matthew was engaging in some historical fiction. Still, part of the problem is that the killing of the Jewish boys under the age of two was totally in keeping with Herod's temperament. Even his sons were not safe. The killing of Herod's sons by Herod prompted Caesar Augustus to remark, "It is better to be Herod's pig than his son." Because Jews didn't eat pork, and Herod was trying to live as a Jew, the pig was safe.

Herod Antipas executed John the Baptist because of a request from Salome, his step-daughter.

The Jews came to Pilate asking for the execution of Jesus, and one of the reasons that they gave for the request was that they didn't have the political power to execute him themselves. And that might have been true. It is thought that the Jews might have lost the ability to execute criminals in the days following the reign of Herod the Great. More precisely, the Jews likely did not have the power to execute a criminal without Rome's permission. But that had never stopped them before. They didn't wait for permission to kill either John the Baptist or Stephen.

So why the pretense? It is a good question. And part of the answer might have been that the Jewish leaders were trying to humiliate Jesus and totally destroy his legacy. While Jews stoned criminals who were guilty of capital crimes, the Romans crucified them, and a large part of crucifixion was the humiliation that the criminal was forced to endure on the way to death. But added to the Roman humiliation was a Jewish one. The Law of Moses specified that "anyone who is hung on a pole is under God's curse" (Deuteronomy 21:23). The message that the Jewish leaders wanted to send to the people was that this supposed Messiah was actually just a poor man under God's curse.

Of course, our actions are never able to overturn God's intent. The religious leaders felt justified in what they were doing. After all, Jesus was a man cursed by God, a fact that was proven by his crucifixion by Rome. But to God, Jesus was his son, the one who died to atone for our sins and wrongdoing; he remains the one who died because of our sins and transgression. He died so that we don't have to.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: John 19

That day Herod and Pilate became friends—before this they had been enemies. – Luke 23:12

Today's Scripture Reading (January 4, 2021): Luke 23

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend." The earliest known expression of the proverb is found in a Sanskrit essay on international relations that dates to the fourth century B.C.E. It has formed our understanding of alliances throughout history. During the Second World War, the policy became foundational as the Western Allies joined forces with the Soviet Union against Nazi Germany. No trust had existed between Britain and the Soviet Union prior to the war, and even during the war, there was an unhealthy competition between the nations. Still, the destabilizing effect of Nazi Germany in Europe meant that these traditional enemies had to come to an understanding to defeat Adolf Hitler. The countries were divided on almost every political issue imaginable but united in their fear of Adolf Hitler and his military machine. The friendship between the Western Allies and Russia lasted as long as Hitler was a threat. But as soon as Nazi Germany had been defeated, the friendship ended, and the Cold War began.

Herod Antipater and Pontius Pilate wanted different things politically. In many ways, they were competitors. Herod Antipater was the son of Herod the Great, King of the Jews. Properly understood, Antipater was never a king, although it is likely that he wanted to be. Pilate was primarily a military leader responsible for policing and raising taxes in Judea. For Herod, life was about personal power; Herod wanted to answer to no one. For Pilate, everything he did was in service of Rome, or his administration would end. And the two quests for power never coincided with each other, until now.

Luke 23 tells the story of three people/groups of people who opposed Jesus. The religious hierarchy feared Jesus and the damage that he might do to their carefully constructed lives. Herod never took Jesus seriously. He was a joke, and a source of entertainment to the "want to be" king. The crowd shaped Pilate's reaction to Jesus. He had the most positive response to Jesus but refused to make an unpopular stand to defend him. All of these groups had different aims, different things that they wanted to achieve with their lives. Often their paths led them to fight each other, but, at this moment, they were unified by the one who was seen as a danger to all of their aspirations, Jesus Christ.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: John 18

Pilate was surprised to hear that he was already dead. Summoning the centurion, he asked him if Jesus had already died. – Mark 15:44

Today's Scripture Reading (January 3, 2021): Mark 15

Mark Twain was in London, England, when rumor hit the U.S. that he had taken ill. News that the humorist was ill was followed up with the news that the humorist had died in England. The report of Twain's death set the circumstances for one of the humorist's most quoted statements about death. "The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated." Well, actually, the quote is "greatly" exaggerated. Twain's actual statement excludes the word "greatly."

  I can understand perfectly how the report of my illness got about, I have even heard on good authority that I was dead. James Ross Clemens, a cousin of mine, was seriously ill two or three weeks ago in London, but is well now. The report of my illness grew out of his illness. The report of my death was an exaggeration (Mark Twain, 1897).

In our modern world, false death reports have become something of a regular occurrence. But even in centuries past, the phenomenon of the media declaring the death of an individual when that just wasn't true was not an unheard-of event.

Pilate is surprised to hear that Jesus had already died. In fact, he refuses to believe the first report of the rabbi's death and sends for a second opinion. Was Jesus dead, or was this just an "exaggerated" report? Pilate's query might surprise contemporary readers, considering that Pilate had ordered Jesus's execution. But the Romans took pride in the concept of executing prisoners as slowly as possible. Death in a six or seven-hour span was an almost unheard of occurrence. The question in Pilate's mind was likely, "what had happened to allow this teacher to die so quickly?"

But, even if he was dead, the rabbi was still, by law, held under the command of Pilate. Customs dictated that the convicted criminals' bodies were to be left on their crosses to be ravaged by decay and animals. The criminal's humiliation did not end with their deaths; it continued well after the person had died.

However, it was also not unusual for a dead criminal's body to be released into the possessions of friends and family. But the point was that you had to bring the petition for release to Rome because even in death, they held the criminal's future in their hands.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Luke 23

About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?" (which means "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"). – Matthew 27:46

Today's Scripture Reading (January 2, 2021): Matthew 27

First impressions are not always right. And neither is the crowd. Just because there are many does not necessarily mean that they are correct. It is the reason why we need to hear dissenting voices and maybe gain a fresh perspective. It is also why echo chambers, where all we hear are opinions that we agree with, are so dangerous; they tend to reinforce the error.

I mention this because I hold a dissenting opinion when it comes to Jesus quoting Psalm 22:1 (My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?) from the cross. The traditional understanding is that as Jesus bore the sins of the world on his shoulders, God turned his back on his son; that God actually forsook him. My struggle with this interpretation is that it doesn't seem to fit with the rest of the gospel message. Our teaching has always been that it doesn't matter what you have done; God loves you and will not walk away from you. The truth is that we tend to walk away from him and what matters is that we return to him with a repentant heart.

It is the story that Zechariah tells in his prophecy. He sees the High Priest, Joshua, brought before an angel of the Lord, with Satan standing by his side ready to accuse him. Joshua's sin is symbolized by the filthy clothes that he is wearing. The angel's presence represents God's presence, and the angel does not turn his back on Joshua, forsaking him. Instead, he orders that the filthy clothes be removed. "Then he said to Joshua, 'See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put fine garments on you'" (Zechariah 3:4b). For the repentant heart, the reaction of God is never rejection. How much more would this be true for the Son of God?

If we have misread this passage, then what might be the proper reading? Were the words just a mental calculation on the part of Jesus to say what was expected from him on the cross? I don't think so. I also don't believe that there is any great mystery here. In times of great stress, we often feel that we are alone or that the world has conspired against us, even when that is not the truth. Regardless of the support that we might have, the uncomfortable truth is that we can't feel that support and love. Amid help and hope, we feel alone.

As Jesus suffers on the cross, he feels, maybe for the first time, disconnected from his heavenly Father. And so, he quotes the words of the Psalmist; "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me" (Psalm 22:1a)? The truth? As it is during our moments of great stress, the Father is holding his son close to him, weeping over the ordeal Jesus is being put through, even though he understands the reason this must happen. But Jesus can no longer feel that love or connection. All Jesus feels is alone, separated from, and forsaken by his Father.

And this should be a moment of comfort for us. We know those times of stress in our own lives when we feel alone. But the reality is that we are not. God is with us, holding us close, taking off our filthy clothes, and giving us clean clothes to put on. Even our sin couldn't chase God away; we just couldn't feel his presence amid our stress. But when the pressure is removed, we will find, just as Jesus did, that God remained with us; he is still our hope and the one worthy of our trust.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Mark 15

My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. – John 17:15

 Today's Scripture Reading (January 1, 2021): John 17

There are essentially two ways to protect something. One way is to wrap it up in some kind of protective garment. People who play physical sports like American Football or Hockey are used to playing the game wearing padding. It protects them, at least somewhat, from the damage that could happen to the human body if the game were to be played without padding. In hockey, the lucky person who minds the goal or skates "between the pipes" is blessed with even more padding. The padding a goalie wears is thicker and broader, covering more area of the body, all to protect the person trying to stop a hard rubber disk being fired at them, sometimes at speeds of over a hundred miles an hour.

But there is another way to protect a person from the damage resulting from playing a sport like American Football or Hockey. That solution is to play chess, or maybe poker. It is the solution of most mothers; please just don't play the game. Because if you don't play, you can't get hurt. (Just as an aside, that is not necessarily true. I remember one Football game in which I was playing where a few spectators sitting on the sideline got so interested in the conversation that they were having that they forgot that there was a game going on. When a play happened to go in their direction, there was a great collision between the ones wearing the pads and the bystanders who weren't.)  It is this latter way of protecting something that is the underlying theory of every person who "child proofs" a room before allowing a toddler into it. The idea is that if everything breakable has been removed, then the child can't cause any damage.

Jesus prays for the protection of his followers. But he does not pray that God would remove them from the world. There are times when we might wish that we had prayed for our removal. I remember having a conversation with a cousin of mine on a tough day, and he flipped open his wallet, maybe because he thought it looked like an old-style Star Trek communicator, and issued the words "Beam me up, Scotty." During rough moments in this life, sometimes the concept of being removed from this troubled planet is an attractive prospect.

But Jesus's prayer was not that we would be removed from this world, but that we would be protected from the schemes of Satan, the evil one. The reality is that we are supposed to be the difference makers in this world, and we cannot be difference makers if we are not present in it. Jesus said that we are to be salt and light in this world. But salt that stays in the salt shaker is just an ornament for the dinner table; it is of no practical use. A light that is never placed in a dark room can never bring light to the darkness.

This is who we are supposed to be. Jesus wants us to be protected, but he also wants us in the game, making a difference. As another year dawns, we have another chance in front of us to be the difference makers that Jesus wants us to be.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Matthew 27