'The Story of Cain and Abel (Gen.4)'.

God had created a beautiful garden for mankind, God’s representative, to live with God. Man was to do 'God's will' by filling the earth with God’s images, and creating a ‘God-glorifying’ world. Yet, man sought independence from God and aligned himself with Satan.  Consequently Adam and Eve where expelled from the garden. They would still be expected to fulfill God’s kingdom purpose. Now God would provide man with food but it would be by 'toilsome labor' and the ‘sweat of his brow’. They were to multiply ‘images of God’ but now with increased ‘pain in child-bearing’ and relational conflict. Now comes the story of Cain and Abel, the first story of life outside the garden. Listen or watch the story and read the comments below. https://www.dropbox.com/s/zapkrwftakpw1qc/4.%20Cain%20and%20Abel..MP3?dl=0

The Cain and Abel Story (Gen.4):

God graciously enabled Adam to have children. When Eve gave birth to Cain she was thrilled that God had helped her to have a son. Later Eve gave birth to another son, Abel, who is described as Cain’s brother. God graciously provided crops for Cain and flocks for Abel. So we see them fulfilling their responsibilities to work the ground and rule over the livestock. Cain brought some of his crops to the Lord as an offering, but the Lord was not pleased. Abel brought to the Lord the fat portions from the firstborn of his flock. Abel offered God the first and the best of what he had and the Lord was pleased. However, Cain's offering to God was not pleasing to the Lord.  

Cain was angry that God accepted Abel’s offering but was not pleased with Cain’s offering and his face was downcast. The Lord confronted Cain telling him that if he did what was right he would be accepted. Yet, if Cain didn’t do what was right then sin was crouching at his door but Cain was to master it. Yet, Cain talked Abel into going out to the field where Cain attacked and killed Abel. Ignoring God’s gracious warning Cain attacks and kills his own brother out of jealousy and envy. Again the Lord confronted Cain but Cain claims that he wasn’t responsible for brother. Cain let sin, which is a power and not just bad decisions, get a hold of him. Cain by attacking and killing his own brother, who was made in God’s image, was attacking God and showing that he belonged to the evil one (1 John 3:12).

God knew of the injustice Cain had committed for Abel’s blood was crying out for God to avenge what Cain had done (Hebrews 12:24). So God ‘curses’ Cain and drove Cain from the land and from God’s presence. Now Cain was outside the garden where work was not only difficult but now the ground would not produce crops for Cain. Cain said that being driven from the land and from God’s presence to be a restless wanderer on the earth was too severe a punishment for him. Yet, even after what Cain had done God graciously agreed to protect Cain’s life and to avenge his death if anyone would kill Cain.

The story shows the power of sin in Cain’s life. Cain ignored God’s correction and then killed his brother out of jealousy and envy. Cain lies to God, denies being responsibility for his brother, and complains that his punishment was unjust. Rather than being broken and contrite we find Cain lamenting over the consequences of his sin. The story depicts the goodness of God for we see God providing offspring for Adam and Eve and providing crops and flocks for them. God graciously warns Cain and justly punishes him but promises to protect Cain’s life. The story God's patence with even those who are unrepentant. 

The story depicts the destructive power of sin in the heart. It also shows us the conflict between the ‘seed of the serpent’ and the ‘seed of the woman’ that characterizes the history of redemption (Gen.3:15). The difference between the 'two seeds' is the ‘God-initiated enmity in the heart’ (Genesis 3:15). The clash between the two lines of humanity is illustrated in the lives of Cain and Abel. By faith Abel offers a pleasing sacrifice and is commended as righteous, while Cain’s actions showed that he belonged to the ‘evil one’.  By attacking and killing his brother Abel, Cain was attacking ‘image of God’ and attacking God (1 John 3:12, Heb.11:4). The story points us to the gospel of Jesus and his work on the cross. The blood of Jesus cries out not for vengeance but for the redemption accomplished by Christ.  

Hebrews 11:4 (NIV84) ⁴ By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead.

1 John 3:12 (NIV84) ¹² Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous.

Celebrating God's Faithfulness!

Dear Friends and Family,

·         We’ve been reflecting on our recent trip to Malawi and celebrating God’s faithfulness.

Our 16 day trip to Malawi went so well we extended it to 23 days. After two years away we returned to take care of household business, to minister and to reconnect with friends.  It was great to preach at Kafita CCAP and Kapita CCAP, two large Churches pastored by former students. Pastor Edward Tembo told his church that when in Malawi I shouldn’t ask if I can come to Kafita to preach but I should say, ‘I’m coming to Kafita to preach’. I can only imagine the struggles of a 5000+ church with only one trained minister, but it’s encouraging that that church is led by a man who is trusting Jesus. This goes for Reverends Saka and Kayienda, former students, who are also leading large

Maula Prison Outreach. 

congregations in Lilongwe.  

A highlight of our trip was telling Biblical stories to the inmates at Maula Prison where we used to minister for over ten years. It was also great to hold another football (soccer) match where at halftime we preached the gospel to the whole prison. It was great to see what the Lord has being doing at Maula through Charles Masukwa, a former student. Charles coordinates with various organizations to improve the rehabilitation services at the prison. Since we left Malawi, a sick bay with actual beds has been built and now there is a medical clinic with a pharmacy and clinical officers. The school at the prison has improved and now there is a room with sewing machines where inmates can learn tailoring skills. God has made these prayers a reality.    

·         Reflecting on God’s faithfulness has encouraged us to look forward to God’s future faithfulness.

Story Group for Internationals. 

Being robbed three times when we arrived in South Africa and having our things stored in Malawi made transition to South Africa difficult. While crime is an ongoing challenge in South Africa having moved and sold our things in Malawi has helped our transition.  Having said ‘goodbye’ to our Malawian home we’re back in South Africa working with ‘international students’. It’s a good fit for us because most of these students are from Africa, and English is the language students from Botswana, Ghana or even Korea share. These students share the challenge of transitioning from one culture to another.  Moreover, we’re not giving out titles, degrees, school fees or anything else that can creates a dependency on a western missions. We’re simply telling Biblical stories, facilitating discussions and showing hospitality.

Christ Church Stellenbosch, our local church here, has been very gracious to us. Our girls enjoy the churches children’s programs and appreciate going to the same church weekly. I have had the opportunity to lead their service and preach several times. We want to promote a possible mission trip for our church here to go to Malawi, and could do some Biblical storytelling workshops.

o   We’re thankful for how God has answered your prayers on our behalf.

We travelled to Malawi and back safely, free from malaria any other ailments. We moved and sold most of our things. We were also able to preach some narrative sermons and teach Biblical Theology through stories in Malawi. God has been slowing growing our story group in faith and in numbers of people. Also, we were able to purchase a dependable used Honda Jazz, a civic like 5 door wagon. It’s good for the tight roads and smaller parking spaces here but big enough for our family and we really needed something.

o   We’re looking forward to how God will answer prayer in the future.

We would like to find housing more suited to showing hospitality to students that is affordable and close to the University. We’re still praying that our girls will make good friends as they did in Malawi and in the states. Also we pray that we will continue to settle in and be more focused on the work God has for us in South Africa.  

Zikomo Kwambiri (thanks very much),

Jay, Laura, Clara, Katherine and Lauren Stoms

Cheers!  

The Fall of Man (Gen.3).

From Genesis 2 we learn that God had created a beautiful garden for mankind to take care of and live in God’s presence. Man, as God’s image, was to expand God’s reign throughout the earth by doing ‘God’s will on the earth’. He was to work the garden, fill the earth with God’s images, and create a ‘God-glorifying’ world. This brings us to the 'Story of the fall of man' from Genesis 3. Watch the video or listen to the story and then read the comments below. https://www.dropbox.com/s/yz2agd8816uph29/3.%20The%20Fall%20of%20Man..MP3?dl=0

The mysterious serpent was the craftiest animal and surprisingly able to speak. The serpent also knew the terms of God’s relationship with His image. The serpent challenged the woman regarding God’s prohibition not to eat from the ‘tree of the knowledge of good and evil’ (Gen.2:17). The serpent questions God’s good intention and made it seem laughable that God would prevent them from eating from any tree in the garden. This got Eve to focus on what God had forbidden rather than on all the privileges and responsibilities God gave them (3:1-3).

The serpent engaged the woman in a conversation about how God was withholding good from them. Eve said that they would die if they ate from the tree, but the serpent said they wouldn’t die. The serpent claimed God was restricting them because God knew that if they ate from the tree they would be like God; knowing good and evil. So the serpent accused God of deliberately withholding good from them.  

Eve entertained the serpent’s accusation against God, and saw the fruit of the tree as desirable source of wisdom apart from God and God’s word. She took the fruit and ate and gave some to her husband who was with her. Adam was right there but he remained silent as Eve discussed the serpent’s accusations about God. Eve ignored God’s prohibition and she ate and Adam took some of the fruit from her and ate himself. Adam failed to protect Eve from the serpent’s deception and so together the tested Eve’s hypothesis that the fruit of the tree was good for acquiring wisdom and they went against God’s word (3:4-6).

Their eyes were opened to their nakedness so they covered themselves and hid in the trees when they heard God. God comes looking for Adam and while God knew what had happened he was giving Adam opportunity to confess what he had done. But Adam only acknowledged that he was afraid so he hid from God. God said, “Have you eaten from the tree I told you not to eat?” Again God’s not asking for information but is giving Adam opportunity to acknowledge his guilt. Yet, Adam blames the woman and God by saying that he ate because of the woman God had given Adam gave him the fruit. Adam justified his role claiming that it was the woman given him by God who was to blame for the incident (3:7, 10-12).

Now God seeks out Eve to give her the opportunity to confess. But Eve also justifies her actions by shifting blame to the serpent that deceived her and by implication God who let it happen. God simply curses the serpent to crawl on his belly and eat dust. The serpent successfully brought down man, but God promises that a man, a seed of the woman, will come who will crush the serpent. As God pronounces judgment he also announces that a ‘saving hero’ will crush the serpents head and God will initiate an enmity towards the serpent in the hearts of some of the woman’s seed. The coming hero will receive a strike at his heels but he will deliver a fatal blow to the serpent’s head (3:13-15).

God tells the woman that her pain in childbearing would increase and that she will desire her husband who would rule over her. Eve would play a vital role in filling God’s world with God’s images but now she would experience relational conflict and increased pain in childbirth. Because Adam stood by and listened to his wife and the serpent question God’s word and then ate the forbidden fruit, God ‘cursed’ the ground.  The ground will produce food for Adam but ‘thorns and thistles’ also. They will eat food but through painful toil and the sweat of man’s brow until he returns to the ground because man is dust and to dust he shall return (3:16-19).

The Lord clothed them with garments of skin and drove Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden. He placed an angel with a flaming sword east of the Garden of Eden to guard the way to the tree of life. As punishment they were expelled from the special place where God dwelt with and spoke with His ‘royal representatives’. Then God placed an angel with a flaming sword east of the Garden of Eden to guard them from the fruit from the tree of life (3:21-24). In their fallen state, apart from God, they would have to wait for someone, namely Jesus, to come and crush the serpent and restore access to the tree of life (Gen.3:15, Rev.22:2, 19). 

The Creation of Man (Gen.2).

In Genesis 1 the good God created a beautiful world and created man, in His own image, to be His representative on the earth. God made man responsible to reflect God’s creative activity in his work, and to reproduce God’s images on the earth. In this story the Bible backs up to when God created Adam, or ‘man’ (2:7, 20), and women from the man. God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into him the breath of life transforming the dust into a living image of God (12:7b, 1:26-27). Watch the video and or listen to the story and then read the commentary below. https://www.dropbox.com/s/jdse50iqo3opokn/The%20Creation%20of%20Man..MP3?dl=0 

God had a garden in Eden and He put the man (2:8, 15) in the garden to ‘work it and take care of it’. In the garden there were various trees and in the middle of the garden where the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (2:9). Adam was free to eat from any of the trees (2:16) but he was not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil or he would surely die (2:17). Then the Lord had Adam name all the animals, but no suitable helper for Adam was found (2:19–20). This was ‘not good (2:18) so God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. God made a woman from man’s rib and brought her to the man and Adam said, this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh (2:23).

God created a suitable helper for man to help him fulfill his God given responsibilities. God’s purposed for man to rule over all the earth and to fill the earth with ‘images of God’. This was a job that was too big and too grand for Adam alone. As God’s ‘royal representative’ man was to consecrate all creation and do God’s will on the earth in submission to God’s word. To do this man was given the privileges of worship, work and marriage (Gen. 2:3, 15, 25) and was restricted from eating from the tree of the knowledge of God and evil.

All men retain these responsibilities but after the fall (Gen.3) we have lost the ability to fulfill God’s purpose. God created man and called him to extend the beauty of Eden throughout the earth and to multiply ‘images of God’ who would do ‘God’s will’ on the earth. Adam and all his descendants have failed to do this but Jesus, the second Adam (1 Cor.15:22), achieves this and enables us to participate through our union with him by faith. Through Jesus and His word and Spirit we are renewed in God’s image and can do ‘God’s Will’ on the earth. Through faith in Christ we are to reflect God’s character, imitate God’s creative activity in our work, and seek to fill the earth with ‘redeemed’ images. We are all called to fill the earth with God’s redeemed images and we are to do this through marriage and child bearing and through the work of ‘evangelism’ (Mat. 28:19–20). 

'Our Malawi Summer Vacation'

Dear Friends and Family, 

It may be summer in the states, but not here in Africa. In the Western Cape its now winter. The weather here is like California; Northern California that is. But here the homes aren’t heated so you can be colder inside than out. I’m glad that I bought two pairs of fleece lined pants which I bought at Eddie Bauer. It seems I wear them almost every day. We even wear our jackets indoors here. So between the weather and being between semesters at the University of Stellenbosch this was the perfect time for our whole family to return to Malawi.

These guys did a great job moving us! 

We went to Malawi, not for the warmer weather, but for a couple of important reasons. First we had to move ‘our stuff’. We have had ‘our stuff’ stored in one room in our old duplex at African Bible College for the past two years. When we left Malawi two years ago, we didn’t know whether we would return to ABC or not. We only knew that the college was moving in one direction and the Lord was moving us in another direction. When we left things were not particularly clear to us so we never said any formal ‘goodbyes’. Since that time we have been in transition but ‘our stuff’ stayed where it was packed away in one room of what was our home for ten years.

Ironically Malawi was almost closed to us before we returned. South Africa just recently implemented a new law that requires those traveling with children to carry birth certificates. While we had all this to get our South African visas but they were locked in a safe in our flat in Stellenbosch. They weren’t going to let us through immigration until Clara cried and made a scene. This got us through but they said we couldn’t get back in without them. That was one fit that I really didn’t mind. When we arrived in Malawi the ministry opportunities we were considering never materialized. Not only had the ‘School of Storying’ fallen through but the Conference Centre our friends wanted to build had suffered some serious setbacks. So we were really left with no other choice but to move and sell ‘our stuff’.

Saying 'goodbye' to 'our stuff'!

A former colleague at ABC was so gracious to us that it was humbling. He let us stay in his house while he was away so were able to use his garage and container to move and sort through our things. We were able to move, unpack, sort through and sell almost everything that we had. The cost of moving it to South Africa would have been close to the same price to put it on a shipping container and send it to the states. Well it was a busy few weeks but everything came together beautifully. The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away! A former student, now a ‘Member of Parliament’, bought almost all of our furniture. So we said ‘goodbye’ to both ‘our stuff’ and to many good friends and former students. Our girls loved playing on the ABC campus with some old and some new friends. The warmer weather and the familiar surroundings were a real blessing.

Pempo & Livinia; former students & babysitters. 

We also had some significant opportunities to do ministry while we were there. We taught and told Biblical stories at the prison where we ministered for several years. We also taught a couple times at a hospital chapel, and preached three times at Churches pastored by former students. Everything really went pretty miraculously. The US embassy in Malawi was able to give us birth certificate for Katherine since her passport was renewed there. But when we went to the South African High Commission they said we wouldn’t be able to get back into South Africa without birth certificates for each child. However, while I was in line I read their law which was posted on the wall. The law said that if the child has a valid South African visa then the law requiring a birth certificate no longer applies. When I pointed this out it seemed to be news to them. They printed a copy of the law which the signed and stamped and when we showed it to immigration we had no trouble getting back into South Africa.

Thanks for your prayers and support,

Jay, Laura, Clara, Katherine and Lauren Stoms 

The Creation Story

Having told a series of stories communicating the story of Jesus we now want tell a series of Old Testament stories that will give us the background story to the story of Jesus. We start where the Bible starts with God in the beginning. Watch the video and or listen to the story on audio and then read the commentary below.

In the beginning God, who existed independently from creation, created the heavens and the earth. God’s Spirit was hovering over the uninhabitable deep dark waters (verse 2) and God began forming an environment perfectly suited for life. By His ‘Word and Spirit’ God ordered the world and determined to live among the people He created in His own image to be His ‘royal representatives’ on the earth. The lengths of the days of creation are a matter of debate among Christians. Some see Genesis 1 as straight forward historical narrative while others believe the repetitive language indicates that the account is poetic. We can avoid this controversy by focusing on the principle message of Genesis 1. Genesis 1:1 introduces the story, and in Genesis 1:2 we find God’s Spirit ready to initiate God’s creative activity according to God’s word. On the first three days God created specific domains or spheres and in days four through six God began to fill or populate those particular spheres.

On the first day God created light which he called day and separated the light from the darkness which he called night. On the second day God created an expanse which he called ‘sky’ separating the waters above from waters below. On the third day God gathered the waters under the ‘sky’ and dry ground appeared which he called land and the land produced vegetation. Now on the fourth day God began filling these domains by creating the sun, moon and stars to mark out seasons, years and days. Here the two ‘great lights’ are assigned the role of ‘governing’ the day and night which God created on day one. On the fifth day, God filled the waters below which He created on day two with fish and sea creatures, and birds filled the sky. On the sixth day God fills the land that he had formed on day three with various living creatures. Again on the sixth day, God determined to make mankind, male and female, in His own image. So both men and women equally bear the image of God and are to reflect the character and creative activity of their ‘Creator’.

The word good (Gen. 1:4, 9, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31) is used repeatedly here and refers principally to functionality. When God said it was ‘not good’ for the man to be alone (Gen. 2:18) He meant that the arrangement was not yet suited for God’s purpose. When God declared the world ‘very good’ He meant that it was now perfectly suited for man to do God’s will on the earth. God demonstrated His good intention toward mankind by giving man plants and trees as his renewable food source. Moreover, God gave His ‘royal representatives’ authority to rule as God’s wise stewards over all the creatures and all the earth. God finished creating and He set apart the seventh day as holy because on it rested from His work of creating. God made and ordered our world in such a way that mankind, His image, could live in God’s presence and do God’s will. As God’s stewards man was, and still is, to exercise God’s dominion by reflecting God’s character and imitating God’s creative activity. Mankind fell from God’s favor and was expelled from God’s presence. Now it is through Jesus Christ, God’s ‘very image’ (2 Cor.4:4) that we are restored to God’s original purpose. Moreover, those trusting Jesus are being renewed after the image of God (Eph.4:24, Col.3:10) and conformed more and more into the image of God’s son (Rom.8:29).   

Wrapping Up Our Malawi Trip (Returning to SA)!

Dear Friends and Family,

w/ Dorothy Likole @ Kafita CCAP.

If you’re able to befriend us on facebook we’ve been posting lots of pictures from our Malawi Trip there. We’ve had a great few weeks reconnecting; saying goodbye to old friends and visiting churches were we used to attend. It is always great to be able to worship with our Malawian friends and to preach in churches that are pastored by former students. We even did a football (soccer) tournament outreach at Maula prison where we used to take student to minister for 12 years. We are also very grateful to have been able to move and sell most of our stuff that we have had stored in Malawi for the past two years.

Saying 'goodbye' to our stuff.

As travel with our whole family back to South Africa today we have an urgent prayer request. South Africa has implemented a new law requiring those traveling with children to carry birth certificates with them.  We don’t have the girls birth certificates with us but we went to the US embassy and to the South African High Commission and according to the new SA law each of our girls have valid SA visas so we should be okay. The girl's visas have the USA passport numbers of both Laura and I so the girls are clearly identified as our children. So we are confident that we should be able to get back into South Africa but dealing with immigration in African countries is always a challenge and we have our concerns.

Maula football tournament.

Besides the challenge of taking two flights across Africa with three children we are taking 10 of those black shipping containers (+ carry ons) with us. We are taking a Ford Explorer and a Toyota land cruiser to the airport Monday morning just to get our family there with our stuff.  If you guys could pray for our flights we would really appreciate it.

Zikomo (thanks!),

Jay, Laura, Clara, Katherine and Lauren Stoms

Stoms' Malawi Trip (June 2015)

Dear Friends and Family,

Greetings once again from South Africa! As we write we are packing for our 16 day trip to Malawi. It’s been almost two years since we were there last. We’re traveling as a family which is a challenge, but we aren’t crossing any oceans. We do have two flights 2-3 hours long and have to be at the airport by 5am.   

The semester is ending so we’re taking a break from the ‘International student ministry’ to go to Malawi. I’m scheduled to preach at two large Churches in Lilongwe. Both Kafita CCAP and Kapita CCAP are pastored by former students so it should be a nice reunion. The ‘Storyrunners School of Storying’ we hoped to host in Malawi has fallen through. They were willing to go to Malawi due to Ebola in West Africa but now West Africa has reopened so they’ve schedule trainings there.

In Malawi we hope to reconnect with old friends. Our girls are very excited to visit “home”, and we all are looking forward to visiting with many ABC graduates. We also have to move, sell or store our furnishings and other items that we have stored in Malawi.  We will be looking for opportunities to teach Biblical Theology through stories and to do our own story training. We ask that you remember us in your prayers while we’re in Malawi.

Zikomo (thanks!),

Jay, Laura, Clara, Katherine and Lauren Stoms

1)      Pray for safety as we travel and stay in Malawi.

2)      Pray for protection from malaria, and other ailments and injuries.

3)      Pray we move things, sell and store our ‘stuff’.

4)      Pray for ministry opportunities to teach Biblical Theology through stories.

The 'Resurrected Christ' and the 'Great Commission'.

We finished our last story with Mark’s account of Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection (Mk 15:33-16:8). Matthew’s gospel ends with a fully account of the ‘Resurrected Christ’ and concludes with the ‘Great Commission’ (Matthew 28). Watch the video and or listen the story and then read the comments below. https://www.dropbox.com/s/y5qykj22m0mkwax/The%20Resurrected%20Christ%20and%20the%20Great%20Commission..MP3?dl=0

This is one of the most important stories you could ever hear. It’s about real events that God uses to change hearts and to change history. It’s a dramatic story and what I really like about this story is that it is so shocking. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to the tomb expecting to find the body of Jesus. Then there’s this ‘great earthquake’ and an angel comes down from heaven and rolls the stone away. The guards see the angel’s lightning like appearance and they fall down like they were dead. The angel tells the women not to be afraid. But the real shock is that Jesus is alive from the dead just as he had said.

The story is both shocking and baffling because even people in the ancient world knew that when people die they stay dead. But in this story God does something for Jesus He had never done before. Jesus had told his disciples that he would rise on the third day but none of them, including these faithful women, were expecting Jesus to be alive. Yet the angel tells the women that Jesus is alive and they are to tell Jesus’ disciples to meet Jesus in Galilee. They leave filled with this strange combination of fear and joy. They run to tell and on the way they meet Jesus. They grasp his feet and worship him. Then Jesus sends them on to tell his disciples to meet him in Galilee.  

The soldiers are also filled with fear but they fall down as though dead. They tell the high priest what happened and the elders meet to discuss what they should do. The perplexing thing is that they plot to cover of the truth of the resurrection. They offer the soldiers money to say that Jesus’ disciples stole the body while they were sleeping. The soldiers accepted the bribe and spread the deception.  

The story shows us what we are all capable of apart from God’s grace. The guards are filled with fear; fall as though dead and they go tell the news to those who condemned Jesus. The high priest and the elders bribe the soldiers to twist the story and promote a false account. Left to ourselves we would rather live a lie than repent and admit the errors of our ways!

By contrast the women respond to the shocking news by running to tell Jesus’ disciples. On their way they meet the resurrected Jesus, they grasp his feet and worship him. The women tell the eleven disciples who go to a mountain in Galilee where they meet the ‘resurrected Jesus’. Their response, however, is also a bit perplexing because some worship him while ‘some doubted!’ Did they doubt that it was Jesus? Or did they, as worshipers of the one true God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, doubt that they should actually worship Jesus?

So what does the story tell us about God and about Jesus? The story tells me that Jesus is alive and that he really is God’s King, the Messiah. The differing responses to the same story tells me that ‘genuine faith’ is not simply agreeing with the evidence. We must respond in faith but faith is not from ourselves; it is the gift of God. God must foretell, God must fulfill, God must grant faith and repentance because apart from Him we can do nothing. Then we see that all power and all authority belong to the risen Christ Jesus; who is here revealed as the proper object of worship.

So what is the appropriate response to the ‘good news’ of the resurrected Jesus? What is our respond to the one who has been given ‘all power and all authority’ in heaven and on earth? The women were filled with this strange mix of fear and joy and they are propelled to tell others. The story compels us to trust Jesus and to worship him with great fear and great joy. First we worship then we get up from our knees willing to play our part to see the ‘great commission’ fulfilled. We should not be content until the nations are baptized and taught to obey everything Jesus has commanded. We are to proclaim Jesus with our mouths and with our lives. We are to make disciples and baptize them in the name of the Triune God and we are to devote ourselves to learning, teaching and applying the gospel to every aspect of life. We are to cling to the promise that all power and authority belong to Jesus and that he will be with us always even to the end of the age.

The Death, Burial and Resurrection (Mk 15-16)!

In Mark's gospel the story of Jesus' being ‘tried, mocked and crucified’ (Mk 15:16-32) is followed by the rest of Mark’s account of Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection (Mk 15:33-16:8). Watch the video and or listen the story and then read the comments below.

At the third hour Jesus was crucified and from the sixth hour to the ninth darkness covered the land. Everything went dark which reminds us of the plague of darkness at the Exodus from Egypt. At the ninth hour Jesus cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Jesus cries out in faith but in despair asking his father why. Then in anguish Jesus breathed his last and died.

The curtain of the temple was torn in two indicating that Jesus’ death opened direct access to God and ushers in God’s kingdom. A battled hardened Roman soldier heard Jesus’ cry and saw how Jesus died, and confessed, “Surely this man was the Son of God!” The way Jesus died led the centurion to confess what God had said at both Jesus’ baptism and transfiguration.

Some of the faithful women followers of Jesus who cared for him watched him die from a distance. Joseph of Arimathea was a member of the Sanhedrin that condemned Jesus, but he was waiting for God’s kingdom. Joseph went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. Now Joseph was willing to put himself at risk and make himself ritually unclean to ensure that this man condemned by the Sanhedrin received a proper burial.

Pilate was surprised that Jesus was already dead but the centurion confirmed that he was. So Pilate permitted Joseph to take the body down. Joseph wrapped the body in linen and placed it in a tomb. Then he rolled a stone before the tomb which Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses observed.  Mark mentions three women who watched the crucifixion and two who saw where he was buried. This isn’t a detail someone would make up since women weren’t even considered valid witnesses in the ancient world.

Early on the first day of the week, the women went with spices to the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus. On their way they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away?” They were going to the tomb to complete the burial, not to witness Jesus’ resurrection. When they arrived at the tomb the stone was already rolled away so they entered the tomb and saw a young man in a white robe. The man told them not to be afraid and that that Jesus had been raised from the dead.

Jesus had repeatedly taught his disciples that he would be killed and then rise again. Yet the disciples just couldn’t seem to comprehend this. Now the visitor in white sat where Jesus’ body had been laid and told them that Jesus was alive. The angelic messenger explained that they should go to Galilee where they would see Jesus; as Jesus had said. He specifically mentions Peter to ensure Peter that after denying Christ he would not be excluded. Bewildered and scared the women fled the tomb and while they must have passed people on the way, they said nothing.

Two of the best and earliest manuscripts end after verse 8 and actually how the text was intended to end remains a matter of debate. Whatever the actual ending, God challenges us to put our faith in the risen Jesus. So what is our response to the news of the risen Lord and of his ‘gospel of the kingdom’?