'Self-image and the delight of Christ' (Song of songs 1:5-2:7)

What aspects of your body are you unhappy with?  I thought of that and came up with a depressing number of things.  We can be self-conscious.  There are things about our appearance that we don't like.  Writing about this morning's verses Tom Gledhill states, 'In these verses we are brought face to face with problems of our own self-image.  How do we view ourselves?  When we look in the mirror, do we like what we see?  Can we accept ourselves as we really are, with all our quirks, idiosyncrasies and limitations?'

Of course it is not just the exterior that we worry about.  What about your temperament?  Maybe people find you highly-strung.  You fear that people think you are too serious.  You worry that they find your humour annoying.  You have been made feel stupid.  You are not popular.  You fear you would not be popular if people got to see beyond your crafted image.  You are shy.  You are giddy..  We are self-conscious.

Then there is our soul.  It feels like there are stains on our conscience.  We have both sinned and been sinned against.  What if they knew what I am really like?  We have regrets.  We feel dirty.  There are dark blotches that we want to remove.  There are secrets that we fear being exposed.  There are memories that haunt us.  There are wrongs we want set right.  There is shame.  We are self-conscious.

In our reading we encounter a self-conscious teen and her encouraging lover.  We know these verses point us ahead to Jesus, so we will hear his delighting words for his bride, the church.  I have called this talk, 'self-image and the delight of Christ.'  I pray that it will be healing for us.    

We feel insecure because we are so flawed

The girl begins, 'I am dark but lovely' (5a).  She knows that she has good looks, but she is also self-conscious.  In that culture a pale complexion was considered desirable.  Tanned skin spoke of someone who worked outdoors.  The cultured women on that day made great efforts to keep their skin from being sun-kissed.  'Do not gaze on me because the sun has looked upon me' (6a).

She then goes on to mention her mother and brothers (or step-brothers).  There is no mention of her father.  Perhaps he is dead.  Her family has forced her to keep the vineyards, '... but my vineyard I have not kept' (6).  She has not had time to look after her appearance.

She wants to go and be with her lover at noon, the time when the men rested.  

Are we people that others can be real with?  Do people feel safe with us?  Will we listen to their pain?  Will be point them to God's grace?  Will we take their hurts seriously?  Reading these verses reminded me that God cares about all the small things that cause us to be anxious.  He even takes our self-consciousness seriously.

In Christ we are made perfect

Now the young man speaks.  'I will compare you to a mare among Pharoah's chariots' (9).  It may be that she is dressed up and looks impressive.  'Your cheeks are lovely with ornaments, your neck with a string of jewels' (10).  

We will see in this song the back and forth between the two.  'I love you'.  'I love you too.'  How hard it is when we declare our love for someone only to be greeted by their indifference!  That is not the case here.  He calls her beautiful, she calls him handsome and charming.  

Marriage is the union of an imperfect man to an imperfect woman.  We are flawed both physically and morally.  We need to view each other with grace-filled vision.  If you are married let your spouse be your standard of beauty.  Don't compare them with others.  If he is short, then you are into short men.  If she is blond, you are into blonds, and if she is brunette, you are into brunettes.  If she is petit, then that is beauty for you.  If she is curvy, then that is your preference.  

It is the same if you are single and looking to meet someone.  It will be impossible to enjoy a real relationship with a real person until you shed the demand for perfection.

But what about Jesus, my perfect lover?  Does Jesus speak like this about me?  Does he see me as beautiful?  He sees his people as more than beautiful: he sees us as spotless.  In Isaiah God promises, 'though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool' (Isaiah 1:18).  In the New Testament we read, 'the blood of Jesus goes on cleansing us from all sin' (1 John 1:7).  If you have brought your sin to Jesus and entrusted your life to his loving rule, if you have confessed a failure and wretched deed and laid it down before him then he does not want you to go on wallowing in your shame.  It does not honour him to keep on bringing him your past.  He calls you to be free.

I have really felt God challenge me recently.  You see, I don't always feel loved by God.  I don't always feel love for God.  So I thought that I might be a fraud if I went on about how loving he is and how much he loves me.   But sometimes our feelings have to follow our faith.  We are called to hold on and believe that God loves us.  We are called to repent of our unbelief in his care.  We are called to live in the light of the love he has for us, a love that we might often doubt.  We are to declare it as true, because it is true, even when it feels unreal.

We should delight in each other as Christ delights in us

If you are married, have you let the romance drain out of your marriage?  This song tells us not to awaken love before its time, but if you are married that time is always now.  You need to stir the embers of your love.  In your friendships do you let people know how much they mean to you?  In your faith do you devote solid time to simply be with Jesus?

She thinks that she is ordinary.  'I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys.' (2:1).  Roses of Sharon were nice, but there were loads of them.  Same with lilies of the valley.  He says she is a special lily.  'A lily among brambles, so is my love among the young women' (2:2).  Remember that she is your standard of beauty!

She too sees him as special.  'As an apple tree among the trees of the forest, so is my beloved among young men' (2:3).  Everything about him refreshes her.  He is good for her.  She delights to be in his presence.

Then comes one of the most famous verses in this song: 'He brought me to his banqueting table, and his banner over me is love' (2:4).  I was at a school's rugby match, and I noticed that some of the girls had made a banner.  It read, 'We love Reuben.'  Imagine running onto the pitch and reading that.  Imagine the courage it would give you.  Imagine the determination it would leave you with.  Imagine what it might feel like to know that Jesus holds a banner declaring his love for you!  How life transforming it is to see his passion for us.

I was having coffee with one of the people of this church.  I asked them if they knew that God delighted over them.  They asked me how I could say that.  So I showed them this verses from Zephaniah: 'he will rejoice over you with singing' (3:17).  That truth made tears run down their cheek.  'For the Lord takes delight in his people, he crowns the humble with victory' (Ps. 149:4).  The apostle Paul wrote of the Son of God who, 'loved me and gave himself for me' (Gal. 2:20).  a couple of centuries later Augustine explained that 'God loves each of us as if there is only one of us.'

Conclusion

We began by looking at an insecure teenager who was worried about her sun-kissed skin.  The solution to all our anxieties is to be kissed by the Son.  As pray for each other that we might see that Jesus delights in all who have given him their life.  We too should seek to encourage each other, in particular when we can see that God is doing a work in someone's life.

Douglas O'Donnell writes, 'some men would rather die than praise their wives.  But this is their own funeral, the deadly chill of their once warm marriage.'

Dane Ortland advises, 'better to offer too much encouragement creating the possibility of pride, than too little, creating the possibility of discouragement.'

Finally, Tom Gledhill says, 'the phycological effects of praise and affirmation are beneficial to our well-being .... Surely this is an important part of any relationship.  It is the oil that makes the machinery of everyday life run smoothly.  It is the added fill-up on grey days.'

Love one-another as Christ has loved you.

Reasons not to be afraid (Psalm 23)

We live in a fallen world.  It is a world of chaos.  It is a world of threat.  It is a world that ends in death.  Yet we are to fear no evil.  The word translated 'evil' in this Psalm ('ra'), is a word that includes ideas of disorder, distress and injury.  But we are not to be afraid.   We are to fear no evil because of the person, path and promises of God.

1.  The person of god

In your Bibles you might see that the word LORD is spelt with capitals.  That is a translation of YHWH - which we might pronounce Yahweh or Jehovah.  Yahweh bookends this psalm, being at both the beginning and the end.

Yahweh is the covenant name for God.  It is explained to Moses at the burning bush (Exodus 3:14).  God tells Moses to tell the people that he is 'I am that I am.'  He is to explain that 'I am has sent me to you'  Yahweh comes from the verb, 'to be'.  Dale Ralph Davis explains that God is saying, 'I will be present with my people to be whatever they need me to be.'  Yahweh is the only God, and He is the God we need in this life.

Yahweh is my shepherd.  In the Ancient Near East the shepherd was everything to the flock.  There is a lovely picture of the shepherd in the book of Isaiah: God 'tends his flock like a shepherd.  He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart, he gently leads those who have young' (40:11).

One of the things that convinces me of the divinity of Jesus is how many of the titles of Yahweh he takes for himself.  Jesus declared, ''I am the the good shepherd.  The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep' (John 10:11).

In the last two verses the scene changes from a shepherd to a host.  One commentator suggests that what we are being told is that God shepherds his people with the generosity and kindness as the most lavish of hosts.  In that culture it was not the host who prepared the meal for his guests, but a woman or a servant.  Yet our God takes this role upon himself.

While the flock is always assumed, notice that the focus is on each of us as an individual sheep.  The LORD is 'my' shepherd.  If we are in Christ we declare with the apostle Paul that we have faith in the Son of God, 'who loved me and gave himself for me" (Gal. 2:20).

The path of God

Shepherds in that culture did not drive the sheep but led them.  We read that the shepherd 'makes me lie down in green pastures.'.  You actually can't make a sheep lie down.  Sheep only lie down when they are well fed and feel safe.  It would be better to translate these words, 'he settles me down.'

The shepherd leads the sheep to green pastures.  It is very interesting that in Mark's account of the feeding of the five thousand Jesus directed the disciples to get the people to sit on the 'green grass' (Mark 6:39).  Jesus is showing us that he is the good shepherd.

The still waters are literally 'waters of rest'.  Sheep can't drink from lapping waters and need the water to be calm.  Rest is a key theme in the Bible.  The Promised Land of the Old Testament was referred to as God's rest.  Jesus invites us to come to him for rest (Matt. 11:28) and we look forward to an eternal rest (Rev. 14).

Ken Bailey makes the suggestion that restoring my soul, is actually better seen as 'he causes my soul to return.'  In our restlessness we are prone to wonder.  Yet we think of the good shepherd coming for the lost sheep.  We stray, but God creates a discontent within us until we know that the best place for us to be at home with the lover of our souls.

On of the right paths that the shepherd leads us through is the 'valley of the shadow of death'.  Valleys had to be travelled through but they were a nigh-mare for the sheep.  The valleys had steep and unstable sides.  They were a place of snakes, flooding and wild animals.  Yet they are not afraid because the shepherd is with them.

The valleys are passed through not settled in.  When we are going through a hard time it can be important to remind ourselves that 'this too will pass.'  At the other end of the valley is the banqueting table.  How true this is for those who are in Christ.  After we pass through the valley we will arrive at our ultimate place of rest.

David Watson was a great Christian leader who died in the 1980s.  He was terminally ill and wrote about his impending death.  He explained that he didn't fear evil because Jesus had already passed through the valley of the shadow of death for him and could be trusted to bring him through to the other side.  Jesus told his disciples that while he was going aware he would come back and take us to be with him (John 14;3).

The promise of God

In Hebrew poetry the poem often gravitates around the centre.  The centre of this psalm, both structurally and theologically are the words 'you are with me.'  That promise the ultimate reason that we are not afraid.  Jesus is our Immanuel, 'God with us.'  We look forward to a new heaven and a new earth where the dwelling place of God will be amongst his people (Rev. 21:3).  As we pass through this valley of death our shepherd hold a rod and staff, to protect us and discipline us.

In his beautiful book on this Psalm, David Gibson points out that when we read of goodness and mercy following us all the days of our life it would be better translated that they 'pursue' us.  Then he says, 'He is moving forward, and they are behind him.  Sometimes, only when we look back on events will we ever be able to see the goodness and the steadfast love of the Lord in them.  If you cannot feel it now, the Lord is still with you in the valley.  He will still walk with you without fail all of your days, and one day it may be that you will look back on the worst experiences, the most dreadful time, the deepest of dark valleys, and you will be able to say, "I see it now: God's goodness and God's mercy never left me, even then."'

Conclusion

Not all of life is green pastures.  Not all of life are dark valleys.  Christians can be assured that they will dwell with the Lord for ever, and that goodness and mercy now pursue us.

'The green pastures may be the normal place, the valley of the shadow of death may be the fearful place, in front of the enemies the dangerous place, and the house of the Lord the abiding place' (Dale Ralph Davis).

What tempts you to fear?  Remember the person, path and promise of our good shepherd. 

Jesus, what a beautiful name (Song of songs 1:2-4)

Was Jesus beautiful?  If you were take Hollywood as your guide you would assume he was.  It seems that when any film is made about him he is portrayed with beautiful eyes and a winsome smile.  Yet we read in Isaiah that 'he had no majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him' (53:2).  He had no physical beauty.

Yet the Bible highlights the importance of a different type of beauty.  The apostle Paul talks about the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit (1 Pet. 3:4).  Jesus described himself as gentle and lowly.  

The Reverend George Good was known to me as 'uncle George'.  He was not actually my uncle but a close family friend.  He died many years ago.  He had been a Methodist missionary in Sri Lanka for some time and had a profound influence on a teenager called Ajith Fernando.  Ajith grew up to become a well known Christian author.  In a number of his books Ajith spoke of the influence of uncle George on him.  Ajith wrote: 'to the pastor of my teenage years, who influenced me in the beauty of godliness.'  

Which matters more to us, the beauty of appearance or the beauty of godliness?  Which do we spend more time cultivating?  

This morning we continue our look at the Song of songs, and we see the young woman longing for her man.  We are going to think about desire, character and intimacy.

Desire (1:2)

I have suggested that this song was written by Solomon, who was a great failure in love, who is writing about a fictional young couple.  As with all of the Old Testament these words point us ahead to Jesus and his work on the cross.  So we will look at these verses both as a reflection of human love and the love we want to pour out on Jesus.

The Song begins with with an expression of desire.  'Kiss me'.  'Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth.'  

It is not wrong to want to be loved.  In fact, it is a sign of emotional sickness when we push everyone away and erect a protective wall around ourself.  It is not wrong to want romantic love.  Although we must remember that the most complete human who ever lived, Jesus Christ, lived and died a virgin.  The love that we need most of all is the love that can be experienced in Jesus Christ.

We grow our love for Jesus by looking at him in the face and meditating about the sacrifice he made so that we can be his.  George Muller wrote, 'Happiness in God comes from seeing God revealed to us in the face of Jesus Christ through the Scriptures.'  

So do we read the Bible simply as a text book trying to acquire knowledge or as a love letter where we can learn about someone we deeply care about and see how to live in the light of his love?

Character (1:3)

This young woman loves everything about her man.  She loves the very smell of him, and she expects others to love him too.  She loves his name.

Here 'name' is a reference to character.  She doesn't just like his looks, she like who he is.  Don't marry someone you can's (or won't) respect.

As I was thinking about his fragrance, which was the result of perfumed oils, I remembered how the Christian is called to be the aroma of Christ (2 Cor.2:15-16).  'We are the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.  To one the fragrance of death to death, to the other the fragrance from life to life.  Who is sufficient for these things?'

The apostle Paul was saying that as we live for Jesus, as we suffer for Jesus, as we speak about Jesus and as his character is formed in us, some will be drawn to his beauty and others will reject him in favour of the fleeting pleasures of the world.

Intimacy (1:4)

'Draw me after you; let us run.  The king has brought me into his chambers' (4a).

It has been pointed out that the young woman does not seem to fit the social expectations of the time--she often takes the initiative.  She actually is telling him to take initiative,  My understanding is that many of our wives get frustrated by our lack of initiative.  

She calls him her king, although he was not a king he was a shepherd.  In Eastern Orthodox churches to this day the couple wear crowns on their wedding day.  A married couple should treat each other as royalty.  

Ray Ortland writes about a young woman called Tara.  Tara worked as an actor in the porn industry.  But God brought her to saving faith.  She then married a Christian.  This is what she says about him: 'My husband knows everything.  And he treats me like a priceless treasure.  I keep wondering, "when is he going to realise I don't deserve his love?"  But he tells me all the time, "I want to spend every day, for the erst of my life, showing you how much Jesus loved you."  And he does.  I had never before seen a man treat a woman like royalty.  It's ridiculously amazing.' 

Men, are we going to objectify woman, looking at them through the eyes of lust, not just with pornography but in our daily glances, or are we going to treat woman as loved by God and made in his image?  

Finally, notice the chorus.  The girl's friends rejoice in her man (the 'you' is masculine in the Hebrew).  In other words they approve of the girl's choice for husband.  Before you commit yourself to marrying someone make sure that he is someone that those who love you approve of.

Conclusion

Uncle George displayed the beauty of godliness.  How much time do we spend working on our outer appearance, and how much time do we spend on cultivating the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit?

Look at Jesus.  See how he treated people.  See how he treated women.  See the mercy he showed to sexual sinners.  See him dying on the cross for all our lusts.  Remember that his blood cleanses us from the foulest evil.  There is no amount of dirt in our lives that he can't clean up.  As we see his grace to us our love for him will grow.  As we love him we will increasingly want to be rid of filth.

Think of his character.  We want to cultivate the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, and we want to display the fruit of the Spirit that is self-control.  Stop offering excuses.  There is no behaviour so compulsive that Christ doesn't offer the power to overcome.  he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear, and he will provide you a way out of temptation (! Cor. 10:13).

Song of songs is a call to intimacy.  It is a call to safe, pure and godly relationships with people.   It is a call to passionate intimacy with Jesus, the lover of our souls.  As we fill our minds with his goodness and gentleness we will know a joy nothing cheaper can bring.  Tim Chester says, ‘battling porn in our lives is not an exercise in denying pleasure.  It’s about fighting pleasure with a greater pleasure.’  Intimacy with a husband or wife is wonderful, but what we were made for is the greater intimacy with God.  You can be completely fulfilled in life without being married, but you won’t experience real life without Jesus.  Our intimacy with him grows as we lean on him for strength and purity.

Song of songs 1:1 - Jesus, lover of my soul

 

What do you think Jesus feels about you?  Do you think that He is disappointed with you?  Do you feel that He is frustrated with you?  Do you think that He is angry with you?  What if you were to be told that His primary feeling todays you is delight?  Does that sound too good to be true?  If you have placed your trust in Him it is true!

In his book on depression Ed Welsh writes, 'Just think what it would be like to be certain that the God of this universe loved you.  That alone would probably change the contours of our depression.'

Your problem is not that you don't love Jesus enough--although none of us love Him as we should--but that you don't know how much Jesus loves you.

The aim of this sermon series on the Song of songs is to show you how wonderful Jesus is and how much He loves us.

The Song of songs

This was a song that may have been sung during the week-long wedding celebrations that took place among God's people of the Old Testament.  It is not primarily given to us for preaching on but for singing.  We know that King Solomon was a famous composer of songs.

The idea of Song of songs is that this was the best of all songs.  Like King of kings is the greatest king or Lord of lords is the Lord of all.  Maybe we are being told that this is the best of Solomon's songs.

It is a love song between a man and a woman.  That is appropriate as when Adam first saw Eve he celebrated.  It is poetic or song form that we read, 'This is now born of my bones and flesh of my flesh.  She shall be called "woman" because she was taken out of man' (Ge. 1:23).

Song of Solomon

Song 'of' Solomon can also be translated 'to', 'for', 'about' or 'by' Solomon.  The problem with thinking that this might be about Solomon is that Solomon was a terrible example for marriage--he had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines.  I like the suggestion made by Douglas O'Donnell that this is Solomon writing about a fictional couple.  Maybe Solomon is looking back in old age and saying, 'don't do as I did, be like these two.'

The audience

There is a specific audience in this song.  Three times the girl in this song says, 'I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem ... Do not arouse or awaken love until is so desires' (2:7, 3:5, 8:3).

There are a number of possible interpretations of what these words mean.  I think it includes the appeal to keep sexual love for marriage.  Again, going back to Genesis 2, we see that God's design for sex is between one man and one woman.  It is because God took a woman from the man that a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh' (Gen. 2:24).  Anything other than sex between one man and one woman in marriage goes against God's design, is sinful and unnatural in His eyes, ends up with personal pain, damages society and can leave people outside the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 6:9-11).  What those who are not claiming to follow Jesus do with their bodies is not really our business.  That is between them and God.  But it is unloving not to confront someone who says they follow Jesus about their sexual behaviour--for what they are doing has temporal and eternal consequences.

Why study this book of the Bible?

We study this book to learn about sex.  Where are we going to learn about God's plan for sex other than the Bible?

We study this book to overcome cheap attitudes to sex--like pornography and dirty talk.  Seeing how beautiful sex is to be between a man and woman in marriage should put us off anything that falls short of that beauty.

We study this Bible because it points to Jesus.   

How does this song point to Jesus?

We know that all of the Old Testament points to the person and work of Jesus (e.g. Luke 24:44).  So, how does the Song of songs point to Jesus?  It points to Jesus in the fact that a love of a man for a woman in the context of marriage points to the greater love of Jesus for His people--the church.  In particular the cross is to be our example of how husbands are to lay down their lives for their wife (Eph. 5:25). 

How does the Song of songs make us wise for salvation?

The apostle Paul wrote to his young friend Timothy, ''But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have been convinced of, because you know those whom you have learned it, because you know that from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which is able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.  All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work ' (2 Tim. 3:15-17).

It makes us wise for salvation because as we see the beauty of how God designed romantic love to be we became aware of our own sin--maybe we have coveted someone else's spouse, maybe we have lusted over their body (in real life or on a screen), and so we turn to the friend of sinners who is willing to forgive all our filth.  We rejoice in the cross, remembering that the blood of Jesus purifies us from all uncleanliness.

How does the Song of songs equip us for good works?

By holding up marital sex as something beautiful it inspires us to honour God with our bodies.  Including how we live out our sexuality.

Finally, remember that whether you are married or single, you are loved.  Sex is not the goal of our existence.  Marriage is not the chief goal of our life.  The most complete person who walked this earth, Jesus Christ, lived and died a virgin.

Conclusion 

We are studying this book of the Bible to see the beauty of Jesus and to realise His love for us.  

There can be many reasons why you might find it hard to believe Jesus loves you,  Maybe you feel that no-ne else love you.  Maybe you don't love yourself.  But one reason we fail to appreciate Jesus' love is simply unbelief.  We are not taking God at His Word.  We do not have to understand all the emotional causes as to why we struggle to accept Christ's love, but we do need to repent of the sin of unbelief and say, 'sorry, Lord Jesus, I have failed to mediate deeply on the cross and seen your love for all who call on your name.  Let me be open to the comforting work of the Holy Spirit.  Amen. '   

 

Mark 15:40-16:8 ‘He was dead and he is risen—what are you going to do about it?

 

Gordon Bailey is a rather unorthodox evangelist and a poet who used to work around the area of Guildford.  One day he was doing some door to door work.  He went up to a house and knocked on the door.  A man opened and Gordon said, ‘If you have got a few moments to spare I would like to talk to you about Jesus.’

‘I am not interested in religion’, said the man.

‘Who mentioned anything about religion?’ said Gordon.

‘Well, you did.’

‘No I didn’t’, countered Gordon.

‘Well anyway’, said the man firmly, ‘you won’t get me to church.’

‘Who mentioned anything about church?’

‘You did,’ said the man ‘didn’t you?’

There was a moments silence and then Gordon suggested that the best thing to do was start the conversation all over again.  So they shut the door, Gordon rang the bell, and the man opened the door a second time.

‘Now listen very carefully’ said Gordon ‘If you have got a few minutes to spare I would like to talk to you about Jesus.’

The man looked at him, ‘well I am still not interested!’

‘What!  Not interested in the most famous man that ever lived?’

‘Well, I wouldn’t put it quite like that!’

‘What do you know about him?’ asked Gordon ‘Do you know how he died?

‘Yes, he died on a cross, crucified!’

‘Correct, but do you know that thousands of other people were crucified at about the same time?’

‘No, I had never thought about it!’

‘So don’t you think it strange that out of all those people who were crucified you’ve only heard of one?’

The man said ‘come on in’ and they talked about Jesus for more than a few minutes.[2]

If you have got a few moments I would like to talk to you about Jesus.  To be honest you do have a few moments because I am not going to finish this service until I have said what I am going to say.  It would be pretty rude of you just to walk out, so unless you can fain illness or get your hands on a crying baby, your stuck!  I believe, however, that it is worth your while listening  because we are going to look at some staggering claims Mark makes about Jesus—claims, that if they are true, present each of us with an immense challenge!

When it comes to reading any book of the Bible one of the things that we should be trying to do is to get inside the head of the writer.  So, when we read a passage in Mark’s Gospel we should be asking ‘what is Mark trying to tell his readers (initially the church in Rome in the first century) in choosing to record this incident and in how he records it?’  I think that Mark wants do two things with these verses: he wants to assure his readers that Jesus was really dead and really did rise, and he wants to challenge his readers to share this truth with other people! 

We will divide this passage in two obvious parts—15:40-47 in which we see Jesus’ burial, and 16:1-8 where we hear of his resurrection.

Mark wants us to be sure that nothing suspect happened Jesus’ body (Verses 40-47)

We have a lot of people in these eight verses: we have the women watching Jesus die from a distance; we have Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the Jewish ruling council—the Sanhedrin; we have Pilate, the governor of Judea; we have the centurion who had been on duty that fateful afternoon; and we have Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses seeing where Jesus was buried.  As we are about to see these people will all be witnesses to something very important—that Jesus really was dead and placed in Joseph’s tomb!

Joseph of Arimathea, we are told in verse 43, was waiting for the kingdom of God.  In chapter 1 we read that the central point of Jesus’ teaching was that the kingdom of God was near.  Presumably Joseph had taken what Jesus had said on board.  Now this secret follower wants to give Jesus’ body a dignified burial.  It is late on the Friday afternoon, he will have to act promptly if he is going to have Jesus buried before the Sabbath—which began at sundown.

So Joseph does something very courageous—he goes to Pilate to ask for the body.  Being a follower of Jesus demands courage!  For Joseph it was a risky thing to be associated with someone who had just being crucified.  As a member of the Sanhedrin you can be sure that things were never the same for him once he had publicly associated himself with the Lord.  Identifying with Jesus can be scary.  Maybe in our school or workplace, amongst our family or neighbours, or simply as we rub shoulders with people every day we need to have the courage to put up our hand and say ‘I identify myself with Jesus!’

Pilate was surprised to hear that Jesus was dead.  The victims of crucifixion normally suffered for two, three, even four days before dying.  So Pilate summoned the centurion who had been on duty to confirm that Jesus really had died.  Now this centurion had probably supervised hundreds of crucifixions.  He is an expert witness.  He knew when the victim was dead and he knew that Jesus really had died.  Having being assured that Jesus really was dead, Pilate allowed Joseph to take the body.[3]

So Joseph brought some linen cloth, took down the body, wrapped it in linen, and placed it in a tomb cut out of rock.  Then he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb.[4]  This large stone,[5] which was designed to protect against robbers or wild animals,[6] would have been rolled down a slope to bloke the entrance—once lodged in place it would have been very difficult to open again.

Mark tells us that Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was laid.

It seems clear that Mark wants to underline for his readers that Jesus really was dead and that nothing suspect happened to his body.  It is as if he anticipates the doubts that people might have or explanations they may have heard.  ‘Perhaps Jesus didn’t actually die and was merely resuscitated later on’—the women saw him die; Pontius Pilate would not release the body until he had confirmation from the centurion that Jesus was dead.  ‘Perhaps someone stole the body’—the stone was placed in the entrance to make sure this could not happen.  ‘Perhaps it was the wrong grave that was found empty’—Mary Magdalene (who Mark records was there when they went to the tomb) and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was laid, along with Joseph they could confirm that it was the right grave!  Jesus died, no-one took his body, his tomb was found empty!  Those are facts that are relevant to all of our lives.     

Mark wants us to see that the resurrection presents us with a challenge (16:1-8)

Our second scene begins on that Saturday night—the Jewish Sabbath ended at sundown.  Then Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome went to buy some spices to anoint the body.  Very early the next day (the first day of the week—that first Easter Sunday), just after sunrise,[7] they went to the tomb.

On their way they asked each other, ‘who will roll the stone[8] away from the entrance of the tomb?’  This was a real problem.  It would have taken several strong men to remove the stone from the entrance.

But when they looked up they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away.  So they entered the tomb, but they did not find what they were looking for.  The body of Jesus was not there.  Instead there was a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side.  Mark clearly wants us to understand this to be an angel.[9]  And they were alarmed.

The fact that Mark has women as his witnesses to the resurrection is striking.  In that society women were very much second class citizens and their testimony was inadmissible in a court of law.  If Mark was making this story up he would not have portrayed women as his witnesses to this amazing event.  The angel tells them “Don’t be alarmed.  You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified.  He is risen!  He is not here.  See the place where they laid him.

 

Then there comes a wonderful word of mercy.  The angel commissions them: But go, tell the disciples, and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee.  There you will see him, just as he told you’[10]  Have you ever looked at some failure and thought ‘I wonder could God ever forgive me for that?’  Undoubtedly the disciples were feeling great shame that they had forsaken Jesus, particularly Peter who had let him down so badly.  Yet here is a message for them, and for Peter—Jesus is risen, and he wanted them to come and met with him again. He had some wonderful plans as to how he was going to use them.  We may have let Jesus down many times and in many ways, but in his mercy he longs to restore us.  He longs to restore us and use us in his service again!

 

The women are given the command to ‘go tell’ but what do they do?  Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb.  They said nothing to anyone because they were afraid.  

 

There is some confusion about the ending to Mark’ Gospel.  The words that we see in verses 9-20 were almost certainly added by someone else who thought this gospel can’t end at verse 8 and so gave it an ending that they thought was more appropriate.[11]  Some scholars think that the original ending to this gospel was lost.  However, it actually makes sense to end at verse 8.

 

In verse 8 the women were afraid.  Mark has shown that same reaction, at other times in the gospel, in the face of the miraculous.  So when Jesus calmed the storm and walked on water we read that the disciples were ‘afraid’, and when a man had a legion of demons cast out of him the people were ‘afraid’.  Mark underlines that this is another miraculous work of God as he records the same reaction, that of fear.  On each occasion the appropriate response should have been to act with faith, but each time the people responded instead with fear.  In faith the women should have gone out with joy to tell the disciples the great news that Jesus has been raised from the dead but in fear they said nothing.

 

Verse 8 is an appropriate ending because in it Mark is leaving his readers with a challenge.   Will we react to the amazing news that Jesus is had been raised from the dead with faith or with fear?  Will we keep silent, like these women did at that moment, or will we go and tell?  As one study book says, ‘Even if we’re afraid, it is still time to speak, because there is an empty tomb, Christ has risen, the kingdom of God has arrived.’[12]

 

Conclusion

In recording these verses in the way he does Mark wants us to be clear that nothing suspect happened to Jesus’ body.  Jesus really was dead and really has been raised from the dead.  This is of the utmost of relevance to each one of us hear this morning, whether we call ourselves a Christian or not.  For if Jesus has been raised from the dead then he lives today and as the risen Christ he demands our utmost allegiance.

 

And Mark ends this gospel with a challenge: are we going to respond to the fact that Jesus has been raised from the dead with fear or faith?  Are we going to keep this message to ourselves or are we going to share it with others?  Are we going to delight to tell people that Jesus has died for their sins and longs to bring them his forgiveness and restoration?  Are we going to point to the risen Christ who demands that all people serve him as their king?  May the Lord give us courage for this task!  

 

 

Copyright note:

All Scripture quotations taken from the HOLY BIBLE,

NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION.

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society.  Used by

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[1] There are a number of minor differences in the gospel accounts of the resurrection.  These are actually easy to reconcile and are to be expected from an authentic account of an actual event.  As Professor Sir Norman Anderson, the former Director of Advanced Legal Studies at the University of London, writes,   ‘It is common experience for a lawyer to note how a number of witnesses will almost invariably give accounts which differ widely from each other, initially at least, about any incident at which they have all been present.  Each individual will see it from a different angle (both literally and metaphorically); will note some, but by no means all, of the relevant facts; and will usually be highly selective in what he actually remembers.  To a considerable degree, therefore, the minor differences in some of the resurrection stories may be regarded as actually strengthening the evidence rather than weakening it; for if a number of witnesses tell exactly the same story, with no divergences, it is nearly always a sign that they have been ‘coached’ as to what to say, or at least have conferred together on the subject.’ (N. Anderson, A Lawyer among the Theologians cited in P B-M The Message of the resurrection.)

[2] Adapted from Roger Simpson, preaching at All Soul’s Langham Place.

[3] It was an unusual thing for the body of someone condemned for high treason to be released, particularly to someone who was not a relative—perhaps he allowed this because of Joseph’s prominent position or perhaps Pilate was still feeling uneasy about his part in Jesus’ death.

[4] Matthew tells us that Joseph was a rich man, so it would be natural to assume that he was helped by his servants to take the body from the cross—he couldn’t have easily done it on his own.  John also tells us that Nicodemus helped him. Joseph, Nicodemus and their servants probably washed the body, certainly they anointed/embalmed it, they wrapped it in linen cloth, and they placed it on a stone slab in the tomb. 

[5] ‘This could be either a flat stone disc that rolled in a sloped channel or simply a large rock that could be rolled in front of the opening.’ Wessell.

[6] Barnett.

[7] John (20:1) writes that while it was still dark Mary Magdalene went to the tomb.  John may have been referring to when the women left home, and Mark when they arrived at the tomb.  Alternatively the women may have come to the tomb in groups.

[8] ‘A circular stone, though relatively easy to put in place usually was set in a sloped track, once established in place was very difficult to remove.  It would either have to be rolled back up the incline or lifted out of the groove and then removed.  Any other kind of stone placed in front of the tomb’s entrance would be as difficult or even more difficult to remove.’  Wessell.

[9] Matthew, Luke and John tell us that he was an angel—indeed Matthew tells us that there were two angels.

[10] In 14:28 he had told the disciples, ‘But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.’

[11] In the Greek the style and vocabulary of these verses are significantly different from the rest of the Gospel.

[12] Bolt and Payne, News of the Hour.

The Bruised Reed (Is. 42:1-9)

Richard Sibbes, one of the puritans wrote a lovely little book called 'The Bruised Reed' based on the verses that we are looking at.  If I am honest, I didn't get much from it the first time I read it, but I turned to it the weekend before my father died, and I found it a real reminder of God's love.  Here are some quotes:

    'There is more mercy in Christ than sin in us'.

    'It would be a good contest amongst Christians, one to labour to give no offense and the other to labour to take none.'

    'Christ loves to taste the good fruits that comes from us; even though they always savour of the old nature.'

    'Other princes can make good laws, but they cannot write them on the heart.'

    'The eyes of our souls cannot be towards him unless he has cast a gracious look upon us first.  The least love towards him is but a reflection of his first love shining upon us.'

Isaiah is speaking to a people whose neglect and rebellion against God have would cause God to send them into exile.  Now he is prophesying one hundred years ahead of his time to those exiles in Babylon.  God has not forgotten them, and he is going to bring them home.

In chapter forty-one he challenges them about their idols.  While we might not worship objects of stone and wood, there are many things that we build our lives on - the things that we look to for security and meaning.  We say we trust God alone, but we will move heaven and earth to ensure our comfort.  We say that we trust God alone, but we think that we need to be in control.  We say that we trust God alone - but we are obsessed with what people think about us.  If you want to know what your idols are, look at what makes you angry.  How do you react when people invade your space or treat you as nobody?  That is telling you about where you base your happiness.

They thought of those wooden and stone idols were gods, and God puts those idols to the test.  If they are God's they should be able to tell the future.  They can't!  In fact, it is laughable, because in verses twenty-three God says to them, 'do something, do anything.'  Then he points out that He can tell the future.  he is going to send the Persian king, Cyrus, to smash the Babylonians and issue an edict to allow God's people to go home to Jerusalem.

Now, as we turn to the opening of forty-two, I want us to see three words: behold, Spirit and justice.

Behold 

'Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen in whom my soul delights' (1a).

These verses are echoed by God the Father at the baptism of Jesus (Matthew 3:17).  As people who are 'in Christ' the Christian can delight in the fact that God rejoices in you.  

Notice the comparison between the opening of forty-two and the end of chapter forty-one.  There we read, 'behold they [the idols] are all a delusion; their metal images are empty wind' (41:29).  While idols are nothing, in verse 5 we read of God, the LORD (lit. 'the God, YHWH' or, 'the true God).  Our God creates the heavens and the earth.  While our idols are useless, the true God sustains us.

While the Persian king, Cyrus, came trampling or rules, Jesus comes quietly.  'He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street' (42:1c).  He also comes gently, 'a bruised reed he will not break and a faintly burning wick he will not quench ...' (42:3).  Matthew cites these words as he recalls Jesus healing the sick, forgiving the guilty and restoring the broken.

Spirit 

The word 'spirit' can also be translated 'wind'.  At the end of chapter forty-one we read that idols are empty wind (41:29), but now we read that God has put His Spirit in His servant (42:1b). 

Jesus comes to represent us in a new covenant with God, and having dealt with our sin He pours out His Holy Spirit.  He has opened our eyes to see the truth (7a).  God will bring freedom for those exiles in Babylon, but much more importantly He will bring us freedom from the penalty and pour of sin.

Justice

The key word in the first four verses of this chapter is justice.  It is repeated three times.  But justice in Hebrew has a broader meaning than what we mean in English.  In the Old Testament 'justice' means human society as it is meant to be.  It is human society as it will be when Christ returns.  In chapter 11 (11:4) we read that God will judge the poor - meaning that he will set things right for the poor.  We also read of a time of peace, when the wolf will lie with the lamb.  This is why we pray for our world, 'Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.'  Indeed, it is the pursuit of vain idols that is responsible for so much of the violence and hate in the world.

Conclusion

Behold - the servant of God, Jesus.  Rejoice in the Spirit -that God has caused you to be born again.  Seek His justice - for He is the great saviour who is both just and justifies those have faith in Him.

The verses that follow (vv. 10-17) are a song.  'The enjoyment of God is the only happiness which our souks can be satisfied' (Jonathan Edwards).  Glorify Him by delighting in Him.    

 

            

The God who knows your name (Is. 43:1-7)

Keith Jones worked with the Mission Aviation Fellowship.  He served for two years in Chad, and as chief executive.  His wife Lynn was diagnosed with Leukaemia.  He went to visit her in the isolation ward, and she was skin and bones.  She looked at him and declared, ‘Keith, get out of my life.  I don’t want to see you again.’  He told her at the end of the visit, ‘I will see you tomorrow.’  ‘Don’t bother,’ she replied.  ‘But, I can’t leave you.’

Lynn died at the age of forty-three.  A few months later God spoke to him in his mind.  ‘Remember the time Lynn rejected you?  I felt something similar.  My Son was unrecognizable in his suffering, I wanted to embrace Him.  But I turned my back on Him.  I did that for you.’  Central to this passage is the cost God was willing to pay to redeem us.

1.       God’s love is rooted in grace

The history of this passage is a little complicated.  Isaiah has been warning God’s people in Judah that if they continue their sin they would receive His discipline.  They kept on sinning, and they were about to be sent into exile.  Now Isaiah is speaking, prophetically, a hundred years from his time, to the people in exile in Babylon.  There God sought to win them back for Himself.  Yet they continued to sin.  Look at the last chapter and see what they are like.  They are blind—refusing to look at Him, deaf—refusing to hear Him.  They had continued to sin against God, ‘in whose ways they would not walk, and whose law they would not obey?’ (42:24). 

To these sinful people God declares, ‘But now’ (33:1a).  He has created and formed them.  ‘Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine’ (43:1b).  They have shown no interest in God, and yet He has moved in love towards them.

After speaking on these verses in another church, a young woman, who suffers from terrible health problems came and spoke to me.  She said that when she was a young Christian God had woken her in the night with these words.  ‘Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.’  She had to look them up.  She holds on to them in the storms she passes through.

It was the people’s sin that caused them to be in exile, and yet God speaks some of the tenderest words ever spoken to these rebellious people.  God does not treat us as our sins deserve but according to His loving kindness.  He comforts in the midst of all our deep waters.  We are twice loved—both created and redeemed.  Redemption happened when a person found themselves in slavery—maybe because of a debt that they could not pay—and a relative paid the price to grant their freedom.  What price did God pay to redeem you and I from the punishment and grip of our sin?  He paid the price of His own Son, a redemption of infinite value.

No matter how far you have strayed; no matter what you may have done; God waits with open arms to welcome you home.

God will be with you in every circumstance

‘When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers; they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through the fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you’ (43:2).  Note that it is ‘when’ not ‘if’.  These people in exile in Babylon would pass through many difficulties before they returned home.  We are not promised an easy life as followers of Jesus.

‘For I am the LORD your God, the Holy one of Israel, your Saviour.’  The reason we need not be afraid is because He is the LORD—YHWH.  That was the name of God revealed to Moses at the burning bush.  God told Moses, ‘I am who I am’, or, as one commentator puts it, ‘I will be who my people need me to be in their situation’ (Dale Ralph Dais).  He is our Saviour, who has proved His love to us through the death of His Son.  He has paid the infinite ransom for us and so we are His.  He loves us, by name.

Think of some of the waters Christ’s people have to pass through.  Jesus told His followers, ‘You will be delivered up by parents and brothers and relatives and friends.  Some of you will be pit to death.  Not a hair on your head will perish’ (Luke 21:16-18).  How can He say that they might die for their faith and yet not a hair on their head will perish?  He can say that because He will keep them spiritually safe.  At the end of Jude, we read of the one ‘who is able to keep you from stumbling and present you blameless before God’ (Jude 24).

He has paid the ransom of infinite value

‘I will give Egypt for your ransom, Cush and Seba in exchange for you’ (3b).  There is a little bit of uncertainty about this.  He is saying, ‘I will move history for you, to bring you home’, but what is the reference to Egypt?  It could be a look back at the Exodus, where God brought punishment on the wicked people of Egypt in order to set His people free.  Or, it could be a reference to how He is going to free them from exile in Babylon.  The Persian king, Cyrus, would sweep through Babylon and down into Egypt.  All the pain associated with that expansion God was willing to happen in order that His people could be free.  ‘I give men in exchange for you, peoples in exchange for your life’ (4b).  In fact, He gave a man, Jesus in exchange for our life.

‘Because you are precious in my eyes, and honoured, and I love you’ (4a). 

In Deuteronomy He had warned them that if they persistently rebelled He would send them into exile, but if they repented He would bring His scattered people home.

Note that our passage ends with a reference to His glory.  How do we glorify God?  We glorify Him by being open about our brokenness.  We were not rescued because we were deserving.  We were rescued in our sin.  He is a gracious God who loves us, even though we break His heart. 

Conclusion

When I heard that illustration about Keith Jones and his wife, Lynn, I actually thought of it a different way.  I say ourselves being like his wife saying, ‘Keith, get out of my life, I don’t want to see you again.’  And God is the one who says, ‘I can’t leave you.’  We break His heart all the time, but He goes on loving us.

How do we know ourselves to be one of those God knows by name?  I am helped here by a little book, by a puritan called Richard Sibbes, called ‘The Bruised Reed’.  There Sibbes explains that, ‘the least love towards him is but a reflection of his first love shining upon us.’  It is not a natural thing to even want to love the Jesus of the cross, so if you are being drawn towards Him don’t resist.  Let Him keep showing you His love until you become sure you belong to Him.    

‘Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.’