Peter Misselbrook's Blog

Aug 11 2020 - Mark 16:1-20 – He has risen

The angel told the women who had come to the tomb, "Don’t be alarmed... You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him" (Mark 16:6). With these simple words the resurrection is announced on that first Easter morning. Jesus had rested in the tomb on the Sabbath day, but now it is the first day of a new week – of a new world. It is resurrection morning, the dawn of a new creation.

Some of the earliest manuscripts of Mark’s Gospel end with verse 8. Other manuscripts include a number of variant additional endings to the Gospel. The traditional verses 9-20 seem to be a later collation from other Gospels and from various events recorded in the book of Acts. All of this makes for confusing evidence. It is difficult to know whether Mark actually ended his Gospel with verse 8, and scribes sought to provide what they felt was a better ending, or whether the additional words he originally wrote have been lost. Whichever may be the case, all that we now have of Mark’s own account appears to stop at verse 8.

And so we have a puzzling conclusion: "Don't be alarmed" says the angel. However, Mark’s account concludes with the women fleeing the tomb, trembling and bewildered and unable to tell anyone what they had seen and heard.

But Mark's readers know that this is not the end of the story for they are the continuation of the story. They are those to whom this message has now come. The challenge now for them is how this story will continue to be played out in their lives?

And now this same unfinished story challenges us. Christ is risen from the dead; how shall we live in the light of this new creation? Are we going to remain trembling, bewildered and silent? Or are we going to show and tell the reality of Christ crucified and risen from the dead?

Wake up, sleeper,
rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you (Ephesians 5:14).

A few years ago I attended an Easter service at which wristbands were passed out with the single word “Risen!” emblazoned upon them. I have worn mine ever since that day. It continually reminds me not only that Christ is risen from the dead but that I too am raised with him. By the power of the Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead, I am to live the life of the new creation – the life of the age to come. Every part and aspect of my life is to be affected by the resurrection of Christ. Nothing can ever be the same again.

A well-known Christian song has the words, “He lives, he lives, Christ Jesus lives today… You ask me how I know he lives, he lives within my heart.” That response is wholly inadequate. The world is to know that Christ lives – that he is risen – not merely by some mystical inner experience but by the manifest reality of resurrection life in the people who bear his name. We are to make the resurrection of Christ visible and incontrovertible.

Heavenly Father, I gladly confess that Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again. Teach me more of what this truly means. Spirit of Christ, translate this confession into the very fabric of my daily life. Help me to die daily to the self-centred life that called for your death. By your living presence and power, enable me to live the self-giving life of the kingdom that shows the world that you are risen indeed. In this way may I live daily in joyful anticipation and living hope of the day of your coming.

Aug 11 2019 - Psalm 100 – Enter his gates with thanksgiving

Psalm 100 is quite short, but it is a fitting response to yesterday's reading in Isaiah 35.

This psalm calls upon all the earth to join together in joyful praise of God. He is deserving of praise because he is our creator; we owe our life and breath to him along with the innumerable blessings of this present life. In the words of the twenty-four elders in Revelation 4:11 we acknowledge:

You are worthy, our Lord and God,
    to receive glory and honour and power,
for you created all things,
    and by your will they were created  and have their being.

And in recognising that "It is he who made us" (Ps 100:3), we recognise that he is the creator of everything and that all things owe him their thanks and praise.

Secondly, we worship the Lord because he is our great redeemer. The Lord Jesus laid down his life for the sheep and is risen from the dead to be the great Shepherd of his people. In the words of Revelation 5:12, we come before God with thanksgiving and praise saying:

Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,
    to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength
    and honour and glory and praise!

Our God is good and his love endures for ever. That love has been most clearly displayed in Jesus. It is love that will not let us go, a love that will bring us safe to glory and then embrace us for all eternity (Romans 8:38-39). We are thankful that we have experienced the greatness of God's love and we want all the earth to come into the embrace of that love.

If our lives were dominated by thankfulness towards God and characterised by a spirit of praise, do you not think that they would attract others to Christ as a pot of honey attracts wasps? How might praise change our lives and transform our witness to Christ?

Billy Bray was born in Cornwall in 1794. After a life of hard work and drunkenness, he came to a knowledge of salvation through the preaching of Methodists and the Hymns of Wesley. He was soundly converted and his life was transformed. It is well worth reading an account of his life. Here is a short extract from one brief account:

Happiness now became a marked feature of Billy's life. His happiness was real, and he did not try to conceal it. Some did not like him shouting and singing for joy. But Billy would reply, "The Devil would rather see us doubting than hear us shouting… If they were to put me in a barrel, I would shout 'glory' out through the bunghole. I can say glory, glory: I can sing glory, glory: I can dance glory, glory."

This happiness characterised Billy even as he was walking along the street: "I lift up one foot, and it seems to say 'glory', and I lift up the other, and it seems to say, 'Amen': and so they keep on like that all the time that I am walking."

Billy told everyone he met how happy he was. He told them because he wanted them to seek happiness in the same way.

Billy Bray's life made a deep impression on others and he was used to draw many to faith in the Lord Jesus. What might God do through our lives if they were marked by similarly irrepressible thanks and praise?

Lord, I am rather reserved and not keen on attracting attention by shouting out with joyful praise of you. By your Spirit make me like those first disciples who could not but speak of the things they had seen and heard. So use me for the extension of your kingdom and the glory of your name.

Peter Misselbrook