Resources For "He Is, I'm Not" Series From Each Harderwyk Preacher
I. New For This Week
Timothy Keller “Encounters with Jesus” - “Jesus gives Martha what we could call the ministry of truth. That is what she needs most at the moment. He sort of grabs her by the shoulders with truth. ‘Listen to me! Don’t despair. I’m here. Resurrection. Life. That’s what I am.’ Because of his divine identity, he is high enough to point her to the stars. Then, when he gets to Mary, he gives her what we could call the ministry of tears. That is what she needs most at that moment. Because of his human identity, he is low enough to step into her sorrow - with complete sincerity and integrity - and just weep with her.”
II. From The Commentaries
NT Wright “John For Everyone” - “Jesus’ reply to her, and the conversation they then have, show that the ‘back to the future’ idea isn’t entirely a moviemaker’s fantasy. Instead of looking at the past, and dreaming about what might have been (but now can’t be), he invites her to look to the future. Then, having looked to the future, he asks her to imagine that the future is suddenly brought forwards into the present. This, in fact, is central to all early Christian beliefs about Jesus, and the present passage makes the point as clearly and vividly as anywhere in the whole New Testament.
First, he points her to the future. ‘Your brother will rise again.’ She knows, as well as Jesus does, that this is standard Jewish teaching. (Some Jews, particularly the Sadducees, didn’t believe in a future resurrection, but at this period most Jews did, following Daniel 12:3 and other key Old Testament passages.) They shared the vision of Isaiah 65 and 66: a vision of new heavens and new earth, God’s whole new world, a world like ours only with its beauty and power enhanced and its pain, ugliness and grief abolished. Within that new world, they believed, all God’s people from ancient times to the present would be given new bodies, to share and relish the life of the new creation.
Martha believes this, but her rather flat response in verse 24 shows that it isn’t at the moment very comforting. But she isn’t prepared for Jesus’ response. The future has burst into the present. The new creation, and with it the resurrection, has come forward from the end of time into the middle of time. Jesus has not just come, as we sometimes say or sing, ‘from heaven to earth’; it is equally true to say that he has come from God’s future into the present, into the mess and muddle of the world we know. ‘I am the resurrection and the life,’ he says. ‘Resurrection’ isn’t just a doctrine. It isn’t just a future fact. It’s a person, and here he is standing in front of Martha, teasing her to make the huge jump of trust and hope.”
III. Ongoing Resources
1) Scotty Smith’s Heavenward Daily Prayers - CLICK HERE to see the daily prayer blog of Scotty Smith. You will see an option to have them delivered to your email inbox each day as well. https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/scotty-smith/
2) Simple Lectio Divina Overview - CLICK HERE for a simple introduction of the spiritual practice of a more personal way of experience the Word through contemplation and reflection.
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