Blessing & Honor
Good morning Immanuel. The risen Jesus is filled with blessing and honor for his friends.
“...but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”—and that he had said these things to her. (John 20:17b-18)”
Mary receives the single greatest honor of womankind, second perhaps only to Mary the mother of Jesus, the honor of apsotolus apostolerum, apostle to the Apostles. It is an honor given only once, the honor of making the first resurrection confession in the history of the world, “I have seen the Lord.”
I know that the significance of this will not be lost on many of us. If you wanted to start a movement in the ancient Near East that depended on trusting in something as unbelievable as a resurrection, the last witnesses you would call to the stand would be women. Because in the ancient Near East, women were considered uncredible witnesses. And yet, Jesus, being Jesus, signals a new era in human history by sending Mary Magdalene to the Apostles with the good news of his resurrection.
And what was the substance of this news? Blessing upon blessing! We can hardly believe our ears when we read the message, “go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
“My brothers”!? The last time Jesus saw most of these brothers, they were flaking out on Him. “My brothers”? Yes! My brothers!
And they are his brothers! Nothing in all this world or the next can change that fact! They are His brothers by the sheer force of Jesus’ brotherhood! Never mind what they are in themselves! He is a friend who sticks closer than a brother! He is a brother who does not fail! We cannot sin our way out of the brotherhood of the risen Christ!
This excerpt was taken from a sermon preached by Pastor TJ Tims on April 9, 2023, at Immanuel Nashville.
On the Horizon
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