LAUGH 'N LEARN

An Encouragement Ministry of Verde Valley Christian Church
Of Cottonwood Arizona
http://www.vvchristianchurch.net/

Issue # 278,    March 2,  2008

LAUGH

Joseph's Tomb

"Your tomb was hand hewn out of rock.  That must of cost you a fortune.  After all that expense and time to make a tomb for you and your family, why did you decide to give your tomb to Jesus of Nazareth?"

"Oy Veh!" explained Joseph.   "It was only for a weekend!"

Told to Jim by Robert Hardt after the first service on Sunday.  (See "Learn" below".  Thanks Robert!

Jim’s Manuscript

March 2, 2008

“Blood and Water, Dirt and Glitter”

Gospel of John Series

Text:  John 19:30-42

When I sent the title of this message and outline to the front office for production, Sam, my office manager, a former teacher said, “Blood and Water, Dirt and Glitter?  Sounds a lot like Kindergarten.”  Sam should know; he taught kindergarten.

Hopefully by the time we are through today it won’t sound like kindergarten anymore!

Focus:  Jesus’ burial brought to the surface the underground faith of two secret disciples.

Has your faith ever gone underground?  Have you ever kept your Christianity undercover?  Today we watch as two “secret” disciples come out from undercover in order to honor Christ. 

The passage of study this morning will be looked at in two parts: “Blood and Water” verses 30-37, and “Dirt and Glitter” verses 38-42. 

I.        Blood and Water (John 19:30-37)

John 19:30-37 (NIV)
³⁰ When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
³¹ Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jews did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down.

[There’s another irony.  They don’t want to “defile” the Sabbath.]

³² The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other.
³³ But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs.
³⁴ Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water.
³⁵ The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe.
³⁶ These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: "Not one of his bones will be broken,"
³⁷ and, as another scripture says, "They will look on the one they have pierced."

A.  Something Significant John Doesn’t Want Us To Miss

John describes the “blood and water” coming out, then says something to give us a clue that there is something significant about this. 

John 19:35 (NIV) The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe.

What does John want us to see and believe when we see water and blood pour out?

1.       That Jesus really was dead

By the time John writes his gospel, an early church heresy based on Greek dualistic philosophies began to be circulated, that Jesus was divine, but not fully man, and therefore did not go through a real physical death. 

Docetism (from the Greek δοκέω [dokeō], "to seem") is the belief that Jesus' physical body was an illusion, as was his crucifixion; that is, Jesus only seemed to have a physical body and to physically die, but in reality he was incorporeal, a pure spirit, and hence could not physically die. This belief treats the sentence "the Word was made Flesh" (John 1:14) as merely figurative.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Docetism

Docetism was one heresy coming out of the pre-Gnostic heresies that John was combating when he wrote the Gospel and especially when he wrote his three letters.  John's purpose for writing 1 John was to correct wrong thinking about the person of Jesus.  The recipients were erring on one side or the other.  Some were thinking Jesus to be only man (the Jewish influence) some were thinking him to be God but not fully man (because of their Greek dualistic thinking that spirit is good, and matter is inherently evil).  John immediately confronts both errors with the real Jesus who came through the water and the blood (1 John 5:6-8).  Jesus is from the beginning, and eternal, yet Jesus was seen, felt, touched.  He is the real incarnate (in the flesh) man of history.  He was fully man, and fully God, according to John, and orthodox Christianity.

Isn’t it interesting that one of the earliest church heresies about Jesus was that he was not fully human?  John countered those heresies with his eyewitness testimony.

Significance:  The early church heresies (Docetism and Gnosticism) are in error.  Jesus really was human and he really did die.

2.       THAT HIS DEATH MAKES LIFE POSSIBLE FOR US (John 7:37-39)

I believe John also sees something that is spiritually or theologically significant.  John saw this event as a physical sign pointing to a theological or spiritual reality. 

John 7:37-39 (ESV) ³⁷ On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.
³⁸ Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, 'Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'"
³⁹ Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

The phrase Jesus spoke, “as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water’”, can be taken two ways.

1.     The “he” is the believer, who because of his belief now has a wellspring of life flowing from within.

2.     The “he” is Jesus that fulfills the scripture when “Out of his heart rivers of living water flow”.

To those two ways to interpret this, I’d like to add a third way.

3.     All of the Above!  And this is the view I go for.  Because of the second truth the first is possible, and the first is only possible because Jesus is the source!

Jesus said “As the scripture has said”  ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water’, but nobody seems to be able to find the quote Jesus seems to be quoting. 

I don’t think it is a quote so much as a fulfillment of many elements of scripture.  I’ve already explained this once when we studied the John 7 passage.  Let me summarize again, since that was nearly a year ago now.

At this feast of Tabernacles which Jesus attended (John 7) there was a water drawing ceremony.

It is probable that it was immediately after the dramatic moment of this ceremony that Jesus said the words of John 7:37-38.  John alerts us to this fact, that it was at the climax of the feast that Jesus says this.

³⁷ On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.
³⁸ Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, 'Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.' "

It would have been a thunderclap statement drawing the attention of the audience. 

Here is how the ceremony worked.  The crowd of pilgrims watched on in delight as the ceremony was performed.  The water drawing ceremony was repeated each day of the seven day feast, but it was done 7 times on the 7^th day.  An ancient Jewish writer wrote, “He who has not seen the joy of the water-drawing has not seen joy in his whole lifetime.”  At the break of day, priests led a procession from the Temple to the pool of Siloam.  From the pool of Siloam they filled a golden pitcher and carried it back to the Temple with a procession following them.  A shophar (trumpet) sounded three long blasts as the procession approached and this joyful sound was connected with Isaiah 12:3.

Isaiah 12:3 (NIV)  With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.

The procession then approached the altar.  The temple choir sang and the crowd repeated together 3 times “Give thanks to the Lord”.  They were thanking God for his faithful provision in the past, present, and future; for his faithful provision of water in the desert during their deliverance as a nation (past), for the water needed for harvest (present), and for the water of salvation they anticipated (future). 

The water pouring ceremony coincided in timing with the regular daily drink offering which was offered.  Picture this.  One priest comes with the wine offering while another priest approaches with the water-drawing pitcher.  Wine was poured at the same time in one silver bowl, as the water was poured in the other silver bowl.  Wine and water were poured into the bowls simultaneously, then the priests took these bowls and simultaneously poured them as an offering to God over the altar. 

Do you see what John is seeing here? 

But before we jump too far ahead, what did the Jews, before the crucifixion, understand this to mean?  Zechariah 14:16-17 helps.

Zechariah 14:16-17 (NIV)  ¹⁶ Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD Almighty, and to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.  ¹⁷ If any of the peoples of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD Almighty, they will have no rain.

God’s provision of water in the present:  Partially it was in keeping with a harvest celebration, applying their faith to God and looking to him for the necessary rain!

God’s provision of water in the past:  But it was also a reminder of the faithfulness of God in the past, when Moses struck the rock in the wilderness and God provided streams of water gushing to quench the thirst of the nation in the desert.  (Exodus 17)

Of this we read in 1 Corinthians 10:4,

1 Corinthians 10:1-4 (NIV)  ¹ For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. ² They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.  ³ They all ate the same spiritual food  ⁴ and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.

God’ Provision of water in the Future:  The water drawing ceremony also anticipated the future.  In addition to the Isaiah 12:3 passage cited above, there were other passages which created anticipation.  The following passages were read during the festival!

Ezekiel 47:1-12 (NIV)  ¹ The man brought me back to the entrance of the temple, and I saw water coming out from under the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east). The water was coming down from under the south side of the temple, south of the altar. ² He then brought me out through the north gate and led me around the outside to the outer gate facing east, and the water was flowing from the south side. ³ As the man went eastward with a measuring line in his hand, he measured off a thousand cubits and then led me through water that was ankle-deep. ⁴ He measured off another thousand cubits and led me through water that was knee-deep. He measured off another thousand and led me through water that was up to the waist.  ⁵ He measured off another thousand, but now it was a river that I could not cross, because the water had risen and was deep enough to swim in--a river that no one could cross.  ⁶ He asked me, "Son of man, do you see this?" Then he led me back to the bank of the river.  ⁷ When I arrived there, I saw a great number of trees on each side of the river.  ⁸ He said to me, "This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, where it enters the Sea. When it empties into the Sea, the water there becomes fresh.  ⁹ Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live.  ¹⁰ Fishermen will stand along the shore; from En Gedi to En Eglaim there will be places for spreading nets. The fish will be of many kinds--like the fish of the Great Sea.  ¹¹ But the swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they will be left for salt.  ¹² Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing."

Zechariah 14:8 (NIV)  On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half to the eastern sea and half to the western sea, in summer and in winter.

At the climax of the ceremony it is probable that at that moment Christ spoke his shocking statement.  Immediately, people began to choose sides! 

Do you see how Jesus is claiming to be the fulfillment of all these Old Testament symbols of hope!  There is little question how John interprets all of this.  John sees all of this being fulfilled at the cross.

John 19:34 (NIV)  ³⁴ Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water.

As the priests poured wine and water on the altar, John sees that from Jesus, the Lamb of God sacrifice, out came water and blood that ran down the cross—the fulfillment of the offering. 

Blood was God’s sacrificial provision for atonement and Water was God’s provision for life.

John 7:43 states:  “Thus the people were divided because of Jesus.”

John already set the stage in John 7.  He divided the stage and writes in such a way that the reader has to take a stand somewhere on that stage.  Where do you stand?

Interestingly, Nicodemus tries to straddle the line.  He wants to be identified with the Pharisees, Jesus’ opponents, yet, he attempts to speak up for Jesus. 

John 7:47-51 (NIV) ⁴⁷ "You mean he has deceived you also?" the Pharisees retorted.  ⁴⁸ "Has any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him? ⁴⁹ No! But this mob that knows nothing of the law--there is a curse on them." ⁵⁰ Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier and who was one of their own number, asked, ⁵¹ "Does our law condemn anyone without first hearing him to find out what he is doing?"

The opposition forces Nicodemus to either choose sides.  Which will it be?  Nicodemus’ faith is silenced again.  Nicodemus tried to take a stand, but he is still trying a soft non-committal approach.  He is still concerned about his position with people.  He still cares what everyone else thinks, even though he disagrees with them!  This does not work.  It did not work with him; it did not work with Joseph of Arimathea; it did not work for Pilate. 

Who is this Jesus?  Deity, Deceiver, or Demon possessed?  

John tells us to look at the cross and see what he has seen.  Jesus already told us before how we can decide.

B.  Not Sure? How to Decide Where We Stand (John 7:17)

John 7:17 (NIV) If anyone chooses to do God's will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own.

According to Jesus, this is how you find out where you stand.  Choose to do God’s will.

We “evangelicals” usually understand that “obedience” follows “belief” and we make good cases of it in scriptures.  That is the way it often works. But when you are not sure where you stand, Jesus says try this and you will find out.  How do we decide?  When do we decide?  Jesus tells us to take a step with what you know so far.  You will know no more until you respond in obedience to what you know so far. 

If you don’t know how to ride a bike, you will never know how until you pedal. 

Many refuse to believe because they refuse to obey God’s will.  Some are waiting to understand everything before they take the step.  Jesus tells us another method.  Take a step and find out.  Choose to do God’s will and you will find out whether Jesus teaching comes from God or not.

The Scriptures Were Fulfilled

John 19:34-36 (NIV) ³⁴ Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. ³⁵ The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. ³⁶ These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: "Not one of his bones will be broken,"

II.       Dirt and Glitter (John 19:38-42)

John 19:38-42 (NIV)
³⁸ Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jews. With Pilate's permission, he came and took the body away.
³⁹ He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds.
⁴⁰ Taking Jesus' body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs.
⁴¹ At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid.
⁴² Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

A.  Living Two Lives Doesn’t Work

Nicodemus and Joseph were among those described earlier in John’s gospel.

John 12:42-43 (NIV) Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not confess their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue;  ⁴³ for they loved praise from men more than praise from God.

Nicodemus met with Jesus under the cover of darkness in John 3 (See “Nic at Night” message).

Nicodemus tried to speak up for Jesus but playing both sides didn’t work (John 7:45-53).

One of the phases of Jesus’ trial was before the Sanhedrin, and it is Luke’s gospel that tells us Joseph did not agree with or consent to their decision (see Luke 23:50-51).  But Joseph only followed “secretly” (19:38). 

Was he there for Jesus’ trial?  Did he verbalize his disagreement?  Or did he avoid the controversy and decide not to show up for the emergency meeting?  Did he just get out voted?  We do not know.  Did he wish he had done more to stop the injustice?  That, you can bet on.  Why?  Because his behavior takes an unexpected turn. 

B.  The Cross Changes Cowards

Dirt and Glitter

Here’s what I think happened.  The best way to illustrate it is with dirt and glitter.

I believe each of us holds a fist full of glitter in one hand and a fist full of dirt in another hand.  This represents what we are holding onto with our lives before we reach out our hand to take the savior’s hand that is reaching out to save us.  Here’s the problem.  We cannot take a hold of the savior’s hand until we are willing to let go of what we hold in our hand. 

Both Nicodemus and Joseph were well respected, religious, and….rich! They had a fist full of glitter and they knew it.  And they had a difficult time letting go of the prestige, and respect.  They thought too much of that glitter to let it go. 

If the two handfuls represents our lives, these two thought they had two fists full of glitter, but that is only how they viewed themselves.  That is not how God viewed them.  They are like all of us, and they also had a fist full of dirt, they just weren’t aware of it, or they denied it. 

Nicodemus and Joseph were both positively influenced by Jesus.  I think they wanted to believe in him.  I think they did believe in him, but never came out openly…until this moment we are studying.

Here’s what happened.  Joseph and Nicodemus watched Jesus suffer.  They watched Jesus die.  They didn’t believe he was evil.  They even believed Jesus was good.  They disagreed with what was happening.  Here was the problem.  They just stood by and watched.  In their effort to hold on to their positions, and the respect they craved, they caved in.  They KNEW their silence contributed to his death.  Here was a good man dead and they did next to nothing to stop this wickedness.  Why didn’t they say more?  Why didn’t they do more?  Suddenly they knew they were not holding two fists of glitter.  They had one fist of glitter and one fist of dirt and they deplored both fistfuls.  They suddenly felt dirty.  But what could they do about it now? 

It is my guess that Joseph and Nicodemus felt guilt like never before.  They found themselves paralyzed by cowardice—just standing by doing nothing.  Now that Jesus was dead, they couldn’t live with themselves.  They needed to make some kind of amends.  This was just wrong.  This honorable man deserved better than that.  This honorable man deserved an honorable burial.  In fact, they had the means, and they decided to give him an honorable burial, worthy of a king. 

Secondary Application:  One flower of love to the one living is worth more than bouquet after bouquet at their funeral.  Had Jesus seen one sympathetic face during his trial?  Had anyone spoken up in his defense?  It might have meant so much to him to know in the midst of all the hatred, his love got through to one loyal follower.  Many spend more to honor the dead precisely because they are feeling guilty for not having said more or done more while the one who is gone was still alive.  One flower of love to the one living is worth more than bouquet after bouquet at their funeral.  Who do you need to affirm while you still can?

ROYAL BURIAL

Nicodemus and Joseph somewhere along the line had come to realize they both believed and felt some of the same things.  Nicodemus bought 75 lbs of spices, expensive spices, an amount that was equivalent to what might be extravagantly spent to honor a king in a royal burial.  And Joseph, gave his very own expensive hand hewn unused stone tomb.  How much did he spend on that? 

ALREADY DEFILED

They boldly went to Pilate to ask for the body.  Now this is interesting.  If you remember, in John 18:28, their peers refused to enter Pilate’s palace because they did not want to be defiled by entering the place of a gentile.  Both Joseph and Nicodemus see the folly of the logic now.  What good is it to avoid being ceremonially defiled when you are already defiled?  They felt defiled and dirty already.  They go see Pilate.  They no longer care what the others think.  They do not care that they will be unclean after handling the dead body and miss some of the Passover festivities.  They should miss these festivities.  They already felt dirty and unclean.  Do you see what has happened?  They finally see the truth about their fist full of dirt.  They thought they were only holding on to fists full of glitter.  But their grasp proved to be dirt! 

And they had been so high and mighty condemning Jesus for fraternizing with sinners.  If only they could be with him now.  But what could they do about the dirt now? 

They are trying to let it go.  They are trying somehow to make it right.  I’m sure even when they give Jesus an honorable burial, they still feel dirty, and guilty, and that they have done too little too late. 

They do not know how they themselves are fulfilling prophecy.  They didn’t see the Isaiah 53 connection.

Isaiah 53:9 (NIV) He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.

The good news is that both Nicodemus and Joseph finally crossed the line they were trying to straddle.  Oh, they believed much before, but they never really let go of the dirt and glitter to receive what they believed.  They were too busy trying to hold on to everything.  Now they are beginning to let go. 

Money?  Who cares?  What does that matter?  They drop so much money when they let go of the glitter in order to honor Jesus. 

Respect?  They drop that glitter too.  The Pharisees will soon find out what they have done.  The others will soon learn that Jesus whom they tried to dishonor has been given an honorable burial.  But neither Nicodemus nor Joseph care anymore about what the other Pharisees think.  Their consciences care more about what God thinks. 

It didn’t take them long to find out either.  The other Pharisees found out the moment they attempt to secure the tomb.  Perhaps at first they are angry that Jesus gets a better tomb than they themselves can hope for.  But they soon make the best of it, thinking, at least the body can be made secure this way.  We’ll get a guard.  We’ll seal the tomb. 

Perhaps Nicodemus and Joseph even have an inkling that they might never be allowed to serve with the Sanhedrin again.  The distaste they have for the recent events are weighed against the question and “who cares” seems to be the appropriate response.  More glitter is being dropped. 

Yes, they stopped straddling the line when they chose to give Jesus the honor he deserved knowing this meant danger and personal risk to their own reputations, respect, and riches. 

They let go of the glitter…but now what were they going to do with the dirt?  They never felt so dirty before.  They never thought they needed a savior before. 

These may be two of the believing Pharisees referred to in Acts 15:5 who were leaders among the Christians deciding what to do over a significant controversy.

Acts 15:5 (NIV) Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, "The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to obey the law of Moses."

Response:

As a response this morning I want you to hold two clinched fists in front of you.  One of them represents the way your life holds on to the glitter.  The other represents the way your life holds on to the dirt.  Often, in a burial in our culture, dirt is placed over the casket.  Jesus died to give you life.  He died to take away your dirt.  When he was buried he took it away.  I want you to imagine that you are allowing his royal burial to take away your dirt.  And because he is king, he deserves your highest allegiance.  All that glitter, even the good stuff is secondary to him.  His will is more important than your will.  It is time to let it go so that you can take the savior’s hand.  Here is what I want you to do.  Before God, just whisper under your breath for only God to hear, confessing with your mouth, just begin to list off the dirt and glitter that you are still holding on to.  After you have done so, let it go, slowly open your hands and let it fall through your fingers, then dump your hands out.  Then when I say so, clap the rest of the clinging dirt off in applause to our King and Savior Jesus Christ! 

Perhaps we should sing with outstretched hands like a child.  With outstretched, empty, and clean hands, let’s worship.

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