On the Road with Jesus: John
John 20:1-9 and other selections from the book of John and gospel accounts
April 21, 2019 – Easter
During this Lenten season we have been on the road with Jesus. It has been a unique look at Jesus from those that he came in contact with. We have heard from his friend, Lazarus, who he raised from the dead. We heard from a leper who not only was healed of his awful disease but also found new life because of his faith. We heard from a rich young ruler who was looking for the kingdom of heaven. For him the cost was too high and he left disappointed. He heard from another one of Jesus close friends, Mary. We saw her extravagant love for her Savior.
Last week we heard from one of his disciples. He was there on Palm Sunday when Jesus came victoriously into the city of Jerusalem. He challenged us on the cost of following Jesus. It might cost you everything but in return the experience will be unforgettable and the reward is like none other. If you missed these you can watch them on the church’s website.
Today is the last in this series. Today we hear from another one of the twelve. Today we hear from the Apostle, John. As in past weeks there have been a few creative liberties taken but most of what you will hear today is based on John’s own story and from the other gospels. You are encouraged to read John 20:1-9 as well as the entire book on your own and experience Jesus ministry as told by John.
It is our desire that you have seen that Jesus meets all kinds of different people on the road. We hope that you also have met or will meet Jesus on your road. I hear John coming now. He has a special story to tell.
John comes running into church……run up on platform like running to the tomb……beating Peter…..get to the tomb and look inside but not go in.
NO NO NO NO – cautiously approach the tomb
As if things could get any worse. They were right, the stone is rolled away. Who would do such a thing? Where is the guard, the group of soldiers that had been here? This is no small stone to roll away.
Act like you are looking inside the tomb but don’t go in….describing what you see
There is no body. There is no body! Only burial clothes lying there! No. NO. NO! How could this happen? Peter is coming. He has always been slow. I outran him here to the tomb. This makes no sense but then again it didn’t make sense from the beginning.
My brother and I were just fishermen. We were also devout followers of Yahweh. We knew the ancient prophecies about the promised Messiah. We waited with great anticipation just like everyone else. That is why when John the Baptist came around we wondered if he was this promised Messiah.
People asked him if he was Elijah or a prophet but he said that he was not. He said, I am the voice of one calling in the desert. Make straight the way for the Lord.
The Pharisees questioned him about his baptizing and he told them, I baptize with water but among you stands one you do not know. He is the one who comes after me, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.
My friend Andrew and I spent as much time as we could with John. We were two of his disciples. We listened to him call for repentance and talk about this one who would be coming after him. Many were coming to listen to him and were being baptized.
We were with John the Baptist when he saw Jesus pass by and he said to us, Look the Lamb of God!
We took off after Jesus and followed him, not knowing what to say and lucky for us it was Jesus who spoke first. He turned around and simply asked, “What do you want?”
I bumbled out, “Rabbi, where are you staying.”
We spent the rest of the day with Jesus soaking up all that he was saying. It was apparent from the get go that this man was exactly what John the Baptist had referred to him as. Andrew left to go and tell his brother Simon and I just tried to process the day with this extraordinary man.
We all went back to fishing the family business but we were always talking about Jesus. I told my father, Zebedee about him as well as my brother James. Jesus came to us as we were in the boats preparing the nets with our father and called for us to follow him. James and I dropped what we were doing and went to Jesus. I’m not entirely sure how my father felt about it but I would never pass up the chance to follow this great man.
There were twelve of us altogether that he called to be his disciples. We were a little rough around the edges but we were all committed to Jesus, Yeshua, the Messiah. He was going to establish a new kingdom and we were all going to be on the front lines with Jesus when he did.
I will admit that Jesus methods were a bit unorthodox to say the least. I had no idea when I began to follow him what I would experience. I had never seen a miracle in my life and for the next three years they would become commonplace with Jesus.
In Cana he turned water into wine and then on a different occasion when we found ourselves back there a royal official came to plead for the life of his son who was sick. Jesus told him that his son would live and the official left. We heard that on the way back to his home a servant rushed up to tell him that his son’s fever had left him at the same time that he had been talking with Jesus.
Jesus healed many others but his miracles weren’t just healing. There were times when large crowds would gather to listen to Jesus. There was one such occasion it numbered around 5000 men and Passover was near and Jesus made a comment about getting bread and feeding them. There was no way that we had enough money to purchase enough bread much less where would be find that much.
My friend Andrew, said that there was a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish. Jesus got that look and told us to get everyone to sit down. He took the loaves and fish and blessed them and began to have us pass it out and it never ran out. In fact we gathered up twelve baskets of leftover bread that the people hadn’t eaten.
To say the people were amazed at what had happened was an understatement to say the least. People began to talk about making him king. I think they were ready to force him into doing it but Jesus was always one step ahead and he had retreated to be by himself and so the crowds eventually dissipated.
Jesus told us to go on ahead of him to and we were more than happy to get on the water in a boat. This is where I was at home. Little did we know that a strong wind would come up and bring with it big waves. We were rowing and doing all we could to stay afloat when I saw something that scared me even worse than they waves.
It was Jesus, walking on the water. I thought I was seeing a ghost but he was coming out to us. He just said, “It is I; don’t be afraid.” We helped him into the boat and the winds and the waves died down and we were able to reach shore. What do you say after something like that??
Jesus was always teaching. He said things like the “bread of life” and “Son of Man” and he talked about his father but we could tell that it wasn’t Joseph that he talked about. There were times where I thought I knew exactly what he meant and other times where I was confused. Even one of the Pharisees, Nicodemus, came to see Jesus and he talked to him about being born again.
Jesus cared for everyone however. He would preach to the Samaritans just like he would the Jews. Many of them came to believe in him as well. He had compassion for women and he treated them different than most men did. He respected them, even a Samaritan women of less than reputable character. He would save them all.
Now not everyone loved Jesus. The religious leaders, they didn’t care for Jesus. They brought a woman who had been supposedly caught in adultery and they were ready to stone her and they wanted Jesus to sign off on it. He told them, “If any of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.”
Jesus just had this way of diffusing the situation and aggravating them all the same. They challenged him when Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
I hung on every word that Jesus said. I knew that he was from God. I knew that he was destined to be the next Messiah. I didn’t know when he would finally assert himself but I would be by his side. I would serve his man no matter what. He was more than my Rabbi. He was my friend, my everything.
Peter, James and I became close to Jesus, closer than the others. My mother had even gone with us to Jesus to request that we sit at his right and left hand. Jesus said that she didn’t know what she was requesting and he asked us if we could drink the cup. We answered “YES”. We were devoted but he was right, we had no idea what we were committing to.
Things began to get a bit tense after he raised Lazarus from the dead. I’d tell you all about it but I think you’ve already heard from him. Just chalk it up to one more amazing thing that Jesus did that left us speechless.
In just a few weeks we would find ourselves back in Bethany at Mary, Martha and Lazarus’ house. The crowds following Jesus had swelled. Nothing like that day we came into Jerusalem however. At first Jesus looked kind of funny perched on that little colt but once the people met him, well it seemed more like an entrance for a king!
Everyone shouting Hosanna, waving palm branches and laying their cloaks out in front of him. For once he wasn’t telling them to be quiet. I thought that this was the beginning of Jesus coming into power. The religious leaders weren’t so much behind Jesus but the people sure seemed to be.
Instead of seizing the opportunity Jesus instead went to the temple and created quite a ruckus. He chased out the merchants and money changers. I’m not sure I had ever witnessed Jesus angry like this. I mean what he said was correct but he needed everyone on his side.
Jesus had us gather together for a meal to celebrate the Passover. This would be just one of so many things that I would never forget about that week.
As we were eating Jesus got up from the table and got a water basin and tied a towel around his waist and he began to wash everyone’s feet. This was a task reserved for a servant. One of us should have been doing this but here was out master, serving us.
Peter as only Peter could do was the only one who said anything. The rest of us were speechless as the master washed our feet. The hands that had healed were now washing my stinky, dirty feet. He told us that we should do this for others. Jesus was always teaching us humility. We were to serve one another, no one of us was better than the other.
Then as we ate what would be our last meal together he began to speak of betrayal. Judas would leave upset. Jesus told us that he would be leaving us for a time and that this time we could not follow him.
He spoke these words to us, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
From there is becomes kind of a blur. Jesus wanted to go to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. When we arrived he asked Peter, James and I to go a little further with him. I have never seen Jesus so troubled. He asked us such a simple thing, to pray. It has been a long day and as hard as I tried I couldn’t stay awake. Three times he asked us to pray and each time we all ended up falling asleep. I couldn’t even do just this for Jesus.
And then it happened. Judas showed back up and there was a temple guard with him. He kissed Jesus on the cheek and they seized him and we all scattered. They took Jesus to Annas’ house and it was there that I rejoined Jesus because I was known by the high priest I was able to go in with Jesus.
It was there they began to question Jesus but not satisfied they sent him onto the high priest, Caiaphas and from there to the palace of the Roman governor, Pilate. They brought false charges against Jesus and he didn’t even defend himself.
The only time he spoke was when he was asked if he was the King of the Jews, he said it is as you say. First with the chief priest, which after they tore their robes and called him a blasphemer and the spit on him and stuck him and then with Pilate.
Pilate had Jesus flogged and we watched helplessly has Jesus flesh was torn and then they came up with this crown made of thorns and they pushed it down on Jesus head and mocked him and then they brought him back to Pilate.
I really think Pilate wanted to let him go but the chief priests were very persuasive and they riled up the crowds. The same crowds that he shouted “Hosanna” were not shouting, “Crucify him.” “Give us Barabbas. And so Pilate gave them what he wanted.
They released Barabbas and sentenced Jesus to death on a cross. I accompanied Jesus mother, Mary, to the cross. It was there that Jesus asked me to take care of his mother. I told him I would and I did. And he died.
It all happened so fast. I think we were all in a state of shock. I’m not even sure I knew what to feel other than intense sorrow and lost.
Here comes Peter now, he’ll know what to do. Act out a conversation between you and Peter with Peter going into the tomb and then asking you to come in as well.
What do you mean he isn’t here? The grave clothes are all folded up where Jesus body should be? Peter what is going on? If he isn’t there do you know what this means???
End Character.
You see the Peter and John were still confused. They still didn’t understand what had happened. What it meant was that Jesus had done just what he said he would. He said he would die and that in three days he would raise again.
This meant that Jesus had power of death and hell. It meant that Jesus had given his life for all mankind. It meant that there had to be a sacrifice for sins, for our sins. No animal sacrifice would do and so Jesus would become the sacrificial lamb. Jesus would die for our sins so that if we confess them to Jesus we can have forgiveness and stand blameless before the Lord.
Jesus had come to save the world and he had done just that. His death wasn’t enough. His resurrection sealed it all. Satan had lost and death was arrested and because Jesus dies for us we can live forever with him.
This is Easter. This is the good news. Jesus died for you no matter what the sin. Will you receive him today?
Showed video, “Spoken Word” by Motion Worship (got it off of Skit Guys)
Amen.
There is no copyright on this so please feel free to use it however you would like. I did have some slides/pictures on the screen during the message. If you would like them please email me at jamiebogaard@gmail.com.
