The Bible with Nicky and Pippa Gumbel, Classic Version, 2015Sample

Wow!

Judah Smith is a delightful, young Pentecostal pastor from Seattle, Washington. He is one of the best communicators that I have ever heard – especially to young people. When listening to others, his favourite expression is ‘Wow!’ For him it is an expression of respect, awe and reverence.

There are many blessings to living in Western Europe in the twenty-first century. However, we live in a society in which respect, reverence and awe do not seem to be as valued as they once were.

Each of the passages for today reflects on what these words mean and why they are important.

Proverbs 13:20-14:4

1. Respect

A culture of respect underlies the book of Proverbs. We see three examples in this passage:

• Respect for the Lord
  ‘An honest life shows respect for God’ (14:2, MSG). As we have seen, the word ‘fear’ (NIV) is probably best understood as ‘respect’. Respect for the Lord is the starting point for respect in all our other relationships.
• Respect for the wise
  ‘Whoever walks with the wise grows wise’ (13:20). ‘Wise speech evokes nothing but respect’ (14:3, MSG). Our society increasingly devalues the wisdom that comes with age. Wisdom often (though not always) comes through the experience of a long life. There is a huge amount of untapped wisdom in older people in our society.
• Respect in the home
  ‘A refusal to correct is a refusal to love; love your children by disciplining them’ (13:24, MSG). This teaching has sometimes been abused by an over literal interpretation. What the book of Proverbs is encouraging is a culture of respect in the family – respect for parents and also respect for children, which involves loving discipline.

As St Paul writes, ‘Do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord’ (Ephesians 6:4).

Lord, help us to gain wisdom as we spend time with those who are wise. Help us as a church community to model good parenting, combining love and discipline. Help us to live lives of uprightness in respect for the Lord.

John 20:10-31

2. Awe

Jesus really was raised from the dead. The tomb really was empty on Easter morning. Jesus’ followers really did meet him alive again. The resurrection did happen. The best historical explanation for the origin of Christianity is that it really is true. Jesus is alive today! As Judah Smith would say, ‘Wow!’

John records four resurrection appearances of Jesus – the first three of which are in this passage. In these appearances we see not only some of the evidence, but also some of the results of the resurrection.

• Awe and Amazement

In the culture of the day, a woman’s testimony would not have been considered as weighty as that of a man. If the disciples had been making this up, they would not have devised the first appearance as being to Mary Magdalene.

This shows a huge amount about Jesus’ respect for women. By this act, and others during his life on earth, he laid the foundation for a revolution in the world’s attitude to women. Sadly, it has taken 2,000 years and we are still not there yet.

Jesus does not ask Mary what she is looking for. He asks, ‘Who is it you are you looking for?’ (v.15). It is not enough to know the evidence of the facts of the resurrection. We need a personal encounter with the resurrected Jesus.

The respect goes both ways. In Mary’s case it is one of awe and amazement. As she realised it was Jesus, she cried out in Aramaic, ‘ “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher)’ (v.16), and rushed off to tell the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord!’ (v.18).

The great theologian, C.H. Dodd, wrote of Jesus’ appearance to Mary that it ‘has something indefinably firsthand about it. It stands in any case alone. There is nothing quite like it in the Gospels. Is there anything quite like it in all ancient literature?’ 

• Joy and Peace

The world is desperately searching for happiness and peace of mind. The supreme source of joy and peace is a relationship with Jesus.

Jesus’ appearance to the disciples brought them overwhelming joy: ‘The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord’ (v.20). Three times he says to them, ‘Peace be with you!’ (vv.19,21,26).

Faith in Jesus brings joy and peace to all who believe. Jesus said to Thomas, ‘Blessed and happy and to be envied are those who have never seen me and yet have believed and adhered to and trusted and relied on me’ (v.29, AMP).

• Purpose and Power

Jesus gives them a new sense of purpose: ‘As the Father has sent me, I am sending you’ (v.21). The resurrection is the message of hope for the world. If this life were all there was it would ultimately be meaningless and purposeless. But Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. There is life beyond the grave. This gives our life on earth a whole new meaning and purpose. We are sent out by Jesus to proclaim this message to the world.

Finally, he also gave them power. He ‘breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of anyone, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven” ’ (vv.22–23). The Holy Spirit provides the strength and ability for us to forgive.

The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is available to you. He gives you the power of his Holy Spirit and the power of his word to declare the message of God’s forgiveness to human beings. This is the message which brings eternal life.

• Respect and Reverence

Thomas was a cynic; sceptical and full of doubt. I think I would probably have had the same response as him when he said, ‘Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it’ (v.25).

He must have felt so stupid when Jesus appeared to him and said, ‘Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe’ (v.27).

We do not need to feel guilty about having doubts. Like Thomas, we need to be honest about our doubts and bring them to Jesus. When Jesus answered his doubts, Thomas’ response was the pinnacle of respect, reverence and awe. He said, ‘My Lord and my God!’ (v.28). He said, in effect, ‘Wow!’

Jesus went on to tell him that belief leads to blessing (v.29). In fact, it leads to life. Belief and life go hand in hand in John’s gospel (v.31). If you believe in Jesus you have life. This is real life of high quality, an abundant life (10:10) that goes on forever (3:16).

John’s whole rationale for writing his gospel was so that ‘you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name’ (20:31). As Tom Wright puts it, ‘Resurrection is the ground of Christian hope for life before death, as well as beyond it.’

Jesus, my Lord and my God, today I worship you with awe and reverence. Thank you for giving me joy and peace, purpose in life and the power of the Holy Spirit to live within me.

John 20:10-31

3. Reverence

David’s attitude to Saul is a wonderful example of how to respond to those who try to do us harm. David did not seek revenge. He was not bitter. He treated Saul with the utmost respect. After all, God had used Saul greatly in the past. The fact that Saul had gone off the rails did not erase David’s respect.

His attitude to Saul was quite extraordinary. He said to the Amalekite who claimed to have finished off Saul, ‘Why were you not afraid to lift your hand to destroy the Lord’s anointed?’ (v.14). In the light of 1 Samuel 31, the Amalekite may well have been trying to benefit from what would have been a perversion of the facts. He may have been a human vulture, who took the royal insignia from Saul to gain favour with David. In any event, it did him no good because of David’s reverence for Saul.

David grieved over the death of his great friend Jonathan and over Saul (vv.19–27). Grief is a natural, necessary and healthy response to the death of those we love.

Supremely, David reverenced God. He ‘enquired of the Lord’ (2:1). He asked, ‘Shall I go up to one of the towns of Judah?’ The Lord answered, ‘Go up.’ He then asked, ‘Where shall I go?’ The Lord answered, ‘To Hebron.’ David obeyed and was anointed king over the house of Judah.

Lord, help us to have the same love that David had for all those you have anointed in leadership roles, whether they support us or whether they don’t. Help us never to take revenge but always to treat people with respect. Help us, most of all, to live a life of reverence and respect and obedience to you.

Pippa Adds

John 20:10

I am so interested that, of all the people he could have appeared to, Jesus chose to appear first to Mary Magdalene. He did not go to his senior disciple (or even his mother!), but rather to a woman whom no one in the world rated as important.

Notes:
Unless otherwise stated, Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version Anglicised, Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 Biblica, formerly International Bible Society. Used by permission of Hodder & Stoughton Publishers, an Hachette UK company. All rights reserved. ‘NIV’ is a registered trademark of Biblica. UK trademark number 1448790.

Scripture quotations marked (AMP) taken from the Amplified® Bible, Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)

Scripture marked (MSG) taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.