top of page

Passion to Pentecost

In this series Pastor Paul looks at Easter to Pentecost  from various angles that we may not have considered before, particularly the experience and the contribution of various key people in the events and what we can learn from

1.  Lazarus Martha and Mary

Lazarus’ experience

 

A mighty miracle: Lazarus was four days dead and Jesus said to his sister: “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” (John 11v40)  Those words remain true for us too! Then having prayed he cried with a loud voice “Lazarus come forth.”  This event so close to His own resurrection should have shown His disciples that when Jesus died the same could happen to Him but they were slow to believe.  When we are in an impossible situation we should let the miracles we have seen in the past boost our faith for that challenge.  

 

The plot to kill Jesus was a direct result of raising Lazarus from the dead (John 11v25-57).  Lazarus also became a target for assassination (John 12v9-11).  We probably tend to think that a miracle is a happy ending to something that would otherwise be the opposite but in fact there is nothing more dangerous than a miracle, after having one we can run away with the idea that we are invincible, or specially favoured or immune from any other problems.  None of these things is the case.  We need to be grateful, to be obedient to the Lord and keep walking close to Him otherwise we may not lose our miracle, but we might lose the blessing of it.

 

Martha’s experience

 

Martha the sister of Mary might be considered to be the less spiritual one from the event recorded in Luke 10v38-42 but her words in the conversation between her and Jesus before her brother was raised from the dead shows just how deep her faith had become: “I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.” (John 11v22) Speaking of Lazarus she said: “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day” (v24) and to Jesus: “I believe You are the Christ, the Son of God who has come into the world” (v27).  For followers of Jesus, difficult circumstances bring out the profoundest faith and hope in Him.

 

Mary’s experience

 

Some time after the miracle of Lazarus (see John 11v53-54) and just 6 days before the Passover, the three siblings and others gave lavish hospitality to Jesus and his disciples.  Mary also had something planned (John 12v3-4) and this is also recorded in Mark 14v1-9.  There is often someone who manages to spoil a beautiful moment  and on this occasion there were several, most notably Judas Iscariot but Jesus would not allow them to win the day and answered their criticisms graciously yet firmly.  It is noteworthy that straight after this, Judas went out to arrange to betray Jesus (Mark 14v12).  There were evil forces at work (in fact doing overtime) and for a short while they seemed to be prevailing but the “Lion of the tribe of Judah has prevailed” (Revelation 5v5) and He always will!

2. The Mother of Jesus

 

Mary’s experience of the Passion

Soon after the birth of Jesus, the old prophet Simeon told Mary that a sword would pierce through her soul (Luke 2v35).  It is unlikely that any mother experienced that more deeply than Mary did, but most mothers do experience it at some time in their lives – disappointment at their son or daughter’s behaviour, rejection from their own child, or something terrible that happens to their loved one.  Mothers feel these things even more deeply than fathers but none of us is immune from these sufferings.  

 

We cannot begin to imagine how Mary felt about her son dying a criminal’s death on a cross but she did not run away from it, she faced it full on.  We find her at the foot of the cross – happily she could not see very much (it was pitch dark) but what did she find there?  This is the amazing thing – she found comfort.  In his agony Jesus had thoughts for her and he gave her to his trusted friend John to look after her (John 19v26).  The foot of the cross is the best place to come to when a sword pierces through your soul, it’s the only place where we will find comfort.  Jesus had words of comfort for his mother but He also had words for everyone – “Father forgive them they know not what they do.”  Everyone who comes to the cross of Jesus finds love, acceptance and forgiveness and with Jesus there’s light at the end of every tunnel…

 

Mary’s experience of the Resurrection

 

We cannot begin to imagine how Mary felt about her son dying but neither can we imagine her joy at the Resurrection.  There is no mention of her in the events of the resurrection but she could not possibly have been unaware of what had happened. The resurrection means that Jesus won the victory over death, darkness, sin and hell itself.  Jesus had said to Martha just a few days before “I am the resurrection and the life.  He who believes in Me, though he die, he shall live and he who lives and believes in Me shall never die, do YOU believe this?”  (John 11v25-26)

 

Mary’s experience of Pentecost

 

50 days after Passover the next Jewish feast of Pentecost arrives and we are told specifically that Mary the mother of Jesus was there in the upper room with the apostles and others praying and waiting in obedience to the command of Jesus to wait for the promise of the coming of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1v4-5, and v14).  On the Day of Pentecost less than six weeks after the Passion, Mary was filled with the power of the Holy Spirit along with the others which as Peter said on that day to the crowds who came to see what was going on, “Repent… be baptized and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit for the promise is to YOU and to your children and to all who are afar off as many as the Lord our God will call.”  Claim it today we can all experience the power of the Passion, the Resurrection and Pentecost!

3. Simon Peter

As we look at Peter’s experience it takes us directly from the Passion to Pentecost with various lessons learnt along the way…

 

PETER’S FAILURE

Peter was quite a personality – enthusiastic, very confident, a born leader, and at times quite impetuous.  He was always ready to speak up for himself - and the whole group and he was passionately devoted to Jesus. Our greatest strengths however, can be our greatest weaknesses as Peter was to find out.  Notice the following events during the Passion:

 

  • Peter vows never to deny the Lord (Matthew 26v33-35) – passionate about Jesus!

  • Peter cuts off the High Priest’s servant’s ear (John 18v10 see also Luke 22v50-51)

  • Peter’s denial (Luke 22v54-61)

  • Peter’s remorse (Luke 22v62)

 

Peter had to learn the hard way that “the arm of flesh will fail you.”   However strong we may be, if we rely on our force of personality, past experience, personal strengths and abilities, (even our passion for Jesus, in our own strength) - somewhere along the line we will fail. In the spiritual realm, we certainly cannot achieve anything in our own strength.  Jesus said, “Without Me you can do nothing” (John 15v5).  It’s a big lesson to learn, but the greatest way to achieve success in life is by being totally dependent on God.

 

What can we learn from Peter’s experience here?

 

PETER’S RESTORATION

 

Having failed Jesus at His most crucial moments of arrest, trial and crucifixion, nothing of Peter’s natural positiveness could pick him up.  Only Jesus Himself could do that…

 

  • The angel at the tomb said “Go tell his disciples AND Peter” (Mark 16v7) – God’s way of showing Peter that he was not rejected because of what had happened.

  • The Lord appeared personally and privately to Peter (Luke 24v34 and 1 Corinthians 15v5) When we fail and repent, Jesus is there to restore.  Here’s a good quote: “Don’t let your past failures leave you hopeless about your future success.  Your future has no room in it for the failures of the past.  Just because we may fail in some things does not make us a failure.  God will restore double.  Press forward, leave the past way behind and move into your future - today.”

 

What can we learn from Peter’s experience here?

 

PETER’S COMMISSION

 

Sometime during the 40 days between the Resurrection and the Ascension of Jesus, Peter and the other disciples went back to Galilee (John 21) and here we see Peter acting true to form again:

 

  • Taking the lead: “I’m going fishing”  - with others following him (v3)

  • Failing even to do what he naturally was expert at - catching fish (v3)

  • Jesus shows them how to do it! (v5-6)

  • Peter passionate about Jesus plunges into the sea (v7)

  • Peter drags the net to land (how strong!) v11

 

This was to be the last time of going back to his old ways – Jesus challenges Peter’s perception of his own devotion to Him (John 21v15-19) but at each point commissions him to carry on His work.  The strengths of Peter’s personality had to be broken, but now they would be empowered by the Holy Spirit.  So on the day of Pentecost we see Peter true to form but this time it was different.  Now he is full of the Spirit, taking the lead, speaking on behalf of the others, passionate about Jesus and being a fisher of men as Jesus had called him to be, not in his own strength any more but in the power of the Spirit.  The Holy Spirit doesn’t take us over, He enhances our personality, He enables us to make our own special contribution by giving us the power to be more than we could ever be in our natural strength!

4. The Apostle Paul

The Apostle Paul had his own experience of the resurrected Christ and of Pentecost "as one born out of due time." He had been the most fervent anti-Christian of his day until, as Saul of Tarsus he had an encounter with the risen Christ on the road to Damascus.  This turned him from being the strongest skeptic into the most passionate preacher of the resurrection and a transformed person into the bargain.  

 

There were plenty of people in his own day who doubted the resurrection and to these he said: “If Christ is not risen then our preaching is empty… we are found false witnesses… faith is futile… you are still in your sins… those (believers) who have died have perished… we are of all men the most pitiable” (1 Corinthians 15v12-19).

 

As well as being living proof of the resurrection himself, the Apostle pointed to other eyewitnesses of the resurrection – Peter, whom Paul personally knew and had no doubt given Paul all the information about the events in great detail (1 Cor 15v5), plus the other 11 disciples who had witnessed the resurrection (Judas had been replaced by Matthias “a witness of the resurrection” Acts 1v22).  Then there were 500 others who had seen the risen Jesus at one time (people who have hallucinations have them individually, not as a crowd) and most of them were still available to verify this when Paul wrote (1 Cor 15v6).  All of these were willing to die for the truth and many of them did (including Peter and Paul).  

 

Brooke Westcott an English scholar said “There is no historic incident better or more variously supported than the resurrection of Christ.”

 

Imagine a world without the resurrection – where would we be?

 

THE POWER OF THE RESURRECTION

 

Having established (hopefully) to our own satisfaction, the FACT of the resurrection what difference does it make to us?  The teaching of the Apostle Paul supplies us with plenty of answers:

 

  • Someone has not only risen from the dead to die again like Lazarus – Jesus arose and overcame death itself (Romans 6v9, 2 Timothy 1v10)

  • The resurrection conclusively proved that Jesus is the Son of God (Romans 1v4) and that means we can absolutely depend on everything  He said and did!

  • If there was no resurrection there would be no hope of eternal life (1 Corinthians 15v32).

  • Christ rose – we are saved by His LIFE (Romans 5v10).  The cross without the resurrection is not enough to save us. The cross reconciled us to God and the resurrection is the gateway to life eternal.

  • Jesus is the first fruits from the dead (1 Corinthians 15v20) – in other words the first of many others who would also experience resurrection life.

  • Jesus had a resurrection body – so will we (1 Corinthians 15v42-44).

  • We can experience the power of the resurrection NOW not just in the future (Philippians 3v10):

  • Because of the resurrection we walk in new life – no longer slaves to sin or under the dominion of death (Romans 6v4-10)

  • The same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead gives life (health and healing) to our mortal bodies (Romans 8v11)

bottom of page