Why Resurrection takes time

Jesus is Risen!

Why?

Why?

Why?

Why?

Why Resurrection takes time

John 20

 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.”    She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).  17 Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”  18 Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.  19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!”

Disciples are full of fear and unbelief

John 20

  19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!”

Even after hearing from Mary that Jesus was alive

John 20

17 Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

18 Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.

Why doesn’t testimony of the truth work?

The original traumatic experiences were more real than the testimony

alone

How many ways did the disciples experience the Passion?

Daniel SchacterHarvard University Professor of Psychology

3 kinds of memory

1. Procedural : learning to do something w/o thinking2. Semantic: information, facts etc.3. Episodic: Things we believe because we’ve been

changed by the episodes in our lives.1. Episodic memory involves images, feelings, senses

behaviors, meanings

Each traumatic event can be broken down like this

Affect

Every wound is stored in all these these levels

Each traumatic event can be broken down like this

Affect

Deep healing has to impact all these levels

Let’s dig a little deeper

Affect

And look at how each of these played out for the disciples

In the Passion Events

Affect

Battered Face

Crown of thorns

Naked and bleeding

“Outshouting the angry crowds”

Helpless posture

Being held back

Crying and reaching

Heat in face

I'm helplessI deserve his stripes

It’s my fault

I am weak

And whatever feelings were part of the original trauma…

Affect

Battered Face

Crown of thornsNaked and bleeding

“Outshouting the angry crowds”

Helpless posture

Being held backCrying and reachingHeat in face

I'm helplessI deserve his stripesIt’s my fault I am weak

Are assessable from any of thesepathways

And what about the wounding experiences in our lives?

Affect

Each one of these pathways can lead to the

And what about the wounding experiences in our lives?

Each one of these pathways can lead to the

PAINTHOUGHTSBEHAVIOR

And what about the wounding experiences in our lives?

THAT KEEP US STUCK IN DEATH INSTEAD OF RESURECTION

Remember the 3 kinds of memory?

1. Procedural : learning to do something w/o thinking2. Semantic: information, facts etc.3. Episodic: Things we believe because we’ve been

changed by the episodes in our lives.1. Episodic memory involves images, feelings, senses

behaviors, meanings

1. NEGATIVE,TRAUMATIC EPISODIC MEMORIES CAN’T BE OVERCOMEBY WORDS ALONE

The disciples needed an EXPERIENCE

That matched their original trauma in all channelsThat was powerful enough to trump their negative memories

We also need a HEALING, EPISODICEXPERIENCE

Until we thrill in the Father’s embrace, untilwe watch him jump up and down with delight everytime he sees us, until we hear him ask “How can I help?”when we expected him to say “I’m sick and tired of putting up with you!” we will not change, not consistently, not deeply.

Larry Crabb, Connecting

Jesus came to all their senses

To overwhelm each of them with his powerful presence.

John 20

19 O n the evening of that first day of the w eek, when the d iscip les w ere together, w ith the doors locked for fear of the Jew ish leaders, Jesus cam e and stood am ong them and said, peace be w ith you!” 20 A fter he said th is, he show ed them his hands and side. The d iscip les were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.

John 20

24 Now Thomas (also known as Didymus[a]), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”    But he said to them, “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.”

26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”

John 21

25 Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.

Long, long, long ago;Way before this winter’s snowFirst fell upon these weathered fields;I used to sit and watch and feelAnd dream of how the spring would be,When through the winter’s stormy seaShe’d raise her green and growing head,Her warmth would resurrect the dead.

Long before this winter’s snowI dreamt of this day’s sunny glowAnd thought somehow my pain would passWith winter’s pain, and peace like grassWould simply grow.  The pain’s not gone.It’s still as cold and hard and longAs lonely pain has ever been,It cuts so deep and fear within.

Long before this winter’s snow

Resurrection

I ran from pain, looked high and lowFor some fast way to get aroundIts hurt and cold.  I’d have found,If I had looked at what was there,That things don’t follow fast or fair.That life goes on, and times do change,And grass does grow despite life’s pains.

Long before this winter’s snowI thought that this day’s sunny glow,The smiling children and growing thingsAnd flowers bright were brought by spring.Now I know the sun does shine,That children smile, and from the dark, cold, grimeA flower comes. It groans, yet sings,And through its pain, its peace begins.

Resurrection

Mary Ann Bernard. From Rueben Job and Norman Shawchuck, eds., A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and Other Servants (Nashville, TN: The Upper Room, 1983) p. 144.

17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate[a] the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

2 Corinthians 3

So how can we prepare ourselves for an episodic encounter with God?

...to be continued.