The 19th Century philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche is credited with saying, “What does not kill me, makes me stronger.” Nietzsche is long dead, but that saying still appears regularly on T-shirts, advertisements, bumper stickers and high school football coaches pep talks. But I think this study of Easter week and its aftermath demonstrates something much more profound, and more faithful to the message of Jesus – what DOES kill you makes you strongest. Bear with me . . .
In Luke’s Gospel we read that, even at the Last Supper, while Jesus’ heart is heavy with sorrow in anticipation of the imminent betrayal, arrest and crucifixion, the disciples are arguing among themselves about which of them is the greatest (Luke 22:24-30). In all the Gospels, Jesus has to prepare Peter by warning him that before the next sunrise as the rooster crows three times he will deny even knowing Jesus. When Jesus asks Peter, James and John to pray with him in the Garden of Gethsemane, they fall asleep. When Judas leads the soldiers and mob to arrest Jesus, all the disciples flee in terror. Only John accompanies Jesus to his trials, and John alone stands with the courageous women at the foot of the cross. And even though Jesus has explicitly declared that he must be killed and then rise again on the third day, when the third day actually dawns, not one of the Twelve Apostles is waiting at the tomb. Not exactly “Profiles in Courage.” In the whole history of human failure these guys failed in an epic way.
So who didn’t fail on Resurrection morning? God! Jesus gave himself up to be tortured to death on a Roman cross as a propitiating sacrifice for the sins of the whole world – past, present and future – including yours and mine. He trusted his heavenly Father to do what He promised and which only He could do – raise a human being from the dead into life eternal in immortal bodily form. On that same day, Jesus is the one who took the initiative to seek out his failed disciples, not to scold them, but to encourage, instruct and restore them. And Jesus continued to do that with hundreds of discouraged disciples in Judea and Galilee for the next forty days, so that less than two month after that first Easter morning – on the Day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came down on them with tongues of fire in the Upper Room where they had been cowering in fear – they burst out and went to the Temple to proclaim with boldness before thousands of pilgrims and Roman soldiers and Temple officials that the Risen, crucified, Jesus of Nazareth, was the Living Way to God. What changed? It was all part of God’s plan.
When I was in my early teens, I took a swimming lifesaving course. We learned about CPR and mouth to mouth resuscitation, but before we could do any of that we had to let the drowning swimmer stop thrashing and struggling or they would drown us both.
Once they quit trusting in their drowning selves and trusted us – the lifeguards – we could both get safely back to shore. We weak, foolish, self-deluded, prideful human creatures have to come to the end of ourselves and surrender everything to the Lordship of Christ. Figuratively speaking, the first disciples had to come face to face with their own broken, sin-filled selves and recognize that Jesus alone is the savior. It’s not us by our self-discipline and hard work with an assist from God. It’s Jesus only. And as we, individually and collectively, surrender every aspect of our lives to His Lordship then we will become powerful instruments in the hand of a mighty God. This is what truly transforms all our failures into God’s victories. The history of salvation is just that – His Story.