Death, Easter, Heaven
John Beeson
The Resurrection of Jesus: An Eyewitness Account

Happy Easter!

Today we consider the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. What follows is a compilation of the eyewitness resurrection accounts of Jesus Christ as told by the authors of the gospels. They have been edited together to maintain the flow of the narrative and do not include Jesus’ multiple appearances following his resurrection. The accounts are framed by Paul’s extended reflection on the importance of the resurrection.

He is risen! He is risen indeed!

The Resurrection of Jesus: An Eyewitness Account
Recommendations, Easter, Death, Heaven, Nature
John Beeson
This Week's Recommendations

  1. Eagles, fowl, and a Savior with wings: Kevin Burrell’s post makes my heart sing, “And a living, risen savior is still our covering today, to all those who by faith trust in his wings. In fact, we are clothed in his righteousness. He is oh-so willing to gather us under his wings.”

  2. Even to death: Jamaal Williams invites us to consider Jesus at the Mount of Olives, “Jesus models what it looks like to stumble into the presence of God—hurting but hopeful.”

This Week's Recommendations
Easter, Death, Heaven, Hell
John Beeson
The Crucifixion of Jesus: An Eyewitness Account

On this Tuesday of Holy Week, we consider the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. What follows is a compilation of the eyewitness crucifixion accounts of Jesus Christ as told by the four authors of the gospels. They have been edited together to maintain the flow of the narrative. The accounts are framed by the words of the 8th century BC prophet, Isaiah. On Sunday I will share the resurrection account of Jesus from the eyewitnesses.

The Crucifixion of Jesus: An Eyewitness Account
Christian Living, Church, Finance, Generosity
John Beeson
Why We Should Give to Financially Mismanaged ...

In 2007, the House Committee on Oversight investigated the “Coalition to Salute America’s Heroes and Help Hospitalized Veterans.” Something was seriously wrong with CEO Roger Chapin’s leadership (and it wasn’t just the absurdly long name of the charity). Chapin had raised nearly $170 million between 2004 and 2006, but only 25% of the money reached veterans. Over $125 million was funneled to Chapin and his cronies.

 

Whether at a national or local level, we don’t have to look long and hard for mismanagement of donations. There is nothing that breaks the trust of a donor more than seeing their hard-earned dollars misspent. We should care about where our giving goes. Churches ought to lead the way in financial transparency and accountability.

Why We Should Give to Financially Mismanaged Organizations
Recommendations, Nature, Evangelism, Parenting
John Beeson
This Week's Recommendations

  1. 6 discouraging trends in global Christianity: Aaron Earls reports, “While Christianity continues to grow, Islamic growth continues to outpace the church’s growth. Christianity slightly outpaced the global rate of population growth (0.98% v. 0.88%), but Islam grew even faster (1.67%).”

  2. Wikipedia founder embraces Christianity: Trevin Wax reflects on Larry Sanger’s conversion, “Considering how many people are curious about the Bible these days, the increase in Bible sales, the interest in various philosophers and commentators providing their takes on the Scriptures,

This Week's Recommendations

Recommendations

, , , ,

This Week's Recommendations

, , , ,
This Week's Recommendations

  1. How cancel culture points to the gospel: Marie Burrus says, “Like most cultural elements, cancel culture does get some things right. Throughout Scripture, we’re reminded that injustice and evil should be uncovered and eliminated. Though we may not affirm its methods, cancel culture points to the truth of human depravity and the prevalence of injustice in our world.”

  2. Think little: Darryl Dash with a related article, “So often, we’re focused on the big. I’m grateful for those who are faithful in big things. I just think it’s time we stopped overlooking what God does through the rest of us who aren’t powerful, connected, and leveraged. It’s time to move from focusing on what’s big and powerful to seeing what God can do through the ordinary, even when it doesn’t look like much.”

  3. When I was losing my marriage, Jesus taught me to forgive: Sheila Dougal shares, “Suffering when someone hurts you doesn’t save you or anyone else. But walking through this suffering with Jesus brings a miraculous change in our lives because of the blood of Christ which does save us. It’s the love of Christ that compels us to forgive others. As we look at Jesus and what he has done at the cross—bearing our unjust acts and wicked thoughts—his love grows in us and empowers us to forgive rather than begrudge.”

  4. An easier way to read Revelation: Have you ever felt stumped by the final book of the Bible? Jim Davis offers some helpful advice to the reader, “Revelation is notoriously confusing, but it doesn’t have to be. Yes, there are dragons, angels, antichrists, and (seemingly) multiple returns of Christ. But if we read this book through the lens of recapitulation, it becomes easier to understand.”

  5. Why do snakes have forked tongues? Isn’t our Creator amazing?

, , ,

This Week's Recommendations

, , ,
This Week's Recommendations

  1. How was the pronunciation of God’s name lost? Great question! Andrew Case provides three possible answers to this question: “Why did the Israelites go from swearing by Yahweh’s name, using it in prayer, song, and greetings to forbidding its use altogether?”

  2. What’s the difference between venting and lamenting? Kyle Johnston begins, “Christians today are increasingly aware of the importance of emotions. This growing emotional awareness is a positive development—especially when we learn how to process those emotions with God! At the same time, and perhaps even connected to this heightened emotional awareness, there is a growing recognition of the importance of lament.”

  3. The man with the longest-term vision wins: Reagan Rose considers the life of Elon Musk and draws five conclusions from it. “With Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos the ambition to colonize space wasn’t some billionaire’s midlife crisis, it was the long-term vision that’s driven them since youth. And my contention here is that their success in other areas of life is not coincidental either.”

  4. Your conscience on a spectrum: Bobby Jamieson with a nuanced take on how we should listen to and form our conscience. He asks, “What happens when Christians disagree about what belongs in the black, white, or shaded sections? What if you think some act is a sin but another member of your church seems not to?”

  5. The doxology: Ben Rector’s rendition is beautifully haunting.

, , ,

This Week's Recommendations

, , ,
This Week's Recommendations

  1. All together now: Morgan Housel begins, “The Brooklyn Bridge was the largest structure in the western hemisphere when it opened in 1883. It was almost twice as long as any suspension bridge built before it. People reasonably asked: Is it stable? Will it collapse?”

  2. Four privileges we enjoy as a friend of God: Mike McKinley explains, “we don’t have to come nervously and timidly into God’s presence (Heb. 4:16). We can have a bold and comfortable relationship with God–the VIP who puts all others to shame, because he loves us and has made us his friends and family.”

  3. No further: Cassie Watson with encouragement for weary souls, “The beams of the Son are about to spill over too. We’re in the dawn, awaiting the fullness of the new day. God is orchestrating human history, watching as each day unfolds with all its terror and toil and laughter and love. At just the right moment, he will say, “No further.” He’ll send Jesus back to end this world as we know it and bring in the new creation, where there’ll no longer be “mourning, nor crying, nor pain” (Rev. 21:4).”

  4. Ten diagnostic questions for the potential ideologue: Ken Barbic begins with this question, “Do you present opposing viewpoints in ways that your opponent would agree with?”

  5. Dennis Prager’s troubling defense of pornography: Carl Trueman says, “Many aspects of Prager’s comment are disturbing, not least his failure to address the dark nature of the pornography industry itself. But it is also instructive, because it exposes the superficiality of some of what passes for conservative thought today.”

, , , , , ,

This Week's Recommendations

, , , , , ,
This Week's Recommendations

  1. Money is now more important to Americans than patriotism, religion, or kids: Peter Weber begins, “A Wall Street Journal/NORC poll released Monday found that "patriotism, religious faith, having children, and other priorities that helped define the national character for generations" have fallen steadily since 1998 and even 2019, the Journal reports.”

  2. Why do I need close friends? Roger Barrier shares, “Now, let me tell you a tragedy. Many people have no intimate friends. They are the loneliest people in the world. There is no one with whom they can open up. That’s why life is so tough.”

  3. The cost of fear: Karen Wade Hayes tells a simple story about baking a cake and fear. “As humans, we can be so impacted by fear that we hide or shrink back when new opportunities arise.”

  4. Five reasons you did not and cannot reinvent yourself: Lots of truth in this post by Brian Rosner. He says, “Human beings are social animals. A growing body of research—some parts surprising, some parts amusing—indicates the extent to which we are profoundly relational creatures and pushes against any notion that anyone is a self-made self.”

  5. An open letter to teens facing doubts about Christianity: Rebecca McLaughlin’s thoughts are winsome and true, “Sometimes you find yourself wondering what is really true. What if modern science has disproved God? What if Christians really are just bigots for not embracing same-sex marriage? What if all religions are equal paths to truth?”

, , , , , ,

This Week's Recommendations

, , , , , ,
This Week's Recommendations

  1. Are you well-paid? Compare your salary to the average US income: Among the highest paid jobs are Chief executives and nurse anesthetists. Among the lowest paid are childcare workers and lifeguards. Jack Caporal begins, “When you look at your paycheck, are you happy with what you see? Or do you wonder if you should make more?”

  2. Where is your faith? Mary Nolte reflects on faith and the death of her child. “I will never forget standing in the ICU at her bedside, feeling as if I was not really living this nightmare, that I had somehow stumbled into someone else’s reality. This couldn’t be. This shouldn’t be. In that moment, as the doctors and nurses who crowded around her stepped back and looked at us standing there, our faces stricken with unbelief, our hearts pounding with denial, a silent wail forming in the deepest part of our souls, the lead cardiologist said, “Let’s give the parents the last few moments with her,” and the room emptied.”

  3. Overcome your enemies by dying: Peter Krohl asks, “What do you do when people turn against you? When those who reject the Lord Jesus Christ come after you for daring to follow him? When nitpicking and backstabbing are the standard operating procedure in the workplace? When family members use guilt and pressure to manipulate you into doing what they want?”

  4. The crucifixion stories are embarrassing, and that’s a good thing: Robby Lashua explains, “Since the disciples, who were trying to convert people to Christianity, recorded these embarrassing details, we can conclude they were being extremely honest about what happened. They didn’t sugarcoat anything. They gave us the raw details, even though it could damage their cause.”

  5. Should we automate the CEO? Interesting article projecting the impact of job automation in the future. Zachary Crockett explains, “Last August, NetDragon Websoft — a Hong Kong-based online gaming firm with $2.1B in annual revenue — appointed a CEO to helm its flagship subsidiary. The new chief, Tang Yu, was responsible for all of the typical duties of a company figurehead: reviewing high-level analytics, making leadership decisions, assessing risks, and fostering an efficient workplace. She worked 24/7, didn’t sleep, and was compensated $0 per year. But there was a catch: Yu wasn’t a human. She was a virtual robot powered by artificial intelligence.”

, , , , , ,

This Week's Recommendations

, , , , , ,
This Week's Recommendations

1.       The Cosmos Keeps Preaching: Kevin Hartnett shares about his faith after forty years of discoveries at NASA. He begins, “Have you ever landed great seats at a concert, show, or sporting event — seats right down front, near the center of the action? That’s very much how I think about my position as an employee at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center over the past forty years (now retired), a career spent assisting in the development and testing of satellite control centers and directing the operation of various scientific missions.”

2.       Sex and Christ Crucified: Excellent post by Ed Welch, making Paul’s insights to the church at Corinth clear. He says, “Notice how we can find a belief, somewhere in our souls, that we are independent agents, free to make our own decisions. This belief can be aroused when we hear that we “are not under law but under grace” (Rom 6:14). But be careful. Even people who don’t follow Jesus would say that freedom has its limits. Some choices are good for us and some are not.”

3.       Guarding Cherished Resentments: Steve Cornell warns, “Resentment often comes with a blinding effect. It can be hard to recognize how anger and bitterness double our loss and send extended effects of the evil done against us to others.”

4.       The Unexpected Beauty of Babel: This is a fun one by AW Workman. It’s similar to a post I wrote here (but I think even better). He says, “Yet Babel was not only an act of judgment. It was also an act of creation. Creation through judgment. Apparently, when God acted, dozens of languages burst into existence instantly and then began to live and move and have stories and descendants of their own.”

5.       Two Types of Airport People: Pretty funny.

, , , ,

This Week's Recommendations

, , , ,
This Week's Recommendations

  1. Gospel Hope for Self-Haters: David Powlison with a layered analysis of something many struggle with. “He is actually saying something that competes with the false voices, and it is not just something you rehearse in your own head. He’s actually inviting you to come out of yourself, out of the death spiral, the vortex of self-hatred, as we are talking about it right now.”

  2. Men and Emotions: I’ve spent a lot of time working with men on this issue (and myself!) and love Joseph Hussung’s approach. He explains, “The purpose of using these tools is simple. We need to be able to express our emotions. We need to be able to express them to our Lord, and we need to be able to express them to others.”

  3. What’s Beneath it all? Sylvia Schroeder considers her cries to God for her daughter’s life, “Were my begging pleas like the Israelites in the Old Testament in their whining complaints? Did my request resemble theirs when they craved meat and disdained manna in the wilderness? Did He grow tired of my pleas?”

  4. Banksy and Beauty from Ashes: Tim Challies with a reflection on a graffiti artist’s statement, “Not too long ago, I read that the mysterious artist Banksy had created several new murals in Ukraine. Going to locations that had experienced the fury of war, he found broken and damaged buildings and used them as his canvas.”

  5. Four Reasons to Be Early to the Sunday Gathering: I appreciate Jacob Crouch’s simple admonitions to church-goers here, “Try showing up just 10 minutes early next week. This isn’t a law from on high, but I really think this could be a prudent way to make the most of a Sunday morning.”

, , , , ,

This Week's Recommendations

, , , , ,
This Week's Recommendations

  1. Knowing the Future Doesn’t Cure Anxiety: Jen Wilkin’s post is loaded with wisdom, “We reason that if we knew what tomorrow would bring, we would use that information wisely to make good choices. But the story of Peter’s denial warns us otherwise. Jesus tells him explicitly how anxiety will cause him to sin in his immediate future. He does not alter his course. Peter’s knowledge of the future serves not to correct him but to condemn him. Foreknowledge yielded neither repentance nor humility in Peter.”

  2. Three Questions to Make Sense of Anxiety: In a similar vein, Joe Hussung notes that, “Our intuition is to say that anxiety is all about what we fear, but in reality, it is deeper than that. Anxiety is actually about what we love.”

  3. What Jesus Saw When He Looked at Peter After the Rooster Crowed: Erik Raymond with another related post, encourages us, “How do you think Jesus looked at Peter? Was Jesus surprised? Frustrated? Ashamed? If you are a Christian, then your understanding of how Jesus looked at Peter is foundational to your perception of how he looks at you when you sin.”

  4. Gen Z Couples are Shacking Up at Record Rates: Unsurprising report from Bloomberg, that 11% of those aged 18-24 are living with romantic partner. The 3.2 million cohabitating are 650,000 more than the same age group pre-pandemic.

  5. America the Single: Again, unfortunately unsurprising. Erica Pandey explains, “Over the last 50 years, the marriage rate in the U.S. has dropped by nearly 60%.”

, , , , , ,

This Week's Recommendations

, , , , , ,
This Week's Recommendations

  1. The Clay-Pot Conspiracy: Dave Harvey begins, “One year ago, we lost our youngest daughter to her longstanding battle against addiction. Walking alongside her in this multiyear struggle sank us into parts of this broken world we never dreamed we would inhabit. Dark places with desperate people became familiar terrain. We fought for life. Death won. Now our precious daughter is gone. Each morning I stare into the eyes of her 2-year-old son, now entrusted to us.”

  2. Forgiveness Without Limits: Vicki Bentley concludes, “No matter what insecurity issues we might carry with us today, we know that the cross is our ultimate cure, and in this mighty act of love, our perfectionism can be put in its place for good.”

  3. Words Grow Wiser with Age: Lara d’Entremont begins, “As a middle schooler and high schooler, I remember having big opinions about God, life, relationships, and all the things. I believed my answers were right, and to view things any differently was utter foolishness and absurdity. I had scathing words for people who didn’t agree with me over theology, dating, and clothing choices. I became easily enraged by those who thought contrary to my beliefs.”

  4. The Joy of Being Forgiven: Tom Sugimura with a simple to profound reflection, “As David speaks for God it’s as though he’s saying, “I’ll kneel down to eye-level when I give you my instructions. I will lead you with my loving eye upon you.” The painful “bit and bridle” are just for stubborn beasts who won’t obey their master. Yet forgiven saints will gallop free in God’s enduring love.”

  5. Tiktoker Says Christians Must Choose Between Faith and Evidence: A helpful brief response to a common critique of the Christian faith.

,

Summer Reads for 2023

,
Summer Reads for 2023

With my daughter home from college and temps rising, I am ready for summer. Maybe you’re getting there, too? There’s nothing like a good book by the pool (or ocean!) to make a perfect summer day.  

Sign up to get The Bee Hive delivered to your inbox and receive a free 50 Books That Changed My Life (and Might Change Yours, Too) download!