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- What attributes of God’s character does this passage reveal?
- How does the passage point to Jesus?
- How should the truth of this passage change me?
- How do the events of today’s reading help you better understand the grand narrative of Scripture?
Matt. 28
The soldiers who guarded Jesus’ tomb knew what happened. Actually, I don’t know if they saw Jesus walk away from that tomb or not, but they were well aware of the angels’ presence and action. And yet they accepted the bribe from the priests and spread their lie. Why? Was it love of money?
My guess is that, as afraid as they were in the presence of that angel, the fear of man outweighed their fear of God. The human mind has a way of changing and suppressing traumatic memories. Thus, I’m guessing they were pretty muddled in their minds as to what actually took place at the tomb. As a result, they focused their feeling of fear on what they did understand. I have no doubt these men’s jobs, at the least, and more likely their lives were at stake over this incident. So they simply chose to fear the wrong thing. It’s sad because they had front row seats to hard evidence of the truth and yet still they chose not to believe.
This reminds me of Jesus’ comment that we read the other day. He warned us not to let the worries of life dull our minds. Whether it’s money, a job, or even life itself, we cannot let it be our main concern. None of those things can do anything of real value for us. And when we let them overshadow what really matters, they become our destruction. I pray that I will always keep a clear mind about what really matters and freely give those mind numbing concerns to God.
Mark 16
“Who has believed [our report]?” (Is 53:1a). This is the first line of Isaiah 53, one of the Old Testament’s most detailed prophecies regarding Jesus. These words were certainly true for everyone who saw the risen Lord in those first few days. The disciples didn’t even believe each other, even though Jesus told them all repeatedly beforehand that it would happen. The New Testament is full of scriptural and first-person eye witness evidence of the truth of Jesus Christ. Yet still Isaiah’s question rings true. “Who has believed our report?” Again I pray – for discernment to recognize truth when I hear it and the courage to believe it with all my heart.
Luke 24
One small statement caught my attention in Luke’s rendition of these post-resurrection events. When unrecognized Jesus asked the two men on the road to Emmaus what they were discussing, “they stopped walking and looked discouraged.” (Lk. 24:17b). That statement caught my attention because that is exactly what discouragement does to us. It causes us to stop walking. Our life, our walk with God is a journey. We are not meant to stay in one place. When Satan succeeds in stopping our forward movement, we hand him victory that isn’t his to have. Which is one reason it is so important that we stay connected to each other, as the unified body of Christ. We help keep each other moving when discouragement entices us to stop walking.
John 20
When Mary finally recognized Jesus He said to her, “Don’t cling to me, since I have not yet ascended to the Father.” (Jn 20:15a). Though resurrected and clearly not quite the same as before, Jesus was still in His humanity. He was God’s presence on earth, but not yet God’s true, full, glorified presence within us. That is the Jesus we cling to. Clinging to the human Jesus is the same as clinging to our own human lives. True life, the life we need to cling to with all that we are, is not in human form but in our glorified Christ, who sits at the right hand of the Father and whose Spirit dwells within us.
John 21
I’ve never really connected and thought about it before, but Jesus shows us what it means to love Him in His words to Peter. Simon’s love for Jesus was to have a specific result. To demonstrate that his love was true, Jesus instructed Simon to feed and shepherd His sheep. How do we love God? We love those He loves.