April 6, 2023
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Reading along with us in our Lenten readings from “The Life of Jesus”? Here’s today’s reading:
Day 27 in the Book: “The Life of Jesus“
The Last Forty Days
Read Sections 6.1 through 6.4 (pages 184-186)
This book is an account of Jesus’ life and teachings told through in chronological order from the four Gospels to create one continuous story.
*If you do not have a copy of the book please contact the church at (401)667-0775 and we can get you a copy.
In a time of great heartache comes such joy for Mary when she realizes she just saw Jesus alive! All the teachings coming together to make sense for she and the apostles. His work was to die but then also to rise on the third day!
This reading has given me such a sense of peace during this Holy Week. To reflect on the actual events has overwhelmed me with gratitude and joy but also brought a time of conviction about the passion I am feeling this week should be there all the time. The realization of the work Jesus did on earth and on the cross was for me and that I am walking with Him daily but sometimes I take that for granted. I try to control things or forget to share His love with others at every opportunity and I pray that this overwhelmed feeling doesn’t end at Easter but rather is my new normal of being overwhelmed by His presence everyday!
The most significant fact in the entire Bible: Jesus rising from the dead. Proves so many things. He is who He said He was. All the promises he made will come true. And He is the ruler of Gods kingdom. We will be resurrected!! The stone was not rolled back for Jesus, but for others to enter and see The empty tomb. !! The best truth in all of scripture. For he shall reign for ever and ever. Hallelujah hallelujah!!
Day 27 6-1
The resurrection, he made a way for us and all who believed. I would have loved to see the look on those guards faces when they found no Jesus and then when they had to tell the Jewish leaders who in turn paid them off to lie about Jesus body being carried off by his followers and they still tell the same story today. Jesus appeared to the women. He tells Mary Magdalene how he is going back to God, to her God. I hope when she went back to the apostles to share what she had witnessed, they all finally realized how big this was that all he had talked about and explained during the time they had spent with him was being laid bare before their eyes. Jesus is the Son of Man and he is real, and he just gave you the gift of eternity with him and so much more.
Early right after sunrise the women went to the tomb with spices not understanding that Jesus was going to rise. An angel came from the sky and there was a great earthquake. They saw the angel roll back the stone from the entrance of the tomb and sat upon the stone. The soldiers were frozen with fear. There is a list here of over four women. The angel told them that he is not here but has risen. There was also a second angel there . They said to go and tell his followers that Jesus is going to Galilee and will be there. Jesus does appear to Mary Magdalene at the tomb when the two angels were there. The woman followed the angels request and told the apostles that Jesus had risen. Interesting enough the apostles didn`t believe them. It says that they thought it was nonsense. Why was it so hard for them to believe it was true/ But then again no one believed that he had risen even after He had told them this would happen. I probably would I thought the same as them. But then both Peter and John ran to the tomb to see for themselves. John out running Peter but stopping at the entrance while Peter went right in. This shows their personalities. I like to think that I would be like John here. Running very fast but proceeding with caution. While this was happening the soldiers went into the city to tell the leading priests what had happened. They all agreed to lie about what happened. That the followers sole the body of Jesus while they slept. Their lives were at stake if they ever allowed the disciples to take the body. God doesn`t ever lie but man does. It is incredible with all this proof of Christ was / is that they kept telling lies. This just goes to show man`s heart. His rebellious spirit that he doesn`t want to summit to the authority of God. That he wants to be his own god. This is still true today. But as we know there is dire consequences to each person who refuses to come to Jesus with a repentant heart. If only people would come to Jesus and be saved. He is the only true answer for the problems in this world for it is a sin problem. All the problems that we see in this world is because of sin. Starting with Adam and Eve when they sinned against God. We inherited this sin nature and because of it the whole world was affected. God made everything good but then Adam and Eve brought sin into the world and corrupted everything. However when one comes to Jesus the Christ and walks with Him he is a new creation in Christ. The old has passed away and the new has come. Thank you Jesus.
It is one things to say something, it is another to bring it to pass. As Jesus talked about these events with his disciples before he died, it was hard for them to understand. Now that He is no longer in the tomb, it is hard for them to believe. And yet the proof is in the pudding. Angels appearing and directing them is a good indication that something significant has happened, and yet nothing beats seeing Jesus alive. I love the account of Jesus’ appearance to Mary, especially that Jesus chooses to reveal Himself to this very broken woman that He had saved. I can just imagine how the lightbulb came on in her mind when He said her name……Mary. This is not a figment of her imagination, but Jesus in the flesh. How glorious and exciting that must have been for her! And us too as our faith is validated by the realities expressed here. And yet the opposition can’t ignore the situation. They also can’t produce a body, but they can come up with a lie….the disciples stole the body. Ok, well if they did, where did they put it? Why were their lives committed to spreading the message of a risen Savior and many of them dying for the sake of that testimony? I am so glad that the power of Jesus didn’t end here…but those who followed Jesus continued to have the same powers He had…..so this lie could be exposed…and the risen Jesus continues to be with those who follow Him.
Day 27
6.1-6.4
Angels, Jesus, his followers, soldiers, the Jewish leaders. All these characters had a role in the greatest event ever to take place on the Earth. And although there continues to be lies and deception taking place, there is nothing that can negate the fact that there was a great earthquake, the stone was rolled away, the body of Jesus was gone and his followers were proclaiming that Jesus, the Son of God, was resurrected from the dead.
On lent 2023 day 27
Steve and I read this section yesterday, Easter morning.
It is interesting that Jesus tells Mary not to touch Him because He hasn’t gone back to the Father yet, but then later He lets the women grasp his feet and lets Thomas touch His wounds.
On His way to present Himself as a sacrifice on the true altar in Heaven, He stopped to encourage Mary!
Hebrews 9:23-28
Therefore it was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; 25 not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another— 26 He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. 27 And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, 28 so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.