We encourage you to read this devotion three times a
day. Start in the morning and reflect upon the morning reflection
question. Then in the afternoon, read it again and reflect using the noon
question for reflection. For the evening, take time to ponder how this
has resonated with you in the day and reflecting using the evening
question. We offer a prayer with each devotion for you to pray or we
invite you to pray what is in your heart.
John
20:1-18
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Early on the first day of the week, while it was still
dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed
from the entrance. 2 So she came running to Simon
Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken
the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”
3 So Peter and
the other disciple started for the tomb. 4 Both were
running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.
5 He bent over and looked in at the strips
of linen lying there but did not go in. 6 Then
Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the
strips of linen lying there, 7 as
well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was
still lying in its place, separate from the linen. 8 Finally
the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw
and believed. 9 (They still did not
understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) 10 Then the disciples went back to where they were
staying.
11 Now Mary stood
outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12 and
saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and
the other at the foot.
13 They asked her,
“Woman, why are you crying?”
“They
have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put
him.” 14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus
standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
15 He asked her, “Woman, why are
you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”
Thinking
he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me
where you have put him, and I will get him.”
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.
(NIV)
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Reflection: Suprise!
If you have
grown up in the church, you've heard this passage many, many times. Miraculously it still continues to
speak a fresh word into each of our lives. So often we focus on Friday and the horrible tragic
crucifixion of Jesus. We forget
that Easter is coming and that changes everything that happened on that
horrible Friday of death and suffering.
It is almost as the Divine to response to very worst we can throw at God
by crucifying his son. It highlights the Divine will for us all
and the power of Jesus. While the
empty tomb holds incredible mystery, even for us today, there can be denying
that it changed everything for us.
Death for all of us, like Jesus, became but a comma in the faith journey
for each of us. Also, that our
very worse moments in life God continues to extend solutions and grace. Like Mary, in the midst of confusion
and fear, Jesus comes to us and clarifies meaning and mission. I pray you might find clarity in your
journey.
Reflection Questions:
Morning:What difference does an empty tomb make in your life?
Where have deaths occurred in your should in your living,
how do you think God has acted within your life during those times?
Noon: What does it take in your life to act as the women did and
bravely act on your faith and love for Jesus even when others remain in fear?
Evening: How have you experienced resurrection in your own life?
What difference has it made?
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