Showing posts with label risen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label risen. Show all posts

Saturday, April 11, 2020

He Opened Their Minds

Luke 24:36-47
While they [the disciples] were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”

They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”

When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate it in their presence.

He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”

Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. ”

Easter—the day we remember Jesus' resurrection from the dead.


Prophets spoke of the Messiah, how he would die and on the third day break the chains of death. The Lord himself taught the disciples about his purpose on earth. They traveled with him and witnessed miracles. They heard the Pharisees mock him. Every one of them knew Jesus' story inside and out. But here they were humming and hawing about the very truth he showed them.

They thought they saw a ghost.

They'd witnessed Jesus being drug through the streets and beaten. Yet, the man they loved and missed, the one they'd seen nailed to a cross, and placed in a tomb, dead as could be—stood in front of them in full flesh and blood and declared victory over the grave.

Peter's guilty conscious plucked at him because he had cowered and denied he ever knew him. Thomas shook his head in disbelief. The other disciples stood with their mouths hanging open. Yet, Jesus didn't give up. He opened their minds to the truth.

In this time of pandemic, stop doubting and open your minds to the truth and hope of Jesus. The world is a mess. Not just from COVID-19, but from evil and sin. That's the bad news. The good news is, Jesus opened the doors to hope and heaven.
Jesus stands with outstretched hands in hopes everyone will trust in him.
I thank God for the opportunity to worship my Savior this Easter. Let's sing praises to him from our couches. Lift up prayers from our living rooms. Search our hearts and accept Jesus as Savior. He died so we can live, here on earth with purpose and one day with Him in heaven.

Celebrate Easter with Him!

Saturday, March 26, 2016

It's All About that Grace, 'bout that Grace, 'bout that Grace

Luke 24:1-6
On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb,  but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.  While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them.  In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?  He is not here; he has risen! 

After the spring plows turned the dirt in the fields, my family and I would walk the rows searching for arrowheads. While everyone else in my family seemed to have a knack for finding tips and pieces of flint tools I wandered off, as most little girls would, to find shiny, pretty stones. I got especially excited when I found a rock with "glitter."

But my childish excitement for a sparkly rock diminishes in comparison to the awe Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome must have felt the day they found a stone, or should I say "the stone" rolled away from Jesus' tomb. After witnessing their friend's terrible death on Friday, they'd gone home and rested on the Sabbath before they'd prepared the spices needed to anoint Jesus' body. On Sunday morning, they gathered their supplies and walked to the tomb. The book of Mark reports that the women wondered who might roll away the huge stone that blocked the entrance to Jesus' burial place. But when they arrived, WOW! the huge rock had been rolled to the side of the tomb. And their beloved friend was gone. Not stolen, not placed in another cave, but gone, of his own volition.

And those angels, those wonderful good-news bringing, dressed in white angels, shared the fantastic news with those precious ladies that Jesus had conquered death. Blessed Jesus died a cruel death so that I might live forever. Then God raised him up and breathed life back into him. Can you feel the amazement and excitement? I can. Are you overwhelmed with the mercy and grace Jesus poured out? I am. Praise God for this beautiful joy-filled reason we celebrate Easter.

Rejoice in the Lord! He is risen!!!