A WORD FOR TODAY, March 31, 2021
Peggy Hoppes
We pray you have been blessed by this daily devotion. If you received it from a friend, you can see other devotions and studies by visiting our website at www.awordfortoday.org.
Blessings. Peg
A WORD FOR TODAY, March 31, 2021
Scriptures for April 4, 2021, Resurrection of Our Lord: Isaiah 25:6-9; Psalm 16; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11; Mark 16:1-8
“It shall be said in that day, ‘Behold, this is our God! We have waited for him, and he will save us! This is Yahweh! We have waited for him. We will be glad and rejoice in his salvation!’” Isaiah 25:9, WEB
Holy Week is an incredibly busy and stressful time for most churches. There are extra services with Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, sometimes an Easter Vigil and Easter Sunday usually includes extra worship. It is always strange to write this devotion for Easter on Wednesday before we’ve experienced everything that leads up to Jesus’ Resurrection. We know this story well, and we know it through twenty-twenty vision. Though we take seriously the Last Supper and the Crucifixion, we already know that Jesus ate again with His disciples and that though He was dead, He LIVES!
I once heard a reporter describe Easter Sunday worship as solemn and holy. This is very true if the words are defined properly, but I’m not sure the reporter was using the terms as she should. She seemed ot be saying that Easter worship sober, somber, and grave with serious formality. It is a holy day, set aside for us to celebrate something incredible and special, and yet the reporter made it sound like it was all too good and extraordinary for ordinary people. What average person can stand amidst the holy and who wants to be grave and serious on a day filled with chocolate bunnies and Peeps?
It is true that Easter Sunday is a solemn and holy day, but not because it is formal, somber and untouchable. It is sacred because it is God’s incredible gift for His people. It is the celebration that everything holy has been made accessible. It is joyous because there is no longer a wall between God and His people. Jesus broke the barrier between humankind and the divine. He restored our relationship with our God and we mark that reconciliation with a party. Actually, we mark that reconciliation every Sunday as we remember and celebrate the risen Lord every week, but we have set aside Easter as a special festival day as we complete the story begun on Palm Sunday.
Why would the reporter think that Easter Sunday worship is solemn and holy? Or the better question is: why did she interpret that to mean it is somber and beyond the reach of the normal person? I don’t know. Maybe it is the lilies that many churches use to decorate on Easter Sunday which are beautiful but make the sanctuary smell like a funeral parlor. Perhaps it is the incredible nature of the Easter story: a guy died and rose again. For the rational mind this is beyond the possibility of reality. Perhaps it has to do with the expectation that everyone will arrive in brand new dresses and starched suits, as happy families gather together for that once a year time to worship together.
I suppose in some ways the world sees our Easter worship as opposite the image we have of Easter out in the world. They have Easter bunnies and eggs, chocolate and jelly beans. They have egg hunts and carnivals, feasts of ham and brunches with champagne. They have joy and happiness, we have church. What the world misses is that we have joy, but it isn’t from a sugar high or a belly full of good food. We go to church on Easter Sunday to rejoice in the fulfillment of His promises and to thank Him. It is a much more real joy than that found in Easter baskets and egg hunts. It is the joy of knowing that the world has been made new by the most incredible act of God. The world has been changed forever, and we are called to live as Easter people from this day on. As we live as Easter people, the world will see that it isn’t about somberness and perfection. It is about living in the forgiveness of God’s grace forever.
They don’t realize that when we worship we are looking forward to a feast greater than anything they experience on earth. In the passage from Isaiah, we hear the praise of the nations as they rejoice, “Behold, this is our God! We have waited for him, and he will save us! This is Yahweh! We have waited for him. We will be glad and rejoice in his salvation!” Isaiah promises an extraordinary feast with the best of everything, and this feast is not for a few special people. It is for all who believe. The praise comes not just from the voice of the Jewish people, but it is the voice of all who trust in God for salvation. It is a future hope, but it also a present reality. In the Lord’s Supper, we share with our brothers and sisters in Christ a foretaste of the feast to come, a physical reminder of the promise.
This is Good News! This is something to celebrate. While it is sacred and holy, it is filled with joy and blessedness. Alleluia! Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. Alleluia!
Good News is meant to be shared, but we can all think of moments that we held back because we wanted to tell someone first. While not happy news, a military person’s death cannot be officially announced until the next of kin is notified. We have all seen the image of several people in uniform standing on the doorstep and we know that their news will not be good news. Thankfully it is not an experience I had to face.
But isn’t it funny how we are equally careful with our good news? How many women with the knowledge of a pregnancy hide their joy until they tell all the right people? She can’t tell Aunt Gertrude before she tells Mother, because Mother will be upset that she wasn’t the first to know. A man can’t tell his co-workers about a fabulous new job until he’s told his boss that he is going to resign. Good news is meant to be shared, but sometimes we have to hold on to our news until we’ve shared it with the people who matter most.
The story of Easter, the rising of Christ out of death into new life, is something that everyone should hear. This is the reason why everyone should be in church on Easter Sunday, to celebrate the incredible gift of Resurrection that we receive through Jesus Christ who lives. Yet, Jesus was careful on that first Easter. Wouldn’t it have been better for Him to just appear to the entire city of Jerusalem at one time? Wouldn’t it have had a greater impact if He had done something spectacular to ensure that the reality of His death and life was understood by all? As it happened, many people doubted the story they heard. The Romans thought the Jews had stolen the body. The Jews thought the disciples had stolen the body. Those who doubted would have been silenced quickly if only they’d seen Him with their own eyes.
But Paul tells us that Jesus was very careful about whom witnessed His resurrection. There is a list of witnesses, from Peter, to the disciples, to a gathering of faithful, to His half-brother James and then to the ones Jesus sent out to do the work He had begun. The Gospels specifically name a few others, like the women who went to the tomb.
Holy Week is hectic and stressful, even to the very moment of the final Easter worship service is complete. We want everything to be right so that those who have never heard the Good News before know that it is sacred and holy and joyous and happy. The first Easter morning was different, but no less stressful. Imagine what it must have been for those women. They watched Jesus die just a few days earlier, but they were not able to do for Jesus’ body all that was their gift to do. Of all people, He deserved the physical anointing that was practiced for the dead.
The anointing is not really that important for the dead, but it is vital for the living. I once heard a story about a person who died at home under the care of a hospice nurse. The family was nearby and when the person died the nurse took out some ointment and began to prepare the body. She asked the family if they wanted to help and showed them how to carefully rub the oil into the body. The family members were unsure at first, but eventually moved to the bedside and began the task. They were amazed at how soothing and comforting it was to do this for their loved one. In anointing the body, they were able to share in that last moment and say good-bye in a most beautiful way. The smell and feel of the oils calmed them in this moment when their world seemed to end.
That first Holy Week must have been incredible for the disciples. On Sunday they entered Jerusalem with Jesus on a donkey being proclaimed king by the crowds. They had given up everything to follow Him and their sacrifice was paying off. Within days Jesus had stunned and upset so many people that they were afraid for His life and their own. At the Passover, just when they thought He might make some big announcement about revolution against the authorities, Jesus taught them to be humble servants and to live in love and mercy. Then He was betrayed, denied and crucified.
We do not know what the disciples did after Jesus died. He was hurriedly wrapped and placed in a freshly hewn tomb because it was the Passover Sabbath, a particularly holy time for the Jews. It is unlikely they did much; the law had many restrictions that were more closely obeyed during the holy periods. Besides, the disciples were in shock, afraid and in mourning. Perhaps they prayed, but it is more likely that they spent the time together discussing all that had happened, trying to decide what they should do. Without their rabbi, they had no guidance.
The scriptures tell us that early in the morning on the first day of the week, the women went to the tomb to take care of the body of Jesus. They did not have time to complete the burial because of the Sabbath, so they returned to use spices for anointing and grieve for their Lord. It was a dramatic moment in time, but we are given a glimpse of normal people attending to the normal tasks of those dealing with grief and loss. They were talking amongst themselves as they approached the tomb, wondering how they’d get the stone moved so they could do their work. There is nothing special or hurried about the moment.
Yet, when they arrived in the garden, they noticed the stone had been moved away. Jesus’ body was gone. Now we look to this empty tomb as the sign of the hope to come; our tombs will one day be empty because we have eternal life in Christ Jesus. We rejoice, but they were not rejoicing. The women were afraid. Mary wept. The disciples were confused. They did not understand what was happening.
Then Jesus began appearing to them. He called Mary by name in the garden. He broke bread with two disciples on the road to Emmaus. He entered through a locked door. He appeared to five hundred. Eventually, Jesus appeared to Paul. When He appeared to Mary, she ran to tell the other disciples, “I have seen the Lord.” One by one they believed and rejoiced.
The empty tomb is a symbol of the hope and joy of Easter. While there is promise in that emptiness, there are also questions, doubts, fears and grief. The same thing is true for those facing tragedy in our world today. The military family seeing the uniformed visitors on their doorstep experience those same questions, doubts, fears, and grief. The empty tomb reminds us that though we may have to say good-bye to loved ones, we also know that we will be reunited with them one day when we believe in the promises of God.
The hope and joy of Easter is not found in a cemetery, or folded grave clothes, but rather in the Risen Lord. It isn’t found in anger or protests or “action.” It was when the disciples saw Jesus that they knew all He had spoken was true. He called their names, ate with them, and showed them His wounds. When they heard His voice and saw His face they believed. In our own moments of darkness, we will find peace when we look for the Light. We will shine the Light when we share the Gospel. The Gospel is not something we do; it is something God did. It is Good News meant to be shared.
In the stress of Holy Week, it is almost shocking to read the scripture for Easter Sunday. This passage is a dramatic moment in time, when the first disciples discovered that Jesus’ body was no longer in the tomb. Instead of drama, we are given a glimpse of normal people attending to the normal tasks of dealing with grief and loss. They were talking amongst themselves as they approached the tomb, wondering how they’d get the stone moved so they could do their work. There was nothing special or hurried about the moment.
The outcome in Mark’s story is not what we would expect, either. In this text we are left dazed and confused. The women are not excited about the words they hear from the man in the tomb, they are frightened. They do not go immediately to the disciples and tell them what they found, they stayed quiet. Thankfully we have other accounts which tell us the rest of the story. If we were only given this passage, we would not think Easter Sunday is such an important day. So, the body is gone. What does that mean? The cynics said the disciples had stolen the body, giving the impression of a risen lord. But we know that He appeared before many, proving that He was not dead but is alive.
Paul writes, “Now I declare to you, brothers, the Good News which I preached to you, which also you received, in which you also stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold firmly the word which I preached to you - unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.”
From the earliest days of the Christian faith, believers gathered together to share their witness and confess their beliefs in Jesus. It did not take very long before they were praying familiar prayers or repeating the words of Jesus. Since much of their religious experience came from the Old Testament writings, we can even see the hymns they might have sung in worship by reading the Psalms. The letters of the Apostles were shared over and over again, establishing proper understanding of this new revelation of God. They began to form creeds, poetry and hymns that brought together the doctrines they had learned in a way they could easily remember and teach. By repeating these confessions of faith, they became deeply imbedded in their hearts and minds. When asked about their Christian faith, they could easily share the Gospel message in words that were seen as credible because the whole Church shared them.
Scholars generally agree that this passage from Paul is one of the earliest Christian creeds. It has been around since the earliest days of the church, having become a part of Christian worship within just a few years of Jesus’ death. By sharing this simple statement about the death, resurrection and appearance of Jesus Christ as the Risen Lord, the truth of salvation was written on the hearts and minds of the believers, giving them the strength and knowledge to share the Gospel with others.
Paul lists himself as the last and least of all the witnesses, because he saw Jesus much later and only after he had persecuted the believers. Paul tells us that his word can be believed because it had been given to him by Christ, just as it had been given to all those others who had been witnesses not only to the resurrection but also to the life of Jesus. He is also credible because the word Paul gave to the people was given first through the scriptures, in promises and prophecies sent by God. The thing we celebrate this week is not some holiday that comes just one Sunday a year filled with candy and bunnies and eggs. It is the culmination of God speaking to His world, fulfilling His promises fully and faithfully. It is news that we now hear, given to us by all those who have come before, because it is our turn to hear and know and experience the joy that comes with Easter.
The Gospel passage from Mark is hard to read because it ends so abruptly. The final sentence says, “They went out, and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had come on them. They said nothing to anyone; for they were afraid.” The women were too afraid to say anything to the others. Obviously someone figured it out. Matthew and Luke tell us that they did report what they saw at the tomb to the disciples. John tells us the story from Mary’s perspective. But in Mark, we are left hanging.
There are eight more verses that neatly tie up the story, but there is some controversy over whether those verses were part of the original text. There is another verse that is found between verses 8 and 9 in some manuscripts, that says, “And all that had been commanded them they told briefly to those around Peter. And afterwards Jesus himself sent out through them, from east to west, the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation.” Again, this verse helps to alleviate the abruptness of Mark’s story.
These verses are helpful, but ending at verse 8 serves a purpose, especially for those who heard Mark’s story in the beginning. See, Mark was a storyteller. The book was not written at first, but was told orally over and over again. It was a story that developed over time. Mark was very young. His mother owned the building where Upper Room was located, so he probably helped serve Jesus and the disciples at the Last Supper. He was there at the time of Jesus’ death and resurrection. The disciples hid in the Upper Room after Jesus died. Mark overheard their stories, learned them by heart, and then repeated them to others.
You know how it is: when someone we love dies, we sit around in the living room and we tell stories. “Do you remember that time when Jesus...?” “Jesus always liked to say...” They worked out their grief through those stories. They worked out their understanding through those stories. And the storytelling surely went on after Jesus appeared to them, and then long afterward. Mark could see in the conversations of Peter and the disciples that the experience of being with Jesus was something to be shared. You could not believe in Jesus and remain silent.
And so he took all those stories and told them to others. I can imagine a group of people sitting around a living room, anxiously waiting to hear about the One that was raised from the dead. They were seekers in search of the truth. As Mark tells the story, we are held mesmerized by the immediacy of Jesus’ ministry. I have seen people hearing this story told as it was in Mark’s day sitting on the edge of their seat in hopeful expectation. We can sense the fear and amazement of the disciples. We can feel the anger of the leaders. We are aware of the confusion and doubt in the crowds.
And then, after about two hours of storytelling, Mark says, “They went out, and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had come on them. They said nothing to anyone; for they were afraid.” How would you react? I can see the crowd erupting with questions and opinions. There may be good reason for adding those extra verses in the book of Mark because we are no longer hearing that story told directly from the eye witnesses. Something had to happen after the women were afraid or we would not be Christian today.
But let us, for a moment, see that by ending so abruptly, Mark is inviting the hearers into the story. What happens next? You are like one of those women at the tomb. What do you do? Do you take the story to another or do you run and hide out of fear? Do you join with Mark, Peter and Paul by sharing what happened so that others might believe?
When we are preparing our activities for our churches, we often ask ourselves the question, “What are they looking for?” We want to know what our visitors are seeking so that we can provide them with the programs that will keep them coming back. Perhaps we should be asking this question the angel asked the women, “For whom are you looking?” People may want Easter egg hunts and BBQs, basketball leagues and teen dances, but they will never be transformed by those things. The chances we have to reach those who do not believe are so rare, but the Good News has the power to create faith in hearts that need that which is sacred and holy, joyful and blessed. Programs and activities might bring people to the pews of our churches but they will never save a soul. Only Jesus can do that. Only Jesus can give us feed us the feast that has been promised to us on Mount Zion, the feast that will last forever. Behold, this is our God who has saved us. Let us rejoice! Alleluia!
A WORD FOR TODAY is posted five days a week – Monday through Friday. The devotional on Wednesday takes a look at the scripture from the Revised Common Lectionary for the upcoming Sunday. A WORD FOR TODAY is posted on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/A-Word-for-Today-Devotional/339428839418276. Like the page to receive the devotion through Facebook. For information and to access our archives, visit http://www.awordfortoday.org.
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