READING: Luke 24 – RESURRECTION!!!

Women, who had rested on the Sabbath after preparing spices and ointments to put on His body, went to the grave Sunday morning, arriving at dawn. “They found the stone rolled from the tomb, but going in, they did not find His body” and were perplexed. 

“Suddenly two men in dazzling clothes were with them. They said, ‘Why are you seeking the living among the dead? He isn’t here; He’s risen. Remember, while He was with you, He told you He must be crucified and rise again on the third day.” 

Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women went back, found the eleven with others, and told them what they had seen. They did not believe them. But Peter “ran to the tomb, and looking in he saw the linen cloths and was amazed.” Seeing the grave clothes convinced him Jesus lived. 

Later that day, two were walking to Emmaus, and Jesus came near but their eyes were kept from recognizing Him. He asked what they were discussing as they walked. “They stood still, looking sad. Cleopas said, “Are you the only stranger who does not know what’s happened in Jerusalem these days?’ Jesus asked, ‘What things?’ They said, ‘The Chief Priests handed over Jesus of Nazareth, a prophet mighty in word and deed, to be crucified. And we hoped He would be the One to redeem Israel.” It is now the third day. 

They told about the women visiting the tomb and their vision of angels; others went to the tomb, and it was as they said, “But they did not see Him.” 

Jesus said, “How slow of heart to believe what the prophets declared; the Messiah must suffer and then enter His glory! Beginning with Moses, He interpreted the things about Himself in the scriptures.” 

They neared Emmaus, and Jesus acted as if He were going on. They begged Him to stay with them. He stayed, and at the table, He took bread and blessed it. They recognized Him, and he disappeared.  

They returned to Jerusalem “and found the eleven with their companions. They were saying, ‘The Lord has risen indeed and has appeared to Simon.’ Then they told what happened on the road and how He was known in the breaking of the bread.” 

Then suddenly, Jesus was with them, saying, “Shalom.” They were terrified, thinking they saw a ghost. He asked, “Why are you frightened? Why do doubts rise in you? Look at my hands and feet; see it is I. Touch me and see.” 

In their joy they were disbelieving, and He asked if they had anything to eat. He took a piece of fish and ate it before them.  

Then He spoke, “I said while I was with you; the Law, Prophets, and Psalms must be fulfilled. The Messiah must suffer and rise the third day; repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in His name to all nations, beginning in Jerusalem.” 

This ‘commission’ was theirs then. 

It is ours today! How well do we keep it? 

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PRAY FOR YOURSELF 

Father, my God and Savior, I delight in You and the perfection of Your wisdom in winning by accepting death for Jesus that He might become the firstborn from the dead. Thank you for letting us die with Him that we may live with Him and with You eternally. In the name that is above all names, I offer this prayer of thanksgiving, AMEN! 

MY PRAYER FOR YOU (and for me) 

I offer this prayer for all who may read these words, and for myself. I pray that each of us may look at the commission Jesus gave His disciples in the end of this chapter before He ascended back into heaven. How do we respond to it today? In today’s church, how many disciples are making disciples who will make more disciples? Think of how we are doing; most of us are doing little to make disciples, maybe because we have not been taught to make them. I offer this challenge to all who read this prayer (and to myself) as a prayer to the first maker of disciples in His kingdom, AMEN! 

READING Luke 23 – Before Pilate, Crucifixion, & Burial

The Sanhedrin as a body took Jesus to Pilate and began to accuse Him, saying, “He perverts our nation, forbidding us to pay taxes to Caesar, and saying he is a King.”  

Pilate asked Him, “Are you King of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “You say so.” Pilate said, “I find no basis for an accusation.”  

They insisted that Jesus was stirring up people teaching throughout Galilee where He began and even in Judea. When Pilate heard He was from Galilee, he sent Him to Herod who was in Jerusalem. 

Herod had wanted to see Jesus for a long time, hoping he could see a miracle. He questioned Jesus at length, but Jesus said nothing, even to the council who were accusing Him. Herod mocked Him, put an elegant robe on Him, and sent Him back to Pilate. 

Pilate said to the priests, leaders, and people, “I’ve not found Him guilty of your charges, and neither has Herod. He’s done nothing worthy of death; I will flog Him and let Him go.”  

They shouted, “Away with Him! Release Barabbas (an insurrectionist)!” Pilate wanted to release Him, but they kept shouting, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” Again, Pilate said he found no fault in Him but would flog him and release Him. They kept demanding He should be crucified, “and their voices prevailed,” because Pilate was weak, he handed Jesus over as they wished. 

As they led Him off, a great number of women followed, beating their breasts, and keening for Him. He said, “Weep for yourselves and your children.” They came to the place called The Skull, and crucified Him between two criminals; he prayed, “Father, forgive them; they don’t know what they’re doing,” while people standing by mocked Him. 

One criminal asked Jesus to remember him when He comes in His kingdom. Jesus said, “Today you will be with me in Paradise.” 

“At noon, darkness came over the whole land until about three o’clock.” The veil in the Temple was ripped in two. About three o’clock, Jesus cried, saying, “Father, into your hands I commit my Spirit,” and breathed His last. The centurion in charge of the crucifixions, said, “Certainly this man was innocent!” All His acquaintances stood at a distance, including the women who followed Him from Galilee, watching. 

A righteous man named Joseph of Arimathea, a member of the council who did not agree with what was done, asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Pilate let him take it down; he wrapped it in a linen cloth and placed it in a rock tomb where no one had ever lain. 

The women from Galilee who followed Him watched where He was buried. They prepared spices and ointments and rested on the Sabbath. 

Can you describe your emotions when you read this account of Jesus’s death hundreds of years later? 

How would you describe why He died as He did to someone who does not know the story (cf. John 10:12,15,17,18)? 

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PRAY FOR YOURSELF 

Father, I weep with the women from Galilee, for I love Him too. I pray that I may be worthy of Him, and I receive His gift of salvation joyfully. This I pray in His name. AMEN! 

MY PRAYER FOR YOU (and for me) 

My prayer for all who may read these words is that each reader (including me) will be brokenhearted over this story. It was our sins that held Him on the cross, not the nails, and His deep love for His sheep, and we are His sheep. Yet, we find joy because He went to the cross, for the joy set before Him. In His gift of love, we find forgiveness and eternal life. In His name. I offer this prayer, AMEN! 

READING: Joel 1:1-2:17 – Locust Plague & Call to Repent

We know nothing of Joel except this book. My source dates Joel in the reign of Joash, the seven-year-old boy king with Jehoiada, the High Priest the actual ruler. The locust plague and repentance are Joel’s themes. 

“O elders, has such a thing happened in your days, or in the days of your ancestors?” He instructs them to tell their children and tell them to tell their offspring about this plague through generations to come. 

He describes the plague, which came in four waves. “What the cutting locust left the swarming locust ate. What the swarming locusts left the hopping locust ate. And what the hopping locust left the destroying locust ate.” Nothing remained. 

Joel tells how the plague affects the people, the land, and the animals. Worship of God ended because there was no grain for grain offerings or wine for drink offerings. This caused Priests to mourn. Farmers mourned because there were no crops. Sheep and cattle groan for there was no pasture, and “joy withers away among the people.” 

“Weep and wail over the sweet wine, for it is cut off. A nation has invaded my land, powerful and innumerable. Its teeth are lions’ teeth. It has laid waste my vines and splintered my fig trees; it has stripped off their bank and their branches have turned white.”  

Joel tells people what to do in this time of national suffering.  

The priests are to lament and wail in sackcloth and call a solemn assembly. “Gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land to the house of the LORD and cry out to the LORD.” 

Why such a gathering? “The day of the LORD is near, and as destruction from the Almighty it comes.” Throughout history, “The day of the Lord” has been punishment for cities and nations too corrupt to continue in their vile ways. Sometimes this punishment is administered by another government, which later may receive day-of-the-Lord punishment themselves. See Isaiah 10:5-16. 

“A powerful army comes; their like has never been, nor will be again. Before them the land is like the garden of Eden, but after them a desolate wilderness.”  

They look and act like war horses. They charge the walls, they do not jostle one another, they burst through the weapons and are not stopped. Sun and moon are darkened. Locusts leap on the city and come into the houses. “Truly the Day of the LORD is great. Who can endure it?” 

There is hope.  

God says, “Return to me with all your heart, – with fasting, weeping, and mourning; rend your hearts and not your garments. Return to the LORD, for He is gracious and merciful. Let the priests weep. Let them say, ‘Spare Your people; do not make us a byword among the nations. Why should they say, where is their God?’” 

Does God still do things like that? Why wouldn’t He?  

Certainly, a day-of-the-Lord punishment fell on Nazi Germany – and may yet fall on America. 

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PRAY FOR YOURSELF 

Father, my God and Savior, I see the evil around me and wonder how you feel about it. As I read the Bible, I see how you acted in the past, and I fear for our land. I pray for a turning to come in our nation, so we may not have a ‘day-of-the-Lord’ punishment to call us to repent, is my prayer in the name above all names, I pray, AMEN! 

MY PRAYER FOR YOU (and for me) 

I pray this prayer for all who may read these words, and for myself. I pray that each of us may consider the significance of the Biblical “day of the Lord.” Each occurrence in time points toward the ultimate Day of the Lord, which will be when time shall end, the dead shall arise, and we shall meet Jesus, who will judge us individually. This is our prayer through the mighty name of Jesus, our Savior, Redeemer, King, and Judge, AMEN!