Politics and Religion

The Tomb Is Empty, Jesus Is Risen!

Jesus resurrected and Mary Magdalene

Jesus resurrected and Mary Magdalene (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

John 20:1-29

New International Version (NIV)

The Empty Tomb

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.  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!”

So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb.  Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.  He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in.  Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen laying there,  as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen.  Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb, first, also went inside. He saw and believed.  (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)  Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.

Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene

Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb  and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.

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.”  At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.

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.”

Jesus said to her, “Mary.”

She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (Which means “Teacher”)?

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.’”

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.

Jesus Appears to His Disciples

On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!”  After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.

Again Jesus said, “Peace is with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”  And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.  If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

Jesus Appears to Thomas

Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came.  So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”

But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!”  Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”

Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”

Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Be Still And Know That Jesus Is God

Psalm 46 (NIV)

 God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.

  There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.
God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.
Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
he lifts his voice, the earth melts.

  The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.

  Come and see what the LORD has done,
the desolations he has brought on the earth.
He makes wars cease
to the ends of the earth.
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;

 he burns the shields with fire.

He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”

 The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Who is the grand Author and Designer of creation?

Chuck stood looking in awe. His son, his firstborn, was coming into the world, and he was a part of it. He stood by his wife’s head, and together they shared the wonder of the experience. He had often doubted whether God existed, but now all of his doubts were gone.

He looked on at the perfect little creation. Each finger and toe was a testament to God’s loving existence. The miracle of life was overwhelming. It was inconceivable that something like this could happen by chance. Only a master artist of incomprehensible power and glory could come up with something as fine as human life.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.

The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, neither of blood nor of the will neither of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:1-14).

When we look at God’s creation, it is difficult to question anything about Him. There is so much to wonder at in the world. As we learn more and more, it should not make us skeptical of God. Quite the contrary, it should convince us that there is a grand Author to all creation—God, and that His power is far beyond our wildest imagination.

To see God, all we must do is open our eyes and look around. Only an unreasonable person would deny God’s existence in the face of such remarkable evidence. His signature is on each one of His creations, He is right there for the person who has eyes to see and ears to hear. God is all around us. He is the Arthur and Designer of all creation

Keep your eyes on God

King Jehoshaphat on a 17th century painting by...

King Jehoshaphat on a 17th century painting by unknown artist in the choir of Sankta Maria kyrka in Åhus, Sweden. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“O our God, will you not judge them? For we have no might against this great multitude that is coming against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon you’ (2 Chronicles 21:12).

King Jehoshaphat was confounded by the size of the army that was coming to attack Israel. So, instead of relying on his own wisdom and the strength of his army, he sought God’s intervention; he prayed:

“O Lord, God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. In your hand are power and might, so that none is able to withstand you. Did you not, our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel, and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend? And they have lived in it and have built for you in it a sanctuary for your name, saying, ‘If disaster comes upon us, the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house and before you— for your name is in this house—and cry out to you in our affliction, and you will hear and save.’ And now behold, the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, whom you would not let Israel invade when they came from the land of Egypt, and whom they avoided and did not destroy—  behold, they reward us by coming to drive us out of your possession, which you have given us to inherit. O our God, will you not execute judgment on them? We are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you” (2 Chronicles 20:5-12).

In your own strength and in your own wisdom you are vulnerable, but God never wants you to be in a place where you are dependent upon yourself. God never wants your confidence to rest upon your own understanding.

  • It is one thing to know that there is a great enemy against you; it is another to know that God is greater than any enemy you face.
  • It is one thing to know that you are weak; it is another thing to know that God is all-powerful.
  •  It is one thing to know that you don’t have all the answers; it is another thing to know that God has perfect wisdom, knowledge and understanding.

You will never face defeat as long as your eyes are upon, and your trust is in the One who knows no defeat.

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Who am I that God should be generous toward me?

English: Saint paul arrested

Image via Wikipedia

“I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I have persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me” (1 Corinthians 15:9-10).

It is amazing how humble the apostle Paul had become after his conversion. A zealous tax collector by trade, Saul wreaked havoc on the early Church. He was hated and feared by many. Yet God saw it fit to grant him favor and used him to grow the Church.

But Paul understood that he was not worthy of God’s grace and generosity and neither do you nor I, or anyone else in this world. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). In a letter to the Church in Ephesus, Paul exhorts the Church that salvation is not earned; It’s a gift from God. Here is what Paul writes: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Who do you know that would give you a gift for doing nothing?  It is hard to find one person, yet that’s exactly what Jesus did! Furthermore, when you look at your life and compare it to God’s life, it becomes quite overwhelming and unfathomable to realize that you are a recipient of His love. When you compare your sins, your failures, and your defeats with His holiness, goodness, and righteousness, it can prompt you to ask, “Who am I that God should generous toward me?”

Still  as hard as it might be to fully comprehend, the fact remains that the Creator of all things, the omnipotent God has sent His Son, Jesus Christ into this world and then into your life. Believe it or not, “little insignificant you and me” are recipients of Almighty God’s all-encompassing, all-embracing, goodness, kindness and generosity in Jesus Christ.

God, in His mercy and grace, delights in giving the highest to the lowliest, the greatest to the smallest, the fullest to the emptiest, and the mightiest to the weakest.

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