Christian Reflection and Prayer

The Resurrection of our Lord

Scripture:

Read Luke 24:1-12.
TEXT: On the first day of the week, at early dawn,
they went to the tomb
(see Luke 24:1).

The women don't waste a moment making their
way to the tomb. In a climate where decay rapidly
sets in on a corpse, they want to complete their
work, while they can still handle Jesus' body.
They needn't have hurried; God refused to give death
any victory over His Son's body, including any hint
of decay. Also, by the time they arrived, Jesus was
already gone.

As they reached the tomb they found the stone rolled
away. While the women are looking in, two angels
appear as young men in the prime of life, wearing
dazzling clothes. Immediately, the women are gripped
with fear.

The angels point out the folly in what these women are
doing: "Why are you looking for the living among the
dead? He is not here, but has risen!" Then they remind
the women of Jesus' predictions and the divine
necessity behind His suffering. God's divine love for
fallen humans required Jesus' suffering and death to
remove our sins. They mention three essentials: Jesus
had to be delivered into the hands of men, die by
crucifixion, and rise again in glory.

At these words the women remember, quickly returning
to report them to the 11 apostles, and the other believers
with them. Peter sets out for the tomb, stoops down to
look into it, and sees with his own eyes the linen bands,
empty and undisturbed. Even with this clear evidence of
Jesus' miraculous resurrection, Peter still isn't ready to
accept it as truth. Instead, he goes away wondering
exactly what has actually happened.

THE PRAYER:

Almighty God, thank You for the joyous news of the
angels: my Lord is risen! I pray in Jesus' Name. Amen.

(Lutheran Hour Ministries)

PRAISE THE LORD MOST HIGH!

HE    IS    RISEN !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Scripture:

Then Jesus shouted, "Father, I entrust my spirit
into your hands!" And with those words he breathed
his last.    Luke 23:46 NLT

Behold the Savior of mankind nailed to the shameful
tree! How vast the love that Him inclined to bleed and
die for thee!

'Tis done! the precious ransom's paid! "Receive my
soul!" He cries; see where He bows His sacred head!
He bows His head and dies!
Behold the Savior of Mankind
Samuel Wesley (1662-1735)

Saved from the fire

On February 9, 1709, a fire ripped through a rectory
in the village of Epworth, England. The Wesley family
lost nearly everything. Miraculously, their six-year-old
boy named John (who would later found the Methodist
church) was saved from the fire, as was a piece of
paper bearing this hymn, written by the rector,
Samuel Wesley.

Samuel Wesley, father of John and Charles (and
seventeen other children), was scholarly and stern.
His major academic project was a study of the book
of Job. And he faced a great deal of suffering himself.
Nine of his children died at birth or in infancy. He was
frequently in debt (even spending three months in
debtors' prison). Of course, there was also that
devastating fire.

This hymn, however, shows us a slightly different side
of Samuel Wesley. The theme of suffering is strong,
but there's an attitude of love, of devotion. Apparently
he taught his famous sons more than just discipline,
but also a deep appreciation for what Christ
accomplished through His suffering.

Our Holy Week readings are adapted from The One
Year® Book of Hymns by Mark Norton and Robert
Brown, Tyndale House Publishers (1995). Today's is
taken from the entry for March 22.


BURIAL ARRANGEMENTS

Holy Saturday

Scripture:

Read Luke 23:50-56.
TEXT: This man went to Pilate and asked for
the body of Jesus (Luke 23:52).

As Jesus was dying He entrusted His spirit into
His Father's hands. But what would become of
His lifeless body? The faithful believers and
women stood at a distance to see what the
soldiers would do. But unknown to them, God
the Father was already making arrangements.
He had chosen a man, Joseph, to be Jesus'
earthly father, to find a shelter and a manger at
His birth. Now He provides another Joseph to
arrange for Jesus' proper burial.

Luke describes Joseph as a prominent member
of the Jewish high court; he had not consented
to its decision to destroy Jesus. Joseph trusted
God's promise to send His Son, and he had
secretly come to believe Jesus was that Messiah.
Now he boldly secures Pilate's permission to take
charge of Jesus' lifeless body.

He takes Jesus' body down, wraps it in linen, and
lays it in a tomb as yet untouched by death's decay
and corruption. Then Joseph rolls a large stone-a
flat, circular, upright slab-down in a groove in front
of the entrance to the tomb. Since the Sabbath is
beginning, only the women follow Joseph to the tomb.
They carefully note its location; they see how Jesus'
body was laid in it. In the few minutes left before the
Sabbath, the women will buy spices and myrrh in
preparation for the work they will do when the
Sabbath is over. Early Sunday morning they will
 return to anoint His body for a proper burial.

THE PRAYER:

Almighty God, You raised up Joseph to care for Your
Son's dead body. Thank You that You take note of all
my needs-especially my need for forgiveness through
Jesus my Savior. Amen.

(Lutheran Hour Ministries)

Scripture:

Luke 23: 13-49

13 Pilate called together the chief priests, the rulers
and the people, 14 and said to them, “You brought
me this man as one who was inciting the people to
rebellion. I have examined him in your presence and
have found no basis for your charges against him.
15 Neither has Herod, for he sent him back to us; as
you can see, he has done nothing to deserve death.
16 Therefore, I will punish him and then release him.”
[17] [a]
18 But the whole crowd shouted, “Away with this man!
Release Barabbas to us!” 19 (Barabbas had been
thrown into prison for an insurrection in the city, and
for murder.)
20 Wanting to release Jesus, Pilate appealed to them
again. 21 But they kept shouting, “Crucify him! Crucify
him!”
22 For the third time he spoke to them: “Why? What
crime has this man committed? I have found in him no
grounds for the death penalty. Therefore I will have him
punished and then release him.”
23 But with loud shouts they insistently demanded
that he be crucified, and their shouts prevailed. 24 So
Pilate decided to grant their demand. 25 He released
the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection
and murder, the one they asked for, and surrendered
Jesus to their will.

The Crucifixion of Jesus

26 As the soldiers led him away, they seized Simon
from Cyrene, who was on his way in from the country,
and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind
Jesus. 27 A large number of people followed him,
including women who mourned and wailed for him.
28 Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of
Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves
and for your children. 29 For the time will come when
you will say, ‘Blessed are the childless women, the
wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’
30 Then “‘they will say to the mountains, “Fall on us!”
and to the hills, “Cover us!”’[b]
31 For if people do these things when the tree is green,
what will happen when it is dry?”
32 Two other men, both criminals, were also led out
with him to be executed. 33 When they came to the
place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along
with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left.
34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not
know what they are doing.”[c] And they divided up his
clothes by casting lots.
35 The people stood watching, and the rulers even
sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him
save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.”
36 The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They
offered him wine vinegar 37 and said, “If you are the king
of the Jews, save yourself.”
38 There was a written notice above him, which read:
this is the king of the jews.
39 One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults
at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”
40 But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,”
he said, “since you are under the same sentence? 41 We
are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds
deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”
42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come
into your kingdom.[d]”
43 Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will
be with me in paradise.”

The Death of Jesus

44 It was now about noon, and darkness came over the
whole land until three in the afternoon, 45 for the sun
stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn
in two. 46 Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father,
into your hands I commit my spirit.”[e] When he had
said this, he breathed his last.
47 The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised
God and said, “Surely this was a righteous man.”
48 When all the people who had gathered to witness this
sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts and
went away. 49 But all those who knew him, including the
women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a
distance, watching these things.

Reflection:

As you read the accounts of these impactful
hours, pause and picture yourself in each scene.
Where are you in the picture?
In Pilate's court, with the crowd outside, on the
way to Golgotha. 
As He is crucified, as He is lifted up and hangs
on the cross, as they mock Him.
As He saves the criminal, as He sees His
mother and those He loves.
As darkness falls over the land, as the curtain in
the temple tears open, as He cries out to His
Father, as the centurion comes to believe, as
people beat their breasts, as some stand at a
distance watching.
Where you there when they crucified my Lord?
Now go back to each of these places and see
Jesus looking at you.
What is He saying to you in each place?

Prayer:

Father forgive me for I know not what I do.
AMEN

(from the Covenant Home Altar)