Today's Word of Encouragement
April 15, 2020
PEACE BE WITH YOU!
Sunday, April 12, 2020
On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came to the tomb, bringing the spices they had prepared (Luke 24: 1).
Reading through this familiar passage in preparation for today, Resurrection Day, I lingered on this one verse. We can imagine the emptiness felt by the women making their way to the place where Jesus had been buried. Their world shattered and turned upside down, they now came to put the final touches on the burial process. Jesus had given them hope during His life and ministry, and now they were withdrawn once again into what must have felt like a hopeless existence. Living the reality but forgetting the words of Jesus. Much like us.
Remember how he spoke to you when he was still in Galilee, saying, ‘It is necessary that the Son of Man be betrayed into the hands of sinful men, be crucified, and rise on the third day’? (Luke 24:6-7).
The words of the angel reminding them of what they seemed to have forgotten. When we react to the moment it has the capacity to give us temporary memory loss of what we either know or have been told. For these women and the others, the death of Jesus put them in a state of panic and despair.
Scattered and afraid they were reacting to the facts of the moment and not responding to the truth spoken by the One they claimed was the Messiah. Much like us if we’re not careful.
That Sunday evening the disciples met behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them!
“Peace be with you,” He said (John 20: 19).
In this moment of time the resurrected Jesus is telling us: “Peace be with you.” This is a moment for Christ followers to define by our response what we really believe: we serve a risen Savior and He’s in the world today. Many in the world are standing at the tomb of what their life was like before this pandemic and have no idea how they will move forward because what most, if not all, had placed their hope in is now gone. This is an opportunity to pray for them and asking our Lord to prepare their hearts for his gospel. Then when the social distancing period ends we will be better prepared to respond to those feeling hopeless and telling them of the One who gave his life that they may have life more abundantly.
Pastor Dave Benton