It’s All About Easter
“For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.” (1 Corinthians 15:16-19)
All over the world today, people crowded into churches to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. That’s what happens every year. What surprises me is that some of those people don’t really believe the resurrection happened. They are pretty sure Jesus died and stayed dead. Still, they call themselves Christians for some reason.
As Paul says so bluntly—so powerfully—if Jesus didn’t rise from the dead on the third day, none of us will ever rise from the dead, either. If His resurrection is just a metaphor, a way of looking at the world, a hope for something better, then the whole thing is completely worthless. We’re all pathetic fools wasting our lives on some meaningless book, following a “Savior” who failed and died and should have been forgotten.
Why would anyone squander a life following a God who cannot raise His own Son from the dead—a God who cannot offer eternal life? Be convinced in the power of Jesus’ blood to wash away all your sins—and be convinced in the power of God to raise Him from the dead. Or don’t—and move on. Why would anyone follow a dead Savior?
Think: Why wouldn’t it be worth anything to hope in Christ only for this life?
Pray: Thank God for His power to raise Jesus from the dead—the same power at work in your life right this second.
Do: Read 1 Corinthians 15:12-58 for a glimpse of what your own resurrection will be like.
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I agree with this completely. I think we often for…
I agree with this completely. I think we often forget those grueling hours between Jesus’ crucifixtion and his resurrection. It must have been a terrible time for the apostles who had just lost the most important person they had in their lives. All goodness in the world was gone during that time. It would only be human for them to doubt the Lord’s existence just as we sometimes doubt it. The apostles faith however that Jesus was the Son of God kept them going. I believe their attitude is a good example of what we, as christians in 2008, need to keep in mind. God sometimes seems distant, maybe even non-existant, but in the end if we keep our faith strong he will reward us with great gifts this human world could never offer;i.e. eternal life.
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The Longest Day
“We are going up to Jerusalem,” he said, “and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles, who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise.” (Mark 10:33-34)
Jesus said these words to His 12 disciples about one week before this endless Saturday between the crucifixion and the Resurrection. It wasn’t a passing comment or whispered under His breath. Mark tells us he took them aside, away from the others. He spelled out exactly what was about to happen. Did any of them remember?
Either way, it must have been the longest Saturday of their lives. For a week, the tension had been building until all of their worst fears came to shocking, fatal climax on Friday night. They ran. They hid. They regrouped. They locked themselves in. And then a whole day of nothing. Silence. The end of the dream. Confusion. Grieving. Fear.
Did any of them remember Jesus’ promise? Everything else He said about His death happened exactly that way. How could they forget that He also said He would rise? What do we forget in our darkest moments when we think God is silent, when we’re tempted to trust Him less with what’s most important, when we’re ready to give up? What are we expecting from Him?
Sunday is coming . . .
Think: Do you ever wonder if God has abandoned you? What evidence of His love do we ignore at those times? What promises do we dismiss when we want to blame Him for letting us down?
Pray: Ask God for rock-solid memories of how He has been there for you in the past and how He has promised to provide for you in the future.
Do: Look up the time of the sunrise in your town tomorrow and write it down somewhere. Next to it, write this: Jesus is alive!
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Friday: Alone
“At the sixth hour darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?”—which means, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ ” (Mark 15:33-34)
Of Jesus’ famous seven statements from the cross, this is the only one Mark tells us about. It may be the saddest question in all of the Bible.
For the first time we know of, Jesus does not call God “Abba,” (father or daddy). Instead, He addresses God more formally and says, “Why have you abandoned me?” Although human for 33 years, the sinless Jesus had never been separated from the Father in His spirit. They had been in constant communication. Now He was utterly alone.
To truly pay the penalty for all of our sins, Jesus experienced the ultimate human horror—separation from God, cut off in His spirit from the source of all life, all love, all hope. It’s what makes hell so terrifying. The exquisite torture of Jesus’ physical suffering could not compare with the depths of God’s silent judgement on sin.
Think: From your understanding of the Bible, how would you briefly explain why God allowed Jesus to go through this terrible experience?
Pray: Thank the Father for sacrificing His only birth Son to make a way for you to be together with Him forever.
Do: Sometime on Friday night, spend a few minutes meditating on Mark 15, thinking about what Jesus endured on that dark Friday long ago.
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Late Thursday Night: I Am
“Again the high priest asked him, ‘Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?’ ‘I am,’ said Jesus. ‘And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.’ ” (Mark 14:61-62)
We come to late Thursday night in this terrible beautiful week. The Jewish religious leaders have finally engineered the arrest and trial of Jesus. They’re squeezing it all in under the cover of darkness, because they’re afraid the people will revolt.
Under intense questioning by the high priest, Jesus had remained silent. Now He answers a direct question with a direct reply about who He is, something He had often chosen not to do. Quoting from Psalms and Daniel, He tells His judges that He is, indeed, the Messiah. More: He will one day judge them while sitting at the right hand of God (at the “resurrection” at the end of time).
If a lie or a delusion, Jesus’ words were blasphemy. The Jewish leaders would be right to silence Him. But if Jesus’ words are true, He is the most amazing person ever to live—and die and live again—in human history.
Think: Why do you think it’s hard for some people to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God? Why do you think it seems so much easier for others?
Pray: Thank God for the spiritual vision to believe that Jesus is the Son of God who takes away the sin of the world.
Do: Think of someone you could ask about the high priest’s question this week: “Do you believe that Jesus was the Son of God?”
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Only Everything
“Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, ‘I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.’ ” (Mark 12:43-44)
After exhausting and frustrating his challengers with His teaching, Jesus sat down in the temple area in what was known as the court of the women. That’s where the 13 trumpet-shaped collection devices were found along one wall. He watched the people toss in their Passover offerings and gifts.
Jesus noticed that some wealthy folks had thrown in significant coinage. But the one that stood out to Him was the widow who gave everything she had—two “lepta.” It amounted to 1/64 of a day’s pay. She had nothing left.
Jesus’ praise for her tells us something. God wants everything we’ve got because He wants us to trust Him completely. Yesterday, we saw He wants us to love Him with all of ourselves. Today, that He wants us to hold nothing back, to trust Him to take care of us even when we’re down to pocket lint.
Think: Do you have a pocket in your life where you keep the things you’re not yet willing to give up to God? What do you keep in there?
Pray: Thank God for the example of this lady who was financially poor but rich in trusting God. Ask Him to help you to be rich like that.
Do: Make a plan to give something to God this week that will force you to trust Him more.
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Start Here
“The most important [command],” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” (Mark 11:29-31)
Jesus continued to put Himself directly in the crosshairs of the religious leaders in the days leading up to his death and resurrection. After causing all that turmoil at the temple on Monday, He went right back to the temple courts on Tuesday morning. This time, the chief priests and teachers were waiting for Him.
That’s why He was there. Jesus seems to have set aside Tuesday and maybe Wednesday to allow all comers to question Him while He addressed the wrong teachings and wrong attitudes that had worked into Jewish religious life.
And at least one teacher seemed to get it. After this famous statement from Jesus about the most important commands, that anonymous teacher agreed that loving God with all we have and loving others the way we’d want to be loved is more important even than all the offerings and sacrifices. He understood what Jesus wants us to understand—God cares more about what and how we love than anything else.
Think: What do you feel most passionate about? What do you wake up in the morning thinking about? What are the last images in your head as you fall asleep? How could you love God with more of your life?
Pray: Ask God to help you see how to love Him with everything you’ve got—and to give you the courage to love worthless things less.
Do: Make a little list of the main things that compete in your heart with affection for God.
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Monday: Cleaning House
“Jesus entered the temple area and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts.” (Mark 11:15-16)
As we walk through the week leading up to Jesus’ death and resurrection, everything gets more intense around Jesus. The disciples know that just being in Jerusalem is putting all their lives at risk. And Jesus refuses to lay low, get through the Passover, and get out of town.
Instead, He very publicly raises a very dead man back to life, rides right into Jerusalem on donkey in full daylight to the cheers of crowds, and then this: He marches into the outer courtyard of the temple—the high priest’s own turf—and starts throwing over the money tables and physically stopping people from taking shortcuts through the place . . . again!
The disciples must have been scared. Nobody challenged the decisions of the priests like that. Nobody could—unless He came with God’s own authority. Even then, Jesus was on a dangerous path.
Think: Read verses 15-19. From that, why do you think Jesus was so harsh on the practice of making a profit selling sacrificial animals and Jewish currency in the temple area?
Pray: Thank God for Jesus’ courage to stand for what is right knowing it was going to cost Him a very painful death.
Do: The money-changers and short-cutters made light of God’s holiness for their own gain. Make a short list of right v. wrong motives someone might have for participating in religious activities.