Stress Test Devotional May 11
May 11, 2024
JOHN 20:1-2, 19-21 | 1Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. 2 So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.”
19 When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”
The very first Easter Sunday was the beginning of a world-wide wake up. Mary and Peter and the “other disciple” (John!?) woke up to the tremendous mystery of the empty tomb. The disciples woke up to the impossible presence of their Master, crucified, dead, and buried; yet alive and speaking.
Ever since, the world has been waking up to the truth of a life beyond life, discovering their part in a story that never ends. Now time could not be an ever-rolling stream, carrying all her sons and daughters away, but a preparation of eternity. Now we can awaken each morning without fear of death. Now we can live in the knowledge that God has the power to overcome all that diminishes and destroys life. Now we can be awake to our own faults because we see His great mercy. Now we can be awake to need and alive to service for there is, in this new morning, a chance to store up treasures in heaven. Now shame has become glory, loss has become triumph, and death has become life. The resurrection is a wake-up call to a world where all things will be made new. It is the start of a new faith and the basis of a new hope.
Which is your favorite Easter song? Why?
Which is your favorite resurrection story? Why?
What has the risen Lord “woken up” in you?
