Divine Dining April 8, 2026 Devotional

LUKE 24:7, 26, 44 | ⁷ that the Son of Man must be handed over to the hands of sinners and be crucified and on the third day rise again.”

²⁶ Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?”

⁴⁴ Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.”

Yesterday’s devotion traced some, but not all, of the many ways Jesus’ life, death, and Resurrection are the culmination of the story of God’s relationship with Israel. In Him the many strands of the Old Testament become a single story of redemption. There are many other examples of this, by the way, like Jesus’ teaching fulfilling the desire for and experience of truth in the wisdom literature.

But today we shift to the second reason Jesus did some Torah teaching during His Resurrection appearances, the necessity of His suffering and death. The women who meet the angels at the empty tomb are told of this necessity, being reminded of Jesus’ earlier teaching that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners and crucified. The two disciples walking toward the sunset in Emmaus are asked, “was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things?” The confused disciples hear that “everything written about me (the Messiah) must be fulfilled.”

What is your personal understanding of this necessity?

Gracious God,

You chose a beautiful and terrible necessity, out of love for Your wayward children. Thank You for that gracious choice.

Amen