Loving God of all people, pour out Your love and peace on the needs of this dear reader; in Christ Jesus I pray, amen.
Our text for today is from John 16:1-8: 1 When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. 2 And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. 3 They had been saying to one another, "Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?" 4 When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back. 5 As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. 6 But he said to them, "Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. 7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you." 8 So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.
Yesterday in Sunday school, we covered the endings of the three synoptic gospels: Matthew, Mark, and Luke. The Gospel of Mark, believed to have been written first, ends with those eight verses. It has long troubled scholars and believers that verse 8 is the ending of the first gospel, for it ends with such words as "fled...for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid." If you have your Bible handy (and what kind of devotional do you do without it handy??), look at verses 9 through 20 and you get what some scholars believe is mostly ancient believers' attempt to make sense of that abrupt ending. But look again, this ending does have a resurrection. It has an angel of the Lord present with the resurrection message to the women, and it is one they were to carry back to Peter and the disciples. Yet, that fear thing...
How are you writing the Resurrection Story in your own life? That's the most important question than how Mark ended his story. What are people receiving from you about Jesus not dying eternally on the cross? Is the evidence of a resurrected life, your resurrected life visible? Can people tell that you died to your sin and you have become a new person? Or have you let fear have its way in your life?
PRAYER: Loving God, help me to live a resurrection life. Help me to show that I too, have been raised from the death of sin to a new way of living. May my resurrection story serve to help others die to sin and to be born anew to a better and higher way to live. I ask this in Christ Jesus' precious name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord.
Eradio Valverde
