'Risen Christ' Tagged Posts
Daily Devotions
When Peter saw it, he addressed the people, ‘You Israelites, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we had made him walk?’” vs. 12 Acts 3:12-16 Many believers have a mixed attitude toward miracles. We will gladly pray for healing whenever asked, but then when healings actually occur we are reluctant to call them miraculous. That wasn’t the case among the apostles in Jerusalem during the…
Daily Devotions
Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.’” vss. 28-29 John 20:26-31 It’s kind of neat the way John finishes his carefully crafted gospel. The man who the world has come to know as “Doubting Thomas” gets to make the first recorded confession of faith in the Risen Christ. Sometimes it’s the most unlikely disciples…
Daily Devotions
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. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb.” vss. 1-2 Mark 16:1-8 The women knew what to do when Jesus died. While the male disciples stayed hidden in their confusion, as soon as the Sabbath was over the women got to work. Because…
Daily Devotions
Restore us, O Lord God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved.” vs. 19 Psalm 80:17-19 The psalmist was thinking of the nation of Israel in his prayer, but his words have been used since in countless prayers, perhaps even our own. All face times in their lives when they are deeply conscious that things are not as they once were, that relationships have foundered, health has declined, or inflation has taken a bite out of…
Daily Devotions
After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.” vs. 20 John 20:19-20 Luke tells us that after the resurrection Jesus was revealed to two of his disciples in the breaking of bread. John, on the other hand, reports that Jesus was known to the disciples in the revealing of his scars. These two very different stories are a great gift to us as we struggle to see…
Daily Devotions
Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but they did not see him.” vs. 24 Luke 24:13-24 It’s really hard for any of us to believe in things that we have not experienced. And if we are going to believe in them, we will need to have supporting evidence. According to Luke, that’s what disciples of Jesus were looking for when they were told by some women…
Daily Devotions
Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed.” vs. 23 Galatians 3:23-26 Looking back, Paul now sees that his life before Christ, under the law, was like a rigid imprisonment. Strict adherence to the commandments and the ordinances kept him on the straight and narrow, but at a cost. He never experienced the freedom that comes with faith and grace. In this letter to the Galatians, he explores that new life…
Daily Devotions
Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.’” vss. 28-29 John 20:26-29 While John does make mention in his gospel of the anonymous “Beloved Disciple,” the disciple most beloved by many Christians is Thomas. After all it’s his story that most closely resonates with their own as they seek to make sense of Jesus’ resurrection.…
Daily Devotions
‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” vs. 6 Revelation 1:4-8 John was moved by his extraordinary vision of the Risen Christ to write letters to seven congregations scattered through the western part of present day Turkey. It had been a powerful experience, a glimpse of the heavenly precincts, and an encounter with the Divine Presence. Vocabulary fails us in such circumstances and John…
Daily Devotions
Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead?” vs. 12 1 Corinthians 15:12-14 As part of his proclamation in the early congregations Paul regularly spoke of his personal encounter with the Risen Christ. In that transformative moment he was called to become an apostle and to stop persecuting Christians. So when he ran into believers who claimed that there was no resurrection of the dead…
Daily Devotions
So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” vs. 17 2 Corinthians 5:14-17 We don’t see many stories of Jesus in the writings of Paul, and there’s a reason for that. He had never known Jesus of Nazareth–he only knew the risen Christ and believed that in Christ all had died and all had been raised. In his words, in Christ there had been a new creation…
Daily Devotions
Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.” vs. 7 John 16:4b-15 The disciples likely didn’t think it would be to their advantage to have Jesus go away–that’s not in our human nature. When we love someone dearly and have been fed by their presence, we like to keep…
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