Daily Devotion

Voice: Doreen

---

Alleluia. Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.

Today is Wednesday of Easter Week, 8th of April.

---

We begin by praising the Lord in the words of Psalm 113

Praise the Lord!
Praise, O servants of the Lord,
    praise the name of the Lord!

² Blessed be the name of the Lord
    from this time forth and forevermore!
³ From the rising of the sun to its setting,
    the name of the Lord is to be praised!

⁴ The Lord is high above all nations,
    and his glory above the heavens!
⁵ Who is like the Lord our God,
    who is seated on high,
⁶ who looks far down
    on the heavens and the earth?
⁷ He raises the poor from the dust
    and lifts the needy from the ash heap,
⁸ to make them sit with princes,
    with the princes of his people.
⁹ He gives the barren woman a home,
    making her the joyous mother of children.
Praise the Lord!

Glory to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit:
as It was in the beginning, is
now, and shall be forever. Amen.

---

Luke 24:1-12

24 But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. ² And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, ³ but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.⁴ While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. ⁵ And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?⁶ He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, ⁷ that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” ⁸ And they remembered his words, ⁹ and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest.¹⁰ Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles, ¹¹ but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. ¹² But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened.

---

“Why do you seek the living among the dead?”

This is a strange question. Why not? The disciples were merely doing what bereaved people do: grieving at the grave.

For Good Friday was anything but good. Their Master was murdered. 

In many ways, the death of Christ, if it stops short of Easter, mirrors life. The innocent suffers. Often the criminals get away with it. We read it in the papers everyday.

There is a famous painting of the German artist, Holbein, entitled The Body of the dead Christ in the tomb.

It plainly depicts a dead body, where rigor mortis has set in. In her diaries, Anna Dostoyevsky recalls her husband standing before Holbein’s Dead Christ as if stunned. He was, she recounts, both transfixed and agitated by it. “A painting like that,“ he said to her, “can make you lose your faith”. This painting inspired him to write the tragic novel, The Idiot.

If the life of Jesus ends with death, like that of any other human being, then good cannot triumph over evil. We cannot say that ultimately, there will be justice. Or that there is a moral order to this universe. Christianity will not be anything other than a cemetery of ideals.

For why should anyone believe in a dead Messiah?

But the angel moved on to say: He is not here, but has risen.

Herein lies the unique message, he is not in the tomb. He has risen! Good Friday is “good” because of Easter. Easter makes all the difference because the message is this: Ultimately, good will triumph over evil. Death will not have a final word. 

Indeed, we do not seek the living among the dead. For those of us who believe, life do not end in the grave.

Reflect for a moment on the implications of Jesus’ resurrection for your life. How will it influence the way you live today?

---

We pray the Collect from Easter Sunday:

Lord of all life and power,
who through the mighty resurrection of your Son
overcame the old order of sin and death to make all things new in him: 
grant that we, being dead to sin and alive to you in Jesus Christ,
may reign with him in glory;
to whom with you and the Holy Spirit 
be praise and honour, glory and might, now and in all eternity. Amen

---

Be blessed by, Forever, sung by Nathan Pacheco

The moon and stars they wept
The morning sun was dead
The Savior of the world was fallen
His body on the cross
His blood poured out for us
The weight of every curse upon Him

One final breath He gave
As heaven looked away
The Son of God was laid in darkness
A battle in the grave
The war on death was waged
The power of hell forever broken

The ground began to shake
The stone was rolled away
His perfect love could not be overcome
Now death where is your sting
Our resurrected King
Has rendered you defeated

Forever He is glorified
Forever He is lifted high
Forever He is risen
He is alive, He is alive

We sing Hallelujah, we sing Hallelujah
We sing Hallelujah, the Lamb has overcome

In the album, HIGHER, by NATHAN PACHECO

Link to today’s Morning Office