Voice: Bernice
Today is Thursday, 30th of July. Take a moment to be still in His presence.
We pray:
O Almighty God, who pourest out on all who desire it the spirit of grace and of supplication: Deliver us, when we draw near to thee, from coldness of heart and wanderings of mind, that with steadfast thoughts and kindled affections we may worship thee in spirit and in truth; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Psalm 37:27-34
Turn away from evil and do good;
so shall you dwell forever.
28 For the Lord loves justice;
he will not forsake his saints.
They are preserved forever,
but the children of the wicked shall be cut off.
29 The righteous shall inherit the land
and dwell upon it forever.
30 The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom,
and his tongue speaks justice.
31 The law of his God is in his heart;
his steps do not slip.
32 The wicked watches for the righteous
and seeks to put him to death.
33 The Lord will not abandon him to his power
or let him be condemned when he is brought to trial.
34 Wait for the Lord and keep his way,
and he will exalt you to inherit the land;
you will look on when the wicked are cut off.
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 23:56b-24:12
56Then they returned and prepared spices and ointments.
On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.
1But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. 2And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. 5And 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? 6He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” 8And they remembered his words, 9and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. 10Now 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, 11but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. 12But 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.
This is the Word of the Lord
Thanks be to God
“Why do you seek the living among the dead?”
This is a strange question. Firstly, the disciples were merely doing what bereaved people do: grieving at the grave. Secondly, they were seeking to mourn a dead person. They were not planning to meet anyone else.
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 for He has risen. Good Friday is “good” because of Easter. Easter makes all the difference because the message is: Ultimately, good will triumph over evil. And 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.
This is a truth we celebrate every Sunday: we gather to celebrate the One who lives.
Reflect for a moment on the implications of Jesus’ resurrection for your life. How will it influence the way you live today? Remember this truth as you go to church on Sunday.
We end with an affirmation of our faith through The Apostles’ Creed
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.
He was conceived by the Holy Spirit
and born of the Virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again.
He ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. 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
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