Walk With Jesus During Holy Week: Easter Morning
We have had a busy week hanging out with Jesus, but it didn’t end as we had hoped. He hung on a cross and bled to death. Your suite at the Shalom Downtown Hilton has been nice, but you wake up this morning ready to go home. You pack your bags and get dressed, log on to the airline’s website to print out your boarding passes, then get ready to go down to the lobby for one last continental breakfast… when suddenly there is a heightened excitement out your window; something about the tomb being empty! You rush downstairs to see what all the excitement is about!
Early in the morning, women went to the tomb and found the stone closing the tomb’s entrance had been rolled away. An angel told them Jesus was alive – “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said (Matthew 28:5-6).” They excitedly (with fear and joy) left to tell the others. John tells us that after being told the news, “Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb. Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first (John 20:3-4).”
Imagine yourself running with the two disciples; are you pushing past them, wanting to be the first one to the tomb? Or do you hold back, hesitating, doubtful that the news is true, tired and ready to get home and get on with life? Do you think it is just a big April Fool’s Day joke? Be honest, today, do you live your life believing, not just in your mind, also in your heart, that Jesus is alive? Do others see that in you?
So, as you head home after a busy week, are you convinced more than ever before, that Jesus is resurrected, just as He said? The stone has been rolled away and the tomb is empty!
What a week it has been! How has this week changed you? If you take away only one thing this week, let it be this – “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another (John 13:34-35).” The love Jesus demonstrated on the cross, the amazing grace He shows to you and to me… that love, that grace, is to be given away, shown to, everyone, every day, in every situation. That is how loving God is lived out!
On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’” Then they remembered his words. When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened. (Luke 24:1-12)
Later that evening, after dinner, when two men who had encountered a third man on the road to Emmaus earlier in the day recognized him as Jesus, they returned to Jerusalem, and we read this…
“It is true! The Lord has risen and appeared to Simon.” (Luke 24:34)
Jesus has risen and is alive to give you new life. Receive His love and embrace your new life today! Now that you’ve walked with Jesus all through Holy Week, allow Him to walk with you as you navigate your way through life each and every day! It is my hope that walking with Jesus this week has brought you a new intimacy with Him, a deeper love, a greater faith, all of which carry over into a brighter tomorrow and every day after that. Thank you for allowing me to share my writings with you.
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