Daily Scripture: Luke 8:1 After this, Yeshua traveled about from town to town and village to village, proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom of God. With him were the Twelve, 2 and a number of women who had been healed from evil spirits and illnesses — Miryam (called Magdalit), from whom seven demons had gone out; 3 Yochanah the wife of Herod’s finance minister Kuza; Shoshanah; and many other women who drew on their own wealth to help him.
Reflection Questions:
Mary Magdalene has come to play such a large role in speculative popular fiction about Jesus that it’s a bit of a surprise to see how relatively small (yet vital) a role she played in the gospels. Luke 8 is the only mention of her name before Jesus' cross and resurrection. It was extremely brief, yet it showed that she had good reason to become one of Jesus' deeply committed disciples.
- At times, as in this reading, the gospels give almost no details. When they do, the details may differ, and we wonder which is most accurate. But on the big story, they all agree. Pastor Frederick Buechner wrote, “When Jesus came, the whole course of history was changed. That is a fact as hard and blunt as any fact….all the way down the twenty centuries since [Jesus' life,] there have been countless different kinds of people who in countless different kinds of ways…have been grasped by him, caught up into his life….in this man, there is the power of God to bring light into our darkness, to make us whole, to give a new kind of life to anybody who turns toward him in faith, even to such as you and me.” Jesus changed Mary Magdalene’s life for the better. In what ways has he changed your life? How will you remain open to let him continue changing your life for the better?
Dear Jesus, Easter was not a one-day event—it changed everything, for all time. Let it continue to shape and change me, and my world, for the better. Amen.
Family Activity:
Many people were cruel to Jesus during the last week of His life on earth. He consistently responded with love and forgiveness towards the people who were hurting Him. As a family, share some of your favorite stories about Jesus. What words would you use to describe Jesus in those stories? Review the events of the Final Week together and explore Jesus’ responses in them. How would you describe Jesus in those times? What qualities did Jesus faithfully display throughout His life? Choose one or two characteristics of Jesus your family can develop. What steps will your family take to grow more Christ-like? Pray and ask God to help you become more like Jesus.Insights from Dave Pullin:
Dave Pullin serves as the Director of Technical Production at The Church of the Resurrection. The Technical Production ministry handles all audio/visual/technical support for the church including worship services and events.
Mary Magdalene as a disciple. I like that idea. It opens the door for people like you and me to also be disciples. But I often wonder if I really am that good a disciple, and to tell you the truth…I’m not sure if I am. As I think about what it means to be a disciple of Jesus, I think it all boils down to two very simple, yet extremely difficult, components:
First: Adamantly Pursue Holiness
Over and over, the scriptures call us to live a life of personal holiness, to strive to live a life apart from sin. Yes, we all fall–but I have to regularly ask myself, “Am I actually really trying?” In my opinion, I feel that quite often, much of the American, white, middle-upper class version of Christianity is something Jesus would be ashamed of. Not all of it, but a lot of it. And let me explain. Those of us in this demographic have rarely had our faith challenged. I have not lived in poverty. I have never been persecuted for my faith (not being invited to a party because I’m a Christian doesn’t count). My life is not regularly threatened due to my beliefs. I live a comfortable life, sheltered from many of the evils in this world. And so I become complacent. My faith becomes complacent. I am not regularly required to depend on my faith. Instead, quite often, I allow my faith to be the dues of a nice social network to which I belong. And I venture that most of you reading this may be able to relate.
In our combined complacency, It seems that we have tacitly redefined and agreed upon what Holiness really is. This redefined holiness has become more about being nice and cordial to each other, but not really wanting to get too invested in someone else’s problems. It has made it acceptable to give time and money, as long as it doesn’t affect our lifestyle or get in the way of soccer and baseball practice (or our golf game). It has become all about having the professional ‘Happy Family’ pics posted on our highlight reel on Facebook, while inside the walls at home our families are being torn apart by online porn and alcohol.
This is not Holiness. It is not what life is supposed to be like. And the deeper I look into my own life, I realize that to battle complacency, I have to adamantly pursue the kind of holiness talked about in Scripture. I have to exercise that muscle daily. We all know what is right and wrong, but we have to actually do it. And we have to do it the most when no one else is watching.
Second: Recklessly love everyone
The over-arching theme of all the scriptures is Love. It’s a very easy thing to say, but how well do we actually do this? I mean, it is easy to love people who are like us, whose lifestyle we agree with, or people who do not upset our status quo. But those people we can probably count on one hand. What about those who are different from us, who think differently, have different values, who belong to a different political party, race, gender, orientation, or religion? Or tax bracket?
Too often, I find myself slipping into a dangerous line of thinking. It goes something like this: even though God loves me unconditionally, my love to others must remain conditional. Pretty messed up, huh? Unfortunately, I see a lot of other people that fall victim to this as well. And it can’t be further from the truth. Our job is not to select who is and is not worthy of love. Our job is to love everyone, without thinking or caring about the consequences. And there are a lot of implications regarding what it means to love someone. Our job as disciples is to Love Recklessly, the way Jesus loved. It’s easy to think that it is our job to hold people accountable for their sins, but it’s not. That’s God’s job. And God is fully capable of doing that without our help. Our job is to love. To do this, I am constantly reminding myself of the greatest commandment: Love God and Love Others.
Love God = Adamantly Pursue Holiness
Love Others = Recklessly, Unconditionally
At least that is how I have come to define what it means to be a disciple. Like Mary.
The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
13720 Roe Avenue
Mary Magdalene as a disciple. I like that idea. It opens the door for people like you and me to also be disciples. But I often wonder if I really am that good a disciple, and to tell you the truth…I’m not sure if I am. As I think about what it means to be a disciple of Jesus, I think it all boils down to two very simple, yet extremely difficult, components:
First: Adamantly Pursue Holiness
Over and over, the scriptures call us to live a life of personal holiness, to strive to live a life apart from sin. Yes, we all fall–but I have to regularly ask myself, “Am I actually really trying?” In my opinion, I feel that quite often, much of the American, white, middle-upper class version of Christianity is something Jesus would be ashamed of. Not all of it, but a lot of it. And let me explain. Those of us in this demographic have rarely had our faith challenged. I have not lived in poverty. I have never been persecuted for my faith (not being invited to a party because I’m a Christian doesn’t count). My life is not regularly threatened due to my beliefs. I live a comfortable life, sheltered from many of the evils in this world. And so I become complacent. My faith becomes complacent. I am not regularly required to depend on my faith. Instead, quite often, I allow my faith to be the dues of a nice social network to which I belong. And I venture that most of you reading this may be able to relate.
In our combined complacency, It seems that we have tacitly redefined and agreed upon what Holiness really is. This redefined holiness has become more about being nice and cordial to each other, but not really wanting to get too invested in someone else’s problems. It has made it acceptable to give time and money, as long as it doesn’t affect our lifestyle or get in the way of soccer and baseball practice (or our golf game). It has become all about having the professional ‘Happy Family’ pics posted on our highlight reel on Facebook, while inside the walls at home our families are being torn apart by online porn and alcohol.
This is not Holiness. It is not what life is supposed to be like. And the deeper I look into my own life, I realize that to battle complacency, I have to adamantly pursue the kind of holiness talked about in Scripture. I have to exercise that muscle daily. We all know what is right and wrong, but we have to actually do it. And we have to do it the most when no one else is watching.
Second: Recklessly love everyone
The over-arching theme of all the scriptures is Love. It’s a very easy thing to say, but how well do we actually do this? I mean, it is easy to love people who are like us, whose lifestyle we agree with, or people who do not upset our status quo. But those people we can probably count on one hand. What about those who are different from us, who think differently, have different values, who belong to a different political party, race, gender, orientation, or religion? Or tax bracket?
Too often, I find myself slipping into a dangerous line of thinking. It goes something like this: even though God loves me unconditionally, my love to others must remain conditional. Pretty messed up, huh? Unfortunately, I see a lot of other people that fall victim to this as well. And it can’t be further from the truth. Our job is not to select who is and is not worthy of love. Our job is to love everyone, without thinking or caring about the consequences. And there are a lot of implications regarding what it means to love someone. Our job as disciples is to Love Recklessly, the way Jesus loved. It’s easy to think that it is our job to hold people accountable for their sins, but it’s not. That’s God’s job. And God is fully capable of doing that without our help. Our job is to love. To do this, I am constantly reminding myself of the greatest commandment: Love God and Love Others.
Love God = Adamantly Pursue Holiness
Love Others = Recklessly, Unconditionally
At least that is how I have come to define what it means to be a disciple. Like Mary.
13720 Roe Avenue
Leawood, Kansas 66224 United States
913.897.0120
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