"Compassion Defined" for Saturday, 31 March 2018 - goTandem

"Compassion Defined" for Saturday, 31 March 2018 - goTandem

"Compassion Defined"
Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you. (James 1:27)
How does this compare to the traditional understanding of religion?
Where does compassion show up in this verse? Where do you show up in this verse?

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"Heartiness v. Heartlessness Towards Others" by Oswald Chambers - My Utmost for His Highest for Sunday, 1 April 2018 Daily Devotional

"Heartiness v. Heartlessness Towards Others" by Oswald Chambers - My Utmost for His Highest for Sunday, 1 April 2018 Daily Devotional

"Heartiness v. Heartlessness Towards Others" by Oswald Chambers

It is Christ…who also maketh intercession for us.…The Spirit…maketh intercession for the saints. (ROMANS 8:34,27)

ROMANS 8:34 Who punishes them? Certainly not the Messiah Yeshua, who died and — more than that — has been raised, is at the right hand of God and is actually pleading on our behalf! , 27 and the one who searches hearts knows exactly what the Spirit is thinking, because his pleadings for God’s people accord with God’s will. (Complete Jewish Bible)

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Do we need any more argument than this to become intercessors — that Christ “ever liveth to make intercession”; that the Holy Spirit “maketh intercession for the saints”? Are we living in such a vital relationship to our fellow men that we do the work of intercession as the Spirit-taught children of God? Begin with the circumstances we are in — our homes, our business, our country, the present crisis as it touches us and others — are these things crushing us? Are they badgering us out of the presence of God and leaving us no time for worship? Then let us call a halt, and get into such living relationship with God that our relationship to others may be maintained on the line of intercession whereby God works His marvels.
Beware of outstripping God by your very longing to do His will. We run ahead of Him in a thousand and one activities, consequently we get so burdened with persons and with difficulties that we do not worship God, we do not intercede. If once the burden and the pressure come upon us and we are not in the worshipping attitude, it will produce not only hardness toward God but despair in our own souls. God continually introduces us to people for whom we have no affinity, and unless we are worshipping God, the most natural thing to do is to treat them heartlessly, to give them a text like the jab of a spear, or leave them with a rapped-out counsel of God and go. A heartless Christian must be a terrible grief to Our Lord.
Are we in the direct line of the intercession of our Lord and of the Holy Spirit? From (My Utmost for His Highest Classic Edition)
Bible in One Year: Judges 13-15; Luke 6:27-49
Judges 13:1 Again the people of Isra’el did what was evil from Adonai’s perspective, and Adonai handed them over to the P’lishtim for forty years.
2 There was a man from Tzor‘ah from the family of Dan, whose name was Manoach; his wife was barren, childless. 3 The angel of Adonai appeared to the woman and said to her, “Listen! You are barren, you haven’t had a child, but you will conceive and bear a son. 4 Now, therefore, be careful not to drink any wine or other intoxicating liquor, and don’t eat anything unclean. 5 For indeed you will conceive and bear a son. No razor is to touch his head, because the child will be a nazir for God from the womb. Moreover, he will begin to rescue Isra’el from the power of the P’lishtim.”
6 The woman came and told her husband; she said, “A man of God came to me; his face was fearsome, like that of the angel of God. I didn’t ask him where he came from, and he didn’t tell me his name. 7 But he said to me, ‘Listen! You will conceive and bear a son, so now don’t drink any wine or other intoxicating liquor, and don’t eat anything unclean, because the child will be a nazir for God from the womb until the day he dies.’”
8 Then Manoach prayed to Adonai, “Please, Adonai, let the man of God you sent come again to us and teach us what we should do for the child who will be born.” 9 God paid attention to what Manoach said, and the angel of God came again to the woman as she sat in the field, but her husband Manoach wasn’t with her. 10 The woman hurried and ran to tell her husband, “Here! That man, the one who came to me the other day, he’s come again!” 11 Manoach got up, followed his wife, went to the man and said to him, “Are you the man who spoke to the woman?” He answered, “I am.” 12 Manoach asked, “Now, when what you said comes true, what are the guidelines for raising the child? What should be done for him?” 13 The angel of Adonai said to Manoach, “The woman should take care to do everything I said to her. 14 She shouldn’t eat anything that comes from a grapevine, she shouldn’t drink wine or other intoxicating liquor, and she shouldn’t eat anything unclean. She should do everything I ordered her to do.”
15 Manoach said to the angel of Adonai, “Please stay with us a bit longer, so that we can cook a young goat for you.” 16 The angel of Adonai said to Manoach, “Even if I do stay, I won’t eat your food; and if you prepare a burnt offering, you must offer it to Adonai.” For Manoach did not know that he was the angel of Adonai. 17 Manoach said to the angel of Adonai, “Tell us your name, so that when your words come true we can honor you.” 18 The angel of Adonai answered him, “Why are you asking about my name? It is wonderful.” 19 Manoach took the kid and the grain offering and offered them on the rock to Adonai. Then, with Manoach and his wife looking on, the angel did something wonderful — 20 as the flame went up toward the sky from the altar, the angel of Adonaiwent up in the flame from the altar. When Manoach and his wife saw it, they fell to the ground on their faces. 21 But the angel of Adonai did not appear again to Manoach or his wife. Then Manoach realized it had been the angel of Adonai. 22 Manoach said to his wife, “We will surely die, because we have seen God!” 23 But his wife said to him, “If Adonai had wanted to kill us, he wouldn’t have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering from us, and he wouldn’t have shown us all this or told us such things at this time.”
24 The woman bore a son and called him Shimshon. The child grew, and Adonai blessed him. 25 The Spirit of Adonai began to stir him when he was in the Camp of Dan, between Tzor‘ah and Eshta’ol.
14: 1 Shimshon went down to Timnah, and in Timnah he saw a woman who was one of the P’lishtim. 2 He came up and told his father and mother, “I saw a woman in Timnah, one of the P’lishtim. Now get her for me to be my wife.” 3 His father and mother replied, “Isn’t there any woman from the daughters of your kinsmen or among all my people? Must you go to the uncircumcised P’lishtim to find a wife?” Shimshon said to his father, “Get her for me. I like her.” 4 His father and mother didn’t know that all this came from Adonai, who was seeking grounds for a quarrel with the P’lishtim. (At that time the P’lishtim were ruling Isra’el.)
5 Shimshon went down with his father and mother to Timnah. When they came to the vineyards of Timnah, a young lion roared at him. 6 The Spirit of Adonai came powerfully upon Shimshon, and barehanded he tore the lion to pieces as easily as if it had been a young goat. But he didn’t tell his father or mother what he had done. 7 Then he went down and talked with the woman and found he still liked her.
8 Awhile later, as he was returning to claim his bride, he turned aside to look at the carcass of the lion and saw that there was now a swarm of bees in the body of the lion, and honey. 9 He scraped the honey out into his hands and went on, eating as he went; and when he came to his father and mother, he gave them some; and they ate too. But he didn’t tell them that he had scraped the honey out of the body of the lion.
10 His father went down to the woman, and there Shimshon gave a banquet — this is what the young men used to do. 11 When the P’lishtim saw him, they provided thirty companions to be with him. 12 Shimshon said to them, “Let me present you with a riddle. If you can solve it within the seven days of the banquet and tell me the solution, I will give you thirty linen shirts and thirty changes of good clothes. 13 But if you can’t solve it, you give me thirty linen shirts and thirty changes of good clothes.” They answered, “Tell us the riddle, we want to hear it.” 14 So he said to them,
“Out of the eater came food;
out of the strong came sweetness.”
Three days passed, and they couldn’t solve the riddle. 15 On the seventh day, they said to Shimshon’s wife, “Coax your husband into telling us the solution to the riddle. Otherwise we’ll burn down your father’s house and you with it. You two called us here to turn us into paupers, didn’t you?” 16 Shimshon’s wife went to him in tears and said, “You don’t love me, you hate me! You told a riddle to my fellow countrymen, and you haven’t told me the answer.” He said to her, “Look, I haven’t even told it to my father and mother! Should I tell you?” 17 But she had been crying throughout the seven days of the banquet; so on the seventh day, because she had kept pressing him, he told her the solution; and she passed it on to her people. 18 Then, before sundown on the seventh day, the men of the city said to him,
“What is sweeter than honey?
and what is stronger than a lion?”
Shimshon answered,
“If you hadn’t plowed with my young cow,
you wouldn’t have solved my riddle now.”
19 Then the Spirit of Adonai came over him powerfully. He went down to Ashkelon, killed thirty of their men, took their good clothes, and gave them to the men who had “solved” the riddle. He was boiling with rage, so he went straight up to his father’s house, 20 and his wife was given to the companion who had been best man at the wedding.
15: 1 But after a while, during the wheat-harvest season, Shimshon went to see his wife. He brought a young goat for her and said to her father, “I want to go to my wife in her room.” But he wouldn’t let him. 2 Her father said, “I really thought you hated her altogether, so I gave her to your best man. But her younger sister — isn’t she even prettier? Why not take her instead?” 3 Shimshon said to them, “This time I’m through with the P’lishtim! I’m going to do something terrible to them!” 4 So Shimshon went and caught three hundred foxes. Then he took torches, tied pairs of foxes to each other by their tails, and put a torch in the knot of every pair of tails. 5 Then he set the torches on fire and let the foxes loose in wheat fields of the P’lishtim. In this way he burned up the harvested wheat along with the grain waiting to be harvested, and the olive orchards as well. 6 The P’lishtim asked, “Who did this?” They answered, “Shimshon the son-in-law of the man from Timnah, because he took Shimshon’s wife and gave her to his best man.” Then the P’lishtim came up and burned both her and her father to death. 7 Shimshon said to them, “I will certainly have my revenge on you for doing such a thing; but after I do, I’ll stop.” 8 Infuriated, he began killing them right and left; it was a massacre. Then he went down and stayed in the cave at the ‘Eitam Rock.
9 The P’lishtim went up, pitched camp in Y’hudah and attacked Lechi. 10 The men of Y’hudah said, “Why are you attacking us?” They replied, “To arrest Shimshon, that’s why — to treat him the way he treated us.” 11 Then 3,000 men from Y’hudah went down to the cave at the Eitam Rock and said to Shimshon, “Don’t you know that the P’lishtim are our rulers? What are you doing to us?” He answered, “I’ve only treated them the way they treated me.” 12 They said to him, “We’ve come down to arrest you and hand you over to the P’lishtim.” Shimshon replied, “Swear to me that you won’t fall on me yourselves.” 13 They said to him, “No, but we will tie you up and hand you over to them. However, we promise not to kill you.” So they tied him up with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock. 14 When he got to Lechi, the P’lishtim came running and shouting at him; and the Spirit of Adonai came on him powerfully. The ropes on his arms became as weak as burnt flax and fell from his arms. 15 He found a fresh donkey jawbone, took it in his hand, and with it he struck down a thousand men. 16 Shimshon said,
“With the jawbone of a donkey I left heaps piled on heaps!
With the jawbone of a donkey I killed a thousand men!”
17 After he finished speaking he threw the jawbone away, and the place came to be called Ramat-Lechi [jawbone heights].
18 Then he felt very thirsty, so he called on Adonai, saying, “You accomplished this great rescue through your servant. But am I now to die from thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?” 19 Then God made a gash in the crater at Lechi, and water came out. When he had drunk, his spirit came back; and he revived. This is why the place was called ‘Ein-HaKorei [the spring of him who called], and it is there in Lechi until now. 20 He judged Isra’el in the period of the P’lishtim for twenty years.
Luke 6:27 Nevertheless, to you who are listening, what I say is this:
“Love your enemies!
Do good to those who hate you,
28 bless those who curse you,
pray for those who mistreat you.
29 “If someone hits you on one cheek,
offer the other too;
if someone takes your coat,
let him have your shirt as well.
30 “If someone asks you for something,
give it to him;
if someone takes what belongs to you,
don’t demand it back.
31 “Treat other people as you would like them to treat you. 32 What credit is it to you if you love only those who love you? Why, even sinners love those who love them. 33 What credit is it to you if you do good only to those who do good to you? Even sinners do that. 34 What credit is it to you if you lend only to those who you expect will pay you back? Even sinners lend to each other, expecting to be repaid in full. 35 But love your enemies, do good, and lend expecting nothing back! Your reward will be great, and you will be children of Ha‘Elyon; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. 36 Show compassion, just as your Father shows compassion.
37 “Don’t judge,
and you won’t be judged.
Don’t condemn,
and you won’t be condemned.
“Forgive,
and you will be forgiven.
38 Give,
and you will receive gifts —
the full measure, compacted, shaken together and overflowing, will be put right in your lap. For the measure with which you measure out will be used to measure back to you!”
39 He also told them a parable: “Can one blind man lead another blind man? Won’t they both fall into a pit? 40 A talmid is not above his rabbi; but each one, when he is fully trained, will be like his rabbi. 41 So why do you see the splinter in your brother’s eye, but not notice the log in your own eye? 42 How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me remove the splinter from your eye,’ when you yourself don’t see the log in your own eye? You hypocrite! First take the log out of your own eye; then you will see clearly, so that you can remove the splinter from your brother’s eye!
43 “For no good tree produces bad fruit, nor does a bad tree produce good fruit. 44 Each tree is recognized by its own fruit — figs aren’t picked from thorn bushes, nor grapes from a briar patch. 45 The good person produces good things from the store of good in his heart, while the evil person produces evil things from the store of evil in his heart. For his mouth speaks what overflows from his heart.
46 “Why do you call me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ but not do what I say? 47 Everyone who comes to me, hears my words and acts on them — I will show you what he is like: 48 he is like someone building a house who dug deep and laid the foundation on bedrock. When a flood came, the torrent beat against that house but couldn’t shake it, because it was constructed well. 49 And whoever hears my words but doesn’t act on them is like someone who built his house on the ground without any foundation. As soon as the river struck it, it collapsed and that house became a horrendous wreck!” (Complete Jewish Bible)
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WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

Is He going to help Himself to your life, or are you taken up with your conception of what you are going to do? God is responsible for our lives, and the one great keynote is reckless reliance upon Him. (from Approved Unto God, 10 R)

My Utmost for His Highest © 1992 by Oswald Chambers Publications Association, Ltd. Original edition © 1935 by Dodd, Mead & Company, Inc. Copyright renewed 1963 by Oswald Chambers Publications Association, Ltd. All rights reserved. United States publication rights are held by Discovery House, which is affiliated with Our Daily Bread Ministries.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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The Lutheran Hour Ministries in Saint Louis, Missouri, United States Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries by Dr. Kari Vo Lent Devotion - Sunday, April 1, 2018 "A Homely Beginning"

The Lutheran Hour Ministries in Saint Louis, Missouri, United States Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries by Dr. Kari Vo Lent Devotion - Sunday, April 1, 2018 "A Homely Beginning"

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Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries by Dr. Kari Vo "A Homely Beginning" for Sunday, April 1, 2018

Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself. (John 20:6-7) 

Read John 20:1-9

John 20:1 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Miryam from Magdala went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. 2 So she came running to Shim‘on Kefa and the other talmid, the one Yeshua loved, and said to them, “They’ve taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they’ve put him!”

3 Then Kefa and the other talmid started for the tomb. 4 They both ran, but the other talmid outran Kefa and reached the tomb first. 5 Stooping down, he saw the linen burial-sheets lying there but did not go in. 6 Then, following him, Shim‘on Kefa arrived, entered the tomb and saw the burial-sheets lying there, 7 also the cloth that had been around his head, lying not with the sheets but in a separate place and still folded up. 8 Then the other talmid, who had arrived at the tomb first, also went in; he saw, and he trusted. 9 (They had not yet come to understand that the Tanakh teaches that the Messiah has to rise from the dead.) (Complete Jewish Bible)

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It seems so tidy, somehow. When the disciples look into the tomb, they see the linen cloths lying on the stone bed, with the face cloth folded up neatly a little distance away. There are no grand explosions, no linen left dramatically draped around the room.
Rather it suggests to my mind that when He rose from the dead, Jesus simply sat up, removed His wrappings, folded His things (no doubt as His mother taught Him!) and then stood up and went about His day.
Such a quiet, homely beginning for the day that changed the world. A beginning like any other -- one that says "This is home; this is comfort; this is your life where you belong." A beginning unlike any other -- because this is the day that sees death undone, first for Jesus, and ultimately for every Christian who belongs to Him.
We fear death; for death is the enemy; death is a stranger and unknown to us. But Christ is no stranger. He is our Lord, our Savior, our brother and friend and refuge. And He is the One who has mastered death.
Now we do not need to be afraid. Jesus our Lord goes with us, through life and suffering and death and life again. He knows the way, and He holds us safe through all terrors. And just as it was for Him, so it will be for us some day: we will rise from our graves to enjoy the eternal life He gives -- the life that is home, that is comfort, that is where we belong -- forever -- with Jesus.
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, thank You with all my heart for rising again. Help me to trust in You as I face life and death, knowing that You will be with me and help me through every step of the way. Amen.

Reflection Questions

1. Who first taught you to fold or hang up your clothing?
2. In what homely, comfortable ways does God care for you?
3. When you think of death, how does it help to know that Christ has already gone through it? 

Author Dr. Kari Vo serves as theological writer for Lutheran Hour Ministries. She holds a doctorate in English (Renaissance period) from St. Louis University and has worked in writing and publishing for 30 years. She has published several books and written dozens of articles. Originally from California, she and her family are missionaries to the Vietnamese immigrants in the St. Louis area.
Today's Bible in a Year Reading: Deuteronomy 23-25; Luke 6:27-49
Deuteronomy 23:1 (22:30) “A man is not to take his father’s wife, thus violating his father’s rights.
2 (1) “A man with crushed or damaged private parts may not enter the assembly of Adonai.
3 (2) “A mamzer may not enter the assembly of Adonai, nor may his descendants down to the tenth generation enter the assembly of Adonai.
4 (3) “No ‘Amoni or Mo’avi may enter the assembly of Adonai, nor may any of his descendants down to the tenth generation ever enter the assembly of Adonai, 5 (4) because they did not supply you with food and water when you were on the road after leaving Egypt, and because they hired Bil‘am the son of B‘or from P’tor in Aram-Naharayim to put a curse on you. 6 (5) But Adonai your God would not listen to Bil‘am; rather, Adonai your God turned the curse into a blessing for you; because Adonai your God loved you. 7 (6) So you are never to seek their peace or well being, as long as you live.
(iv) 8 (7) “But you are not to detest an Edomi, because he is your brother; and you are not to detest an Egyptian, because you lived as a foreigner in his land. 9 (8) The third generation of children born to them may enter the assembly of Adonai.
10 (9) “When you are in camp, at war with your enemies, you are to guard yourself against anything bad. 11 (10) If there is a man among you who is unclean because of a nocturnal emission, he is to go outside the camp; he is not to enter the camp. 12 (11) When evening arrives he is to bathe himself in water, and after sunset he may enter the camp. 13 (12) Also you are to have an area outside the camp to use as a latrine. 14 (13) You must include a trowel with your equipment, and when you relieve yourself, you are to dig a hole first and afterwards cover your excrement. 15 (14) For Adonai your God moves about in your camp to rescue you and to hand over your enemies to you. Therefore your camp must be a holy place. [Adonai] should not see anything indecent among you, or he will turn away from you.
16 (15) “If a slave has escaped from his master and taken refuge with you, you are not to hand him back to his master. 17 (16) Allow him to stay with you, in whichever place suits him best among your settlements; do not mistreat him.
18 (17) “No woman of Isra’el is to engage in ritual prostitution, and no man of Isra’el is to engage in ritual homosexual prostitution.
19 (18) Nothing earned through heterosexual or homosexual prostitution is to be brought into the house of Adonai your God in fulfillment of any vow, for both of these are abhorrent to Adonaiyour God.
20 (19) “You are not to lend at interest to your brother, no matter whether the loan is of money, food or anything else that can earn interest. 21 (20) To an outsider you may lend at interest, but to your brother you are not to lend at interest, so that Adonai your God will prosper you in everything you set out to do in the land you are entering in order to take possession of it.
22 (21) “When you make a vow to Adonai your God, you are not to delay in fulfilling it, for Adonai your God will certainly demand it of you, and your failure to do so will be your sin. 23 (22) If you choose not to make a vow at all, that will not be a sin for you; 24 (23) but if a vow passes your lips, you must take care to perform it according to what you voluntarily vowed to Adonai your God, what you promised in words spoken aloud.
(v) 25 (24) “When you enter your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat enough grapes to satisfy your appetite; but you are not to put any in your basket. 26 (25) When you enter your neighbor’s field of growing grain, you may pluck ears with your hand; but you are not to put a sickle to your neighbor’s grain.
24: 1 “Suppose a man marries a woman and consummates the marriage but later finds her displeasing, because he has found her offensive in some respect. He writes her a divorce document, gives it to her and sends her away from his house. 2 She leaves his house, goes and becomes another man’s wife; 3 but the second husband dislikes her and writes her a get, gives it to her and sends her away from his house; or the second husband whom she married dies. 4 In such a case her first husband, who sent her away, may not take her again as his wife, because she is now defiled. It would be detestable to Adonai, and you are not to bring about sin in the land Adonai your God is giving you as your inheritance.
(vi) 5 “If a man has recently married his wife, he is not to be subject to military service; he is to be free of external obligations and left at home for one year to make his new wife happy.
6 “No one may take a mill or even an upper millstone as collateral for a loan, because that would be taking as collateral the debtor’s very means of sustenance.
7 “If a man kidnaps any of his brothers, fellow members of the community of Isra’el, and makes him his slave or sells him, that kidnapper must die; in this way you will put an end to such wickedness among you.
8 “When there is an outbreak of tzara‘at, be careful to observe and do just what the cohanim, who are L’vi’im, teach you. Take care to do as I ordered them. 9 Remember what Adonai your God did to Miryam on the road after you left Egypt.
10 “When you make any kind of loan to your neighbor, you are not to enter his house to take his collateral. 11 You must stand outside, and the borrower will bring the collateral outside to you. 12 If he is poor, you are not to go to bed with what he gave as collateral in your possession; 13 rather, you must restore the pledged item at sunset; then he will go to sleep wearing his garment and bless you. This will be an upright deed of yours before Adonai your God.
(vii) 14 “You are not to exploit a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether one of your brothers or a foreigner living in your land in your town. 15 You are to pay him his wages the day he earns them, before sunset; for he is poor and looks forward to being paid. Otherwise he will cry out against you to Adonai, and it will be your sin.
16 “Fathers are not to be executed for the children, nor are children to be executed for the fathers; every person will be executed for his own sin.
17 “You are not to deprive the foreigner or the orphan of the justice which is his due, and you are not to take a widow’s clothing as collateral for a loan. 18 Rather, remember that you were a slave in Egypt; and Adonai your God redeemed you from there. That is why I am ordering you to do this.
19 “When harvesting the grain in your field, if you forgot a sheaf of grain there, you are not to go back and get it; it will remain there for the foreigner, the orphan and the widow, so that Adonai your God will bless you in all the work you do. 20 When you beat your olive tree, you are not to go back over the branches again; the olives that are left will be for the foreigner, the orphan and the widow. 21 When you gather the grapes from your vineyard, you are not to return and pick grapes a second time; what is left will be for the foreigner, the orphan and the widow. 22 Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt. That is why I am ordering you to do this.
25: 1 “If people have a dispute, seek its resolution in court, and the judges render a decision in favor of the righteous one and condemning the wicked one; 2 then, if the wicked one deserves to be flogged, the judge is to have him lie down and be flogged in his presence. The number of strokes is to be proportionate to his offense; 3 but the maximum number is forty. He is not to exceed this; if he goes over this limit and beats him more than this, your brother will be humiliated before your eyes.
4 “You are not to muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain.
5 “If brothers live together, and one of them dies childless, his widow is not to marry someone unrelated to him; her husband’s brother is to go to her and perform the duty of a brother-in-law by marrying her. 6 The first child she bears will succeed to the name of his dead brother, so that his name will not be eliminated from Isra’el. 7 If the man does not wish to marry his brother’s widow, then his brother’s widow is to go up to the gate, to the leaders, and say, ‘My brother-in-law refuses to raise up for his brother a name in Isra’el; he will not perform the duty of a husband’s brother for me.’ 8 The leaders of his town are to summon him and speak to him. If, on appearing before them, he continues to say, ‘I don’t want to marry her,’ 9 then his brother’s widow is to approach him in the presence of the leaders, pull his sandal off his foot, spit in his face and say, ‘This is what is done to the man who refuses to build up his brother’s family.’ 10 From that time on, his family is to be known in Isra’el as ‘the family of the man who had his sandal pulled off.’
11 “If men are fighting with each other, and the wife of one comes up to help her husband get away from the man attacking him by grabbing the attacker’s private parts with her hand, 12 you are to cut off her hand; show no pity.
13 “You are not to have in your pack two sets of weights, one heavy, the other light. 14 You are not to have in your house two sets of measures, one big, the other small. 15 You are to have a correct and fair weight, and you are to have a correct and fair measure, so that you will prolong your days in the land Adonaiyour God is giving you. 16 For all who do such things, all who deal dishonestly, are destestable to Adonai your God.
(Maftir) 17 “Remember what ‘Amalek did to you on the road as you were coming out of Egypt, 18 how he met you by the road, attacked those in the rear, those who were exhausted and straggling behind when you were tired and weary. He did not fear God. 19 Therefore, when Adonai your God has given you rest from all your surrounding enemies in the land Adonai your God is giving you as your inheritance to possess, you are to blot out all memory of ‘Amalek from under heaven. Don’t forget!
Luke 6:27 Nevertheless, to you who are listening, what I say is this:
“Love your enemies!
Do good to those who hate you,
28 bless those who curse you,
pray for those who mistreat you.
29 “If someone hits you on one cheek,
offer the other too;
if someone takes your coat,
let him have your shirt as well.
30 “If someone asks you for something,
give it to him;
if someone takes what belongs to you,
don’t demand it back.
31 “Treat other people as you would like them to treat you. 32 What credit is it to you if you love only those who love you? Why, even sinners love those who love them. 33 What credit is it to you if you do good only to those who do good to you? Even sinners do that. 34 What credit is it to you if you lend only to those who you expect will pay you back? Even sinners lend to each other, expecting to be repaid in full. 35 But love your enemies, do good, and lend expecting nothing back! Your reward will be great, and you will be children of Ha‘Elyon; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. 36 Show compassion, just as your Father shows compassion.
37 “Don’t judge,
and you won’t be judged.
Don’t condemn,
and you won’t be condemned.
“Forgive,
and you will be forgiven.
38 Give,
and you will receive gifts —
the full measure, compacted, shaken together and overflowing, will be put right in your lap. For the measure with which you measure out will be used to measure back to you!”
39 He also told them a parable: “Can one blind man lead another blind man? Won’t they both fall into a pit? 40 A talmid is not above his rabbi; but each one, when he is fully trained, will be like his rabbi. 41 So why do you see the splinter in your brother’s eye, but not notice the log in your own eye? 42 How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me remove the splinter from your eye,’ when you yourself don’t see the log in your own eye? You hypocrite! First take the log out of your own eye; then you will see clearly, so that you can remove the splinter from your brother’s eye!
43 “For no good tree produces bad fruit, nor does a bad tree produce good fruit. 44 Each tree is recognized by its own fruit — figs aren’t picked from thorn bushes, nor grapes from a briar patch. 45 The good person produces good things from the store of good in his heart, while the evil person produces evil things from the store of evil in his heart. For his mouth speaks what overflows from his heart.
46 “Why do you call me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ but not do what I say? 47 Everyone who comes to me, hears my words and acts on them — I will show you what he is like: 48 he is like someone building a house who dug deep and laid the foundation on bedrock. When a flood came, the torrent beat against that house but couldn’t shake it, because it was constructed well. 49 And whoever hears my words but doesn’t act on them is like someone who built his house on the ground without any foundation. As soon as the river struck it, it collapsed and that house became a horrendous wreck!” (Complete Jewish Bible)

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"Easter: Day 7" for Thursday, 31 March 2018 - goTandem

"Easter: Day 7" for Thursday, 31 March 2018 - goTandem

"Easter: Day 7 - A Guard is Set"

It wasn't a secret that Jesus was supposed to come back from the dead. It had been whispered about for days. It got the religious leaders so nervous that they went to the Roman government to demand that guard be set to protect the remains from thieves who would steal the body to "prove" the claims that Jesus had indeed risen from the dead. And so the government agreed to seal the tomb and set a guard outside of it.

It's a little crazy to think what the Pharisees tried to ruin became proof of Christ's return. They were so concerned that their power would be lost they went to the government that was oppressing their people, the same government that they had ranted against, and commissioned them to protect the grave of the person who was their biggest threat for power.

It really is crazy to see what the idea of losing power can make us do. How much different would their lives have been if they'd just accepted Christ for who he was? Their lives would have had a deeper purpose and meaning. I think that if we all examine our hearts, we can see some of those same characteristics. We want to wall Christ in, set a guard around him, so that he doesn't affect our picture perfect lives too much. And yet that is exactly what he demands, to roll away the stones we put in front of him and truly allow him to change our lives. 

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"Wicked Strutters"
LORD, we know you will protect the oppressed...even though the wicked strut about, and evil is praised throughout the land. (Psalm 12:7-8)
Is God asking you to help protect?

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"Crucifixion eclipse?" by Stephen M. Miller in Olathe, Kansas United States for Saturday, 31 March 2018 - Bible blog of award-winning bestselling Christian author, Stephen M. Miller.

"Crucifixion eclipse?" by Stephen M. Miller in Olathe, Kansas United States for Saturday, 31 March 2018 - Bible blog of award-winning bestselling Christian author, Stephen M. Miller.

"Crucifixion eclipse?" by Stephen M. Miller

Q: Luke reports that when Jesus died there was an eclipse or something that darkened the sky. He also says “The curtain in the Temple ripped right down the middle” (Luke 23:45). Matthew said the ripped curtain took place during an earthquake. The International Geology Review confirms that there were two major earthquakes that hit the area between 26 BC and A.D. 36. Jesus died sometime between A.D. 30 and A.D. 33, scholars say. The curtain separated the Temple sanctuary from the holiest room in the building—the room where Jews kept their most sacred object: the chest that held the 10 Commandments, the Ark of the Covenant. Only the high priest could go in there, and only one day a year, on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur). That’s the day when the entire nation repented of their sins. Some Bible experts speculate that God was sending the signal that because Jesus died, we all have access to God and to his forgiveness. What do you think about that theory?
A: It’s an uplifting theory that starts with the idea that because of what Jesus did on the Cross, everyone has access to God (1 Timothy 2:5). This theory then weaves that New Testament teaching into what may have been a miracle or a coincidence. Either way, it’s a wonderful illustration to show how the sacrifice of Jesus ended the need for the Jewish sacrificial system. Forty years later, Roman soldiers would end the capacity for the Jewish sacrificial system; they leveled the Temple, and it has never been rebuilt. A Muslim shrine now sits on the Tem­ple hilltop. The shrine is Jerusalem’s dominant landmark, the 1400-year-old Dome of the Rock.
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"Lent, Day 40: DIE" The United Methodist Church Prays in Nashville Tennessee United States for Saturday, 31 March 2018

"Lent, Day 40: DIE" The United Methodist Church Prays in Nashville Tennessee United States for Saturday, 31 March 2018

SATURDAY, MARCH 31, 2018
"Lent, Day 40: DIE"
For the final day of Holy Week we will use the writings of Rev. Trevor Hudson of South Africa, Pauses for Lent: 40 Words for 40 Days (Upper Room Books, 2015).
“Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” (John 12:24)
In the verse above, Jesus is primarily speaking of his own death. At first his death will appear as a tragedy, but in the end it will be a triumph. His death will be the ultimate victory of the resurrection power of God over the forces of evil, sin, and death.
Though Jesus’ death is unique, he invites his followers to die as well. Like a seed that is planted in the ground and dies, Jesus invites us to die to ourselves in order to bear good fruit. We are asked to lay down our lives in love to be raised to new life.
The breathtaking message of Good Friday and Easter Sunday is that life comes out of death. The big question facing us as we journey into the events of the cross and the resurrection is this: What do we need to die to this Easter in order to enter more fully into the new life Christ wants to give us?
Daily Practice
Write down your answer to the question above on a small piece of paper, tear it up, and then bury it in the ground. (Trevor Hudson, Pauses for Lent (Upper Room Books, 2015) p. 62.)

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The Upper Room Daily Reflections in Nashville Tennessee United States for Tuesday, 2 March 2018 "Be Still and Quiet" for Saturday, 31 March 2018

The Upper Room Daily Reflections in Nashville Tennessee United States for Tuesday, 2 March 2018 "Be Still and Quiet" for Saturday, 31 March 2018
Today’s Reflection:

HOLY SATURDAY awkwardly interrupts the church’s calendar. We read in Luke of the women who rest on this day in sabbath observance. But we find it hard to replicate their rest in our day.
The prior week’s preparations for palm processions, Passion Week cantatas, and/or seven last word recollections leave little time for decorating sanctuaries and making ready for Easter breakfasts and final practices of brass quartets for Sunday’s allelulias – not to mention eggs to dye and family banquets to prepare. So much to do on Saturday and so little time.
But Holy Saturday offers this advice to activist-bent individuals and congregations and denominations like my own: Don’t just do something, stand there. Sometimes, our busyness cocoons and insulates us from deep consideration of why we think our lives require constant motion. Busyness has often been a prescription for overcoming grief. Do this, do that, work your way out of it. But once the activity dies down, when exhaustion inevitably sets in, the questions and the pain remain, perhaps aggravated by delay in their contemplation.
The women in Luke [23:55-56] actively engage in the immediate aftermath of crucifixion. They follow to see where the body has been taken. They prepare spices and ointments for anointing the corpse. But instead of pressing ahead in a rush to get things done ASAP, they stop. They keep sabbath. In Luke’s terms, they rest. Luke’s word Heschazo carries dual meanings of “to keep quiet” and “to cease from labor.” The women keep Saturday’s vigil in stillness and quietness. (John Indermar, Worship in Light of the Cross)
From page 105 of Worship in Light of the Cross: Meditations for Lent by John Indermark. Copyright © 2016 by John Indermark. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Upper Room Books. http://bookstore.upperroom.org/ Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Question: Plan time to be still and quiet with God today.
Today’s Scripture: So they went with the guard and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone. (Matthew 27:66, NRSV)

This Week: Pray for those affected by gun violence.

Did You Know?
In need of prayer? The Upper Room Living Prayer Center is a 7-day-a-week intercessory prayer ministry staffed by trained volunteers. Call 1-800-251-2468 or visit The Living Prayer Center website.
This week we remember: Sister Thea Bowman (March 30).

Sister Thea Bowman
March 30
The granddaughter of slaves, Bertha Bowman (1937-1990) was born in rural Mississippi, raised Methodist, but baptized Catholic at age ten. When she was sixteen, Bertha entered the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration community and became the only African-American in the white order. Sister Thea Bowman said, "I bring my whole history, my traditions, my experience, my culture, my African-American song and dance and gesture and movement and teaching, and preaching and healing and responsibility as a gift to the Church."
Thea received Master's and doctorate degrees and taught in elementary schools through university classes. After sixteen years of teaching, a bishop asked Thea to serve as a consultant for intercultural awareness. She made over one hundred public appearances each year, encouraging appreciation for and cooperation between all racial/ethnic groups. She inspired countless African-Americans to share their gifts and leadership with a wide faith community. Some called her "Mother Teresa with soul."
In 1984 Sister Thea was diagnosed with breast cancer. Even as she battled the disease, Thea continued to speak with vitality and passion until she died on March 30, 1990.
Sister Thea Bowman is currently being considered for official sainthood.
If Sister Thea Bowman had taken the Spiritual Types Test, she probably would have been a Prophet. Sister Thea Bowman is remembered on March 30.
Image is Thea Bowman pictured in 1985 photo. (CNS photo/Beatrice Njemanze, Mississippi Catholic)
Lectionary Readings
(Courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library)
Acts 10:34-43
Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
John 20:1-18
Scripture Reading:
Acts 10:34 Then Kefa addressed them: “I now understand that God does not play favorites, 35 but that whoever fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him, no matter what people he belongs to.
36 “Here is the message that he sent to the sons of Isra’el announcing shalom through Yeshua the Messiah, who is Lord of everything. 37 You know what has been going on throughout Y’hudah, starting from the Galil after the immersion that Yochanan proclaimed; 38 how God anointed Yeshua from Natzeret with the Ruach HaKodesh and with power; how Yeshua went about doing good and healing all the people oppressed by the Adversary, because God was with him.
39 “As for us, we are witnesses of everything he did, both in the Judean countryside and in Yerushalayim. They did away with him by hanging him on a stake;[Acts 10:39 Deuteronomy 21:23] 40 but God raised him up on the third day and let him be seen, 41 not by all the people, but by witnesses God had previously chosen, that is, by us, who ate and drank with him after he had risen again from the dead.
42 “Then he commanded us to proclaim and attest to the Jewish people that this man has been appointed by God to judge the living and the dead. 43 All the prophets bear witness to him, that everyone who puts his trust in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
Psalm 118:1 Give thanks to Adonai; for he is good,
for his grace continues forever.
2 Now let Isra’el say,
“His grace continues forever.”
14 Yah is my strength and my song,
and he has become my salvation.
15 The sound of rejoicing and victory
is heard in the tents of the righteous:
“Adonai’s right hand struck powerfully!
16 Adonai’s right hand is raised in triumph!
Adonai’s right hand struck powerfully!”
17 I will not die; no, I will live
and proclaim the great deeds of Yah!
18 Yah disciplined me severely,
but did not hand me over to death.
19 Open the gates of righteousness for me;
I will enter them and thank Yah.
20 This is the gate of Adonai;
the righteous can enter it.
21 I am thanking you because you answered me;
you became my salvation.
22 The very rock that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone!
23 This has come from Adonai,
and in our eyes it is amazing.
24 This is the day Adonai has made,
a day for us to rejoice and be glad.
1 Corinthians 15:1 Now, brothers, I must remind you of the Good News which I proclaimed to you, and which you received, and on which you have taken your stand, 2 and by which you are being saved — provided you keep holding fast to the message I proclaimed to you. For if you don’t, your trust will have been in vain. 3 For among the first things I passed on to you was what I also received, namely this: the Messiah died for our sins, in accordance with what the Tanakh says; 4 and he was buried; and he was raised on the third day, in accordance with what the Tanakh says; 5 and he was seen by Kefa, then by the Twelve; 6 and afterwards he was seen by more than five hundred brothers at one time, the majority of whom are still alive, though some have died. 7 Later he was seen by Ya‘akov, then by all the emissaries; 8 and last of all he was seen by me, even though I was born at the wrong time. 9 For I am the least of all the emissaries, unfit to be called an emissary, because I persecuted the Messianic Community of God. 10 But by God’s grace I am what I am, and his grace towards me was not in vain; on the contrary, I have worked harder than all of them, although it was not I but the grace of God with me. 11 Anyhow, whether I or they, this is what we proclaim, and this is what you believed.

John 20:1 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Miryam from Magdala went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. 2 So she came running to Shim‘on Kefa and the other talmid, the one Yeshua loved, and said to them, “They’ve taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they’ve put him!”
3 Then Kefa and the other talmid started for the tomb. 4 They both ran, but the other talmid outran Kefa and reached the tomb first. 5 Stooping down, he saw the linen burial-sheets lying there but did not go in. 6 Then, following him, Shim‘on Kefa arrived, entered the tomb and saw the burial-sheets lying there, 7 also the cloth that had been around his head, lying not with the sheets but in a separate place and still folded up. 8 Then the other talmid, who had arrived at the tomb first, also went in; he saw, and he trusted. 9 (They had not yet come to understand that the Tanakh teaches that the Messiah has to rise from the dead.)
10 So the talmidim returned home, 11 but Miryam stood outside crying. As she cried, she bent down, peered into the tomb, 12 and saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Yeshua had been, one at the head and one at the feet. 13 “Why are you crying?” they asked her. “They took my Lord,” she said to them, “and I don’t know where they have put him.”
14 As she said this, she turned around and saw Yeshua standing there, but she didn’t know it was he. 15 Yeshua said to her, “Lady, why are you crying? Whom are you looking for?” Thinking he was the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you’re the one who carried him away, just tell me where you put him; and I’ll go and get him myself.” 16 Yeshua said to her, “Miryam!” Turning, she cried out to him in Hebrew, “Rabbani!” (that is, “Teacher!”) 17 “Stop holding onto me,” Yeshua said to her, “because I haven’t yet gone back to the Father. But go to my brothers, and tell them that I am going back to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.”18 Miryam of Magdala went to the talmidim with the news that she had seen the Lord and that he had told her this. (Complete Jewish Bible)John Wesley’s Explanatory Notes:
Acts 10:34-43
Verse 34
[34] Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:
I perceive of a truth — More clearly than ever, from such a concurrence of circumstances.
That God is not a respecter of persons — Is not partial in his love. The words mean, in a particular sense, that he does not confine his love to one nation; in a general, that he is loving to every man, and willeth all men should be saved.
Verse 35
[35] But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.
But in every nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousness — He that, first, reverences God, as great, wise, good, the cause, end, and governor of all things; and secondly, from this awful regard to him, not only avoids all known evil, but endeavours, according to the best light he has, to do all things well; is accepted of him - Through Christ, though he knows him not. The assertion is express, and admits of no exception. He is in the favour of God, whether enjoying his written word and ordinances or not. Nevertheless the addition of these is an unspeakable blessing to those who were before in some measure accepted. Otherwise God would never have sent an angel from heaven to direct Cornelius to St. Peter.
Verse 36
[36] The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (he is Lord of all:)
This is the word which God sent — When he sent his Son into the world, preaching - Proclaiming by him-peace between God and man, whether Jew or Gentile, by the God-man. He is Lord of both; yea, Lord of and over all.
Verse 37
[37] That word, I say, ye know, which was published throughout all Judaea, and began from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached;
Ye know the word which was published — You know the facts in general, the meaning of which I shall now more particularly explain and confirm to you.
The baptism which John preached — To which he invited them by his preaching, in token of their repentance. This began in Galilee, which is near Cesarea.
Verse 38
[38] How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.
How God anointed Jesus — Particularly at his baptism, thereby inaugurating him to his office: with the Holy Ghost and with power - It is worthy our remark, that frequently when the Holy Ghost is mentioned there is added a word particularly adapted to the present circumstance. So the deacons were to be full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, Acts 6:3. Barnabas was full of the Holy Ghost and faith, Acts 11:24. The disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost, Acts 13:52. And here, where his mighty works are mentioned, Christ himself is said to be anointed with the Holy Ghost and with power. For God was with him-He speaks sparingly here of the majesty of Christ, as considering the state of his hearers.
Verse 41
[41] Not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God, even to us, who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead.
Not now to all the people — As before his death; to us who did eat and drink with him - That is, conversed familiarly and continually with him, in the time of his ministry.
Verse 42
[42] And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead.
It is he who is ordained by God the Judge of the living and the dead — Of all men, whether they are alive at his coming, or had died before it. This was declaring to them, in the strongest terms, how entirely their happiness depended on a timely and humble subjection to him who was to be their final Judge.
Verse 43
[43] To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.
To him give all the prophets witness — Speaking to heathens he does not quote any in particular; that every one who believeth in him - Whether he be Jew or Gentile; receiveth remission of sins - Though he had not before either feared God, or worked righteousness.

Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24
Verse 14
[14] The LORD is my strength and song, and is become my salvation.

Salvation — My Saviour.
Verse 15
[15] The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tabernacles of the righteous: the right hand of the LORD doeth valiantly.
Doth valiantly — These are the words of that song of praise now mentioned.
Verse 16
[16] The right hand of the LORD is exalted: the right hand of the LORD doeth valiantly.
Exalted — Hath appeared evidently, and wrought powerfully and gloriously.
Verse 19
[19] Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will go into them, and I will praise the LORD:
Open — O ye porters, appointed by God for this work.
The gates — Of the Lord's tabernacle: where the rule of righteousness was kept and taught, and the sacrifices of righteousness were offered.
Verse 20
[20] This gate of the LORD, into which the righteous shall enter.
The righteous — As David was a type of Christ and the temple of heaven, so this place hath a farther prospect than David, and relates to Christ's ascending into heaven, and opening the gates of that blessed temple, both for himself and for all believers.
Verse 22
[22] The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner.
The builders — The commonwealth of Israel and the church of God are here and elsewhere compared to a building, wherein, as the people are the stones, so the princes and rulers are the builders. And as these master-builders rejected David, so their successors rejected Christ.
Head stone — The chief stone in the whole building, by which the several parts of the building are upheld and firmly united together. Thus David united all the tribes and families of Israel: and thus Christ united Jews and Gentiles together. And therefore this place is justly expounded of Christ, Mark 12:10; Acts 4:11; Romans 9:32; Ephesians 2:20. And to him the words agree more properly than to David.
Verse 24
[24] This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.
Made — Or sanctified as a season never to be forgotten.

1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Verse 2
[2] By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.Ye are saved, if ye hold fast — Your salvation is begun, and will be perfected, if ye continue in the faith.

Unless ye have believed in vain — Unless indeed your faith was only a delusion.
Verse 3
[3] For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
I received — From Christ himself. It was not a fiction of my own. Isaiah 53:8,9.
Verse 4
[4] And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
According to the scriptures — He proves it first from scripture, then from the testimony of a cloud of witnesses. Psalms 16:10.
Verse 5
[5] And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve:
By the twelve — This was their standing appellation; but their full number was not then present.
Verse 6
[6] After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.
Above five hundred — Probably in Galilee. A glorious and incontestable proof! The greater part remain - Alive.
Verse 7
[7] After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles.
Then by all the apostles — The twelve were mentioned 1 Corinthians 15:5. This title here, therefore, seems to include the seventy; if not all those, likewise, whom God afterwards sent to plant the gospel in heathen nations.
Verse 8
[8] And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.
An untimely birth — It was impossible to abase himself more than he does by this single appellation. As an abortion is not worthy the name of a man, so he affirms himself to be not worthy the name of an apostle.
Verse 9
[9] For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
I persecuted the church — True believers are humbled all their lives, even for the sins they committed before they believed.
Verse 10
[10] But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
I laboured more than they all — That is, more than any of them, from a deep sense of the peculiar love God had shown me. Yet, to speak more properly, it is not I, but the grace of God that is with me - This it is which at first qualified me for the work, and still excites me to zeal and diligence in it.
Verse 11
[11] Therefore whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed.
Whether I or they, so we preach — All of us speak the same thing.

John 20:1-18
Verse 3
[3] Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulchre.
Peter went out — Of the city.
Verse 6
[6] Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie,
Peter seeth the linen clothes lie — and the napkin folded up - The angels who ministered to him when he rose, undoubtedly folded up the napkin and linen clothes.
Verse 8
[8] Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and believed.
He saw — That the body was not there, and believed - That they had taken it away as Mary said.
Verse 9
[9] For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead.
For as yet — They had no thought of his rising again.
Verse 10
[10] Then the disciples went away again unto their own home.
They went home — Not seeing what they could do farther.
Verse 11
[11] But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre,
But Mary stood — With more constancy. Mark 16:9.
Verse 16
[16] Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master.
Jesus saith to her, Mary — With his usual voice and accent.
Verse 17
[17] Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.
Touch me not — Or rather, Do not cling to me (for she held him by the feet,) Matthew 28:9. Detain me not now. You will have other opportunities of conversing with me. For I am not ascended to my Father - I have not yet left the world. But go immediately to my brethren - Thus does he intimate in the strongest manner the forgiveness of their fault, even without ever mentioning it. These exquisite touches, which every where abound in the evangelical writings, show how perfectly Christ knew our frame.
I ascend — He anticipates it in his thoughts, and so speaks of it as a thing already present. To my Father and your Father, to my God and your God - This uncommon expression shows that the only - begotten Son has all kind of fellowship with God. And a fellowship with God the Father, some way resembling his own, he bestows upon his brethren. Yet he does not say, Our God: for no creature can be raised to an equality with him: but my God and your God: intimating that the Father is his in a singular and incommunicable manner; and ours through him, in such a kind as a creature is capable of.

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