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)
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)
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
- Who first taught you to fold or hang up your clothing?
- In what homely, comfortable ways does God care for you?
- When you think of death, how does it help to know that Christ has already gone through it?
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)
Use these devotions in your newsletter and bulletin! Used by permission; all rights reserved by the Int'l LLL (LHM).
CHANGE THEIR WORLD. CHANGE YOURS.
THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING.
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