Simply Soul Searching
HOW IS GOD LOVING ME – AND WHERE IS GOD LEADING ME?
UNTIL THE RESURRECTION
This week, as we revisit the biblical stories leading up to Easter, imagine how confused the disciples must have felt about Jesus. How quickly their days changed! In one week, they most likely experienced so many emotions – joy as people waved and cheered for their beloved rabbi, frustration as Jesus risked getting into more trouble with the religious authorities, tenderness as they shared a final meal together, humility as he washed feet and instructed them to serve one another, confusion as Jesus prayed while they slept in the garden, fear and anger as he was arrested, agony as he suffered, and then grief and bewilderment as he died. Moving swiftly from triumph to tragedy, life with their beloved rabbi could no longer make sense.
Until the resurrection.
These stories also speak to the stories of our lives. As we follow our beloved rabbi Jesus, we share in the joy of his life and love, but we have the confusing, difficult, frustrating, humbling, frightening, and grieving times as well. Jesus is our helper, mentor, and guide for all of our days. But, like the disciples, we can be surprised and dismayed when our days with him don’t go as we had hoped or anticipated. We have both the triumphs and the tragedies. Sometimes our circumstances make sense, and sometimes we are left bewildered.
Until the resurrection.
With his resurrection, the disciples then knew that everything Jesus had said was true. His life had exemplified God’s visible, present love with them. His miraculous appearance among them revealed that life held so much more than their current experiences; that life is a sacred and eternal mystery beyond every heartache and hardship. His promise to always be with them would help them through whatever life would bring. They were then inspired to continue in loving service with new courage, trust, and joy.
And so can we. With his resurrection, Jesus’ life story brings a deeper meaning and a greater holy mystery to our own. His resurrection becomes an invitation for us to live life anew, to see beyond what is, to imagine what could be. Through his resurrection, his presence remains with us in every circumstance. And we can live our days in loving service – with renewed courage, trust, and joy – no matter what life may bring.
(Photo by Karen)
Simply Soul Searching 
Thank you. I needed this message this morning.
Happy Easter to you and yours.
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Thank you, Linda. Bless you… and Happy Easter to you and your family, too. Sending love!
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A preacher will sell you a book
of secret ways that you should pray.
“I was healed, that’s all it took
for tumours to just fade away!”.
Jesus thinks you should be rich
if your faith is strong enough,
giving you a life in which
you can have all that shiny stuff.
We hear the stuff we want to hear,
are fed the God we want to eat,
feel brave in chanting “Have no fear!
There’s nothing that you can’t defeat!”,
and close our eyes so we won’t see
the truth that rose from Calvary.
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Thank you, Andrew, this is yet another beautiful thought. We are in God’s loving care and goodness – no matter what happens.
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Nothing would be worth following from the Bible if the resurrection didn’t happen. Life, eternity hinges on the resurrection for us. Amazing
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The resurrection changes everything! Thank you, Gary.
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