Christian Counseling Service -- Devotions

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Monday, April 9, 2012

Matthew 28:8-10
Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, deep in wonder and full of joy, went away quickly from the tomb and ran to tell his disciples. And Jesus met them on their way and greeted them. They fell to their knees, embraced his feet, and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go, tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me."

As Easter week begins for us, so it began for Mary and Mary, with a certain uncertainty about what will happen next. The climax has come and ... now what? Jesus was with us, and then suddenly everything is thrown into the air and he is dead and gone. Now, with underplayed drama the angel says, "Why are you looking here? Jesus has risen."

And so we celebrate. Seven weeks of Easter fill the church calendar, before Pentecost marks the beginning of many weeks of "Ordinary Time," which stretch through summer and fall until the first day of Advent. How do we celebrate for forty-nine days? Mary and Mary fell to their knees and worshipped Jesus. His feet were there to embrace. How do we celebrate day after day of what already feels like "ordinary" time after the big to-do of Easter Sunday?

Richard Rohr writes, "Most of human life is Holy Saturday, a few days of life are Good Friday, but there only needs to be one single Easter Sunday for us to know the final and eternal pattern. We now live inside of such cosmic hope." The "knowledge" within me informs every day of the rest of my life with calm confidence.

"Do not be afraid," four of Jesus' favorite words. He whispers that in my ear on the morning after Easter, and the on 49th day after Easter, and the on 73rd day of Ordinary Time. "I have risen."

Rohr continues, "Jesus trusted enough to outstare the darkness, to outstare the void, to hold out for the resurrection of the forever-awaited 'third day,' and not try to manufacture his own. That is how God stretches and expands the soul, and makes it big enough to include God."

I look to Jesus, and he promises to teach me how to stretch and expand, make room for God. Wow. Our companionship and all the action it includes is something to get up for in the morning. The humility I slowly, achingly learn from Jesus, draws me into and then out of my own tomb. Jesus has so much to show us. And God gives us the time to learn.

There is no fear in love. God is love. You are love. The Holy Spirit is love. You, Lord Jesus, throw me into the river and I see that it is all love - flowing around me, and below me, and finally through me.

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Monday, April 9, 2012