Luke 24: 19-24
"What things?" he asked.
"About Jesus of Nazareth," they replied. "He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning but didn't find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see."
It blows my mind that THIS morning I didn't give Easter one thought. The activity of this past weekend was amazing! The worship was incredible. Good Friday was powerful. Our Easter weekend celebrations were just that...CELEBRATION.
Monday morning? Absolutely nothing.
I rolled out of bed, got my kids ready for school, and then just sat on my couch with a bit of a church hang-over. I checked some emails, worked through a half-hearted plan to work from home, and then decided to eat some left-over Easter candy. As I then searched through my kitchen for some carbohydrates to take the edge off, it was clear that I had "forgotten" how great Easter really was.
I love this passage in Luke because I think sometimes we have the same attitude. The only real difference between me and these guys on the road to Emmaus is that I get to read the bigger picture of Resurrection. What I often over look in the Easter story is this. As a follower of Christ living by permission and power of the Resurrection and the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus is right in front of me...and many times I am completely oblivious because I cannot see beyond my own personal circumstances.
I wonder what opportunities I've missed to serve with Jesus because I didn't even know He was there? How many times do I forget that Jesus is alive and presently working to redeem a lost and dying world and is in fact calling all followers of Jesus to seek first the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness.
May God open our eyes to the active presence and power of the our risen Lord.
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1 comment:
How insightful to our modern Christian condition. We often talk about how we get "too caught up" in worldly things, but fail to focus on getting carried away by the power and passion of Jesus in our daily lives. Instead of highlighting the negative aspects of the world we should be focusing on daily immersion in Jesus Christ.
One thing God has been teaching me recently has been to make my entire life about Him and for Him. This has meant me giving up some parts of my life to Him, laying things down, etc, etc, but what He has taught me the most is to orient all parts of my life, all parts of my day towards him. Until recently I truly thought that it was only when I was sitting down in intense quiet time with the Lord for an hour or two that I could really hear from Him or be with Him. Now, quiet time is important but look how I put an omnipresent God in a box! Through a variety of ways God has taught me that He is always with me. There were quite a few times in the past few weeks where I have been caught up in His presence at the strangest times, totally undeserving and unwarranted. How great a blessing is the Father's love for us!
Nikos Kazantzakis talks about this very issue in his book Saint Francis. There is a monk who follows Francis for his whole life and at the end is frustrated because he has consistently missed out on experiencing the presence of God in the way that Francis does. This monk, Brother Leo, ends up living vicariously through Francis' experiences, but it is never enough. When he complains Francis tells him "Poor Leo, like a man looking for a lost ring which lies on his own finger you have spent your whole life searching for God and have missed it when He has been right in front of you and all around you. Don't you see, Leo, God lives inside of you!"
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