Month: March 2024

Post Lenten Read

Easter (1)- The Empty Tomb

Prayer

Heavenly Father, on this Easter day, we come before You to learn, listen, communion, and fellowship at Your feet. Today, we looked back and commemorate Jesus Christ’s death and Resurrection 2000 years ago. Speak to us as only You can. Your servants will listen, hear, and obey, in Jesus’ name, Amen.

John 20:1-10

Verses 1-3, 1 Now on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene went early, while it was still dark, to the tomb, and saw the stone taken away from the tomb. 2 Therefore she ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have laid him!” 3 Therefore, Peter and the other disciple went out, and they went toward the tomb. 

Reflection

     Mary Magdalene came to the tomb very early on Easter Sunday when it was still dark. She ‘saw’ the tombstone rolled away, met Peter and John, and falsely concluded that tomb raiders had stolen the Lord’s body. 

Verses 4-5, 4 They both ran together. The other disciple outran Peter, and came to the tomb first. 5 Stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths lying, yet he didn’t enter in. 

Reflection

     Peter and John ran together but John outran Peter and arrived to the tomb first. Peter ‘saw’ the linen cloths from outside the tomb, but did not go inside. Greek for ‘saw’ is ‘blepo,’ which means a casual glance. John ‘saw,’ but did not notice anything significant.

Verses 6-7, 6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and entered into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying, 7 and the cloth that had been on his head, not lying with the linen cloths, but rolled up in a place by itself.

Reflection

Peter arrived and went inside the tomb and ‘saw’ the linen cloths lying on the floor. Greek for ‘saw’ is ‘theoreo,’ which means seeing intentionally to formulate a theory. Peter ‘saw’ the body linens and the head linens in separate locations but could not understand their significance. 

Verses 8-10, 8 So then the other disciple who came first to the tomb also entered in, and he saw and believed. 9 For as yet they didn’t know the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead. 10 So the disciples went away again to their own homes.

Reflection

     After this, John also went inside the tomb and ‘saw’ the linen cloths. Greek for ‘saw’ is ‘aido,’ which means to see with understanding. John ‘saw’ the empty ‘cocoon’, understood, and believed that Jesus had Risen and His body had passed out from the linen cloths.

     On Good Friday, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus wrapped up Jesus’ body with linen strips and covered them with myrrh and aloes from head to toe. When the spices dried up, the linens strips hardened and solidified into a cocoon-like structure. 

     John was the first disciple to believe in the Resurrection.

     Application

On Easter, three people ‘saw’ and came out with different opinions. Mary ‘saw’ and came to a false conclusion. Peter ‘saw’ but could not understand its significance. John ‘saw’, understood, and believed the Lord had Resurrected.

What about you? What did you see from the Easter narrative?  Did you see the Risen Christ through the eyewitness account of Apostle John and believe?

The Gospel was written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His Name, John 20:31.

     Prayer

Heavenly Father, thank You for Easter. Thank You that 2000 years ago, Jesus Christ Rose from the dead to prove that He God. Help us to see you with the eyes of faith through the Gospel of John. Thank You for the gift of salvation and eternal life, in Jesus’ name, Amen. 

Reading for Lent

Good Friday (1)

Prayer

Heavenly Father, help us to imagine the agony of the cross that Jesus had to endure on Good Friday for us. Please open our minds, hearts, ears, and eyes to understand, feel, see, and hear from You. We thank You for giving us the stamina to continue  this far into the Gospel of John, in Jesus’ name, Amen.

John 19:1-22

Verses 1-4, 1 So, Pilate then took Jesus, and flogged him. 2 The soldiers twisted thorns into a crown, and put it on his head, and dressed him in a purple garment. 3 They kept saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and they kept slapping him. 4 Then Pilate went out again, and said to them, “Behold, I bring him out to you, that you may know that I find no basis for a charge against him.”

Reflection

     Jesus had been arrested and illegally tried under Annas, Caiaphas, and Pilate. Under Jewish law, it was illegal to have court hearings on festival days like the Passover.

     Pilate pronounced Jesus innocent wanted to free him but the crowds demanded Pilate to free Barabbas instead.

     Pilate gave in to the mob’s demand, and handed Jesus to the soldiers.

     The soldiers ridiculed, mocked, and flogged Jesus. They put a twisted crown of thorns on His head, robed Him with a purple robe, slapped, and even pretended to worship Him.

      Pontius Pilate went out to pronounced again that Jesus was innocent. 

     Verses 5-9, 5 Jesus therefore came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple garment. Pilate said to them, “Behold, the man!” 6 When therefore the chief priests and the officers saw him, they shouted, saying, “Crucify! Crucify!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves, and crucify him, for I find no basis for a charge against him.” 7 The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.” 8 When therefore Pilate heard this saying, he was more afraid. 9 He entered into the Praetorium again, and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. 

Reflection

Pilate came out and said, ‘Behold the man’, which in Latin is ‘Ecce Homo.’ Again, and for the third time, Pilate pronounced Jesus innocent..

The Jews protested that Jesus deserved capital punishment according to Jewish law because He blasphemed God by claiming to be the Son of God.

Pilate was afraid and asked Jesus where he was from but Jesus refused to answer him.

Verses 10-11, 10 Pilate therefore said to him, “Aren’t you speaking to me? Don’t you know that I have power to release you and have power to crucify you?” 11 Jesus answered, “You would have no power at all against me, unless it were given to you from above. Therefore he who delivered me to you has greater sin.”

Reflection

     Pilate responded that he had the power to crucify or release Jesus but Jesus refuted the claim.

     Only Jesus Himself had this power, John 10:18. 

     Jesus destiny was not determined  by Pilate.

John 10:18 a (NKJV), ‘’No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have the power to lay it down, and I have the power to take it again.” 

Verses 12-13, 12 At this, Pilate was seeking to release him, but the Jews cried out, saying, “If you release this man, you aren’t Caesar’s friend! Everyone who makes himself a king speaks against Caesar!” 13 When Pilate therefore heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called “The Pavement”, but in Hebrew, “Gabbatha.” 

Reflection

Pilate wanted to release Jesus but he gave in to the pressure of the Jews when they said, Caesar would be offended if he released Jesus.

Pilate took Jesus and sat Him in the judgment seat, called The Pavement, or ‘Gabbatha’ in Hebrew. 

Verses 14-16, 14 Now it was the Preparation Day of the Passover, at about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, “Behold, your King!” 15 They cried out, “Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar!”16 So then he delivered him to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus and led him away. 

Reflection

     At the 6th hour or 6 am, Roman time, on the preparation day of the Passover, Pilate proclaimed to the Jews, ‘Behold your King.’

     The Jews should out, ‘we have no King but Caesar.’

     Under tremendous pressure, Pilate finally condemned Jesus to death by crucifixion. 

     Jesus was pronounced innocent by Pilate three times and was never convicted.  

Verses 17-22, 17 He went out, bearing his cross, to the place called “The Place of a Skull”, which is called in Hebrew, “Golgotha”, 18 where they crucified him, and with him two others, on either side one, and Jesus in the middle. 19 Pilate wrote a title also, and put it on the cross. There was written, “JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.” 20 Therefore many of the Jews read this title, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, in Latin, and in Greek. 21 The chief priests of the Jews therefore said to Pilate, “Don’t write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but, ‘he said, “I am King of the Jews.”’” 22 Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”

Reflection

     Jesus was taken to Calvary, the Place of a Skull or Golgotha in Hebrew. They crucified Jesus in Golgotha between two criminals to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah 53:12.

     Pilate nailed a signage to the cross in Hebrews, Latin, and Greek, ‘Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.’

     The Jews demanded that the signage be changed, but Pilate refused to give in to their demand.

     By this, Pilate had proclaimed Jesus to be King of the Jews..

Isaiah 53:12 (NIV), “Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors.”

Application

Jesus was charged with framed up charges, tried illegally under a kangaroo court, found innocent by Pontius Pilate, was not convicted, and yet was condemned to death.

 He died that death that He did not deserve. He died for sins that He did not commit. He died in our place to set us free from sin and to give us eternal life. His death substituted for our death. This is the Good News of the Gospel. 

     Prayer

Heavenly Father, thank You for taking us back to Calvary through the eyes of apostle John who witnessed this event 2000 years ago. Thank You that on Good Friday, the perfect Lamb of God was sacrificed on Calvary as the perfect sin offering for the sin of mankind, in Jesus’ name, Amen