Easter Day – Sunday, April 21

Gloria in Excelsis Deo

Glory to God in the highest, and peace to his people on earth.

Lord God, heavenly King, almighty God and Father, 

  we worship you, we give you thanks, we praise you for your glory.

Lord Jesus Christ, only Son of the Father, 

Lord God, Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world:

  have mercy on us;
you are seated at the right hand of the Father:

  receive our prayer.

For you alone are the Holy One; you alone are the Lord;
  you alone are the Most High, Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit,
  in the glory of God the Father. Amen. 

Day 40 (Saturday, April 20, 2019)

Read

John 20:26-31


26 A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” 28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. 31 But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

Reflect

One of the encouraging things about the Christian Bible is its downright honesty, and not least about its heroes. Thomas, one of Jesus’ first followers who was to become an apostle, expressed his frustration at the Passover meal when Jesus said he was going away: “We don’t know where you are going. How can we know the way?”

Thomas wanted clear and concrete answers to perplexing questions. This may be why he could not at first accept the fact that Jesus, whom he had seen crucified, was now alive. “Unless I see the nail marks on his hands and put my fingers where the nails were… I will not believe,” he said (20:25). He had not been with the other ten disciples when Jesus appeared to them on the day that changed the world – the day of Jesus’ resurrection.

A week later Jesus appeared again to the disciples. This time Thomas was present. And Jesus, aware of Thomas’s doubts, was gentle and understanding. “Put your finger here and see my hands,” Jesus said. “Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” Experiencing an unexpected joy and without touching Jesus, Thomas responded, “My Lord and my God!” It was the perfect confession of faith.

John concludes the chapter by summing up the purpose of his book, These things are written… Jesus had patiently brought Thomas from doubt to faith, and with that faith had brought hope. Let us thank God for his patience with us and pray for the gifts of forgiveness, hope and true joy.

Prayer

Eternal God, who strengthened Thomas your apostle, when he was in doubt, with sure and certain faith in the resurrection of your Son our Lord Jesus Christ: so grant that we may not be faithless but believing, until we come to see our Savior in his glory face to face; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (BCP, Collect for St Thomas’s Day – adapted)

Daily Reading Plan

Read John 20:19-31

Day 39 (Good Friday – April 19, 2019)

Read

John 20:1-10


1 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. 2 So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” 3 Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. 4 The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, 7 and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself.8 Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; 9for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. 10 Then the disciples returned to their homes.

Reflect

Despite the testimony of women being treated as secondary in first century Judaism, women were the first witnesses of the empty tomb. In John 19:39-41, we read that Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus had buried Jesus’ body according to Jewish custom, wrapping it in linen cloths spiced with a mixture of myrrh and aloes. It was a new tomb and fulfilled what Isaiah prophesied, his tomb was with the rich (Isaiah 53:9).

Focusing our attention on one of the women, Mary of Magdala (there was more than one, so we in verse 2), John records the events of the first day of the week. Seeing the stone had been removed from the tomb and doubtless fearing Jesus’ body had been desecrated, she raced to tell Peter and John.

John’s witness is important. Outrunning Peter he was not the first to enter the tomb: Peter was. Both saw the linen wrappings lying there and the linen cloth that had been around Jesus’ head… rolled up in another place. The evidence was clear: human hands had not removed the body. John saw and believed: Jesus had gone to be with God the Father as he had said (John 14:2-4). However, neither yet understood what Jesus meant when he said they would see him again, physically risen from the dead.

Like John, we may believe that Jesus has gone to be with God, but we find the idea of a physical resurrection impossible to grasp. Christianity teaches the unity of body and spirit. One day God’s people will be raised physically, having a body fit for the new heaven and new earth.

Prayer

Grant, Lord, that as we have been baptized into the death of your dear Son our Savior Jesus Christ, so by continually putting to death our sinful desires we may die to sin and be buried with him, and that through the grave and gate of death we may pass to our joyful resurrection; for his sake who died and was buried and rose again for us, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, Easter Eve – adapted)

Daily Reading Plan

Read John 20:1-18

Day 38 (Maundy Thursday – April 18, 2019)

Read

John 19:31-37


31 Since it was the day of Preparation, the Jews did not want the bodies left on the cross during the sabbath, especially because that sabbath was a day of great solemnity. So they asked Pilate to have the legs of the crucified men broken and the bodies removed. 32 Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who had been crucified with him.33 But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs.34 Instead, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once blood and water came out. 35 (He who saw this has testified so that you also may believe. His testimony is true, and he knows that he tells the truth.) 36 These things occurred so that the scripture might be fulfilled, “None of his bones shall be broken.” 37 And again another passage of scripture says, “They will look on the one whom they have pierced.”

Reflect

A popular version of Jesus’ resurrection is that he was taken from the cross in a coma and revived in the cool of the tomb. John’s personal record stands as testimony against this. Because it was the day of Preparation, for the Passover as well as the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders asked Pilate that the legs of the crucified men be broken.

An excruciating reality of crucifixion is that asphyxiation alone can cause death. The lungs are compressed by the outstretched arms and the downward weight of the body. Broken legs prevent the victim from breathing by pushing up from the feet.

As professional soldiers, the Roman crucifixion squad would have unhesitatingly carried out their gruesome work. They broke the legs of the men who were still alive on either side of Jesus. But seeing Jesus was already dead they thrust a spear into his side from which blood and water came out. John’s report is significant. If Jesus was not dead, blood alone would have flowed. To say he was in a coma is to ignore the equivalent of a sworn testimony from an eyewitness – John.

John again wants us to understand that Jesus’ death fulfilled the Scriptures. He was the unblemished lamb – none of the bones are to be broken (Numbers 9:12). He was also the Messiah of the house of David who would be pierced (Zechariah 12:10). Jesus is truly the lamb of God whose life was sacrificed as an atonement for sin; he is also God’s Messiah, the long promised king of the line of David.

Prayer

Merciful God, you have made all men and women and hate nothing that you have made, nor do you desire the death of a sinner but rather that they should be converted and live: have mercy on all who do not know you, or who deny the faith of Christ crucified. Take from them all ignorance, hardness of heart, and contempt of your word; and bring them home to your fold, blessed Lord, so that they may become one flock under one shepherd, Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen. (BCP, Good Friday – adapted)

Daily Reading Plan

Read John 19:31-42

Day 37 (Wednesday, April 17, 2019)

Twenty-first century men and women have made incredible strides in science and technology; however, we still have major problems in our relationships. There is always something that causes tension and conflict – between ideologies and philosophies, between nations, and between the sexes.

When asked why he wrote The Lord of the Flies, William Golding is said to have responded: I believed then, that man (humanity) was sick – not exceptional man, but average man. I believed that the condition of man was to be a morally diseased creation and that the best job I could do at the time was to trace the connection between his diseased nature and the international mess he gets himself into.

Human wisdom falls short.

Enter the extraordinary events surrounding the person of Jesus of Nazareth. Throughout his public career he had revealed an authority and power that was beyond human comprehension, as at a word, he healed the sick, overpowered the forces of evil, stilled a storm and even raised the dead to life. Yet suddenly and unexpectedly the scene changed with his arrest and crucifixion.

In 1 Corinthians 1:18f, Paul the Apostle explains: For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”

Where human wisdom has failed to find answers God, in his compassion, has acted.

The cross is not, as some insist, simply an exemplary sacrifice. It is the place where God has destroyed all human pretense and arrogance. We are not here by chance to make the best of a fleeting life. We are creatures, accountable to a creator judge. Our deepest problem is that we have rejected God and tried to live without him.

Read

John 19:23-30


23 When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, one for each soldier. They also took his tunic; now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from the top. 24 So they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see who will get it.” This was to fulfill what the scripture says, “They divided my clothes among themselves, and for my clothing they cast lots.” 25 And that is what the soldiers did. Meanwhile, standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son.” 27 Then he said to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home.

28 After this, when Jesus knew that all was now finished, he said (in order to fulfill the scripture), “I am thirsty.” 29 A jar full of sour wine was standing there. So they put a sponge full of the wine on a branch of hyssop and held it to his mouth. 30 When Jesus had received the wine, he said, “It is finished.” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Reflect

We can only begin to imagine Jesus’ agony on the cross. Yet John simply tells us that Jesus was crucified (19:18). However, he does want us to feel the gross injustice of it all. The eternal, transcendent Son of God, who on every other occasion had been in control, was now the innocent victim, dying at the hands of ruthless men.

But John wants us to know that Jesus’ death was not that of a failed or fallen hero. He sees the very hand and purpose of God in it. He draws our attention to the way Jesus’ death fulfilled Scripture. The Roman soldiers had divided his clothes amongst themselves and cast lots for his seamless tunic (Psalm 22:18); and when Jesus had cried out in thirst they gave him vinegar to drink (Psalm 69:21).

Furthermore, in the midst of the evil of the crucifixion, Jesus remained in control. Seeing Mary, his mother, he gave John the responsibility of caring for her. Then, knowing that all was now finished,… he voluntarily gave up his life. The words “It is finished” indicate a completed action that has ongoing significance. Jesus died once, but the impact of his death continues forever. His final words reinforce the point.

Rightly we can now speak of the finished work of Christ in the matter of our salvation. As he had promised, he was lifted up so that all who believe in him may have eternal life (3:14-15). He has died to make us clean before God (13:10). There is nothing more we can do or add to this.

Prayer

Lord God, you know that we cannot put our trust in anything that we do: help us to have faith in you alone, and mercifully defend us by your power against all adversity; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, Sexagesima)

Daily Reading Plan

Read John 19:1-30