18th. April. 2022. Daily Devotion.
Matthew 28:8-10
8 So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9 Suddenly Jesus met them. ‘Greetings,’ he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshipped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.’
Matthew interrupts the sadness of the story with a somewhat scary and somewhat comical scene. An angel comes to the tomb, with an appearance like lightning and causing an earthquake, and he rolls away the stone and sits on it. The soldiers guarding the tomb are so terrified that they shake and fall down like they are dead. And the women? They are scared too.
The women have come to the tomb to see it and grieve. But the angel tells them that the one who was in the tomb isn’t there. And there’s no need to grieve anymore because Jesus has risen from the dead! In fact, he’s on his way to Galilee and wants his disciples to see him there.
So the women who have come to grieve hurry away “filled with joy.” And if their joy is already full, what happens next makes their joy overflow: Jesus meets them. The person they have come to see dead is standing in front of them alive!
Do you remember when you first met Jesus? He takes our sorrow and turns it into the greatest joy. If you haven’t met him yet, I hope you meet him soon—maybe even today. It is the greatest joy any of us has known.
Dear Jesus, our eyes are sore from the violence, injustice, sickness, and death in this world. Help us to meet you today so that we may see the joy and hope only you can give. Amen.
Prayer to Live with God Today
Gracious God, I thank you for this new day. I thank you for your Word to me this morning. Help me to be grateful throughout the day for all that I have, especially your eternal love, and forgive me when I go astray in my thoughts or actions.
My desire is to please you, to know and do your will. Guide my every step. Help me to live with wisdom and discretion. Protect me from danger in the world and in my attitude. Give me a clear mind, that I may hear the quiet voice of your Spirit. Help to smooth away resentment and blame for the things of the past that might sap my energy and poison my mind; help me to look to the moment, to what I can do, to work for the future. Let me never become frustrated when I cannot control events, remembering that you are God. I place my faith in your power, your knowledge, and your guidance. Through Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen.
God of the wild places and margins, give us the grace to honour those who are different. God of the dispossessed and empty, give us humility to value in others the things we lack. God of the spiritually poor and cynical, give us the self-awareness to avoid arrogance. God of the aggressive and defensive, give us the courage and patience to love unconditionally God of ourselves, give us the tenderness to see ourselves as you see us. Amen.
From the throne of your glory, O Lord, send forth your wisdom to live in our hearts, to be at work in our lives and to speak in our conscience; that our thoughts, words, and actions may be according to your will and reveal your glory; through Christ our Lord. Amen.
~ Aelred of Rievaulx (c.1109-1167).