April Reading from The Message
We read the crucifixion and resurrection story with the benefit of hindsight, but Mary and the disciples were witnessing the suffering and death of Jesus in real time. They were understandably scared, upset, and confused as they watched their teacher and friend be killed on the cross and buried in a tomb. This is where we pick up the story in John 20 as Jesus is about to change the trajectory of his followers forever.
But Mary stood outside the tomb weeping. As she wept, she knelt to look into the tomb and saw two angels sitting there, dressed in white, one at the head, the other at the foot of where Jesus’ body had been laid. They said to her, “Woman, why do you weep?”
“They took my Master,” she said, “and I don’t know where they put him.” After she said this, she turned away and saw Jesus standing there. But she didn’t recognize him.
Jesus spoke to her, “Woman, why do you weep? Who are you looking for?”
She, thinking that he was the gardener, said, “Sir, if you took him, tell me where you put him so I can care for him.”
Jesus said, “Mary.”
Turning to face him, she said in Hebrew, “Rabboni!” meaning “Teacher!”
Jesus said, “Don’t cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I ascend to my Father and your Father, my God and your God.’”
Mary Magdalene went, telling the news to the disciples: “I saw the Master!” And she told them everything he said to her.
Later on that day, the disciples had gathered together, but, fearful of the Jews, had locked all the doors in the house. Jesus entered, stood among them, and said, “Peace to you.” Then he showed them his hands and side.
The disciples, seeing the Master with their own eyes, were awestruck. Jesus repeated his greeting: “Peace to you. Just as the Father sent me, I send you.”
Then he took a deep breath and breathed into them. “Receive the Holy Spirit,” he said. “If you forgive someone’s sins, they’re gone for good. If you don’t forgive sins, what are you going to do with them?”
Scripture Insight
A New Creation
On the evening of his resurrection, Jesus appeared to his disciples—his fearful disciples, huddled and cowering with all the life knocked out of them—and breathed into them, saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit”.
The phrase “breathed into them” is the phrase used in Genesis 2 when the Lord God breathed life into Adam, who at once became a “living soul” (verse 7). The Genesis “in the beginning” that opens John’s Gospel is now complemented by the Genesis “blew into his nostrils the breath of life” (verse 7) as Jesus breathes his life-creating Spirit into his disciples.
The same Spirit that moved over the chaos and became articulate in the eight “God spoke . . .” commands that created the heavens and the earth now moves in the disciples so that they can continue the creation work of Christ. For “everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him” (Colossians 1:16). That same Spirit moves over the chaos of our lives as well, bringing form out of formlessness and fullness out of emptiness, resulting in a new creation.
He is Risen!
The content for these monthly readings is taken from The Message Devotional Bible. There is a new leather-like cover available for this popular Bible. Click on the image below to look at all the devotional Bibles, available in softcover, hardcover, and leather-like.
