The Truth is

March 31, 2024 | Brad Bierwagen

About the author: Brad, Karyl, Grace (14) and Norah (11) Bierwagen are blessed to be members of ZPC. They live in Westfield, IN.

Luke 24:1-12

On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” Then they remembered his words.

When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.

Devotional

One of the gifts of reading through Luke together is seeing how much repetition and consistency is in Jesus’ behavior and messages; Loving God, Loving your neighbor, dying to the world, engaging with people who are otherwise unseen, setting competing priorities to God aside, defending prayer, quiet, and study time. Certainly there are also moments and concepts that are harder to understand, but by and large, it’s pretty clear what kinds of things we should be doing if we are to follow Jesus.

And despite their willingness to follow, Jesus’ disciples and friends seem to consistently fail to fully get the message or show the consistency you would expect from his closest followers. Like us, they confuse priorities, forget what they’ve learned, let their circumstances drive their behavior. God used all of them greatly, and regardless of if they believed it at the time, Jesus HAD risen that first Easter morning.

This morning you might find yourself quietly reflecting on Christ and his loving sacrifice while preparing to go to church. And for you the Truth is: