Look into the Tomb

Daily Reading: John 20

Scripture Focus: But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb. (John 20.11)

Devotional Thought: The friends of Jesus were devastated!  What they had believed, what they had counted on, what they had planned, Who they had loved… it all had been laid in a tomb of death and despair.  But something changed in the early morning light of that first Easter!  "Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept, she stooped to look into the tomb.”

There are many causes for weeping.  I think of a dear friend of mine, whose 93 year old father is passing through the final hours of his life.  My friend’s mother is struggling through this mile of their long journey together.  I have another friend whose family is hurting and whose financial house is “out of order.”  Her employment is tenuous, and resources are few.  I read with a broken heart, an article in yesterday’s Bethel Journal, about how heroin addiction is destroying many lives and families in our county.  Innocent people are hurting.  Another friend texted me yesterday asking for prayer for several members of her family – all with serious health conditions, all happening at once.  She shared with me that her family needs a miracle.

There are many causes for weeping.  What can we do?  Look into the tomb!  The quintessential grave has been robbed of its sting, of its victory.  Jesus Christ is risen!  And, he has defeated despair and destruction in your life!  In the resurrection of Jesus, there are the seeds of countless resurrections – both in our dying and in our living.  So, whether you are experiencing sorrow, or brokenness, or illness, or hardship – look into the tomb!  Jesus is alive!

Prayer: O Lord, weeping may endure for the night, but joy comes in the morning!  Help me - in the dim shadows of the dawn of hope - to look into the tomb, to see that Jesus has risen, and to share that joy with all those around me.  Amen.

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 38.9-16

9 O Lord, all my longing is before you; my sighing is not hidden from you.

10 My heart throbs; my strength fails me, and the light of my eyes--it also has gone from me.

11 My friends and companions stand aloof from my plague, and my nearest kin stand far off.

12 Those who seek my life lay their snares; those who seek my hurt speak of ruin and meditate treachery all day long.

13 But I am like a deaf man; I do not hear, like a mute man who does not open his mouth.

14 I have become like a man who does not hear, and in whose mouth are no rebukes.

15 But for you, O LORD, do I wait; it is you, O Lord my God, who will answer.

16 For I said, "Only let them not rejoice over me, who boast against me when my foot slips!"