Thought for Today

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth,  

Ecclesiastes 3:1 For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

John 20:19 When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you."  

Romans 13:11 Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers;

This morning, I am thinking about time. Not time in the sense of Einstein’s theories. Not time in the sense of ‘what was going on before Genesis?’ I’m sure not because today is April 9th, and the floor surrounding my desk remains littered with the supporting documents for my as-yet-unfiled taxes. I’m thinking about the fact that last Sunday was Easter and the coming Sunday is the Second Sunday of Easter.

Hopefully, everyone reading this heard a sermon last Sunday about the Empty Tomb. And, hopefully, that sermon offered some thoughts about the meaning of that empty tomb for our lives today.

Most of us have read or heard that verse above from John, about what the disciples were doing immediately following Easter morning. The sermon you heard last week may even have referenced that verse or one of the other passages revealing Jesus’ post-Resurrection appearances to the disciples. Maybe about the appearance to the disciples on the road to Emmaus, “Luke 24:13 Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem.” Most of us have read or heard about appearances to the disciples, primarily those whom we now refer to as apostles, the remaining 11 and the one they chose to complete their ranks.

We know there were numerous others, however, who heard and saw Jesus during his ministry. People whom Jesus healed. Families of those people. People who were fed by Jesus in those miraculous feeding stories in the Gospels of thousands being fed from mere scraps. People who were in the synagogue and heard Jesus read from the Isaiah scroll.

What was going on in the minds of the couple whose wedding Jesus attended at Canna? “John 2:1 On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding.” Jesus had literally saved their wedding from disaster. What was going on in their minds and the minds of their wedding guests as the news of Jesus’ crucifixion spread throughout Israel and Judea?

We know that conspiracy theories abound in our world today. We also know that conspiracy theories are not an invention of the 20th or 21st centuries. We can read the words of the chief priests and Pharisees to Pilate, “Matthew 27:64 Therefore command the tomb to be made secure until the third day; otherwise his disciples may go and steal him away, and tell the people, 'He has been raised from the dead,' and the last deception would be worse than the first."

History records that Dan Brown was not the first to write about the Holy Grail, Mary Magdalene and Jesus. Even the most outrageous conspiracy theories usually suggest enough plausibility to convince some minds. And, conspiracies have run rampant for 2000+ years about the Empty Tomb, about what really happened following the Crucifixion.

What was going on in the minds of all of those who had interacted with Jesus on the fourth day following the discovery of the Empty Tomb? More importantly, what is going on in my mind, in your mind, on this day, the fourth day following Easter? Are you motivated to read or reread The Da Vinci Code? Are you motivated to go online and search for other Christian conspiracy theories, about the secrets of the Holy Grail and where it might be? Maybe you are inclined to go further back in history and watch or rewatch Raiders of the Lost Ark?

Today, and every day, I am inspired by that Empty Tomb and my own understanding of its being empty as God’s shouted “Amen!” to the life and ministry of Jesus, the Christ. That Empty Tomb drives me forward to “Luke 10:27 . . . love the Lord (my) God with all (my) heart, and with all (my) soul, and with all (my) strength, and with all (my) mind; and (my) neighbor as (my)self."

Stay safe, think about the tomb’s being empty, trust God,

Pastor Ray