devotionals

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Mary: I Call You By Name

29th March

“She turned to leave and saw someone standing there. It was Jesus, but she didn’t recognize Him. “Dear woman, why are you crying?” Jesus asked her. “Who are you looking for?” She thought He was the gardener. “Sir,” she said, “if you have taken Him away, tell me where you have put Him, and I will go and get Him.” “Mary!” Jesus said. She turned to Him and cried out, “Rabboni!” (which is Hebrew for “Teacher”).”

John 20:14-16

One of the first people Jesus appeared to in His resurrected body was Mary Magdalene. We don’t know a lot about Mary, other than the fact she had been delivered from seven demons by Jesus. Some say she was a prostitute or a ‘loose woman’ before she met Jesus, yet those claims are not supported by Biblical references. What we do know about her, is that after her healing, she never left Jesus’ side. She was present throughout Jesus’ ministry, at the cross and most importantly at the tomb after Jesus’ resurrection. Mary Magdalene’s encounter with the resurrected Jesus is recorded in the Gospel of John and is especially significant for Jesus’ words when speaking with Mary.

After questioning the angels to see where Jesus’ body was, noticing that the tomb had been opened and Jesus’ body was not in the tomb, Mary encountered a Man whom she thought was the gardener. Yet in actual fact the ‘gardener’ was indeed the resurrected Jesus. However, it was Jesus’ response to Mary’s desperate questions that promoted her to recognise who Jesus really was. As soon as Jesus said “Mary”, she knew it was her Lord and Saviour. The love that could be heard through Jesus’ affirming words moved Mary to call out ‘Teacher’ or ‘Rabboni’. She knew the voice of her Good Shepherd calling her. She knew the comfort His voice brought. She knew the value of Jesus’ words. She knew that she was God’s child and that God Himself was calling her. One can only imagine the joy that Mary must have felt when Jesus called her by name.

Today, Jesus calls us too by name. He calls us as His bride. He calls us as His chosen ones. His voice is as re-assuring, affirming and loving as it was when He called out Mary’s name. His voice gives us the assurance that we are His. Heed Jesus’ loving voice. We are His beloved.

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Mary: I Call You By Name

29th March

“She turned to leave and saw someone standing there. It was Jesus, but she didn’t recognize Him. “Dear woman, why are you crying?” Jesus asked her. “Who are you looking for?” She thought He was the gardener. “Sir,” she said, “if you have taken Him away, tell me where you have put Him, and I will go and get Him.” “Mary!” Jesus said. She turned to Him and cried out, “Rabboni!” (which is Hebrew for “Teacher”).”

John 20:14-16

One of the first people Jesus appeared to in His resurrected body was Mary Magdalene. We don’t know a lot about Mary, other than the fact she had been delivered from seven demons by Jesus. Some say she was a prostitute or a ‘loose woman’ before she met Jesus, yet those claims are not supported by Biblical references. What we do know about her, is that after her healing, she never left Jesus’ side. She was present throughout Jesus’ ministry, at the cross and most importantly at the tomb after Jesus’ resurrection. Mary Magdalene’s encounter with the resurrected Jesus is recorded in the Gospel of John and is especially significant for Jesus’ words when speaking with Mary.

After questioning the angels to see where Jesus’ body was, noticing that the tomb had been opened and Jesus’ body was not in the tomb, Mary encountered a Man whom she thought was the gardener. Yet in actual fact the ‘gardener’ was indeed the resurrected Jesus. However, it was Jesus’ response to Mary’s desperate questions that promoted her to recognise who Jesus really was. As soon as Jesus said “Mary”, she knew it was her Lord and Saviour. The love that could be heard through Jesus’ affirming words moved Mary to call out ‘Teacher’ or ‘Rabboni’. She knew the voice of her Good Shepherd calling her. She knew the comfort His voice brought. She knew the value of Jesus’ words. She knew that she was God’s child and that God Himself was calling her. One can only imagine the joy that Mary must have felt when Jesus called her by name.

Today, Jesus calls us too by name. He calls us as His bride. He calls us as His chosen ones. His voice is as re-assuring, affirming and loving as it was when He called out Mary’s name. His voice gives us the assurance that we are His. Heed Jesus’ loving voice. We are His beloved.

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The Pharisee’s Denial

28th March

“Then the angel spoke to the women. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead, just as He said would happen. Come, see where His body was lying. And now, go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead, and He is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see Him there. Remember what I have told you.””

Matthew 28:5-7

It seems as if everyone but the Pharisees knew that something special had just taken place when Jesus was crucified. What were they thinking? Were their eyes blinded to the events surrounding Jesus’ death?

Moments after Jesus’ death, the leading Pharisees and teachers of the law, went to Pilate to ask for Jesus’ tomb to be blocked by a huge stone to prevent His disciples coming in the middle of the night to steal His body and thus claiming that He had risen from the dead. Interestingly, as written in Matthew 27:63, the Pharisees were worried about Jesus’ own claims that on the 3rd day He would rise from the dead again. Sure enough, their request was granted, and in addition, the tomb was guarded by some Roman Soldiers. Yet the huge stone could not keep Jesus in His grave, and just as He said, He rose from the dead on the 3rd day.

Mary Magdalene and Mary went to visit the grave on the 3rd day, yet to their shock, they found the huge stone sealing Jesus in, rolled to one side with an angel of the Lord sitting on top of the boulder. As the two women went to the disciples to share their great news, some of the guards who had also heard about these events, went to tell the Pharisees that Jesus’ body was not in the tomb and that the huge boulder had been rolled away. The Pharisees offered a bribe to the soldiers saying, “You must say, ‘Jesus’ disciples came during the night while we were sleeping, and they stole his body’” (Matthew 28:13).

Time and time again, the Pharisees denied who Jesus said He was, denied what the scriptures said about Him, even to the point of manipulating lies about Him, and even denied His true resurrection. Today, we also live in an age where people set out to deny the truth about Jesus. Will you accept the truth that Jesus truly rose again and invite Him to journey with you in your life?

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The Grief Of Remorse

26th-27th March

Weekend Edition

“When the Roman officer overseeing the execution saw what had happened, he worshipped God and said, “Surely this man was innocent.” And when all the crowd that came to see the crucifixion saw what had happened, they went home in deep sorrow.”

Luke 23:47-48

Have you ever done something so bad that had huge consequences, then after you do it, you are filled with an immeasurable amount of shame, guilt and remorse? Maybe not, but there are plenty of people throughout the Bible who had. One such man was the Roman officer, commissioned to oversee Jesus’ crucifixion. We may not know a lot about this man but based on Matthew, Mark, and Luke’s accounts of Jesus’ final moments, we can assume that this man knew he had made a big mistake in executing, not just an innocent man, but as Matthew records in 27:54, “..the Son of God!”

As Jesus breathed His last breath the Heavens mourned for the Only Begotten Son of God. There was an earthquake, the skies were turned black, and the curtains of the temple tore in two. There was chaos. This had never happened before after someone had been crucified. Was it a coincidence? What is a natural phenomenon? No! It was the pains of the Son of Man dying and at the same time the victory cries that what Jesus set out to do had been completed.

These events caused such a stir, that many people began to question, ‘did we just call for the head of an innocent man?’ Even the crowds, who a week earlier had rejoiced in Jesus’ arrival into Jerusalem on a colt with palm trees and songs of praise, who then called for Jesus’ crucifixion with such hatred, seemed to also be filled with great remorse as they went home with “..deep sorrow.” We can also recall the story of when the resurrected Jesus met two His followers on the road to Emmaus and told Jesus that He must be “the only person in Jerusalem who hasn’t heard about all the things that have happened…” in the last few days.

Jesus’ death and resurrection still causes shocks today. Opinion is divided as people recall the event of 2000 years ago. Some people, like the Roman officer, feel remorse for their sins and realise that what Jesus did on the cross was for them. Others ignore what He did. Yet for those who do accept, great joy and freedom await. What will you choose?

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Jesus And His Mother

25th March

“When Jesus saw His mother standing there beside the disciple He loved, He said to her, “Dear woman, here is your son.” And He said to this disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from then on this disciple took her into his home.”

John 19:26-27

Jesus had much on His mind as He hung dying on the cross. The pain was killing Him – literally. He no doubt yearned to rejoin His Heavenly Father. He knew His job on earth was finished; He had accomplished everything His Heavenly Father had ordained. Yet He was also aware of His disciples’ shock. He was probably stung with grief over Peter’s denial and Judas’ betrayal. Only God knows everything that went through His mind.

But one topic is clearly recorded. As Jesus looked down from the cross, He saw the need to do something about His grieving mother. Referring to John, His beloved disciple, He said to His mother, “Dear woman, here is your son.” He then made a similar statement to John: “Here is your mother.” (Bible scholars assume that Mary’s husband, Joseph, must have passed away by this time, and thus needed assistance.)

Early in His ministry (Mark 3:31-35), Jesus had said His true family members were “anyone who does God’s will.” But here, near the end of His earthly life, His love and concern for His birth mother are apparent as well.

Sometimes, we get so caught up in the important work we are doing that we neglect our commitments to our loved ones. If anyone could have claimed that His ministry was the top priority, it would have been Jesus. But even in the middle of His most important act of ministry, even while enduring unspeakable physical and spiritual agony, Jesus cared enough about His mother to ensure she would not be left vulnerable and alone. His charged His closest disciple with her care. May we, too, remember to care for our loved ones even while we carry out the other work God has given us to do.1 May we never forget the importance of ‘mothers’ in our lives. Jesus didn’t, neither should we!

1Men’s Study Bible, Pg 1422, A Son and a Mother

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The Great Divide Healed

24th March

“Then Jesus shouted out again, and He released His spirit. At that moment the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, rocks split apart…”

Matthew 27:50-51

Can you imagine what a sight this scene would have been. The age old temple curtain torn in two revealing the Most Holy Place. Rocks cracking. The earth shaking. Darkness descending and thunder clapping. It sounds like a scene from an ‘end of the world’ film. Well in actual fact, it was the end of the world as it was known. Jesus’ sacrifice changed the destiny of man-kind forever and the temple curtain being torn signified an important change in our relationship with God.

According to the description written in Hebrews chapter 9, the temple, where people would gather to worship God, was divided into two. The Holy Place and the Most Holy Place. These two rooms were divided by a huge curtain as the Most Holy Place was were the tangible presence of God was. Only the High Priest could enter this room once he had cleansed himself of his own sins and only once a year to offer a sacrifice for the people’s sins.

“But only the high priest ever entered the Most Holy Place, and only once a year. And he always offered blood for his owns sins and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance.”

Hebrew 9:7

The imagery described here in Hebrews would have been a very normal picture for the Jewish people of Jesus’ time. They knew the temple rules. The knew the role of the High Priest. And they knew that once a year he would make an offering for their sins.

Yet when the temple curtain was torn into two, it symbolised something greater than what they would have understood. It showed that by Jesus’ own sacrifice, He made a way that we no longer have to speak to God through a High Priest or have our sins forgiven by the sacrifice of the blood of a lamb. We now have a Perfect High Priest, Jesus Christ, who ever lives to make an intercession for us by His own blood. He became the sacrifice, He became our High Priest and He became our sin offering. Because of what Jesus did on the cross, we can freely enter into the Most Holy Place (God’s presence), and freely have a relationship with God without religious restrictions. Hallelujah!

Jesus flipped the script when the veil was ripped!

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Pilate’s Weakness: Our Gain

22nd March

“Then Pilate called together the leading priests and other religious leaders, along with the people, and he announced his verdict. “You bought this man to me, accusing Him of leading a revolt. I have examined Him thoroughly on this point in your presence and find Him innocent. Herod came to the same conclusion and sent Him back to us. Nothing this man has done calls for the death penalty.””

Luke 23:13-15

In John’s account of Jesus’ trial before Pilate in chapters 18 and 19, Pilate publicly said three times that he found Jesus innocent. First in 18:38, then again in 19:4 and finally in 19:6. In Matthew’s account, just before Pilate released Barabbas and condemned Jesus to death, Pilate washes his hands of Jesus’ sentence, as if to show that he was not responsible for Jesus’ death.

Yet in actual fact, Pilate had every opportunity to stop Jesus’ crucifixion. He was the governor. He was in charge. He had the power to release Jesus. In addition, Pilate didn’t actually know why he was sentencing Jesus to die. Matthew 27 verse 22 – 23 says the following, “Pilate responded, “Then what should I do with Jesus who is called the Messiah?” They shouted back, “Crucify Him!” “Why?” Pilate demanded. “What crime has He committed?”” Even Pilate himself didn’t think Jesus had done anything to warrant the death penalty.

Yet the real reason Pilate wouldn’t release Jesus, is because he cared too much about his own status, popularity among the Jews, and fear of Caesars opinion of him. In John 19 verse 7, the Jewish leaders highlighted to Pilate that Jesus had declared Himself as the Son of God, which by status would have meant that Jesus was a King. If so, as the Jewish leaders pointed out in verse 12 “…anyone who declares himself a king is a rebel against Caesar!” A rebel against Caesar being released by a governor appointed by Caesar could indicate that the governor was also guilty of treason! Surely enough, those words did put fear into Pilate’s heart… “When Pilate heard this, he was more frightened than ever” (v8).

So in order to save face, Pilate succumbed to the crowds angry calls to crucify Jesus, fully knowing that Jesus was an innocent man. Yet Jesus’ innocence is the very reason why we are saved. An innocent offering had to take our place and bear the punishment for our wrongdoings. By allowing an innocent man to die, Pilate actually allowed humanity to be saved.

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What If…

21st March

“Just then, as Pilate was sitting on the judgement seat, his wife sent him this message: “Leave that innocent man alone. I suffered a terrible nightmare about him last night.””

Matthew 27:19

Amongst all of the details of Jesus’ judgement and crucifixion narrative, we find this interesting scripture that can easily be overlooked. Although we cannot fully understand it because there is no mention of it anywhere else in scripture, we can draw some conclusions based on what we do know.

Firstly, who was the dream from? God or the enemy? Was God giving Pilate a second chance to prove his integrity or was the enemy trying to prevent prophesied scripture coming to pass, regarding the way Jesus had to die? Whoever it was from, what can be concluded, is that it deeply troubled Pilate’s wife as she knew Jesus was an innocent man.

Secondly, what was Pilate’s reaction to the dream? As far as scripture says, nothing. He didn’t do anything about it at all. It may have re-affirmed his belief that Jesus was an innocent man, yet he didn’t act upon it at all, but rather instead, as found in the following verses, we read he released Barabbas, a convicted rebel.

Finally, what if Pilate did listen to his wife’s dream and released Jesus? If he did, the only person he would have appeased would have been his wife. Jesus came to the earth for the very purpose of being crucified for our sins. It had to happen. Jesus had to lay down His life for us.

Perhaps Pilate’s wife’s dream did play a bigger part in Jesus’ crucifixion than we can understand. However, what we do know, is that it was God’s will for our sins to be placed on His Son, for our sakes. What we do know, is that Jesus did die for us and because of His sacrifice we are free from the bondage of sin. Whatever the purpose of Pilate’s wife’s dream, we can rejoice in knowing that the ‘what if’ questions don’t have to be answered because Jesus ‘completed’ what He was sent to do. Let us rejoice in Jesus’ victory and endurance to and on the cross.

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Jesus Loves You….Seriously

19th – 20th March

Weekend Edition

“…..“Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength’. The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’. No other commandment is greater than these.””

Mark 12:28c-31

Jesus, as He was hanging on the cross for our sakes, never for one moment, stopped loving us. Even in His dying breath He poured out His heart for the lost. The significance of Jesus’ sacrifice changed the world as it was. It changed the spiritual realm. It changed our capacity to interact with the Creator of this world. Yet above all, it highlighted how much we are loved by God. As John puts it, ‘God so loved the world that He gave His only Son…’ (John 3:16)! When we understand this love, it changes our presuppositions of who God is and our position and identity in Him. Moreover, as today’s verse highlights, it changes our attitude to loving God, ourselves and others.

In fact, it is almost criminal to hate ourselves, if the Creator of this world loved us enough to sacrifice Himself for us. We are ridiculously and radically loved by Jesus. He really did give everything He had for us. He literally emptied Himself for our sakes. So if our Creator loves us so much, if our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ loves us so much, then how can we not love ourselves too?

We do not love ourselves because we think we are great, or deserve accolades. On the contrary, we love ourselves because we are loved. It is Christ’s love revealed in our hearts that gives us an understanding of how much we are loved, which in turn gives us the confidence and ability to love ourselves. It is from that understanding that we can then, love others with the same love we are loved with. May we ask God to replace our bad image of ourselves with how God sees us and reject the lies of unworthiness. Let us ask God to help us fully understand how much He loves us and help us love others as we are loved and love ourselves.

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IT IS FINISHED

18th March

“When Jesus had tasted it, He said, “It is finished!” Then He bowed His head and released His spirit.”

John 19:30

Out of all the gospels, John’s account of Jesus’ last moments are the most descriptive. Interestingly the other accounts just mention that Jesus let out a loud cry and then bowed His head and died, yet it is John’s account that gives us these wonderful last words from our Lord Jesus Christ.

“IT IS FINISHED”

Would you allow those words to soak into your spirit this day. Jesus’ declaration, His final words to us and to those of His time, hold so much weight and give us so much hope. When we look at our sin compared to God’s holiness, rather than be despondent and downcast, unworthy and bound, we can stand in awe at the grace of God and declare that Jesus’ last words were a promise that we no longer have to hold on to our sins but can release and be released from them at the foot of the cross.

‘It is finished’ literally means what it says. It’s over. It’s done. It’s been completed. Jesus’ mission to save humanity from their sins and to show His love for us has been completed. Jesus did what He set out to do and now we can stand and live in the freedom that His sacrifice brings. Stare your problems straight in the face and declare that Jesus said it is finished. Addictions, financial worries, marriage problems, and so on… All can be surrendered to the One who surrendered Himself for us.

IT IS FINISHED declares the Lord. IT IS OVER….

Jesus won so we no longer have to live in defeat!