Luke 24:1-12 (GNT) The Resurrection
Very early on Sunday morning the women went to the tomb, carrying the spices they had prepared.
2 They found the stone rolled away from the entrance to the tomb,
3 so they went in; but they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
4 They stood there puzzled about this, when suddenly two men in bright shining clothes stood by them.
5 Full of fear, the women bowed down to the ground, as the men said to them, “Why are you looking among the dead for one who is alive?
6 He is not here; he has been raised. Remember what he said to you while he was in Galilee:
7 ‘The Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, be crucified, and three days later rise to life.’”
8 Then the women remembered his words,
9 returned from the tomb, and told all these things to the eleven disciples and all the rest.
10 The women were Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James; they and the other women with them told these things to the apostles.
11 But the apostles thought that what the women said was nonsense, and they did not believe them.
12 But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; he bent down and saw the grave cloths but nothing else. Then he went back home amazed at what had happened.
John 8:2-11 (NRSV)
2 Early in the morning Jesus came again to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat down and began to teach them.
3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them
4 they said to him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery.
5 Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?”
6 They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground.
7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”
8 And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground.
9 When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him.
10 Jesus straightened up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
11 She said, “No one, sir.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go on your way, and from now on do not sin again.”
Very early on Sunday morning the women went to the tomb, carrying the spices they had prepared.
2 They found the stone rolled away from the entrance to the tomb,
3 so they went in; but they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
4 They stood there puzzled about this, when suddenly two men in bright shining clothes stood by them.
5 Full of fear, the women bowed down to the ground, as the men said to them, “Why are you looking among the dead for one who is alive?
6 He is not here; he has been raised. Remember what he said to you while he was in Galilee:
7 ‘The Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, be crucified, and three days later rise to life.’”
8 Then the women remembered his words,
9 returned from the tomb, and told all these things to the eleven disciples and all the rest.
10 The women were Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James; they and the other women with them told these things to the apostles.
11 But the apostles thought that what the women said was nonsense, and they did not believe them.
12 But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; he bent down and saw the grave cloths but nothing else. Then he went back home amazed at what had happened.
John 8:2-11 (NRSV)
2 Early in the morning Jesus came again to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat down and began to teach them.
3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them
4 they said to him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery.
5 Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?”
6 They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground.
7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”
8 And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground.
9 When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him.
10 Jesus straightened up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
11 She said, “No one, sir.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go on your way, and from now on do not sin again.”
Reflection
What is a miracle? Healing someone, chasing out demons, raising from the dead, stopping the wind in a storm, walking on water, changing water into wine? Does it matter if you feed five thousand people or five people?
What is your favourite miracle?
I guess it depends on who you are.
I guess it depends on how you look at your life.
I guess it depends on how you see the world.
I mean I look back on my life and I can see time and time again when I have been held safe in the palm of God’s hand. Maybe no one else saw the miracles I did, maybe they would just shrug and say “well it happened - that’s too bad or something didn’t happen – you were lucky.” But I’m calling them miracles!
Not because I’m special or because God favoured me over others – not that that God would even work that way. I call them miracles because that is the way I choose define a situation.
I don’t know why we have so many miracles in the Bible but maybe it has to do with the way people saw their lives and the people around them.
When I read the bible I see a bunch of people who saw themselves (and thus their lives) as perfectly ordinary- not anything special even to God. And yet, Sarah and Abraham have a child, and yet, Moses leads his people into the desert and out of it into a land of milk and honey. And Jesus, what could be more ordinary than the son of a carpenter.
In Jesus’ life and ministry it is easy to identify his miracles, as God working through Jesus: Jesus giving sight to the blind, healing lepers, casting out demons, walking on water which he always attributes to faith. In Mark 5:25-34, a woman touches the hem of Jesus’ robe and he feels the power drain out of him and he wants to know who has touched him, when she admits that she has because of her long standing affliction, he
says to her “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”
And yet, Jesus the miracle worker is also a miracle himself. How can we understand the resurrection except as a miracle? We have Jesus raising people from the dead: Jarius’ daughter in Mark 5, Lazarus in John 11, and the widow’s son in the village of Nain in Luke 7:15. – all miracles!
What do all these miracles tell us about how God works in the world? What do they tell us about Jesus? And then there are the healings and miracles of the disciples which serve to identify them as true believers and followers of Christ, blessed by God and through whom the Holy Spirit is always at work. We take it for granted that that this is how God worked and still works in the world – through ordinary people blessing other ordinary people. Or do we? Do we look at all those people in the bible and say: “Nope, they were special, they were different, they were chosen by God – they aren’t like you or me.”
It’s a little scary isn’t it, to even think God is blessing us today to be a blessing in the world, our world. And yet what I see Jesus doing in the gospels is making people whole and giving them back their lives; lepers, the blind, the demon possessed, bleeding women, tax collectors, dead daughters and brothers – Jesus gives them back their lives. Miracles happen!
Well, miracles don’t always happen. Jesus did not heal everyone who needed healing, he didn’t save everyone who needed saving – father, brothers, sisters, mothers dies, were broken abused, stoned, were sick, were left bleeding, God doesn’t solve all the problems in the world – miracles don’t always happen. Not then, not now.
Miracles are those things we didn’t expect, we didn’t see coming. Feeding the five thousand; didn’t see that coming, we just expected everyone to go home after hearing a few parables.
Jesus spitting into mud to put on a man’s eyes to wash away his blindness; didn’t see that one coming either.
In our reading from the gospel of John today we have a woman brought to the temple to be stoned for adultery, it seems Jesus is trying to stay out of it – none of his business until the scribes and Pharisees badger Jesus into commenting – ok, not usually seen as a miracle story but what a miracle is would have been for that woman. She is given her life back. That’s why I want to include her in the miracle stories. That why I want to include the tax collectors; Zacchaeus and Matthew as part of the miracle stories, Jesus healed these people’s lives and changed their lives.
See these are miracles no one labels miracles, Miracles we don’t even notice because we label them something else. Do you ever wonder how many miracles get by us? How many miracles do you have in your life?
Minor miracles, major miracles, miracles you dismiss, miracles that make you stop and wonder, miracles that appear out of no where and take your breath away, miracles that are so slow in coming that they creep up on you and take you unaware – all miracles.
I remember when Ryk and I moved here almost six years ago. We were burnt out, discouraged, hoping for a new start with less pressure and stress around us. Ryk had just had his thyroid out and his medication was not working well. Slowly with some medical setbacks we have gotten better, nourished and nurtured in our new home. That for us is a miracle!
And we thank God for bringing us to this place at this time, with all the people who surround us. Neighbours, friends, acquaintances, and even the people who wave and just acknowledge we exist in this world together. You have all played an important role in our recovery- you are all a part of our miracle. The miracle didn’t have to happen, the miracle could have been labeled life and forgotten about but I think it is one of those miracles that sneak up on you.
I guess besides saying thank you just for being who you are, thank you for this welcoming and loving community, want to emphasize that this is a miracle we are living: Ryk, me, you- ordinary people.
The real miracle is this time we have between birth and death. This in-between time that makes life precious. It is up to us to make it meaningful, it is up to us to find God’s purpose for our lives, it is up to us to see the miracle of God’s creation.
Amen
What is a miracle? Healing someone, chasing out demons, raising from the dead, stopping the wind in a storm, walking on water, changing water into wine? Does it matter if you feed five thousand people or five people?
What is your favourite miracle?
I guess it depends on who you are.
I guess it depends on how you look at your life.
I guess it depends on how you see the world.
I mean I look back on my life and I can see time and time again when I have been held safe in the palm of God’s hand. Maybe no one else saw the miracles I did, maybe they would just shrug and say “well it happened - that’s too bad or something didn’t happen – you were lucky.” But I’m calling them miracles!
Not because I’m special or because God favoured me over others – not that that God would even work that way. I call them miracles because that is the way I choose define a situation.
I don’t know why we have so many miracles in the Bible but maybe it has to do with the way people saw their lives and the people around them.
When I read the bible I see a bunch of people who saw themselves (and thus their lives) as perfectly ordinary- not anything special even to God. And yet, Sarah and Abraham have a child, and yet, Moses leads his people into the desert and out of it into a land of milk and honey. And Jesus, what could be more ordinary than the son of a carpenter.
In Jesus’ life and ministry it is easy to identify his miracles, as God working through Jesus: Jesus giving sight to the blind, healing lepers, casting out demons, walking on water which he always attributes to faith. In Mark 5:25-34, a woman touches the hem of Jesus’ robe and he feels the power drain out of him and he wants to know who has touched him, when she admits that she has because of her long standing affliction, he
says to her “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”
And yet, Jesus the miracle worker is also a miracle himself. How can we understand the resurrection except as a miracle? We have Jesus raising people from the dead: Jarius’ daughter in Mark 5, Lazarus in John 11, and the widow’s son in the village of Nain in Luke 7:15. – all miracles!
What do all these miracles tell us about how God works in the world? What do they tell us about Jesus? And then there are the healings and miracles of the disciples which serve to identify them as true believers and followers of Christ, blessed by God and through whom the Holy Spirit is always at work. We take it for granted that that this is how God worked and still works in the world – through ordinary people blessing other ordinary people. Or do we? Do we look at all those people in the bible and say: “Nope, they were special, they were different, they were chosen by God – they aren’t like you or me.”
It’s a little scary isn’t it, to even think God is blessing us today to be a blessing in the world, our world. And yet what I see Jesus doing in the gospels is making people whole and giving them back their lives; lepers, the blind, the demon possessed, bleeding women, tax collectors, dead daughters and brothers – Jesus gives them back their lives. Miracles happen!
Well, miracles don’t always happen. Jesus did not heal everyone who needed healing, he didn’t save everyone who needed saving – father, brothers, sisters, mothers dies, were broken abused, stoned, were sick, were left bleeding, God doesn’t solve all the problems in the world – miracles don’t always happen. Not then, not now.
Miracles are those things we didn’t expect, we didn’t see coming. Feeding the five thousand; didn’t see that coming, we just expected everyone to go home after hearing a few parables.
Jesus spitting into mud to put on a man’s eyes to wash away his blindness; didn’t see that one coming either.
In our reading from the gospel of John today we have a woman brought to the temple to be stoned for adultery, it seems Jesus is trying to stay out of it – none of his business until the scribes and Pharisees badger Jesus into commenting – ok, not usually seen as a miracle story but what a miracle is would have been for that woman. She is given her life back. That’s why I want to include her in the miracle stories. That why I want to include the tax collectors; Zacchaeus and Matthew as part of the miracle stories, Jesus healed these people’s lives and changed their lives.
See these are miracles no one labels miracles, Miracles we don’t even notice because we label them something else. Do you ever wonder how many miracles get by us? How many miracles do you have in your life?
Minor miracles, major miracles, miracles you dismiss, miracles that make you stop and wonder, miracles that appear out of no where and take your breath away, miracles that are so slow in coming that they creep up on you and take you unaware – all miracles.
I remember when Ryk and I moved here almost six years ago. We were burnt out, discouraged, hoping for a new start with less pressure and stress around us. Ryk had just had his thyroid out and his medication was not working well. Slowly with some medical setbacks we have gotten better, nourished and nurtured in our new home. That for us is a miracle!
And we thank God for bringing us to this place at this time, with all the people who surround us. Neighbours, friends, acquaintances, and even the people who wave and just acknowledge we exist in this world together. You have all played an important role in our recovery- you are all a part of our miracle. The miracle didn’t have to happen, the miracle could have been labeled life and forgotten about but I think it is one of those miracles that sneak up on you.
I guess besides saying thank you just for being who you are, thank you for this welcoming and loving community, want to emphasize that this is a miracle we are living: Ryk, me, you- ordinary people.
The real miracle is this time we have between birth and death. This in-between time that makes life precious. It is up to us to make it meaningful, it is up to us to find God’s purpose for our lives, it is up to us to see the miracle of God’s creation.
Amen
