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 John 1:1-5: Theology singing.(please click here for todays passage)

This is one of the best known parts of the Bible. It is so important; so significant.

It is theology.

It is (it seems to me) poetry.

It is theology set to music; theology singing.

Think what BIG things it says about Jesus:

He is God;

Yet He is distinct from God;

He is the creator of all things;

The ‘light’ in every person – the light of conscience – the light of spiritual understanding – is actually the ‘life’ of Jesus alive in them – whether they recognise Him or not. His life animates everyone and everything.

And how about this for a barnstorming statement of truth? ‘The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness; the darkness couldn’t put it out’ (5, The Message).

Still today, in many ways, the darkness huffs and puffs at the light and tries to extinguish it. The fact is it will never succeed. Sometimes it will appear to, but in reality our ‘Good Friday’s’ will always be eclipsed by His ‘Easter Sundays’.

Prayer: Thank you Lord for the beauty of truth; for its poetic, melodic, rhapsodic quality. It makes my heart sing. I love you Lord Jesus Christ, and I worship you.

Luke 24: 13-35: Burning hearts.(Please click for todays passage)

This is just a great story, isn’t it? It is full of irony. It makes you smile to yourself at various points:

‘Are you the only one living in Jerusalem who doesn’t know the things that have happened there in these days’ (17).

‘And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place’ (21b).

‘…but him they did not see’ (24c).

That’s all quite amusing really. And are we not laughing at ourselves, for we can be ‘So thick-headed! So slow-hearted!’ (25, The Message)?

When we get to today’s reading, we find that the disciples had a deeper problem than not remembering. It was that they did not believe the Word they had in their possession (25-27). They didn’t remember because they did not believe. Like a surgeon, with a deft use of His scalpel, Jesus cut to the root of the problem.

If you want to experience the presence of Jesus and have a burning heart, talk about Him and His work. As you do so, He will surely come and join you in the conversation (15) and make it richer and fuller with His gracious revelation. He can clarify, bring understanding and expel confusion. But it is inappropriate for followers of Jesus to look ‘downcast’ (17); to just stand there ‘long-faced, like’ we have ‘lost’ our ‘best friend’ (The Message). However, only with appropriate understanding of truth can there be fullness of joy. The truth sets free.

One further thing: Jesus responds to earnest prayer (28,29). The Lord heard their urgent plea and acceded to their request. How good that they ‘prayed’, for they got more than they asked or thought. Christ not only ‘stayed’ with them, but revealed Himself to them (30-32; 35). When they returned to Jerusalem they found that Jesus had already been at work, in advance of their arrival (33, 34).

‘Didn’t we feel on fire as he conversed with us on the road, as he opened up the Scriptures for us?’ (32, The Message).

Prayer: Lord Jesus, help me to think about you and talk about you. Come alongside me in your grace and mercy, please. Show me more of you and let me feel your fire burning in my heart.

 Luke 24:1-6a: Prepared spices (see also 23:55,56).(please click for todays passage )

The women prepared their spices to anoint the body of a dead Jesus (or so they thought). But on the first day of each new week, the church gathers to meet with the risen Lord Jesus. What a privilege! But here’s my question: do we ‘prepare’ our ‘spices’; our perfumery of praise and worship? Or do we just roll out of bed, down the aisle and into a pew?! What we do at ‘home’ (23:56) can have a significant impact on the public worship of the gathered church.

We say we believe in every member ministry (‘the priesthood of all believers’, as it is sometimes called). We have a conviction that every member of the church is a minister.

Now if I expect the service leader to prepare…

…and if I expect the musicians to prepare…

…and if I expect that the preacher will be prepared…

Why would I then exempt myself from the need for heart preparation? Because I, too, am a minister of the church.

When we gather to meet with the living Lord Jesus we bring something. Our emphasis is not on getting but on giving. What will we bring? It can only be what we have (1 Corinthians 14:26).

Prayer: Lord, I pray that the public worship of the church will be enriched because of the contribution I bring. Help me to prepare my heart in private.

 Luke 23:50-56: A model disciple?(please click for todays passage)

How should we respond to Christ crucified? Perhaps Joseph of Arimathea shows the way. To some degree he is a model disciple:

He had courage: Joseph had the bravery to identify with Jesus at a time when it was no doubt tempting to maintain a low profile. The atmosphere must have felt full of danger and menace, but by Joseph lifted his head above the parapet;

He was prepared to sacrifice: Joseph gave his own prepared tomb to Jesus. We should not miss the loving generosity behind his action;

He demonstrated practicality: he used what he had to serve. Do we?

‘Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.’ 

Prayer: Thank you Jesus for dying in my place. May my whole life be a cross-shaped response to you and all you have done for me.

 Luke 23:44-49: ‘…the sun stopped shining.'(please click for todays passage)

‘The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not overcome it.’ (John 1:5).

What was occurring in nature, to some degree reflected what was happening with Jesus, ‘the light of the world.’ When He died, for a brief time, you might say that His light ceased to shine in this world. He had said previously:

‘While I am in the world, I am the light of the world’ (John 9:5). 

For a very short time He would be put out of the world, before shining again in all His brilliant, dazzling glory. Like with a self re-igniting candle, the light was only temporarily blown out, but the divinity of Jesus still burned, ready to explode back into life and light on the third day.

‘We need to be energetically at work for the One who sent me here, while the sun shines. When night falls, the workday is over. For as long as I am in the world, there is plenty of light. I am the world’s light.’ (John 9:4,5: The Message).

But through what looked like tragedy – the extinguishing of the light – the way was opened up to God. Different kinds of people were powerfully impacted. The impact lives on today…and will, for all eternity.

Luke 23:26-31: Cry for yourselves.(please click here for todays passage)

The life and death of Jesus were to be dramatised on ITV with Robert Powell in the lead role. It was a heavy duty, big budget production and a large swathe of the population were going to be viewing. ”I’m sure I’ll cry when He dies”, I heard someone say. But unless you are prepared to become a disciple and carry the cross, you should weep for yourself. The reality of judgment should reduce us all to tears. Those who reject Him must recognise the seriousness of their action. It is not enough to simply be moved by the story of His death.

In the story of Simon of Cyrene we have a picture of conversion. Life is going on as normal. It’s another ordinary day. Then suddenly you find yourself carrying the cross. Everything changes. You did not expect to find yourself doing this, but now it is the dominating reality in your life.