Daily Devotional For Thursday, April 4, 2024

Has there ever been a time someone scared you as a joke? Maybe your spouse? Your kids? Or a friend? There are times we find ourselves quickly afraid such as when a car pulls out in front of us or strays into our lane. We get a quick jump in our heart. The Bible says that after Jesus’ death on the cross and His resurrection, the disciples were hiding in fear for their lives.

Look at John 20:19, “That Sunday evening the disciples were meeting behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them! `Peace be with you,”’ He said” (NLT). Here they were already scared and terrified for their lives hiding in a room behind a locked door and out of nowhere, Jesus suddenly appeared to them. That had to scare them almost to death. 

They were not expecting this. Here they had given 3 years of their lives to following Jesus and within a few hours, He was dead and buried. I wonder what they thought and said to each other behind the closed locked door. Maybe thoughts such as, “Well, how foolish we were to think Jesus was going to establish some earthly kingdom by defeating the Romans and running them out of town with HIs power.” Or, “With all His power, why didn’t He do something to stop them from killing Him?” We do not know. What we do know is they are hiding. They are not pillars and giants of faith. They are depressed, defeated and distressed. 

When Jesus suddenly appeared in that room it had to scare them. He didn’t knock. He simply appeared. Even though Jesus had told them He would be betrayed, turned over to the religious leaders, be crucified and die, it never really set into them. They only saw the Jesus they wanted to see; not the Jesus He was. They say the “proof is in the pudding,” so Jesus proved to them it was Him. Look at John 20:20-22:

“As He spoke, He showed them the wounds in His hands and His side. They were filled with joy when they saw the Lord! (21) Again He said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent Me, so I am sending you.” (22) Then He breathed on them and said, `Receive the Holy Spirit’” (NLT).

His glorified and resurrected body was not bound by walls. His words comforted  them in their fear. Luke tells us they thought they were seeing a ghost or a spirit. Look at Luke 24:37, “But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit” (ESV). In those days Jews believed that the spirit of a person would linger up to 3 days near or around the burial sight and it was possible to see that person’s spirit. Then in Luke 24:39, He told them to touch Him, “See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Touch Me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have” (ESV). 

Reminding them of the Great Commission, Jesus ceremonially and symbolically told told them of the coming Holy Spirit they would receive on the Day of Pentecost. We know from the other Gospels that 10 of the 12 disciples were in this room. Judas was not because he had committed suicide and Thomas was not. By breathing on them, Jesus was showing them how His own breath was emblematic of the coming Holy Spirit. 

From this point on, they yielded their lives totally the the resurrected Christ and never looked back. After having received the Holy Spirit, they began to cause the Gospel and faith in Christ to spread quickly all over the areas they were. What a powerful sign and proof of the difference the power of the Holy Spirit makes in a person. 

The Resurrection is powerful , even to 8-year-olds. Read the following:

Once upon a time a pastor I read about had a young friend named Philip. Philip was born with Downs Syndrome. He was a pleasant child—happy, it seemed—but increasingly aware of the difference between himself and other children. Philip went to Sunday school at the Methodist church. His teacher, also a friend of mine, taught the third-grade class with Philip and nine other eight-year-old boys and girls.

You know eight-year-olds. And Philip, with his differences, was not readily accepted. But my teacher friend was creative, and he helped the group of eight-year-olds. They learned, they laughed, they played together. And they really cared about one another, even though eight-year-olds don't say they care about one another out loud. My friend could see it. He knew it. He also knew that Philip was not really a part of that group. Philip did not choose nor did he want to be different. He just was. And that was just the way things were.

My friend had a marvelous idea for his class the Sunday after Easter. You know those things that pantyhose come in—the containers that look like great big eggs—my friend had collected ten of them. The children loved it when he brought them into the room. Each child was to get one. It was a beautiful spring day, and the assignment was for each child to go outside, find a symbol for new life, put it into the egg, and bring it back to the classroom. 

They would then open and share their new life symbols and surprises one by one.vIt was glorious. It was confusing. It was wild. They ran all around the church grounds, gathered their symbols, and returned to the classroom. They put all the eggs on a table, and then the teacher began to open them. All the children stood around the table.

He opened one, and there was a flower, and they ooh-ed and aah-ed. He opened another, and there was a little butterfly. "Beautiful," the girls all said, since it is hard for eight-year-old boys to say "beautiful." He opened another, and there was a rock. And as third-graders will, some laughed, and some said, "That's crazy! How's a rock supposed to be like new life?" 

But the smart little boy who'd found it spoke up: "That's mine. And I knew all of you would get flowers and buds and leaves and butterflies and stuff like that. So I got a rock because I wanted to be different. And for me, that's new life." They all laughed.

My friend said something to himself about the profundity of eight-year-olds and opened the next one. There was nothing there. The other children, as eight-year-olds will, said, "That's not fair—that's stupid!—somebody didn't do right."

Then my friend felt a tug on his shirt, and he looked down. Philip was standing beside him. "It's mine," Philip said. "It's mine.” And the children said, "You don't ever do things right, Philip. There's nothing there!""I did so do it," Philip said. "I did do it. It's empty. The tomb is empty!"

There was silence, a very full silence. And for you people who don't believe in miracles, I want to tell you that one happened that day last spring. From that time on, it was different. Philip suddenly became a part of that group of eight-year-old children. They took him in. He was set free from the tomb of his differentness.

Philip died last summer. His family had known since the time he was born that he wouldn't live out a full life span. Many other things had been wrong with his tiny body. And so, late last July, with an infection that most normal children could have quickly shrugged off, Philip died. The mystery simply enveloped him.

At the funeral, nine eight-year-old children marched up to the altar, not with flowers to cover over the stark reality of death. Nine eight-year-olds, with their Sunday school teacher, marched right up to that altar, and laid on it an empty egg—an empty, old, discarded pantyhose egg” (Source: https://www.preachingtoday.com/illustrations/1997/september/4749.html). 

Questions To Consider

1. What has been the most tragic event or experience you have ever had? How did it impact you and/or change you? How did you handle it? What lesson did God want you to learn from it?
2. Take a moment and reflect back over your life. What is an event separate from the one you mentioned above that totally caught you off guard? You didn’t see it coming and possibly initially it created some fear or anxiety or confusion? Why was it such a shock to you?
3. Think back to the time you gave your life to Christ. What was the level of intensity of your excitement and commitment to Him? Has it decreased? If so, why?
4. Look at your life today. Are you more committed, more in, more of a disciple of Jesus Christ than you were a year ago, 5 years ago?
5. When Jesus appeared to His disciples in the room behind locked doors, they thought initially they were seeing a ghost or His spirit. This created fear in them and He said to them, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent Me, I am sending you.” But can you imagine the exhilaration they had to felt when they realized they were not seeing a ghost or spirit, but the resurrected Jesus Christ. If this had been you, what would you have done seeing the resurrected Jesus standing before you? Behind the lock doors of your heart, Jesus has appeared to you. Where does He want to send you to be on mission for Him?

Scripture to Meditate On: Acts 20:24, “The Apostle Paul said, `But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God’” (NLT).

Prayer To Pray: “Dear Jesus, Your Word says I have been saved to be sent to serve You. Lord, please forgive me when I forget this. It is so easy for me to get in `my box,’ and forget by  becoming so preoccupied with everything else. Ultimately, I will be judged on how intentional I am to fulfill Your purpose for my life. Please help me to accomplish what You want me to do for You as well the other things I need to do for others and myself. I ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen!”

I love you Southside! — Pastor Kelly