Friday, July 4, 2008

SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY: Matthew 27:57-66

PSALM OF THE WEEK: Psalm 26

HYMN OF THE DAY: CH#156 “Song of Simeon (Nunc Dimittis)”  http://baritonejeff.vox.com/library/audio/6a00c22523211f604a00f48ceec8e40002.html

VERSE OF THE DAY: He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Matthew 27:58

 

There are a number of legends about Joseph of Arimathea, including one that he was the first person to take the Gospel to the British Isles.  All we really know of him for sure are these very brief mentions of him in the Gospels as owning the new tomb that Jesus was laid in.  We don’t really know which tomb it was, although tourist to Israel can see several that are claimed to be it.  In other words, we know very little about the man who got the body from Pilate or where he put it.  What we do know for certain is that the dead body of Jesus was placed in a tomb with a sealed stone, but it didn’t stay there!  That is part to focus on.  Jesus arose and that makes all the difference in history and our lives.  Indeed, if Jesus had stayed in Joseph’s tomb, we wouldn’t even be reading about it today.  That would have been non-news.  The fact that he gloriously arose is the very reason we can serve him. 

 

PRAYER: O God who does not let us go, you know sometimes we, or those close to us, can feel like we are entombed.  Yet we know you are with us even there.  May we always feel your Spirit near. Amen.

 

See you in Church Sunday,

Pastor Sandy

 

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