Second Week of Easter: From FEAR to WORTH

STEP ONE: BREATHE

Take a deep, cleansing breath. Allow the air to fill your lungs and expand your body. Exhale and empty yourself into the room. Repeat three times - once for the one who Created you, once for the Incarnate One who walks beside you, and once for the Spirit whose life fills your being.

STEP TWO: DWELL IN WORD

“And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? 26 If then you are not able to do so small a thing as that, why do you worry about the rest?”
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— Luke 12:25-26

A Jesus-Story Retold: After the GOOD NEWS “FEAR NOT”

“For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.”

How odd to hear those words echo through her mind on this day. But watching the soldiers gamble for his clothing, hearing his parched mouth scratch out words, all she could think of was that day…how long ago was it now? There were so many people in the field – they were practically trampling one another to get close enough to hear Jesus’s words. He spoke to them in parables (didn’t it seem to always be parables those days?) of yeast, and barns, and lamps full of oil. But the words that haunted her that day were about ravens resting in a field filled with lilies.

“Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, and yet God feeds them.”

She wondered now as she gazed up from the foot of his cross, whether the thirst that was so obviously present was first on his mind.

“But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you?”

Perhaps not his obvious thirst or hunger, but his lack of clothes would be at the forefront of his mind. As she gazed around to see just how many people watched as he suffered, she couldn’t even imagine how hard it would be to be on such complete display – about to leave the world naked as the day he entered it.

She watched as the agony went on until, finally, the end drew near. Then, the broken body on the cross gathered one final breath, and uttered what would be his last words,

“Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”

She could hardly believe it – it wasn’t the nakedness, or the hunger, or even the excruciating pain that was first on Jesus’s mind in that moment. It was the Father – and the Kingdom. As she watched the body be taken down, and laid in the tomb, she pondered this. She had always thought the reason the ravens didn’t worry about their food was because they weren’t smart enough to imagine a world after their own death. Now, as she walked home she wondered if maybe Jesus hadn’t understood either…

* * *

She could hardly wait for the sun to rise on the day after the Sabbath. The ashy-grey morning light was barely enough to keep her from tripping as she rushed along the path to meet the others. Turned out they were all early – no one wanted to wait any longer to begin the rituals for one they loved so dearly. That Sabbath had seemed so dreadfully long!

Then, approaching the tomb, they found the stone rolled away. Entering, they saw no body, but suddenly two men in clothes that shone with an other-worldly light spoke to them, saying, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?”

They weren’t looking for the living – they were looking for the dead among the dead. She had watched him die just days earlier. Like the grass when the fall comes, his was now to wither and decay in the tomb. But the gleaming men told them, “He is not here – he is risen.”

It wasn’t Jesus who had misunderstood the realities – it’s not that he couldn’t imagine a world after his death. It was that she couldn’t imagine the world after his death. Because his death hadn’t been the end of him. And maybe, his death would mean the end of death for all people. Maybe, just maybe, she should rethink how she imagines the world after her own death…

STEP THREE: PRAY

God of Life, we thank you for the air in our lungs, for the light in our eyes, for the blood coursing through our veins. Help us always remember to put our quest for you first in our lives, trusting that you will provide all that is needed day to day. Bless us each with exactly what we need this day, and use us to be a blessing in the lives of those we encounter. In Jesus’s name, amen.

Today’s devotion is by Pastor Amanda Applehans. Until recently Pastor Amanda was the pastor of Fish Lake Lutheran Church in Harris, MN. She left in January to take a call as Country Coordinator of Madagascar for the ELCA Young Adults in Global Mission program with her husband, Grant. Their deployment to Madagascar is on hold while Covid 19 plays out in the United States and around the globe.