Daily Devotional--9/1/2010

Luke 24:1-12

¹On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. ²They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, ³but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. ⁴While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. ⁵In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? ⁶He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ⁷'The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.' " ⁸Then they remembered his words.

⁹When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. ¹⁰It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. ¹¹But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. ¹²Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.

As Christian people we affirm that even the faith we place in the Lord Jesus is a gift of God’s grace. If anyone in human history should have had a “leg up” on the rest of us in the realm of faith, it would have been the apostles. They walked with Jesus through His earthly ministry, listened to His teaching, observed the miracles, and heard the predictions of his death & resurrection.

• The apostles would later suffer for their faith in Christ, but in this story, how do they respond to the report of the women who returned from the tomb?
• Why do the eleven consider the women’s words “an idle tale” while Peter “rose, ran, stooped, looked in, saw, & marveled”?
• We thank God often for the many gifts He bestows on us His children. Have you thanked Him for the gift of faith lately? Take a moment to do so now.