Holy Saturday, April 20th, 2019

“Early in the morning of the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary
Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. She ran to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said,“They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they’ve put him.” Peter and the other disciple left to go to the tomb. They were running together, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and was the first to arrive at the tomb.”

The story of the empty tomb in John shares some interesting details. First, I think it is unusual to include all of the running. These disciples hear of an empty tomb and want so badly to see and believe. Walking just will not get them there. They must run!
In addition, what is there to know about this unnamed disciple? Throughout the book of John (13:21-30 and 19:26-27), there is one disciple who is nameless except for the fact that he loved Jesus. Traditionally we call him the “beloved disciple.” Scholars debate who this might actually be. Is the disciple Lazarus or even Mary Magdalene? Some think it is possibly the author himself, John.
One thing we do know: this disciple was known not by his own identity, but instead by his relationship with Jesus. Now there is something to consider! This disciple was simply known for his love of the Lord. Lent is a time to remove things from our lives in order to better know Jesus. This includes setting down whatever might bring us our individual identity over our identity with

God. “He must increase and I must decrease” (John 3:30). We want to be known for Christ’s accomplishments and not our own.
So let’s keep running. Let’s run away from our personal significance and sprint towards the resurrected one –Jesus Christ.

Prayer:
God of us all, may my life reflect total love for You. May my life connect to the power of Your resurrection. Help me to set aside the personal desires and needs weighing me down so that might more swiftly run to You. Help me be known only by my love for You. Amen.

Contributed by Pastor Alan McGrath


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