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| Summary: Perhaps the best way to experience the full wonder of Easter is to explore the first person ever to see our resurrected Lord. Why was it Mary Magdalene? She found her way to Easter, not by her faith, but by her love. |
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| Summary: Easter morning, with its stories of the followers of Jesus running and discovering the empty tomb, is a time for grappling with the reality of death and the even greater reality of resurrection. When we truly allow the power of God’s work in Jesus’ resurrection to come into our lives, we also can move beyond the hard work of coping with the death of loved ones and all the attendant feelings and live in the new life that Jesus offers. |
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| Summary: Easter was born in the dark, and it comes still to the darkest places of our living, to bring us into the wonder of God’s loving light. |
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| Summary: We think of Easter as a miracle, as of course we should. But as the Bible tells the story, Easter was inevitable. God said it had to be so. |
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| Summary: The Resurrection is the central miracle of the New Testament. Its reality validates Jesus’ identity as the Messiah. It is also the most difficult miracle for us to embrace and understand. |
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| Summary: When we confront the Resurrection, we encounter the foundation of the Christian faith. We may believe on some level of our being in the Resurrection, but need more faith or deeper understanding. John enables us to approach the Resurrection where we are, so that we can move to where we need to be. |
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| Summary: The empty tomb initially created a crisis for the first witnesses. They were surprised that Jesus was not there. Life offers us many examples of these sorts of sad surprises, and we must find ways to deal with them. |
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| Summary: When confronted with the worst news possible, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb in the darkness of Sunday morning. Not knowing what had happened to Jesus’ body, she reported the disappearance to Peter and another disciple. As events progressed that morning, the worst news became the best news — best for Mary and the disciples, and best for all of us. |
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| Summary: Even though we no longer experience the breath-taking excitement of Peter and the Beloved Disciple at the news of the empty tomb, the resurrection gives us hope, feeds our faith and unifies us as the universal church. |
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| Summary: Peter and the beloved disciple both see the same empty tomb, but they seem to have different responses. The beloved disciple believes, but the Gospel of John does not say that Peter does. In the same way, some who come to Easter service believe and others don’t. Peter serves as an example of those who do not yet believe, but who continue on the path nonetheless. |
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| Summary: Today’s reading tells us that Mary Magdalene awakened on Easter morning “while it was still dark.” As the text goes on to explain what she does next, the reader learns that her actions and those of Peter and John are a template for how we often journey from dark to dawn to the full light of the knowledge of God in Christ Jesus. This is where we are today: in the light of Easter morning! |
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| Summary: People come to Easter services in different circumstances of faith. John’s account of the first Easter presents three different responses to the empty tomb. Mary’s confusion, Peter’s ambivalence and the beloved disciple’s lack of understanding indicate that we can be on the way to full faith, even if we don’t show up for the Easter service with full faith. |
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| Summary: For two centuries, the church has shaken its finger at Thomas, calling him “Doubting Thomas.” Despite all that Thomas accomplished as a disciple and later an apostle, that’s what we remember most. But we needed Thomas to question the other disciples. We needed Thomas to make demands. We needed Thomas to doubt. |
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| Summary: Christ gives his disciples the Spirit on the first Easter evening, but the story of the Spirit in the world goes back to creation. The Spirit was active among God’s people before Christ’s coming, and accompanied and empowered Christ in his ministry. Arisen, Christ gives the Spirit to the church, with authority to reprove sin and call sinners to faith in his saving work.
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| Summary: Jesus Christ lived, died and was raised so that all who believe may live fully for God. Jesus’ resurrection calls all people to move past fear and doubt to embrace the mission of extending God’s offer of abundant life to the world. |
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| Summary: Although the church has labeled Thomas the “doubter,” he teaches us about Christian education and about worship. After his encounter with the risen Christ, he moves from doubt to true faith. |
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| Summary: When we look at the implications of believing in Jesus, many of us are doubters as well as believers. Sharing those doubts is one way in which we, like Thomas, can rise above our doubts and grow in our faith. |
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| Summary: The focus in John 20:19-31 should not be on Thomas, but on Jesus’ willingness to take initiative to overcome Thomas’ doubts. Jesus allows Thomas the most intimate of encounters, exposing the wounds in Jesus’ side, to reach out to Thomas to help him overcome his doubt.
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| Summary: Jesus comes to the disciples and to Thomas, offering them exactly what they need to believe that he is the resurrected Lord. Their fear and their doubt go away when they see him. Likewise, Jesus still comes to us, offering us what we need to believe, long before we ask for it or think we might need it. |
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| Summary: Jesus came to give us life. This is the message of John’s gospel. Our text brings this theme to a climax and offers a portrait of Jesus giving life to his disciples and sending them forth to share his life-giving message with others. |
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| Summary: When we cannot see the future clearly, we are challenged to make a leap of faith. But Jesus will support us when we believe his words and trust his instructions. |
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| Summary: Using breath and breathing as a metaphor for forgiveness allows us to explore what happens when we retain sin, as opposed to letting go of sin. Confirming a fear or negative emotion helps us to believe our feelings are real but releasing and forgiving gives us control of how we move forward. |
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| Summary: God helps to make peace between the siblings, Faith and Reason, so that the embrace of one is not the rejection of the other. |
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| Summary: The risen Christ didn’t speak and act like someone who had been betrayed and murdered. He was the same Jesus who had proclaimed and shown the love of God in his ministry, and came with words about peace and forgiveness. The fact that he has been raised means that love, peace and forgiveness are the ultimate future of the world. The gift of the Holy Spirit to the church empowers it to carry on the mission in the world. |
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| Summary: Holmes and Watson discuss a mystery with which the detective is faced, “The Case of the Three Locked Rooms.” The corpse of an executed criminal appears to have been removed from his sealed tomb. His friends say that he appeared to them alive in a room that they had carefully locked. And whatever happened seems to have released them from the despair that his death brought about. The biggest mystery, Holmes concludes, is what this says about that man. |
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| Summary: Jesus made it clear to his followers the enormous power they hold in their hands with the issue of forgiveness. Our task is to be sure we use this power wisely, and compassionately. |
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| Summary: Though there are many fearful things in this world, with the breath of Jesus Christ in us, we can be strong to give, to forgive, to reconcile, to love, and to bring others to faith in Jesus Christ. |
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| Summary: Jesus appears to his disciples, and later to Thomas, but there are questions: Why didn’t the disciples go looking for Jesus? Why did they lock themselves in this room? Does Thomas get a bad rap? How did this band of frightened disciples change the world |
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| Summary: The value of doubt is that it can lead us toward a resilient faith that can sustain us in good times and bad. Doubting Thomas proved that by refusing to believe the seemingly outrageous story of the resurrection of Jesus unless he had proof. And Jesus was happy to show Thomas the truth, just as Jesus is happy to lead us to eternal truths.
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| Summary: Jesus didn’t appear to his disciples on Easter with a superhero “I’m back!” speech or a putdown of those who had abandoned him. Instead, it was with a message of peace and forgiveness. He had been crucified because he didn’t behave and speak as people wanted him to, and when he rose from the dead, he didn’t speak as people might have feared he would. His cross and resurrection mean the dethroning of our idols and the possibility of genuine faith in the true God. They mean our reconciliation with God. |
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| Summary: This scripture invites us to think about the times and places we have seen the risen Christ. |
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| Summary: Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus has scars. Because of those scars, Jesus’ disciples came to joy and belief. Because of those scars, Jesus knows about our scars and wants to bring healing, joy and belief to us. |
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| Summary: If you have honest doubts about Jesus’ resurrection, you have nothing to be ashamed about. You are in some very distinguished Christian company. Jesus’ earliest and most devoted followers — not only “doubting Thomas,” but all of them — did not believe in his resurrection either. Not at first. But then .... |
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| Summary: Believing the Christian message is easy for some because their faith is superficial. For others, the work of trying to suppress all doubt and to believe is tiring. Thomas was in neither category. He doubted, but when the risen Christ came to him, Thomas not only believed the fact of his resurrection but realized that Jesus Christ was “my Lord and my God.” He knew he could trust in him in life and in death. |
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| Summary: Doubting Thomas would have fit quite well in our doubting society. Doubting has become a way of life, and, as contradictory as it may sound, atheism has found its way into religion. So what makes us true believers in a world of doubt? |
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