Greetings siblings
In the Orthodox tradition, the post-
Resurrection (Easter Sunday) era is punctuated by one phrase. All the days leading to Ascension, the greeting is the same: ‘Christ is risen!’, to which one responds, ‘He is risen, indeed!’ As you can see, because it isn’t a natural part of my culture, I’ve totally forgotten the greeting. The reality is, as we get older, with so many things competing for my attention, it’s one of many things that I’ve forgotten.
Forgetting, rather, remembering is our focus today as we continue to think about Y’shua’s resurrection. Consider Today’s Holy Nougat.
Luke 24:5, 8 CEB
[5] The women were frightened and bowed their faces toward the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?
[8] Then they remembered his words.
Then They Remembered
In one sense, it is hard to comprehend how, on earth, those women could have forgotten such a vital detail. To forget that Jesus would return from death when His death wrought such sorrow is truly inconceivable. One would think that those women would have clung to Hope (you know, ‘Keep hope alive’, and all that).
Yet. Not. Even. One. Of. Them. Remembered. His. Words.
It’s almost depressing when we think about it. If Jesus’s words were forgotten by those women, what about our words to others?
Self-Check
What about us? Have we forgotten vital promises from God? Does that depress us.
Application
Ironically, no one – not His mother, not the women, not the disciples, not Y’shua’s friends – remembered. That’s a bit strange. Especially given that the guards remembered Y’shua’s words (see Matthew 27:62-67) and took action. It was only after the angel offered the possible explanation for Y’shua’s missing body that they believed.
Could it be siblings that the human proclivity tends toward bad news not good? That we really remember bad things, yet fail to see our remember the good around us? Although that doesn’t bode well for us, although it suggests that humans are negatively minded, I suspect it is true. Or, at least for me.
If that is the case, then perhaps it’s time for us to change our mindset. Not just with other people, but also for the promises Y’shua gave us. It means that we resolve to trust Jesus, even – rather, especially – after the expected outcome to our prayer was negative.
The women chose to trust the angel, even though they had no more proof than before. We have proof of Y’shua’s faithfulness, based on past experience. What will our decision be?
Action Point (to Ponder)
Is there something for which we’ve opted to forget Y’shua’s promise? What would we lose if we took Jesus at His word today?
—
May all we seek be found in Christ
