Twenty-sixth Day of Lent

 Thursday, March 18, 2021

Hallelujah!  He is risen!

A Lenten Devotional Guide

 

Be dressed in readiness, and keep your lamps alight. And be like men who are waiting for their master when he returns from the wedding feast, so that they may immediately open the door to him when he comes and knocks.

Luke 12:35-36

As Easter approaches, my thoughts always turn to the pain of his preparing to face that cross, or the grief of the ones who loved him as they saw him suffer, or the exhilaration of that first Easter when they knew that neither cross nor grave could hold him. I love to sing and to hear the whole congregation sing on Easter morning, “He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today!”

As I looked at the scripture above, it didn’t seem to be much of an Easter thought, until I let it settle into my mind and allowed God to shed a bit more light on it. Of course, it is an Easter message! The one who lived for us, died for us, rose for us and is coming back to get us! That should cause our hearts to swell with joy!

But then as I looked even more closely at the scripture and I had another thought. Recently we went to the airport to pick up one of our children who was coming for a short visit. We sat at the foot of the escalator and watched every person who came down, straining our eyes in the crowd for a glimpse of this “child” whom we love so much. And now I wonder, “Do we look with that same kind of anticipation at the clouds, where Jesus says we will see him first when he returns to earth? Are we prepared to “open the door” as the scripture says, to allow the Master to come in immediately, or will we want to say, “Wait just a minute, while I put some things in my house in order.”

Father, as I contemplate Easter help me to anticipate with great joy your second coming, and help me to keep my house in order so that I will be prepared to open the door quickly in response to your knock. Amen

Hallelujah! He is Risen!
prepared for First United Methodist Church of Homosassa, Florida
Spring 2011
compiled by Patience Nave, Christian Education Coordinator
reproduced and edited by Patience Fort