Lenten Feast Day

Lenten Feast Day

Sunday, April 2, 2017

But about the resurrection of the dead – have you not read what God said to you,
“I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?”
He is not the God of the dead but of the living.
Matthew 22:31

The older I get, the more comfort I find in verses like this one. I know that young also die, but not as often or as inevitably as do we who are older. Once again, Jesus puts a new slant on death.

If God is not the God of the dead, then Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob must be living! These patriarchs were not walking around the earth with the disciples, nor are they walking with us today. Only one answer. They must be resurrected, alive somewhere so that the God of the living could be called their God!

When Jesus spoke these words he was just hours away from his crucifixion. Knowing how little time he had to say important things to his disciples and even to unbelievers around him, I can’t help thinking that he wasted no time or words. This was an important fact for them and for us to grasp.

God is the God of the living! We may not walk on this earth anymore, but we will live. No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him. (I Corinthians 2:9) The God of the living has made more than generous preparations for those who love him, for those who will be resurrected to be with him after they pass through this thing we call death.

And Easter makes on-going living possible for all who belong to Jesus!

Prayer: Father, we love this life, but our hearts sometimes beat a little faster when we think about what is to come! Thank you for telling us about it now. Amen.

And He Set His Face toward Jerusalem. . . .

A Lenten Devotional Guide
prepared for Homosassa United Methodist Church, Spring 2007,
by Patience Nave, Christian Education Coordinator