Ordinary Time

Pause

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German pastor who was imprisoned for fighting against the Nazi regime, wrote in a letter from prison:

It is “through the resurrection of Christ that a new and purifying wind can blow through our present world …

If a few people really believed that and acted on it in their daily lives, a great deal would be changed. To live in the light of the resurrection — that is what Easter means.”

That wind of resurrection is blowing through our world — can you feel it?

Listen

Jesus said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the Law from Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures. He said to them, “This is what is written: the Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and a change of heart and life for the forgiveness of sins must be preached in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.”

Luke 24:44-48

Think

Luke’s resurrection accounts contain a common theme of remembering. Over and over again — the women at the tomb, the disciples in this passage, the two men on the Emmaus road — it turns out that the characters in Luke’s story don’t need to learn any new information. They need to remember what Jesus has already told them about resurrection.

We increasingly appreciate Luke’s emphasis on remembering. It has been said that we are our stories. The way we remember what has happened to us — the stories that we tell ourselves about our lives — fundamentally shapes who we are.

It is vital that we tell our life story in a way that is grounded in resurrection. When our life’s story is founded on a God who makes all things new, we will see evidence of resurrection — of new life — in every moment of the present. How can you see your life in light of the resurrection of Christ? How does remembering the story of Jesus’ resurrection change how you live today?

Andrew Garnett

Pray

God, the resurrection of Christ has changed the story of our world. Help me to remember that truth as I shape my own life’s story. Amen.

Go

As one who has been raised with Christ, go today to witness the resurrection of your own life.