Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son. God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance, and through the Son he created the universe.The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command. When he had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven.
– Hebrews 1:1-3 NLT
Many of you have been to church several times today in the form of virtual church, or as my oldest son termed it, “virch.” The realities of the pandemic lockdown have allowed us to visit churches both locally and around the world, many of which don’t normally broadcast or stream their services. If you know of an author who is also a pastor, track down that church’s service or sermon for today. If there’s a church you attended many years ago, take a few minutes to revisit as they probably have some posted content…
…Today we have two things to share with you.
The first is a very detailed retelling of Jesus revealing himself to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. The writer is Bethany Pasma. It’s longer than what we normally run here, so I’m sharing it in the form of a link. Click here to get inside the story. Please don’t miss this.
The second concerns Jesus revealing himself first to Mary at the garden tomb. This is a video link. The speaker is Ruth Wilkinson, whose writing you’ve seen here many times, but this is your first time meeting her in person. It runs 8½ minutes. She tells the story in scripture and in music.
Last year at this time we also touched on the various post-resurrection appearances of Jesus. If you wish to review, you can find that article at this link.
From Romans 6, NIV:
3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.
8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.
11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Christianity 201 