Tag Archives: Resurrection

the end of Lent 2014

So, Lent is over.  I did not even write from Maundy Thursday onwards. Did I make it through Lent? or- how did I make it through Lent?  The same way I made it through today or last Monday, or January the 8th…

by God’s Grace alone.

Did I keep lent well? Well, I did something different, considered God’s work in my life and this world, and I’ve had fun doing this.  I didn’t actually mortify the flesh.

Thanks for reading.

Spoiler:

Oh yeah, if you were wondering, Jesus gets killed – but it is not the end of the story – some women go to the tomb where he was buried, but his body was not there…  Read about it if you will.

 

Waiting for Advent – I came, I saw, I worshiped but I doubted

I came, I saw, I worshiped but I doubted
I wonder what the Latin would be? (Veni, vidi, venerari, dubitari, vadi)?

Matthew 28:16-18
Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and [spoke] to them…

They worshiped him – and doubted. It was hard for them to believe.  Here, just a short time after the Resurrection, when they saw Jesus, risen from the dead, they worshiped him, but some doubted. When they saw Jesus, some doubted.

Then Jesus came and spoke to them. Presumably, even to the doubters.  We know that He addressed at least one man’s doubts (Thomas).  It was not: ‘Okay, you doubters, stand over here while I talk to the righteous, real disciples…’ No! Jesus came and said to them:

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

If it was difficult to believe then, we need not be surprised when we doubt.  Doubt does not mean we cannot believe. We still need to go to Jesus, worship him, listen to him.  If Thomas had stayed away because of doubt, he would not have heard Jesus say “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (john 20:29)

It was the eleven disciples who went, no doubt at various stages of belief, faith and doubt, but they went together.  I think this is part of what it means to be the church.  We gather, we see Jesus, we worship, and we hear Jesus.  Then we go and do what he tells us to do.