Lent Devotional 2021 - Pittsburg - Flipbook - Page 35
But they show up-in spite of their fear. They show up and
they care for Jesus’ body and prepare him for burial with an
abundance of spices-75 pounds worth-enough to bury 75
bodies! And we are the witnesses of the extravagant love
that always seems to accompany Jesus. Abundance that
fear cannot overcome. Abundance that even death cannot
diminish! Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea’s actions
remind us that as beloved children of God, we are loved
abundantly, in spite of our fear- even because of our fear.
My husband survived eight months of chemo, took a break
from his treatment to be by my side when our third daughter
was born, and finished with two more months of radiation
treatments. He is still cancer free.
When I look back at that challenging, demanding, exhausting
period of our lives, I realize we not only survived, we thrivedbecause of the abundance of God’s love that we experienced
through the love of our family, our friends, our children-even
in the midst of our fears.
PRAYER
Abundant God, thank you for all the ways we experience
your extravagant love. Help us to remember, in spite of our
fears, or because of them, you love us with an everlasting
love. And all God’s beloved children said, AMEN!
SATURDAY, APRIL 3, 2021
When Job is confronted with this silence, he stands firm. In
the heartbreaking reality in which he finds himself, when all
is lost and Job is being blamed by his friends, and when Job
even begins to believe God is being unjust and malicious, he
proclaims a greater truth. He boldly proclaims, “I know that
my Redeemer lives, and that at the last he will stand upon the
earth.” He knows the truth of God’s grace and believes, deep
in his innermost being, that there is hope.
As we sit in the silence of this Holy Saturday, we know the
truth. We know what the morning brings. We know the
oppressive silence will come to an end. But in the middle of
it, it’s easy to forget. And so we raise our voice in unison with
Job and declare that we know our Redeemer lives and that at
the last our Christ will stand upon the earth.
PRAYER
O God, we are eager for tomorrow, and yet you call us here.
Be with us in the darkness, as we know our Redeemer lives.
Give us hope even on those darkest days, until that morning
rises. Through Christ, our Redeemer, we pray. Amen.
SUNDAY, APRIL 4, 2021
The Rev. Dr. Richard Willhite ’86
SCRIPTURE
John 20:19-23
The Rev. Greg Steible ’14
SCRIPTURE
Job 19:21-27a
21 Have pity on me, have pity on me, O you my friends, for
the hand of God has touched me! 22 Why do you, like God,
pursue me, never satisfied with my flesh? 23 “O that my
words were written down! O that they were inscribed in a
book! 24 O that with an iron pen and with lead they were
engraved on a rock for ever! 25 For I know that my Redeemer
lives, and that at the last he will stand upon the earth; 26 and
after my skin has been thus destroyed, then in my flesh I shall
see God, 27 whom I shall see on my side, and my eyes shall
behold, and not another.”
19 When it was evening on that day, the first day of the
week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had
met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood
among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 20 After he
said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the
disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to
them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me,
so I send you.” 22 When he had said this, he breathed on
them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you
forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain
the sins of any, they are retained.”
DEVOTIONAL
Silence. Ear-shattering silence. Guttural and fierce silence.
Silence blasting forth from the deep.
This passage from John’s Gospel follows his telling of the
crucifixion. Loss, agony, death, a desolation of hope—that’s
the immediate backstory. At this point, the disciples are
what today we’d call trauma survivors. Still in shock from the
casual violence of his public execution, they now fear for their
own lives.
Yesterday we witnessed Christ on the cross cry out one last
time. And today, what do we have? The void encroaching
wordlessly on our hearts. Tomorrow will come, but we aren’t
there yet. Today we sit in the deafening silence.
Their suffering must have been beyond description. Perhaps,
that’s why the Gospel writer didn’t try to describe it. He
names only their fear. And perhaps John’s very silence on the
disciples’ inner states may be our doorway to the story.
DEVOTIONAL
Pittsburgh Theological Seminary | www.pts.edu