History is full of hundreds of millions of people who were born into cultures and religions who never heard the name of Jesus. They were left to patch together their way of life from their parents, their village, their culture, the religion and politics of their people, and the technology of their day. These days many who have heard the name of Jesus associate that name with something ugly rather than the self-sacrificing, other-oriented, enemy-loving way of Jesus. What is the ultimate plight of those people? What was Jesus doing on the day that his body lay rotting in the grave and what difference does it make to Easter? This is a meditation on the day known as Holy Saturday. The phrase, “He is risen!” takes on worlds more meaning as you explore the depths from which Jesus rose.
Genesis 6:2; Genesis 3:6; Genesis 6:12; Mark 3:27; 1 Peter 3:18-20; 1 Peter 4:6; Acts 2:25-27; Ephesians 4:8-10; Colossians 2:15; 1 Corinthians 15:24-25; Luke 23:43; Matthew 27:51-52; Revelation 1:18; Luke 4: 18-19.
Credits, Sources, Bits, & Pieces:
Thomas Oden, Leonard Sweet, Matthew Lynch, Book of Common Prayer, Justo Gonzalez, Peter Beaumont, Brad Jersak, Matthew Emerson, Richard Murray, Nathan Jacobs, Scot McKnight, Nijay Gupta, A.J. Swoboda, Brian Zahnd.