Easter! Bible Jokes

Easter! Telling Time

Easter! Sprinkles

I’m allergic to red 40 too.

Easter! Drink Responsibly

Easter Season

The Easter season began yesterday with Easter Sunday. The week of Easter is called the Octave of Easter, it is observed by mostly Catholics. The next six weeks make up the Easter season, that is 49 days. Easter ends on Thursday, May 9th, the Thursday before Pentecost. Pentecost is Sun, May 19th.

I am going to celebrate by posting something everyday. I am going to keep as upbeat as I can. I am going to make it up as I go along. It will be fun. Today I am sharing a video I think is fun.

Happy Easter!

He is risen, he is risen indeed! Easter is finally here! Jesus is risen from the dead. He has concurred death. It’s time to celebrate.

Praise: Psalm 118
Let Israel now say,
    “His gracious love is eternal.”
³ Let the house of Aaron now say,
    “His gracious love is eternal.”
⁴ Let those who fear the Lord now say,
    “His gracious love is eternal.”
Open for me the righteous gates
    so I may enter through them to give thanks to the Lord.
²⁰ This is the Lord’s gate—
    The righteous will enter through it.
²¹ I will praise you because you have answered me
    and have become my deliverer.
²² The stone that the builders rejected
    has become the cornerstone.
²³ This is from the Lord—
    it is awesome in our sight.
²⁴ This is the day that the Lord has made;
    let’s rejoice and be glad in it
²⁵ Please Lord, deliver us!
    Please Lord, hurry^[k] and bring success now!
²⁶ Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
    Let us bless you from the Lord’s house.
²⁷ The Lord is God—he will be our light!

Waite: Lets celebrate!

Repent: Jesus, I lay everything before Lord. Take all those things I’m afraid. I want to hot for you but my fears linger, just like the disciples. I need a renewal this Easter. A fresh slate. Forgive me of my sins. I… Risen savior look at me with pleasure once more.

Scripture: Mark 16: 1-8 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+16%3A1-8+&version=ISV

Pray foy self and others make it personal: Jesus I come before you with gladness and great praise in my heart. I look to you to resurrect my heart. I am steadfast in your hope. Please take away my pain through this new medication. You have blessed me with a doctor that talked to me, now please let his treatment work through your mercy. Help me to recognize when the pain goes away, I have heard that with chronic pain the person does not always recognize the healing. Help me to be brave enough to accept the outcome. Please wake me up. I am so tired. Jesus I pray for my readers, that they have a blessed Ester week and that they will celebrate with joy in their hearts. I hope that my church family had a wonderful day and will continue to have a joyous week. I pray for my family that their both happiness and health are good. I pray for the people affected by war. I pray that they feel your presence and can find rest in your shelter. And for the wars to end quickly with a favorable outcomes.

Pray the Word: John 20 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john+20&version=ISV

Thanksgiving: Lord God, You loved this world so much, that you gave your one and only Son, that we might be called your children too. Lord, help us to live in the gladness and grace of Easter Sunday, everyday. Let us have hearts of thankfulness for your sacrifice. Let us have eyes that look upon Your grace and rejoice in our salvation. Help us to walk in that mighty grace And tell your good news to the world. All for your glory do we pray, Lord, Amen.—Rachel Marie Stone

Meditation: John 11:25-26: “Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?'”

Listen

Praise: Jesus, through the resurrection of Jesus you freed us from the power of darkness and evil. In Jesus you opened the way for us to enter your Holy Kingdom. May we walk where you send us, loving those around us, proclaiming the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Christ Jesus has risen! Amen

Holy Week: Saturday

The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment” (Luke 23:55-56). This is all the Gospels tell us about Holy Saturday. I suggest reading Isiah 53.

Today is the day after the death of Jesus. Today we mourn for Jesus. We remember Jesus was completely humanly dead. Jesus had to experience death to conquer death, but its not something we like to face. We like Easter. Not our Lord lifeless in a stone tomb. We don’t want to think of His soul being trapped in the waiting place for judgment day. Just like any other Jew. But Jesus was. He willingly was born into a mortal life. He willingly laid down his life. He willingly experienced death. Holy Saturday is the day of the year that we mourn. We remember God’s grief. We ponder our mortality, our suffering, our weakness. The only hope we have is in the dawn. So we need to be prepared.

Lord, I cry out in the darkness. I cry out from the depths of despair. My sorrow is great for the lamb is slain. My Lord Jesus today I remember the day that you were dead. Lifeless, spiritless. And I groan because I don’t want to face you in the filled tomb. I am lost. In silence I reflect upon my soul. In silence I long for you. Lord, help me. Today the world waits in mourning. I don’t want to be one of billons but one of yours. Sustain me, give me strength, and hope for a new day. Amen.

Holy Week: Good Friday

Good Friday is It is a confusing holiday. It is a day of celebration. We remember that Jesus died for us. And that is tragic. We remember the brutal beating and mistreatment of Jesus then we are faced with the awful image of Jesus suffering on the cross. That is conundrum. How are we suppose to celebrate and be in great sorrow at the same time? I think the tears of confused tears is exactly what is needed. It was a confusing time. Jesus was in the temple every day now he in a doozy. No one was arrested or tried at night. Who is ok with the lashing of a harmless rabi? No one calls for the death of their beloved rabi. But they did. And Jesus was dead by the middle of the day.

Mathew 27:50-53
⁵⁰ Then Jesus cried out with a loud voice again and died.^[al] 51 Suddenly, the curtain^[am] in the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom, the earth shook, rocks were split open, ⁵² tombs were opened, and many^[an] saints who had died^[ao] were brought back to life. ⁵³ After his resurrection, they came out of their tombs, went into the Holy City,^[ap] and appeared to many people.

Jesus did not go quietly. He cried out. Then more confusion. The curtain in the temple split in two signifying that God was no longer in the Temple. Can you image how loud that rip would have been? (Look below for description of the curtain.) And the sound of the drop made in the temple must have been significant enough to cause an immediate uproar of even for people who did not see it rip. And maybe it injured some people. This thing was thee meters wide. Rock make loud noises when they crack and fall. Then tombs flew open. Tombs were in caves, many of which were sealed with rocks. So you have rocks exploding. Now there are deceased people roaming around. I imagine in mounding. Jews did not mourn quietly back then. They cried out loudly and they did it in community. The recently resurrected I imagine would have also been testifying and prophesying in the streets. And some screams, what would you do if your deceased grandma came home? Jesus did not go quietly.

“The veil of the temple was woven from blue, purple, crimson and white thread, and embroidered with cherubim (2 Chron.3.14); the veil in the tabernacle had been similar, (Exod.26.31; 36.35)^[2], It was a valuable piece of fabric, and both Antiochus and Titus took a veil when they looted the temple (1 Mac.1.21-2; Josephus War 7.162). In the second temple it was some two hundred square meters of fabric and when it contracted uncleanness and had to be washed, three hundred priests were needed for the job (m.Shekalim 8.4-5). https://www.marquette.edu/maqom/veil.html#:~:text=The%20veil%20of%20the%20temple%20was%20woven%20from%20blue%2C%20purple,looted%20the%20temple%20(1%20Mac.

Lets pray.
Jesus we cry out to you tonight in an attitude of sorrow. We have only stories of what it was like to be whipped with nine tails and your skin being pulled off your back. Whipped and beaten to the brink of death. Then dragging a beam of wood he would die on. Then crucified; slowly bleeding, suffocating and going into shock; finally dying. We can only imagine what happened on the moment of your passing. We are indebted to you for your sacrifice. We can never repay you for taking our sins onto you. You were lead to the slotter so we could be free. Forgive me Jesus, you died willing on the cross for me yet I am a sinner. Help us to be loud just like you, not only in our words but with mighty and loud works. Give us confidence and strength to stand up for you even when “its not called for”. All the glory and honor is His. Amen

Holy Week: Wednesday

Today we are going to take a look at the woman who poured oil perfumes over Jesus’s head.

Mathew 26:6-13
A Woman Anoints Jesus

⁶ While Jesus was in Bethany at the home of Simon the leper, ⁷ a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume and poured it on his head while he sat at the table. ⁸ But when the disciples saw this, they became irritated and said, “Why this waste? ⁹ Surely this perfume could’ve been sold for a high price and the money^[a] given to the destitute.”

¹⁰ But knowing this,^[b] Jesus asked them, “Why are you bothering the woman? She has done a beautiful thing for me. ¹¹ You’ll always have the destitute with you, but you’ll not always have me. ¹² When she poured this perfume on my body, she was preparing me for burial. ¹³ I tell all of you^[c] with certainty, wherever this gospel is proclaimed throughout the whole world, what she has done will also be told as a memorial to her.”

Jesus will be quickly prepared for burial after his death. The appropriate oils and spices that women used to prepare a body were not used on the body because there was no time. Instead he was quickly wrapped in linens and set in the tomb. That is why Jesus says the woman with the oil is preparing him for his burial. His is again telling his disciples that he is about to die. This offering was a beautiful thing. Its also expensive perfume oil; she is giving him probably the most expensive things she owns. It reminds me of the woman who gave gave her last penny to the Lord. This story is about knowing what gifts please the Lord. There will always be the destitute. It is always important to help the poor. But sometimes something special will move you. But it conflicts with doing a normal tithe or is go against what you have been taught or is different then what we have always done it? Which will please the Lord the most?

Glorious God, help us to see what make You happy. Let our offerings bring You pleasure and joy. It is our desire to know what tithing and sacrificing we should be doing. Or what new challenges that there are for us to tackle. Thank you precious Lord. Amen.

Holy Week: Tuesday

Today we are going to study the fig tree that Jesus cursed. So what makes this so special?

Matthew 21:18-22
Jesus Curses a Fig Tree

¹⁸ In the morning, as Jesus^[m] was returning to the city, he became hungry. ¹⁹ Seeing a fig tree by the roadside, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. He told it, “May fruit never come from you again!” And immediately the fig tree dried up.

²⁰ When the disciples saw this, they were amazed. “How did the fig tree dry up so quickly?” they asked.

²¹ Jesus answered them, “I tell all of you^[n] with certainty, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only will you be able to do what has been done to the fig tree, but you will also say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. ²² You will receive whatever you ask for in prayer, if you believe.”

Fig trees and their fruit are found numerous times in the Bible. They are associated with times when their is enough to eat for everyone and the sweetness of life. And fig trees are a native tree to Israel. This fig tree has no life because it bears no fruit and cannot satisfy. So Jesus curses it and it more the dies, it withers. Jesus compare the tree and its fruit to the a person’s faith. He is saying that a person with a sturdy faith can do anything.

Lord almighty, we thankyou for this object lessons that you have given us. It gives us a firm image of what happens when doubt enters our hearts. Help us keep strong in our faith. We want our faith to be fruitful and sweet. But we need you help to shine and prosper in faith. Amen.