June 25, 2013
SCRIPTURE: Matthew 27:57-61
OBSERVATIONS/APPLICATION
I have been with a body after the person stopped breathing.
Although it is natural in one sense (it happens to us all), it feels wrong, it is not how the body should be… something essential is missing.
Not only is the natural process of breathing stopped, but the person is gone.
Today’s reading shoes both sorrow and respect, not just for the body but for the person.
It is because of the person that the body is treated as it is.
The person, who I am, is not just an illusion, it is real, it endures, it has a divine source and an eternal destiny.
God did not just create bodies, and we are not just evolved organisms, we are bodies with the spirit/breathe of life, which combine to make a living person.
Genesis 2:7 — God made him out of the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into him. And the man became a living person.
Jesus was and is a living person, both loved and hated, mourned and mocked… how are you treating Him, how am I respecting Him?
How do you treat people, whether alive out dead, how do you show respect to the whole person, body and spirit and person?
What do you sense the Lord saying to you?
PRAYER
Lord, today’s reading comes at a time when I am with someone who seems to be dying. Thank you for reminding me that he is not JUST his body, but a living and loved person whose life goes well beyond his physical limitations.
Do what you can. Joseph of Arimathea had become a disciple of Jesus. He had decided that he wanted to be a Jesus follower. And his moment of service came when he saw a need that he could fill. We see that after he had taken Jesus body, and placed it in his tomb, and placed a stone in front of it and went away. Perhaps this was his purpose in life.
I pray that I will be able to keep my eyes open for opportunities to serve Jesus, by seeing and filling needs. I thank God that I am able to provide for and encourage others as I see these needs arise.