WATCHWORD:
38 Afterward Joseph of Arimathea, who had been a secret disciple of Jesus (because he feared the Jewish leaders), asked Pilate for permission to take down Jesus’ body. When Pilate gave permission, Joseph came and took the body away. 39 With him came Nicodemus, the man who had come to Jesus at night. He brought about seventy-five pounds of perfumed ointment made from myrrh and aloes. 40 Following Jewish burial custom, they wrapped Jesus’ body with the spices in long sheets of linen cloth. 41 The place of crucifixion was near a garden, where there was a new tomb, never used before.42 And so, because it was the day of preparation for the Jewish Passover and since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there. John 19:38-42
10 When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? 11 She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more. John 8:10-11
Meditation:
Are You Sin-Free?
Seriously, have you stopped sinning? I mean all of it; thought, word and deed? Sins of omission and commission? So now you are pure, pure as the driven snow? Really? Self-declared sin-free. Interesting.
Let me check. Lust. Any lust there? No! How about, envy? Feeling envious of others, even in small ways? “Why would I envy others?” Why, indeed. Judgmental? Do you judge others? Of course not! Anger? Do you bear any anger or hurt feelings toward others? No! They can’t hurt me! Believe me, they can’t hurt me!
Wait a minute. I think I missed a big one. How about pride? Are you proud that you are sin-free? No, no, no. its not pride. I just know I am sin-free. Besides, you’re beginning to annoy me!
Well, there you go.
Nicodemus, a Pharisee, and a member of the Sanhedrin, goes to Jesus, not so much to test him, but to get an answer to his own questions about eternal life. And now having heard from Jesus he asks how can a man be born again? He can’t reenter his mother’s womb.
In this exchange, the Pharisee comes away with a dilemma, a conflict that will take him to Calvary where he, along with Joseph of Arimathea, already a secret follower of Jesus, will, in grief, reverently claim the body of Jesus for burial. Two Pharisees in the process of being born again.
Paul tells us he is chief of sinners, yet his role in Christianity is set. Jesus spent time with sinners. It was his father’s business, as he told his mother at age 12. You and I are sinners, and if we don’t think we’re sinners then we have yet to come to Jesus.
Randy Alcorn, in his book Face to Face with Jesus, tells of attending a funeral where the song Amazing Grace was sung and the singer substituted the word ‘soul’ for ‘wretch’, watering down the amazing part of grace.
What occurs to me, is that one of my sins is watering down the amazing grace that God gives to me. I do that by soft peddling my faith, watering down or ignoring, or accepting without gratitude the One who showers me with His love. How about you?
I end my prayer time every morning with this statement: “Help me Lord, to be committed to what you have placed on my heart.” That’s a dangerous prayer, in a sense, because it connects me with Him into the day. You pray that and it can change your “to-do list” and send you off on tangents you never thought about. Two points of fact: This very meditation, and all devotionals I write, are the result of those tangents! Or should I say, graces given?
I believe that some of our sins are invisible to our mortal eyes, ears or thoughts until we come to Jesus. In the end, He does not condemn us for our sin, but we are left with His words: “Go and sin no more.” Can we do that? Accepting Christ is the easy part. Walking with Him day by day, is another thing.
I believe that Nicodemus claimed Jesus, and his world changed. Amen. Stan
Morning Prayer:
Lord, we ask today for more of Your Holy Spirit in our lives. Lord, it can be easy for us to become consumed with the fears that surround us in life, but we know that just as Your eye is indeed on the sparrow, so also do You care for and see us. Teach us today to become more reliant on You. Bring us into a greater discernment of how You operate, so that we may come into a deeper understanding that all we see with natural eyes is not all that is. Today we ask for eyes to see Your hand in all matters, and hearts open to Your work. Amen.
