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?
Have you stopped sinning? Really? In thought, word and deed? What you have done and what you haven’t done? Pure, pure as the driven snow? Really? 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? 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!
Wait a minute. I think I missed a big one. How about pride? Are you proud that you are sin-free? No, no, no. Not pride. I just know I am sin-free. Besides, you are beginning to annoy me!
Oh, 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, will, in grief, reverently claim the body of Jesus for burial. He is in the process of being born again.
Paul says he is chief of sinners, and 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, for 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. 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 yesterday’s, are the result of those tangents! Or should I say, graces?
I believe that some of our sins are invisible to our mortal eyes, ears or thoughts until we come to Jesus. Oswald Chambers makes this statement, which applies to all who come to Jesus: In the act of coming to Jesus we die to everything in life, including rights, virtues, even religion, and we receive into ourselves a new life that we never before experienced. “This new life exhibits itself in our conscious repentance and through our unconscious holiness.”
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.
And Nicodemus claimed Jesus, and his world changed. Amen. Stan
Bulletin Board:
Irish humor to start the week –
Paddy says to Mary if you were stranded on a desert island who would you like most to be with you?”
“My uncle Mick” replies Mary.
“What’s so special about him?” asks Paddy.
“He’s got a boat,” says Mary.
Father William, the old priest, made it a practice to visit the parish school one day a week. He walked into the 4th grade class, where the children were studying the states, and asked them how many states they could name. They came up with about 40 names. Father William jokingly told them that in his day students knew the names of all the states. One lad raised his hand and said, “Yes sir, but in those days there were only 13 states.”
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.
