Life in His Name

Now a week later his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said, "Peace be with you." Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and in my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe." Thomas answered and said to him, "My Lord and my God!" Jesus said to him, "Have you come to believe you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed." Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name.

Consideration: I believe in God the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ his only begotten Son. Do you believe?

"Receive the Holy Spirit"

On the evening of the first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for the fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, "Peace be with you." When he said this he showed them his hands and side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send You." And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.

Consideration: Jesus is clear and direct to his disciples; telling them that they are now being sent on a mission. Just as the Father sent him on a mission; now it is their turn. He blesses them with the gift of the Holy Spirit, and gives them the authority to forgive, or retain sin. Praise be Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God. Amen!

"It is the Lord"

Simon Peter said, "I am going fishing." They said to him, "We also will come with you." So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. When it was already dawn, Jesus was standing on the shore; but the disciples did not realize it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, "Children, have you caught anything to eat?" They answered him, "No." So he said to them, "Cast your net over the right side of the boat and you will find something." So they cast it, and were not able to pull it in because of the number of fish. So the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord." When Simon Peter heard it was the Lord, he tucked in his garment, for he was lightly clad, and jumped into the sea. The other disciples came in the boat, for they were not far from shore, only about a hundred yards, dragging the net with the fish. When they climbed out on shore, they saw a charcoal fire with fish on it and bread. Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish you just caught." So Simon Peter went over and dragged the net ashore full of one hundred fifty-three large fish. Even though there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, "Come, have breakfast." And none of the disciples dared to ask him, "Who are you?" because they realized it was the Lord. Jesus came over and took the bread and gave it to them, and in like manner the fish. This was now the third time Jesus was revealed to his disciples after being raised from the dead.

Witnesses

The disciples of Jesus recounted what had taken place along the way, and how they had come to recognize him in the breaking of the bread. 

While they were still speaking about this, he stood in their midst and said to them, "Peace be with you." But they were startled a terrified and thought they were seeing a ghost. Then he said to them, "Why are you troubled? And why do questions arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have." And as he said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While they were still incredulous for joy and were amazed, he asked them, "Do you have anything to eat?" They gave him a piece of baked fish; he took it and ate it in front of them.

He said to them, "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and in the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled." Then he opened up their minds to understand the Scriptures. And he said to them, "Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things."

Road to Emmaus

That very day, the first day of the week, two of Jesus' disciples were going to a village called Emmaus. And it happened that while they were conversing, Jesus himself drew near and walked with them, but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him. He asked them, "What are you discussing as you walk along?" Cleopas, said to him in reply, "Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know of the things that have taken place there in these last days?" And he replied to them, "What sort of things?" They said to him, "The things that happened to Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, how the chief priests and rulers both handed him to a sentence of death and crucified him. But we were hoping that he would be the one to redeem Israel." And he said to them, "Oh, how foolish you are! How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?" As they approached the village, he gave the impression that he was going on farther. But they urged him, "Stay with us, for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over. So he went in to stay with them. And it happened that, while he was with them at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them. With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he vanished from their sight. Then they said, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?"

Will we choose Peace

If today, you saw tomorrow, the dreams, and possibilities, or the scenes of the sorrow of all the hate, and misery.

Would you do war? Would you do war? Would you do war? Would you do war? Or...Would you do peace?

We see everything around us falling apart, people of different places at odds, is there time to heal the scars, today.

Would you do war? Would you do war? Would you do war? Would you do war? Or...Would you do peace?

This is the time to fall on your knees, a time for things to heal, a time to choose as one family, to pray for peace.

Will we choose war? Will we choose war? Will we choose war? Will we choose war? Or...Will we choose peace?

My Father and your Father

Mary Magdalene stayed outside the tomb weeping. And as she wept, she bent over into the tomb and saw two angels in white sitting there, one on the head the other at the feet where the body of Jesus had been. And they said to her, "Women, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "They have taken my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him." When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus there, but did not know it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?" She thought it was the gardener and said to him, "Sir, if you carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him." Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to him in Hebrew, "Rabbouni," which means Teacher. Jesus said to her, "Stop holding on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them, 'I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God'" Mary went and announced to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord," and then reported what he had told her.
Consideration: Once again, Jesus makes it known that he is risen. He instructs Mary Magdalene to tell his disciples that he is going back to his Father and God, and to our Father and God. His Father is our Father, and his God is our God. Amen!