Author: Megan Langan

Re:Verse passage – Acts 2:1-13, 36-47 (day four)

”For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.”

At Pentecost, we celebrate that the promise of God – the good news of salvation – was made available to all. When Jesus sent the Holy Spirit, he ignited the flame that allowed the gospel to go beyond their small corner of the world in Israel and into every heart across the world and across space and time. God made himself available to all the world through the power of the Spirit and through the testimony of the apostles. Peter makes it clear that this good news is for everybody, their children, and then some.

This truth should impact how we move through the world. Who do you imagine to be “far off?” Those in another part of the world where the gospel has not been preached? Pray for them and pray the Spirit would move among them. Consider whether God is calling you to them. Or what about people in our life who seem “far off” spiritually? Pentecost reminds us that there is hope for them. The Spirit speaks in such a way that their hearts cannot ignore, and no matter how far off they seem, the gospel is for them. Consider how you might minister to those near you who are far off this week.

Let Pentecost reignite your confidence that the good news is for all.

Re:Verse passage – Luke 24:45-53 (day four)

It’s easy to read the ascension of Jesus and consider it the “end” of his story. After all, he doesn’t have any more lines on the page, does he? But the ascension is not an end. Rather, the ascension is where the Biblical narrative and our present reality meet. Jesus ascended to the Father not to live in heavenly obscurity, but to take his place at the right hand of the God, where his ministry on our behalf continues. Paul reminds us in Romans 8:34 that Jesus remains at the right hand of the Father, interceding for us. That is still true at this very moment. We have our risen savior interceding on our behalf, and the very Spirit of God dwelling within us, speaking what he hears from the Father. Even in hardship, darkness, and suffering, we lack no good thing. In the work and ministry of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit, we have everything we need.

 

Re:Verse passage – John 16:5-16 (day four)

Jesus said to them, “A little while, and you will no longer see me; and again a little while, and you will see me.” He seems to hold a loose definition of “a little while,” doesn’t he? We might agree that it was only a little while between when Jesus said this and when he ascended to heaven. But seeing him again? It feels like more than a little time has passed.

When I look at the world around me, I long for Jesus to return. The reality of sin and death can feel like too much to bear. I want Jesus to return in “a little while,” which is about the same amount of time I mean when I say “these cookies only need a little while longer in the oven.” But I operate in a finite, earthly sense of time, the Lord does not. When Jesus says “a little while,” he’s not talking about our earthly sense of time, but rather heavenly time, the fullness of time. He promises to return exactly on time, but this sense of time is too wonderful for us to understand on this side of heaven.

We hold to this promise, though, in verse 22, “Therefore you too have grief now; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.”

We only have to wait a little while.

 

Re:Verse passage – John 21:1-19 (day four)

Scripture holds a lot of beautiful symmetry. At the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, he called fishermen to follow him (Matt. 4:19). He took the small world that they knew and expanded it to reveal the vastness of the Kingdom of God. Now, after the resurrection, he’s calling those same fishermen into increasingly expanding possibilities.

Now that Jesus has appeared to all those closest to him, he takes the time to remind them that there is more to come. All that they had experienced with him – his ministry, death, and resurrection – were just the beginning. They are now being sent out as fishers of men to build his church. He sums up their calling with the phrase “tend my sheep.” The entirety of the apostolic calling is boiled down here to discipleship.

We share this same calling. Who has tended to you in the way Jesus describes here? Who are you tending to?

Re:Verse passage – Luke 24:36:-43; John 20:26-29 (day four)

Jesus desires a relationship with us. Those of us who have been in the church for many years know this well and might even take that truth for granted. We sing songs that tell us “what a friend we have in Jesus,” and that he “walks with me and talks with me.” But stop for a moment to consider how significant it is that the God of the universe desires intimate friendship with us.

Jesus lovingly developed friendships with the disciples during his ministry, and these friendships were on the top of his mind after his resurrection. He tended to them with gentleness and patience as they processed the reality of the resurrection. He lingered with them, making sure they understood that it was truly him, the same friend they had walked with for three years. And when Thomas was absent for the first appearance to the gathered disciples, Jesus returns, just for Thomas, not wanting to leave any of his friends in the dark. Jesus could have moved on, trusting the disciples would convince Thomas to believe. But Jesus is both our Friend and our Good Shepherd. He came back, just for Thomas, to bring him into resurrection joy.

We share this same friendship with Jesus. He lovingly tends to us in our doubt, shame, fear, and unbelief. He leaves the ninety-nine to minister to the one. He comes for us just as he came for Thomas, with the purest love we could ever know. What a friend we have in Jesus.

Re:Verse passage – Luke 24:13-35 (day four)

As the two disciples walked home from Jerusalem, they were mulling over the events of the weekend. I know when I experience something overwhelming, my first impulse is to talk about it with someone and do some external processing. The word used for “discussion” here implies a passionate conversation, even a debate. They were genuinely trying to piece together what had happened and what it all meant, but they weren’t getting very far. While they once had hope that Jesus would deliver Israel, that hope was nailed to the cross with Jesus on Good Friday.

When Jesus meets them on the road, its a unique encounter. While the disciples don’t recognize him, they’re still completely engrossed in what he has to say. While we might expect Jesus to speak in parables like he did before his death, he instead speaks plainly to them, and unpacks the entire Biblical narrative which all finds its satisfaction in him.  After all this, it isn’t until they share a meal with him that they realize this man in front of them is Jesus. That intimate experience of walking and eating with him opened their spiritual eyes, the eyes of their heart, and they believed.

When the disciples examined their situation with their earthly eyes, they thought all hope was lost. When Jesus opened their spiritual eyes, they realized hope was standing right in front of them, fully alive. They thought they had witnessed the death of hope, but really they witnessed the fulfillment of it. What situation in your life have you assessed to be void of hope? What might you see if you asked Jesus to open your spiritual eyes?

Re:Verse passage – John 20:1-18 (day four)

Occam’s Razor is a problem-solving principle that suggests the simplest explanation is usually the most accurate. Mary was using this logic when she discovered the empty tomb. Jesus had died, his body was no longer in the tomb, therefore someone had moved the body. This is a logical conclusion to draw based on the information in front of her.

But in her grief, Mary had temporarily forgotten the words of Jesus that explained these mysteries in front of her. In the Kingdom of God, basic logic works differently. In Kingdom logic, our first assumption should be that in every situation, God is at work for his glory and our good. When we’re approached with bad news, hard days, and big questions, we no longer start with determining the simplest explanation, but rather by prayerfully discerning the ways the Spirit is moving.

When Jesus calls her by name, “Mary!,” she moves from earthly logic to Kingdom possibilities. He is just as close to you and I through the power of the Spirit, and he calls our name. Which logic will you choose?

Re:Verse passage – Luke 24:1-12 (day four)

Have you ever gotten emotional whiplash? When the events of life come at you so quickly with both bad news and good news that it’s hard to catch your breath? The women had just witnessed their Lord die a traumatic death, and in their grief they intended to do what they knew how to do – care for his body with respect and dignity. They arrive expecting to find a quiet, somber scene but instead find the tomb empty and angels in their midst! I would have passed out on the spot.

But the angels speak a word of peace to them, “remember.” The women were close enough to Jesus to have been there when he had foretold of his suffering, death, and resurrection. They were in the inner circle enough to have heard these things that they didn’t quite understand. The angels prompt them to remember that Jesus had already given them the blueprint of how things would turn out. He had already prepared them and given them everything they would need. Remembering his words filled them with hope.

We have likewise been given everything we need in this life through the witness of the Holy Spirit and the Scriptures. What words of Jesus do you need to remember? What promise has he given you for you to meditate on? Return to those words and be filled with hope.

Re:Verse passage – Luke 19:28-44 (day four)

While Jesus didn’t enter his coronation parade like a typical king, robed in purple and mounted on a war horse, he was still surrounded by pomp and circumstance. While Luke focuses on the reaction of the disciples, we know from the other gospel accounts that a large crowd had gathered, echoing the disciples’ praise, calling out Hosannas, waving palm branches and loudly worshipping.

In the student guide for this Re:Verse series, Patricia Beck points out the irony of this moment beautifully. While the disciples and the crowd are rightfully praising Jesus as king, Jesus isn’t reveling in glory, he’s filled with sadness. When he made the final turn in the parade toward Jerusalem, he wept over the city. We don’t know how the crowd reacted to this or who witnessed his emotion, but it’s a stark contrast to the mood of the triumphal celebration behind him.

Jesus laments over the city of Jerusalem, knowing that they would soon suffer violence and destruction. They had “missed the time of their visitation.” Their minds laid superficially elsewhere as they remained concerned about their political standing with Rome, not their spiritual standing with God. He had come to them, Immanuel, yet they missed it. How heartbreaking this scene is.

As the Holy Spirit constantly works and moves among us, may we not become so focused on earthly trials that we miss heavenly miracles. The promised one has come. Hosanna!