Christ Church Daily Devotion April 5 2024

The Daily Devotion for April 5th, 2024, focuses on the story of Mary Magdalene at Jesus' tomb. Mary discovers that the stone has been moved from the entrance and runs to tell Peter and another disciple. They enter the tomb and see the cloth, but still do not understand that Jesus has risen. Mary stays behind, weeping outside the tomb, and sees two angels. Jesus appears to her, but she doesn't recognize him until he calls her by name. The message encourages readers to be open to seeing and hearing Jesus in their daily lives. Welcome to Christ Church's Daily Devotion for April 5th, 2024. Today, we will be reading from John, Chapter 20, Verses 1 through 18. Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. Finally, the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had risen from the dead. Then the disciples went back to where they were staying. Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus' body had been. One had the head and the other at the foot. They asked her, He asked her, At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. He asked her, He asked her, Jesus said to her, She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, Rabbani, which means teacher. Jesus said, And tell them, Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with this news. One of my favorite parts of this story is when Jesus calls Mary by name. Up to that point, she didn't recognize Jesus. She was blinded by her grief and couldn't see him because she didn't expect to see him. Then he spoke to her. He spoke her name. And immediately she recognized him. Imagine the love that flooded her heart when she heard her Savior saying her name. How many times are we blinded? Maybe not by grief, but with busyness, stress, conflict, and other things that we miss seeing Jesus in our daily lives. Jesus is near you and he is calling your name. Can you hear him? Your personal worship option today is, For the next few days, begin your day with an expectation of seeing or hearing Jesus during the day. At the conclusion of a day, reflect on your experiences and what you have learned about God and yourself.