Out of Context
Bible in a Year:
Leviticus 15–16; Matthew 27:1–26
She turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
John 20:14
Today's Scripture & Insight:
As I queued up to board my flight, someone tapped my shoulder. I turned and received a warm greeting. “Elisa! Do you remember me? It’s Joan!” My mind flipped through various “Joans” I’d known, but I couldn’t place her. Was she a previous neighbor? A past coworker? Oh dear . . . I didn’t know.
Sensing my struggle, Joan responded, “Elisa, we knew each other in high school.” A memory rose: Friday night football games, cheering from the stands. Once the context was clarified, I recognized Joan.
After Jesus’s death, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early in the morning and found the stone rolled away and His body gone (John 20:1–2). She ran to get Peter and John, who returned with her to find the tomb empty (vv. 3–10). But Mary lingered outside in her grief (v. 11). When Jesus appeared there, “she did not realize that it was Jesus” (v. 14), thinking He was the gardener (v. 15).
How could she have not recognized Jesus? Was His resurrected body so changed that it was difficult to recognize Him? Did her grief blind her to His identity? Or, perhaps, like me, was it because Jesus was “out of context,” alive in the garden instead of dead in the tomb, that she didn’t recognize Him?
How might we too miss Jesus when He comes into our days—during prayer or Bible reading, or by simply whispering in our hearts?
Today's Reflection
Dear God, give us eyes to see Jesus, however He comes—in a familiar context or surprising us in an unexpected one.
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Posted: 13 Feb 2019 08:00 AM PST
If you want to pin or bookmark this devotion, please use the permanent link: When You Feel Like Giving Up.
“I quit!”
Ever thought it? Said it? Done it?
I have.
Sometimes things just get so hard, so messy, so confusing. Sometimes it seems like God isn’t reigning in our lives, our circumstances, or our world.
The psalmist Asaph expressed these feelings in Psalm 77, but he brought his thoughts back to God's faithfulness.
And that's what I'm learning to do when I feel frustrated and discouraged.
I think of Jesus who faced rejection, injustice, and a horrible death.
He prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me.”
But He didn't stop there. He went on to say: “Yet not my will, but yours be done.” Luke 22:41-44
I'm so glad He didn't quit because His rejection, injustice and death set me free from sin and death.
I’m so glad He offers this example to choose God's will, not my own (1 Peter 2:21-25).
Are you going through something that seems “impossible” right now?
Don’t quit.
Choose to do God's will.
“I quit!”
Ever thought it? Said it? Done it?
I have.
Sometimes things just get so hard, so messy, so confusing. Sometimes it seems like God isn’t reigning in our lives, our circumstances, or our world.
The psalmist Asaph expressed these feelings in Psalm 77, but he brought his thoughts back to God's faithfulness.
And that's what I'm learning to do when I feel frustrated and discouraged.
I think of Jesus who faced rejection, injustice, and a horrible death.
He prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me.”
But He didn't stop there. He went on to say: “Yet not my will, but yours be done.” Luke 22:41-44
I'm so glad He didn't quit because His rejection, injustice and death set me free from sin and death.
I’m so glad He offers this example to choose God's will, not my own (1 Peter 2:21-25).
Are you going through something that seems “impossible” right now?
Don’t quit.
Choose to do God's will.
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