Category: Jesus

Preparing Your Heart: Acceptance

*Theme Week – Jesus: Mark 15

Old Testament Reading: Joshua 5 & 6

Psalms Reading: Psalm 97

Jesus is dead and sealed in a tomb. And Barabbas is free. 

Can you imagine waking up on the day after you were to die a deservedly horrific and public death? Waking up free? The sun is shining. Birds sing. Life continues around you. You should be dead, but you’re not. 

Mark’s account of our Messiah’s death here mentions the centurion standing guard over Jesus. This Roman witnesses something he probably didn’t know much about. Even those raised with the prophecies of the savior didn’t comprehend what was happening. But this Roman soldier sees all that happened during Jesus’ death and he says, “Surely this man was the Son of God!”

I wonder what he did with that information. I wonder what you will do with it. 

Upon Jesus’ death, the heavy curtain separating God’s presence from the rest of the world was torn in two. You are no longer separated from our heavenly father. Christ is now your way to Him. And Christ was the only sacrifice significant enough to truly allow salvation. 

It’s Saturday. Barabbas is guilty but free. The centurion is ignorant of God’s plan but knows exactly who Jesus is. And Jesus is innocent but dead. 

Where are you this day? The way to God is now open. You are free. You know who Jesus Christ is. And better still, you know what happens next. So what will you do with this information?

Take some time with me today to prepare yourself by opening your heart and accepting the gift that has been given. Ask yourself:

How am I like Barrabas? I’m living today, and can be free from my sin, but am I behaving like someone who has been given another chance? 

How can I better know Jesus Christ, the Son of God? Am I spending enough time in Scripture? 

My way to God is clear, but am I seeking Him? How can I do a better job of recognizing God and acknowledging Him in everything?

Have I truly accepted the gift of salvation? And am I showing that in my words and actions and choices?

My prayer for us today is that we recognize Jesus’ crucifixion for what it was: a sacrifice that was made so that we can live free of sin, so that we could be reunited again with our God. Reflect on this today, and accept the gift that has been given. He’s in the tomb and we are not. Today we remember the sacrifice. Tomorrow we celebrate!

Jenn Haynes

(Editor’s Note: Jenn has done a great job this week preparing us for a celebration of the Resurrection! If you haven’t yet had a chance to attend or view a Good Friday service of reflection you might also find benefit in that. Here is a link to one that 3 churches in northern Indiana did last night which was set up as a memorial Celebration of Life service after the death of Jesus.)

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Preparing Your Conscience: Seeking Forgiveness

*Theme Week – Jesus: Matthew 27

Old Testament: Joshua 3 & 4

Psalms Reading: Psalm 96

Let’s face it. We’ve all done things we have felt guilt over. Accepting responsibility for our actions is one of the most difficult lessons to learn. 

We see in this account of Jesus’ arrest and subsequent torture and death a few different takes on acknowledging wrong done and accepting, or denying, blame. 

Judas’ guilt is overwhelming. So much so, that he no longer knows how he can go on living. We don’t know what Judas said to God in his final moments or whether he sought forgiveness. But rather than trying to find repentance in living a Godly life, he decides to take his own. 

The Jewish leaders who paid Judas to betray his rabbi and Christ acknowledged that the money Judas returned to them was blood money. If that isn’t a confession of some form of guilt, I’m not sure what is. And yet they, too, choose not to repent. Instead they continue on with their mission. 

Pilate, warned by his wife, knows that the man before him is not guilty of any crime worthy of death. He gives the people several outs, including offering over a known, terrible criminal. But rather than stand up to the crowd, he proclaims himself guiltless and allows them to take away to torture and kill a man he knows is innocent. 

And the Jewish crowd. This one hurts me most of all, because in true mob mentality, they flippantly ignore their consciences, ignore God’s presence, and accept all guilt of Jesus’ death. And they do it without second thought, it seems. They accept the blame not only on themselves, but on their children as well! 

Our savior stood before all these people, blameless and betrayed, and said not a word of condemnation or defense. How many sins have we committed that have been laid upon his shoulders? 

Isaiah 53:6-8 says: 

We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
    each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
    the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed and afflicted,
    yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
    and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
    so he did not open his mouth.

By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
    Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
    for the transgression of my people he was punished.

For our transgressions, to take care of our guilt, he was punished and died. 

Today is Good Friday, the day we remember Christ’s sacrifice. Take some time with me today to prepare yourself by seeking forgiveness. Ask yourself:

What sins have I committed that I have laid on my Messiah’s shoulders? There are so many, but which have I not sought forgiveness for? 

Are there sins that I’m not sure how to handle, and that seem hopeless, like Judas’? How can I turn them over?

Are there sins that I’m choosing to ignore, like the Jewish leaders? How can I repent and turn the other way?

Are there sins that I could avoid or turn a blind eye to like Pilate? How can I call them out for what they are and act against them?

Are there sins that I’m willingly accepting blame for but I’m determining them inconsequential so I can continue doing them like the angry mob? How can I fully realize and accept how they are affecting my life in a negative way?

I pray that today as you meditate with me and observe Jesus’ sacrifice for all our sins, we are able to call out our sins for what they are and spend time with God seeking forgiveness and redemption. His son suffered and died for us, to cleanse us of those sins. Today is a day for reflection and repentance, so please take the opportunity for it. 

We mourn the suffering of our savior today and the fact that we, and our sins, are the cause of it. But because our God is good, we know that our sin and that cross are not the end of the story. 

Jenn Haynes

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Preparing Your Mind: Recognizing Priorities

*Theme Week – Jesus: Luke 23

Old Testament Reading: Joshua 1 & 2

Psalms Reading: Psalm 95

The next few days of readings will be centered around Jesus’s crucifixion. Luke’s account tells us of the interaction that Jesus had with the thieves on the crosses next to Christ, which is what I’m focusing my attention on today. 

Jesus has been arrested and has appeared before Pilate, the highest Roman official in the area, and been found guilty of nothing more than inciting a spiritual revolution. Yet he was punished and tortured and hung up on a cross with criminals to die an agonizing death. 

The criminals were guilty. They knew that they were being punished for wrongs they had committed. Still one mocked Jesus, telling him to save himself and them. The other, however, knows that he has sinned. He knows that he deserves punishment and that Jesus does not. And rather than asking Jesus to remove him from the cross and death, he has his focus on something far more important. He asked Jesus to remember him when he comes into his kingdom. 

How remarkable. Honestly, when I’m in trouble I’m not thinking of whether or not I deserve that trouble. I’m not focused on what is ultimately important. I should be acknowledging that I’ve done wrong and that I likely deserve whatever mess I’m in. I should acknowledge that whatever battle I’m in the midst of, I can continue to fight because God has already won the war. Instead, I’m just looking for God to rescue me from my current situation. I’m looking for an easy way out. I have lost sight of the end game, which is an everlasting kingdom that can be had by accepting the gift of grace offered to us when Jesus was punished and killed for our transgressions. 

The thief had his priorities straight, and Jesus acknowledged it by promising him a place in his everlasting Kingdom. How beautiful. 

Take some time with me today to prepare yourself by realigning your priorities. Ask yourself: 

When I am struggling, is my focus on myself or on God’s plan? 

Have I accepted the free (for me) gift of salvation, or am I still trying to earn my way into God’s kingdom? 

Have I truly acknowledged and accepted that no matter what I have done or said to redeem myself, I cannot?

How can I better reflect my joy and gratitude for this gift of eternal life? How can I express it to others so that they can accept it as well? 

My prayer for you and myself today is that we each accept with a humble heart the gift of salvation, acknowledging that it is only by grace that we are saved. I pray that we accept that grace with extreme joy, because it is truly something to celebrate. I pray that our priorities are not focused on anything in this world, but on God’s coming kingdom. 

Jenn Haynes

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Preparing our Attitude

*Theme WEek – Jesus: John 13

Old Testament Reading: Deuteronomy 31 & 32

Psalms Reading: Psalm 92

I used to read the Gospels and try and compare myself with various characters. And I never wanted to see myself in Peter, and yet here we are. I never wanted to compare myself to the man who seemed to so frequently fly off the handle or get things wrong. I didn’t want to be like the one who sunk in the waves and denied his Christ three times in one night. But I most definitely feel a kinship with him, especially when I read this passage. 

Poor Peter. His Rabbi, who he has been so close to and loved so much, is humbling himself to wash Peter’s feet and he’s clearly mortified. This was something only the lowliest of servants did. And here was Christ, washing his feet, when none of his disciples had thought to do the same for him. And then when Christ says his disciple can’t be clean unless his feet are washed, he insists Christ wash his hands and head as well. He’s so desperate and proud that it’s a little heartbreaking. Because he has it all wrong. 

Jesus is about to die. He’s about to suffer and die for each of them, and for each of us. And they all have to humble themselves enough to accept that sacrifice. They cannot save themselves. They cannot fully cleanse themselves. Only by accepting Christ and his act of servitude for us can we be clean. 

And not only that, but we have to follow Christ’s example and humble ourselves to serve others. We are not too good to be served, and we are not too good to serve either. 

Peter is fighting this internal battle with himself. He wants to serve Christ, but can’t accept with grace the gift of service that has been given to him. He wants to serve Christ, but perhaps not humble himself so low to serve others in this manner as well. 

Jesus loved his followers dearly. In the beginning of the passage it says that he loved them to the end. This means he loved them to the fullest of capacity and without end. And here he has poured out every bit of himself into complete humility and served them in the basest of ways. 

Our savior did that for us when he was tortured and crucified. This is the attitude of love and service we should have for others. 

Take some time today and prepare your attitude with me. Ask yourself: 

Have I truly acknowledged the deep, humbling act of service that Jesus has done for me? 

In what areas of my life am I still too proud? 

Am I focusing too much on the fact that my feet climbed out of the boat and walked on water, rather than the fact that my feet also sank beneath the waves and I had to be pulled out? 

How can I serve someone else in humility as well this week? 

Am I showing others a deep love and a servant’s heart? 

My prayer for each of us today is that we truly and fully recognize the gift that has been given to us and accept it with full humility, acknowledging our great need for it. I also pray that as we acknowledge our need for salvation and cleansing, we turn and offer grace and service to others as well, so that they can see Christ serving in us. 

Jenn Haynes

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The Glory of the Son

Hebrews 1

Monday, September 19, 2022

In this letter to the Hebrews, we see the Son glorified above all else and I just want to bask in his glory as I read these words. It says that Jesus is the heir of all things. It sounds impressive to be heir of all things but the glory that Jesus has in that title isn’t his own, it is that of his Father. To be heir means to be a person who inherits. That means that God chose Jesus, his Son, as his heir to inherit all things. Only God has that power and he chose to bestow it upon Jesus.


It also says that God created the world through Jesus. This sounds like 1 Corinthians 8:6 where it says all things are from the Father and all things are through the Son. This, again, is such an honor that has been given to the Son to be used in this way where all of creation can only see God through Jesus. The relationship between Jesus and God is so much more than I can even fathom or explain. That the Father loves his Son so much to give him all these gifts, and give us gifts through him.

The Son is the radiance of the glory of God. What a beautiful image! If God is the sun, then Jesus is the light that we see on earth. You can’t look at the sun, but you can see the light everywhere during the daytime. In the NRSV translation of this verse, it says that Jesus is the reflection. If God is the sun, then Jesus is the moon, reflecting the light of God even at night when we can’t see the sun.

Jesus is the exact imprint of God’s nature. This makes me think of those concrete handprints that kids make when they’re little. That piece of concrete is nothing but an imprint, and yet it looks exactly like the hand that formed it. Jesus is the imprint of God’s nature, we can see God exactly through him.

Jesus upholds the universe by the word of his power. To think that the man who was mocked, beaten and given a criminals death would be given this power. In Genesis, we see God creating the universe with nothing but a word. In the gospels, we see Jesus performing signs and miracles with nothing but a word. He commands a lame man to get up and walk, and the man gets up and walks. Jesus is truly the heir of all things, he inherited even the power of God’s word.

The Son is seated at the right hand of the Majesty on high. There can be no position more glorious than this (besides the position of the One to whom Jesus is sitting to the right of). Even the angels who dwell in heaven don’t have this honor. Truly Jesus is much superior to the angels. The name that Jesus inherited is more excellent than theirs. In Revelation 19:12, we see an epic image of Jesus arriving with a host of angel armies wearing a cloak dipped in blood. It says that he has a name inscribed that no one knows but himself. And his name is called the Word of God. This is what Jesus is called in John 1, the Word of God. Jesus has been given this name and the power and the majesty and the glory. Stand in awe of the Son of God.

Verses 5-14 go on to use the scriptures of old (see Hebrews 1:1) to show how much greater the Son is than the Angels. It says that Jesus is the only Begotten Son of God (John 3:16) and that God is his Father. Even the angels bow down in worship to this Jesus while they are merely messengers, like winds and fire. It says that Jesus is anointed, chosen by God and given a kingdom and throne that will last forever. It even uses passages that we would attribute to the Father to describe the Son. We know that the Father founded the earth and the heavens are the work of his hands, but the Son has come to inherit these things as well. Jesus remains even as the earth wears out like clothing and his years will never end.

Reading these verses makes me feel that the glory of Jesus is so much more than I can fathom. I believe it all and yet I still struggle to follow him with all of my heart. I can only imagine that though my head knows these things to be true, my heart doesn’t fully believe it. Do you believe it? Do you act as if you believe it? I pray to God that you and I will have our hearts changed so that we truly believe the incredible words written here and that we are moved to action, to fulfill Jesus’ commands to go into the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

-Nathaniel Johnson

Application Questions

  1. Which image or description of Jesus do you find most powerful or most helpful in attempting to understand the high place God holds for Jesus?
  2. What might receiving this letter (the book of Hebrews) have meant to the original audience – Jews/Hebrews who had become Christians?
  3. If you were to write a letter to Jesus, how would you address him? Are there any questions you would ask him? How would you revere him?
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The Creator’s Firstborn

Colossians 1

Wednesday, August 24, 2022

Before Adam, before the fall, there stood Christ. While his life wouldn’t begin for another 4000 years, God had already set salvation in motion.  It is why the stars and the sand could speak to Abraham. It is how Isaiah could see visions of one crying out, “prepare the way”.  It was the fabric that held two genealogies together to come crashing into miraculous birth in Bethlehem. It is the very dead Jesus being raised by His Father to be the firstfruits of the resurrection and giving him preeminence as a King in the life to come.  

The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.  – Colossians 1:15-17

Jesus Christ wasn’t Plan B because of a fall of man in the Garden of Eden. He wasn’t a contingency plan to be used in emergencies only.  He is the culmination of God’s love for man and the inevitability of the selfish nature of freewill.  In him, through him, and for him, ALL things were created. Things of heaven. Things of earth. Things we can see. Things we can’t.  And it all makes sense because of his life.  God, the Father of Jesus, is the author of providence and will.  Jesus Christ has been given the place as the executor, the head, the mediator, our way back to God after wandering in the desert, ritualistic religion, or feeling foreign in our own body.

Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior.  But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. – Colossians 1:21-23a

The fullness of the word of God is revealed.  It isn’t a mystery. It is available to anyone, anytime. No matter the amount of struggle or hate we fortify and reinforce in our minds, our hearts are attuned to Jesus because he is stitched and woven into every creation, including each one of us.  Oh, how God was mindful of us. He knew. His creation surrounds us and testifies of His glory, which in turn, is distilled in Jesus Christ. My prayer is we all recognize that the glory of God can exist in each one of us when we live as Jesus lived, placing the Firstborn of Creation into our hearts, and embracing the very context for existence.

Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory in the heavens. Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger. When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? – Psalm 8:1-4

-Aaron Winner

Questions for Reflection and Discussion

  1. How would you describe Jesus, The Creator’s Firstborn, to someone who has never heard of him before?
  2. What does creation teach you about the Creator and His plans?
  3. What does it mean to you to be reconciled to God through Christ?
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What is Your Act?

Acts 1

April 19

The first few verses of chapter one constitutes an introduction to the book of Acts, giving us the key to the book. Here we have revealed the essential strategy by which Jesus Christ proposes to change the world, a strategy which is the secret of the character of the church when it is operating as it was intended to operate. I strongly suspect that most Christians suffer from a terrible inferiority complex when we confront the world around us. We have bought the idea of many around that the church is quite irrelevant, an archaic group that is irrelevant today. That view is false. The church is the most important body in the world today because whatever happens in the world happens because of something that is, or is not, happening in the church.

Now, in his first statement here, Luke gives us the great strategy by which the Lord works among mankind. He says, “In my former book…I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach… ” The Gospel of Luke is the record of the Son of God. Jesus, the man, came to begin something, to do and to teach, and the record of that beginning is in the Gospels. But this second book is the continuation of what Jesus began to do. In a very real sense, Acts is not the acts of believers, but the continuing acts of Jesus. It is an account of what Jesus continues to do and to teach. In the Gospels he did it in his physical body of flesh. In the book of Acts he is doing it through the bodies of men and women who are followers of him and endowed by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Whenever God wants to get a message across to men, he does not simply send someone to announce it; his final way of driving it home is to express the message in flesh and blood. He takes a life and aims it in a certain direction and, by the manifestation of his own life through the blood and flesh of a human being, he makes clear what he has to say. That is the strategy of the book of Acts. It is the record of followers of Christ endowed in the Holy Spirit; men and women,  owned by him, and thus manifesting his life. That is the secret of authentic Christianity. Anytime you find a Christianity that is not doing that, it is false Christianity. No matter how much it may adapt the garb and language of Christianity, if it is not the activity of human beings possessed and indwelt by the life of Jesus Christ it is not authentic Christianity. That is the true power of the church, as we shall see in this book.

The book of Acts therefore is an unfinished book. It is not finished but is still being written. The book abruptly closes with an account of Paul in the city of Rome, living in his own hired house. It just ends there as though you might turn over the next page and begin the next adventure. What is your act?

-Andy Cisneros

Questions for Reflection and Discussion

  1. What is your act?
  2. How would you rate yourself as a follower of Christ? What role does the Holy Spirit have in your life?
  3. Looking at Acts 1 what do you find the disciples of Jesus doing? What is their mission? What is their hope? Is this an appealing group to be a part of? Explain.
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You Follow Me!

John 21

April 18

After his resurrection from the dead, Jesus asked Peter three times if he loved him. He answered yes three times. Then Jesus told Peter how he would die—apparently by crucifixion. Peter wondered about how it would go with John. So he asked Jesus, “What about this man?” Jesus brushed off the question and said, “What is that to you? You follow me!” Here’s the whole exchange.

“Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.” Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them, the one who had been reclining at the table close to him and had said, “Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?” When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?” Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!” (John 21:18-22)

Jesus words “None of your business, follow me” are sweet to my ears. They are liberating from the depressing bondage of fatal comparing. Of looking at someone else’s life and feeling inadequate.

I was encouraged by Jesus’ word to me (and you): “What is that to you? You follow me!” Peter had just heard a very hard word. You will die…painfully. His first thought was comparison. What about John? If I have to suffer, will he have to suffer? If my ministry ends like that, will his end like that? If I don’t get to live a long life, will he get to?

That’s the way we sinners are wired. Compare. Compare. Compare. We crave to know how we stack up in comparison to others.

That word landed on me with great joy. Jesus will not judge me according to my superiority or inferiority over anybody. No sibling. No friend. No ministry. These are not the standard. Jesus has a work for me to do (and a different one for you). It is not what he has given anyone else to do. There is a grace to do it. Will I trust him for that grace and do what he has given me to do? That is the question.

I hope you find encouragement and freedom today when you hear Jesus say to all your comparisons: “What is that to you? You follow me!”

Learning to walk in freedom with you.

-Andy Cisneros

Questions for Reflection and Discussion

  1. In what areas do you most often fall into the trap of comparing yourself to others? When you compare yourself to others, do you more often see yourself on the shorter end of the stick or above others? What is the danger in either direction?
  2. How can we remember and put in action Jesus words: “What is that to you? You follow me!”
  3. What adjectives would you use to describe Jesus in this chapter? What are his priorities? Page through the previous chapters of John asking the same questions? How can you seek to be Christ-like this week? What work does Jesus have for you to do?
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Do You See?

John 20

April 17

Do You See? Have you recognized Jesus’ resurrection? Is it a foreign idea to you?

Here’s the issue: In verse 8 it says, “Then the other disciple [John], who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed” (John 20:8). What did he see? What did he believe? Jesus wasn’t there—just some cloths that he left behind.

Compare this to Mary in verse 18: She has met Jesus in the garden and spoken to him. She returns to the disciples and says, “I have seen the Lord” (John 20:18). We don’t have Mary’s direct evidence. We are more like John in the tomb—there is evidence, and either we see through it or we don’t. The issue is: Do you see? The issue is: Do I care? Do I find that idea helpful? Do I feel that it helps me flourish as a human being? And if it seems like it doesn’t, then I will just view it the way I view UFOs and possible life in some distant galaxy—I just don’t need to bother with it.

Mary Magdalene, one of Jesus’ followers, goes to His tomb only to find that He’s not there! Jesus appears to Mary and several others, fulfilling all that He had said about rising from the dead.

Either you see Christ risen and that changes you or Christ’s death is some obscure event that happened in the past.

The reality is Jesus is alive! He is risen! He can change us like he promised. We have no hope of changing ourselves. The only way we can put away sinful habits is through a relationship with Jesus made possible by His death and resurrection.

On the cross, Jesus clothed Himself in our sin. When Peter and John looked into the empty tomb, they saw Jesus was not there and He had left His burial clothes. John 20 shows us that Jesus left our sinful nature in the grave when He rose from the dead.

“Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29).

We do not have to be controlled by our desire to sin. Not only do we not have to be clothed in sin, the resurrection means we get to be clothed in something better. In Colossians 3:12, Paul says, “Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.” Following Jesus allows us to put away our old lives and begin new ones.

If you think this does not matter to you, remember, those who are in Christ—that is, who believe on him, and belong to him, and receive forgiveness and reconciliation from him—will be raised with him. And Paul says in Philippians 3:21 that Jesus “will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.” This is not a UFO, or irrelevant life on another galaxy. This is what will happen when God judges the world by a man, Jesus Christ.

Do you see?

-Andy Cisneros

Questions for Reflection and Discussion

  1. Do you see that Jesus is alive? What evidence leads you to believe that Jesus rose from the dead and is living today?
  2. What does it mean to you that you don’t have to be clothed in sin any more? Are you still? What does one do to make the transition from living the old life to the new? If you aren’t sure, who can you talk to about it?
  3. Who do you know who needs to see? What can you show them about Jesus – today?
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The Unlikely Pair

John 19

April 16

Each year, we talk extensively about Jesus’ death on Friday and resurrection on Sunday. The in-between often gets skipped in our remembrance, those long hours of grieving—and for Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus—burying Jesus’ body.  

Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. 

Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus were both secret disciples. They feared making their public allegiance to the controversial Jesus. Both were members of the Sanhedrin, the highest Jewish council—the same institution that crucified Jesus. They used their status as religious elite to approach Pilate and ask for Jesus’ body to bury properly. 

They used to follow Jesus in hushed voices and under the veil of night. Now, they are boldly professing their faith in the same circle they once feared persecution. 

Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds.Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen.  At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there. (John 19:38-42)

Although Joseph and Nicodemus were an unlikely pair to care for Jesus’ body, they were chosen by God for two apparent reasons. 

First, belief in the resurrection hinged on the testimony of those who witnessed Jesus’ lifeless body. Joseph and Nicodemus weren’t one of Jesus’ ragamuffin friends whose testimony would likely be questioned. No, they were respected and trusted as members of the religious elite. In this way, Joseph and Nicodemus were two of the first agents of Christian apologetics. 

Second, ordinarily, crucified criminals like Jesus would have been buried anonymously in a field. Joseph, however, brings the body to his own designated tomb. This fulfilled the prophecy that Jesus would be buried with the rich (Isaiah 53:9)

He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. (Isaiah 53:9)

Ultimately, God positions people for His purposes. Joseph and Nicodemus were perfectly positioned for this holy task, which begs the question: what has God positioned you to do? 

Child of God, you are chosen and well-equipped. 

-Mackenzie McClain

Discussion Questions: 

  1. What has God positioned you to do? Can you recall any circumstances in your life that God used for His purposes?
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