Easter: A Guided Reading and Response

Like many other holiday seasons, the week of Easter can be easily overrun by travel and events. Or it can slip idly by without prompting us to reflect on the mission of God to redeem his people through Jesus’s death and resurrection. That is why Southeastern has created this resource to help you pause, meditate throughout the week, and respond to God’s matchless love in Jesus. Below, you will find a brief guided reading, suggested verses to memorize, and a few application questions to help you let the reality of Jesus’s death and resurrection shape your heart and daily rhythms during the week.

Read

Scene 1: The Crucifixion (Luke 23:44-49)
“It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun’s light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last. Now when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, saying, “Certainly this man was innocent!” And all the crowds that had assembled for this spectacle, when they saw what had taken place, returned home beating their breasts. And all his acquaintances and the women who had followed him from Galilee stood at a distance watching these things” (ESV).

Scene 2: The Burial (Luke 23:50-56)
“Now there was a man named Joseph, from the Jewish town of Arimathea. He was a member of the council, a good and righteous man, who had not consented to their decision and action; and he was looking for the kingdom of God. This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then he took it down and wrapped it in a linen shroud and laid him in a tomb cut in stone, where no one had ever yet been laid. It was the day of Preparation, and the Sabbath was beginning. The women who had come with him from Galilee followed and saw the tomb and how his body was laid. Then they returned and prepared spices and ointments. On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.”

Scene 3: The Resurrection (Luke 24:1-12)
“But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, ‘Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.’

And they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles, but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened.”

Meditate

To be a Christian is to confess the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and to respond with repentance and faith in his finished work on our behalf. The work of Jesus that we celebrate at Easter is the very heart of the gospel. We know this message, and it’s why we rejoice in this season and declare, “He is risen. He is risen indeed.”

Yet, if we take stock of our lives, we must admit that our hearts do not always overflow with joy that our King is alive. In our daily mundane routines, we lift up complaints instead of praise. In our struggles against sin, we compromise or fight half-heartedly in our strength rather than in the power of our resurrected Savior. In our quiet times with the Lord, our hearts wander and our minds are easily distracted from the access Jesus has opened for us to the throne of grace. In our grief or illnesses or worries, we often lose sight of the resurrection hope that is ours in Jesus. We know Jesus is risen, but we don’t always live like it.

We know Jesus is risen, but we don’t always live like it.

In this season, take time to pause and remember who you were apart from Christ (Eph 2:1-3) and what God’s word tells us Jesus accomplished for us in his crucifixion, burial, and resurrection. Meditate on his sufferings and reflect on the plan and love of God to save you. Confess the dullness of your heart and consider the resurrected Jesus who invites you to know him and the power of his resurrection (Phil 3:8-10).

From the time news of his unwanted arrival reached Herod’s ears to the moment Pilate capitulated and handed him over to the raging crowd, Jesus was despised and rejected for us. In his selfless healings and miracles throughout his earthly ministry, Jesus bore our griefs and carried our sorrows. As he determinedly marched up the hill to Golgotha and surrendered his life on the cross, Jesus was pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities.

In the sin-cloaked darkness of our world, Jesus gave up his life under the wrath of God so that through his chastisement we might have peace and through his wounds we might have healing. As his disciples abandoned him and his acquaintances stood at a distance, he did not abandon his purpose of bearing our iniquity and he did not distance himself from sinners like us. As Joseph took Jesus’s lifeless body from the cross, wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a tomb, Jesus received a grave with the wicked, bringing to completion the will of the Lord to crush him.

Then, on the first day of the week, Jesus rose — triumphantly, gloriously, eternally — just as he had promised. For us, he removed death’s sting (1 Cor 15:55-57) and stole death’s victory, defeating death from the inside (Heb 2:14).

As our great forerunner, our resurrected Savior and King, Jesus has made us alive in him. He has given us abundant life and the assurance that our physical death is just a doorway to eternal resurrection life. As new creations in Jesus, we are also made his ambassadors (2 Cor 5:17-21). So like Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women, let us go with joy in our hearts to tell others the good news that Jesus is alive.

As new creations in Jesus, we are also made his ambassadors.

Some may doubt our message, others may reject and oppose us, but God is powerful to save, and he uses his weak and needy people like us to draw others again and again to the cross of Christ and his empty tomb, giving them resurrection life in the Son through the Spirit. So, as you go about your week, remember and proclaim, “He is risen. He is risen indeed.”

Memorize

Throughout the week, commit the following verses to memory, reviewing it in the mornings and evenings and perhaps sharing it with a friend or family member:

“He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise” (Luke 24:6-7).

Respond

As you let the truth of Scripture dwell richly in your heart, consider these application questions for the week:

• What sins has Jesus paid for that you have yet to confess to him? What worries or struggles has Jesus given you resurrection power to face or overcome that you have yet to surrender to him?
• Who will you tell this week about the good news of Jesus’s death and resurrection?
• How will you make the gospel a more intentional part of your celebration this weekend?

Now pray that God would grant you strength and resolve to do as the Holy Spirit leads as you seek to embody the transforming hope and power of Jesus’s death and resurrection.