Luke 24:1-12 Unused Spices
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: December 26, 2018 Luke 24:1-12
Note: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
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.
(Understanding the Text) As soon as it was light enough, the women went to the tomb on Sunday morning in order to prepare Jesus’ body. The women included Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary (James’ mother), but there were other women also in the group. Luke is the only gospel writer who mentions Joanna. She is also spoken of in Luke 8:3 where Luke tells his readers that she was the wife of a man named Chuza who managed King Herod’s household. “and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s household manager, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their means” (Luke 8:3). The SDA commentary says that this means that she was an important and wealthy person (not top echelon but well off). As I read this, I kept wondering, “Where was Martha?” Mary was there, but not Martha. Did she have to stay home? You would think that she was one of those who would feel it her duty to care for her Master’s physical needs in death as she had in life. Maybe Martha was among the “other women” who are not named, or maybe she was back at the house taking care of the physical needs of the living. It’s not an important question, but I just wondered.
(Understanding the Text / Revelation of God) The stone was rolled away from the tomb. Guzik’s commentary says “The door to the tomb would be made of a heavy, circular shaped stone, running in a groove and settled down into a channel, so it could not be moved except by several strong men. This was done to ensure that no one would disturb the remains.” Guzik’s commentary makes an interesting point about the stone being rolled away. “The stone was not rolled away to let Jesus out. Joh_20:19 tells us that Jesus, in His resurrection body, could pass through material barriers. It was rolled away so that others could see in and be persuaded that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead.” I had never thought about the fact that Jesus would not need to have a stone rolled away. I am not sure that Guzik’s explanation about passing through substances is correct though. John 20:19 says “On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” Another possible explanation could be that Jesus had entered with the disciples themselves and waited for the disciples to be ready before appearing before them. We know that angels can be with us, and we do not see them. Guzik’s explanation is okay though, and I like his idea that the stone being rolled away was to draw attention to Jesus’ resurrection, and because the women would not have been able to roll it away themselves. That points to God solving our problems as we need them solved. It may have also been an answer to the women’s discussion as they approached the area of the tomb. They had been worrying about who would roll the stone away for them, so God sent a couple of angels to help.
(Understanding the Text) At this point, Luke rolls the separate strands of the story into one summary rather than giving the details of where and when each person encountered the tomb separately. The women encountered two men in dazzling clothes who scared them so that the women went face down on the ground to show respect. The women were told that Jesus had risen just like He had told them. The women looked into the tomb and then went and told the eleven and others. No one believed them, but Peter did run to the tomb and saw the linen cloths without a body before returning home trying to figure out what was going on.
Angels announced Jesus’ birth to a select group of people who were not respected by the larger society. (At least, that’s what I have heard about shepherds of that time.) Angel’s also announced Jesus’ resurrection to a select group of people who were not respected by the larger society–women. Was the common denominator that the groups were not respected, or was the common denominator that the two groups were in the right place at the right time to receive the announcement. Maybe, the baby Jesus was born in the middle of the night and so the only people awake and outside to see the angels’ joy were the shepherds. Jesus rose early on Sunday morning when it was still somewhat dark, so maybe the only disciples around to receive the message that Jesus had risen were the women who approached the grave at that time. I imagine in both cases the angels were eager to tell some humans that the humans’ time of sorrow was over because God was working for them and had accomplished great things for them.
(Application) One application I get from this is that just because someone does not believe you, it does not make what you are telling them any less true and sure. Jesus had told the women and His other followers that He would be crucified and die and then come to life again, but they had not believed Him. Because of their unbelief, they had been shocked by His death and just as shocked by His resurrection. Their unbelief did not affect the facts of what would happen. It just affected themselves and their own emotions. The women were not believed when they reported their experiences, but the disciples’ unbelief did not affect the truth that the women reported, only the emotions of the eleven who refused to believe. Thus, my lack of faith affects my emotions but it does not make the truth of God’s promises any less true. I bring many negative feelings on myself because I refuse to believe truths that Jesus has already shared with me. My lack of faith is what hurts me and gives me pain, not the apparent circumstances surrounding me.
(Prayer) Teach me to always trust You and Your promises. Too often, I lack the imagination to see beyond my immediate circumstances. Give me the vision to see Your truth of the situation rather than my limited vision of events.