Friday, December 21, 2018

Advent Angels 21



The accounts of the resurrection vary in detail in each Gospel. Mark has a “young man” announcing the news that Jesus has been raised, Luke has two men in “dazzling clothes”, but here in Matthew there is one person, identified as an angel, who descends from heaven, rolls back the stone and sits on it, waiting for those to whom he will deliver his message. No wonder the guards faint from fright.

The angel tells the women who find the empty tomb not to be afraid, and sends them back to the rest of the disciples with a message of their own. In a sense, they become the angels – the messengers – to their brothers and sisters as they spread the news.

·         Have you ever been entrusted with an important message? What was it and how was it received? Was it joyful or painful for the recipient to hear? Did those who needed to hear it listen?

·         The angel’s announcement is that that Jesus had been raised. Life had conquered death. Do you need to hear a life-giving message today? Are there places in you which feel dead?

·         The women needed to go to the tomb, the place of death, to hear the message of life. Where might you need to go?




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