Devotion for the Friday of the Third Week in Advent

Theme for the week: Joy

Devotion for the Friday of the third Week in Advent (Day 20)

Reading: Matthew 28:1–10 (NRSV)

¹ After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. ² And suddenly there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. ³ His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. ⁴ For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men. ⁵ But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. ⁶ He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. ⁷ Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.’ This is my message for you.” ⁸ So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. ⁹ Suddenly Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him. ¹⁰ Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”

REFLECTION:

I have to admit, I am using this text only because I committed to reflect on the texts that are part of the devotions in the Advent devotional book “I Wonder as I Wander.” Personally I find using last supper and resurrection texts in the Advent season to be so out of sync with the church year, that I find it hard “to go there.”

But given this text, in this time, what does this passage have to say to our work of Advent waiting, and the joy that awaits us. There is waiting, fear and joy in this text. Waiting and joy are both characteristic of Advent, and Advent has a bit of fear as well. (Just ask Mary, the Mother of Jesus what she felt when the angel showed up to inform her that she was to be a mother!)

In this Easter text, clearly Mary Magdalene and the other Mary have been waiting. Jesus was buried at the start of the Sabbath on Friday night. They were not permitted to do any burial rites on the Sabbath, and when the Sabbath ended after dark on Saturday night, I imagine that they might have been too afraid to go to the tomb in the dark. Imagine that waiting! Their teacher and hero had just died at terrible death and had been buried, and they couldn’t even go to the tomb over the Sabbath. They had that long day of waiting and wondering of what had happened to Jesus in death. A day of waiting and mourning, filled with fear. Were they to be next? Would the authorities come after Jesus’ followers. If they were killed also, what would happen to their families? Now that Jesus was gone, what were they going to do with their lives? The meaning of life had seemed to evaporate with Jesus’ death.

The Marys were in a time of waiting—waiting without being clear as to what the end would be. We have lots of examples of this uncertain waiting in our lives. Just ask anyone who has been diagnosed with cancer, but has to wait a month to see the doctor. In contrast, the Advent kind of waiting is a waiting which looks ahead with more joy than the waiting the Marys experienced during that long Sabbath, or which we experience as we await what we think will be bad news.

Then there is the trip, on that first Easter, to the tomb, which turned out to be empty. First the fear! It is kind of ironic that the angel says to the women, “Do not be afraid.” Angels always say that when your first impulse is either to melt in fear or take off running. These are the same words that the angel said to both Joseph and Mary. Of course the women at the tomb were afraid. The tomb was empty. Either Jesus’ body had been stolen, or something had happened that defied human reason. And now they were seeing an angel, and they were not supposed to be afraid. Not likely! Although “Fear NOT” is a powerful command, it is not one that is easy to follow. Sometimes we just have to flow with the fear to work through it.

After the women at the tomb experience fear, they also experience joy. Joy at finding out that Jesus has defied death and evil and risen from the dead. Theirs was a joy that transcends human reason. The Easter message, “He is Risen!” brings us a joy that is both unexpected and defies reason.

Our Advent joy also transcends human reason. There is joy at the birth of baby, joy that a Savior has been born, even if he doesn’t look like what we expect a Messiah to look like. There is joy at all the mystery surrounding this birth, and there is joy that Mary, Jesus’ mother can only ponder in her heart. The Christmas birth brings us joy because it is so unexpected.

What joy have you experienced recently? Is it a joy that you expected? Is this joy mixed with any other emotion?

PRAYER: Pray that joy may rise out of the fear and waiting in your life.