Jars

This is the Day that the Lord has made. We will rejoice in Him for several personal and perhaps private reasons. Nonetheless, we all share many things in common. Everyone who is alive today shares the fact that we are here because God, chose to bring us to this port called, today. It was God and God alone who guarded us through the night, while we were sleeping, dead to all that was taking place around us and in us. He kept watch over us and brought us with Him on this first day of a brand new week.

On this Lord’s Day Sunday, this first day of the week, we are reminded that though every day of the week is a day made by God, we hold Sunday as the unique and special day. First and foremost, Sunday reminds us of the Resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who was crucified. He is the One, Sovereign Lord who was, pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. Isaiah 53: 5.

He is the same conquering Jesus who was dead and who now lives victoriously, reigning forevermore, who has spoken these immortal words. Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.  Revelation 22: 12 – 13. Indeed, this and every first day of every week should remind us of Jesus, the First.

It is this first that we celebrate today, in the discipline and joy of listening with attentively focused ears on what the following Scripture passages are bringing to us. We will read and hear what is perhaps familiar to many of us. However, it is only with the enabling of the Holy Ghost that we will hear and see in them what will be first for us.

May the ever present Holy Ghost give each of us listening ears, seeing eyes, receptive minds and humbled hearts, to receive the prominence, power and presence given to this First Day of the week and any others He chooses to grant us. Amen!

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. John 20: 1. Are we as believers, to have faith in a God who still removes stones, blockers from our path to Jesus? If this is true, then we should be praising our Heavenly Father for clearing the path to resurrection for us.

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On the evening of the first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, Peace be with you! John 20: 19. As disciples of a Risen Lord, we sometimes still carry fears and we are held locked behind physical barriers.  But our Jesus is still able to break through all barriers, physical or otherwise and speak His Peace into each of us. Has He broken through your barrier?   

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On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made. 1 Corinthians 16: 2. Paul is Jesus’ faithful witness and servant and he has advised that the first day of the week be a dedicated time of saving for giving. Indeed, the first day of the week is a time for receiving from Jesus, but it should also be a time of saving for Jesus, in His work. What do you put aside, at the beginning of each week, with the intention of helping those in need?

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One glaring fact of understanding, which has been brought before us, is that we who are believers in the Risen Lord, are also receivers of His unsearchable resurrection riches. Our Lord now calls us to be givers, from that with which we have been blessed. Yes, this is for us in our mortal bodies in these vessel or jars of clay. The Word of God speaks quite a bit about jars, did you realize that?

This week our focus will be on jars, a most free and easy week, as the Holy Spirit takes us where He will and how He wills.