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Morning Devotion for the Season after Pentecost

July 10, 2023

Invitatory

The hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for such the Father seeks to worship him.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.

Reading - Luke 23:44-56

It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, while the sun’s light failed; and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, ‘Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.’ Having said this, he breathed his last. When the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God and said, ‘Certainly this man was innocent.’ And when all the crowds who had gathered there for this spectacle saw what had taken place, they returned home, beating their breasts. But all his acquaintances, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.

Now there was a good and righteous man named Joseph, who, though a member of the council, had not agreed to their plan and action. He came from the Jewish town of Arimathea, and he was waiting expectantly for the kingdom of God. This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then he took it down, wrapped it in a linen cloth, and laid it in a rock-hewn tomb where no one had ever been laid. It was the day of Preparation, and the sabbath was beginning. The women who had come with him from Galilee followed, and they 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.

Meditation - Winnie Smith

The crucifixion story is full of drama: the Last Supper, the trial, the crowds yelling for Jesus’s crucifixion, and this breathtaking moment: the actual death of Jesus - the curtain of the temple torn in two and Jesus crying out to his Father. The whole event is theatrical and striking, but also contains small moments of devotion which are often lost in the spectacle.

By a little after 3pm on the day of the crucifixion, the crowds had mostly returned home. The story was over and life, for them, would continue as usual. The writer of Luke includes the detail that, while the crowds went home, Jesus’ “acquaintances…stood at a distance, watching these things” (23:49). Joseph is highlighted, as well as “the women” who had been with Jesus for much of his ministry and his walk to Jerusalem. Joseph was a member of the council - the group that had brought Jesus before Pilate - but he had not agreed with the plan to try and kill him. Joseph was, apparently, “waiting expectantly for the kingdom of God.” He was a disciple - though perhaps, secretly. He was quietly devoted to Jesus’ teaching, and so it is not surprising that he wanted a proper burial for his leader. He went to Pilate and asked for the body, and then wrapped it in a cloth and laid it in an unused tomb. All this he did quickly in anticipation of the sabbath about to begin.

The women mentioned saw the tomb and the body of their Lord and prepared spices and ointments with which they would anoint the body on the first day of the week, after the sabbath was over. This was not done to be noticed or praised; it was done out of devotion. Like Joseph, these women were followers of Jesus and adherents to proper Jewish practices. Their dedication to Jesus did not end when he died; rather, they continued to honor him with tradition and appropriate treatment of his body.

Devotion to God - faith - is not always flashy. Far more often, it is quiet and goes unnoticed by others. When we think of the Passion narrative, we probably do not remember first Joseph and the women, but they are who we should try to emulate in our own lives. Opportunities for quiet acts of thanks and praise to God are all around us, so let us see them and seize them.

The Lord’s Prayer:

Our Father, who art in heaven,

    hallowed be thy Name,

    thy kingdom come,

    thy will be done,

        on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses,

    as we forgive those

        who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation,

    but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom,

    and the power, and the glory,

    for ever and ever. Amen.