Rank

"God did not rank the future world under angels," Hebrews 2:5.

What coming world? The one he's talking about here. The new world that God will present to the saints he rescued to live in. To the human beings who became holy through their representative, Jesus. So. God has not given this coming world to angels, but to mankind. Specifically: to one man, Jesus. Wait! God ranked Jesus under angels when he became a man. Yes, true. And then God crowned Jesus with glory and honor over everything. Because he suffered and died for all. By God's grace.

We visit with a brother or sister today following our Master into the new world to come. And together we give thanks that God ranks us with Jesus. Amazing grace!

Reliable

"The word told by angels proved reliable," Hebrews 2:2.

What message did angels declare? All the rules of God's covenant through Moses with the ancients. Get this: transgression or disobedience to their message received just retribution. So. What's that got to do with the gospel message? This: The Lord first (not through angels) declared his great salvation, the gospel covenant. If we neglect it, how could we possibly fare better than the ancients when they neglected the angels' message? Yeah. So the Lord spoke it. And, the people who heard him witnessed it to us. And, at the same time God himself bore witness to it - by all sorts of miraculous wonders. And, the Holy Spirit distributed gifts to confirm it. So. We pay even closer attention to what we've heard: the Good News of Jesus!

We meet a brother or sister today and affirm the reliable story of Jesus. And we thank God together that he's writing every word of that story on our hearts.

Heirs

"Aren't angels serving spirits?" Hebrews 1:14.

Yes, that's what they are. Not one is a son of God. God has begotten no angel. (Created, yes, begotten, no.) None receive worship. None reigns from an eternal throne. God has anointed none as messiah. None laid earth's foundation or created the skies. God has bid no angel to sit beside until enemies become a footstool. Indeed. Angels are winds, flames of fire, only servants sent to serve the heirs of God's salvation. But Jesus. God's son. Begotten. Receiver of worship. Reigning eternally. Anointed messiah. Agent of creation. And after creation's demise, yet living for ever.

We get together with a brother or sister today knowing no angel could have taken Jesus' place. And together we give thanks to God that the Lord Jesus makes us heirs of salvation.

Fortune

"In these last days God has spoken to us by his Son," Hebrews 1:2.

Oh, yes! Once upon a time God spoke to the ancients by his prophets. But, now, a new era dawns! Now, God has spoken by his Son! What urgent message might God give in the last days of the soon to be late great planet earth? Good news! God has fixed Jesus as heir to all his fortune. Yeah. God had already created the ages through him. Too, God's own brilliance and natural essence presents in him! Yep. His Son's powerful word brings everything forward. In fact, after his Son purged sin, God received him side by side to his own majesty. Far superior to angelic beings. Far more excellent.

When we meet a brother or sister today, we listen to God's speaking through his Son. And together we give thanks that Jesus purified us from sin to shine like he does!

Lots

"Long ago God spoke to the ancestors," Hebrews 1:1.

Yes, a long time ago, but not just a long time ago from our present. A long time ago from the perspective of the writer. And this writer wrote about two millennia ago! So. Long before that, God spoke. God spoke lots of times. God spoke in lots of ways. God spoke through his prophets. The ancestors were forefathers of all the Jews. Of all the Jews then living for whom this letter was being written. How did they know God spoke in that long ago time? God's prophets wrote the talks that God gave. All the things God spoke way back then, they wrote down. All these writings got collected into a book. The Hebrew Bible: God spoke. The old fathers heard God lots of times and and in lots of ways.

We visit with a brother or sister today to share messages from God. And together we give thanks to God that he has spoken abundantly in different ways so that we understand and can follow into life.

See

"You will see him there, just as he told you," Mark 16:7.

See who? Jesus. Alive! (though he had been dead). Where? in Galilee. (Jesus is going on ahead.) Who will see him? The sisters, and the other disciples who go. Who's to tell his disciples about all this? The sisters who had gone to embalm the body. But who found him absent from the tomb! So Jesus would meet them in Galilee, where he had spent most of his life. When had Jesus said that after his resurrection he'd meet them there? The night, after they'd sung a hymn, after leaving the last supper, when they walked to Olive Mount on the way to Gethsemane's garden. Jesus led the way into the victory of God.

We get together with a brother or sister today rejoicing in the victory of Christ over the devil, sin, and death! And together we hymn thanksgiving and praise to the one and only God who makes us super-champions into forever life!

Anointing

"Looking for Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified? He was raised, he's not here," Mark 16:6.

A young man startled the sisters with those words. They had just stepped into the tomb where they had last seen Jesus' corpse. The embalming common to the time had been interrupted due to Sabbath laws. So they planned to finish anointing with the spices on the next day after the Sabbath. But with the young man's stunning announcement, they found that day not merely to be the first day of the week - it had become the Day of the risen Lord. The Lord's Day from which and to which all time would thenceforth return.

We encourage a brother or sister today in anticipation of the Lord's Day. And together we give joyful thanks for the living hope he provided in the living Christ.

Seventh

"On the first day of the week," Mark 16:2.

That's when the sisters came to complete the embalming of Jesus' corpse. The Sabbath had past. The Sabbath compared to what we call Saturday nowadays. The Law of the old covenant specified the Sabbath, the seventh day of the week, as the day of rest when no one could work. It reminded Israel of God's creation, accomplished in six days. Then, the seventh day, he rested. (No, he didn't get tired - he rested, stopped, so as not to create any more.) So, back to the sisters now: Jesus had been buried the day before this particular Sabbath day. And the day after the last day of the week is the first day of the week. (That's the way that works.) The women show up at the tomb but there's no corpse to embalm. First day of the week - Jesus, alive (!), no longer rests in tombs. God's new creation work has begun. (Side bar: We meet on Sundays, not because it's the Sabbath - it is not - but because we celebrate Jesus' resurrection, the first of God's new creation!)

We visit with a brother or sister today in the joy of a new creation. And together we give thanks that God has joined us into a new creation with Jesus.

Carcass

"He granted the corpse to Joseph," Mark 15:45.

Whose carcass? (Yes, crude as it sounds, carcass, make no mistake about this.) So, whose? Jesus'. Lifeless on a cross. The Roman governor said it could be taken down. When? Only after the Roman officer in charge of Jesus' execution confirmed to the governor he was dead. How did he know he was dead? He saw the last breath. He saw the bleeding out from spear thrust into Jesus' side through lung and heart. Friend Joseph took the corpse off the cross and buried it. So. If somebody claims to have risen from the dead, how can you know for sure? Like this: First - You determine that they had died beforehand. Really died. And were buried for a few days.

We visit a brother or sister today mourning Jesus' death, our need for his death and burial. And together we whisper broken thanksgivings to God whose will Jesus obeyed to atone for our sin.

Bounded

"This man really was God's son!" Mark 15:39.

Thus the confession of a hard-hearted Roman officer charged with Jesus' execution. He stood right there, right in front of Jesus through darkened daylight. His eyes witnessed the last ragged fall of Jesus' struggling chest. His ears witnessed the loud cry pressed out with that breath. He had seen the sponge dripping with sour wine. He heard Jesus' forsaken lament to God. He heard the bystander taunts. He heard Jesus' agonized conversations with John, with his mother, with his crucified fellow, with his executioners. With God. With God. With his Father, God. The officer had ensured the sacrifice. And now, heart-softened by how Jesus died, the soldier confessed his witness.

We meet with a brother or sister under far less dramatic moments yet to confess Jesus, Savior and Lord. And together we give thanks to God for mercy bounded only by Jesus' blood.

Holiness

"My God, why have you forsaken me?" Mark 15:34.

Jesus, dying, called out to God. Nails in hands, in feet; thorns pressed into his scalp; back torn to shreds from the whip. We like to point out that Jesus' words invoked a Psalm that ends in hope. And there's good counsel in that. We also like to discuss the problem in Trinitarian theology how could God abandon himself (God, the Father, abandoned God, the Son). And that's a fascinating discussion. We also like to consider God's righteous holiness turning away from the sin imputed to Jesus as sin-offering. And that's most mysterious of all. But. What we finally must hear is a man, tortured in extremis, sick at heart, overwhelmed by human evil. A man. A man pleading without hope of changing the will of God. He's hurting. Hurting bad. And it's God's fault. To save us.

Wherever we meet a brother or sister today we meet on holy ground. God draws us to himself through the Son's surrender. Thank you, Father! Thank you, Brother!

Laugh

"Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross," Mark 15:32.

That's somewhat a cruel taunt when nails fasten your hands and feet securely onto wooden slabs. That's the chief priests (and law experts) mocking Jesus. What has happened in men's hearts when they look at such obscenity, and laugh? What has happened in men's hearts that such perversion is too good a death for anybody? What's happening in God's heart as he leaves his beloved to die such inhumane indignities? God's heart's responses: Grace and forgiveness for those who trust in the gospel - Outrage, fiery vengeance, punishment, eternal annihilation for those who do not obey it. Our hearts get to choose which.

Hearts drawn with a brother or sister today to his outstretched arms, we look up from his nailed feet to him. And we give thanks together that Christ allowed the nails to lift up his body from the earth to the end.

Passerby

"They forced a passerby," Mark 15:21.

Who, they? Roman army soldiers executing the judgment from Jesus' second trial that day. They who, on their way to nail whim down, called in their whole battalion to have fun with him. They who costumed Jesus in purple as a fool king. They who twisted thorns into a crown. They who smashed the crown on his head. They who saluted the governor's fool. They who said: Have a good day, O Jewish King! They who beat his head with a cane. They who spit on him. They who knelt down in his mockery. They who led him to crucifixion. Yes. These, they. They forced the unluckiest guy passing by that day to carry Jesus' cross. Why this random guy? because friends abandoned him. These esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. Like the rest of us did.

We visit a brother or sister today in order to help each other bear our crosses with Jesus. And together we give thanks for God who, in all things, works for the good.

Pardon

"What's he done wrong?" Mark 15:14.

The Roman governor, Pilate, asks the chief priests (and their unruly mob). What bad things had Jesus done to deserve a guilty verdict? Now, some folks like to say Pilate was kind of a good guy, caught between a rock and a hard place, that he had no choice in life's circumstances. (That's our own way of justifying our own lack of character, of course.) Consider Pilate's choices: Appease a mob, or keep a good man safe? Pardon a condemned insurrectionist murderer, or uphold the innocent? Honor a righteous man, or horsewhip him for the crowd's fun? Exercise authoritative power to defend the guiltless, or to order Jesus crucified? Pilate chose what he preferred just fine.

As we meet a brother or sister today we remind each other how Jesus, doing no wrong, entrusted himself wholly to God who judges justly. And together we give soul-deep thanksgivings for that trust.

Says

"Says you," Mark 15:2.

So answered Jesus - to Pilate's question: Are you king of the Jews? So, yeah. Gentile Roman Pilate kept referring to him as king of the Jews. This infuriated envious chief priests. They stirred up the ignorant crowds. That's what many religious leaders do when they perceive power to shift away from them. They know God has no power to right things, so they obligate themselves (selflessly, of course) to get accursed crowds back in control. I mean, somebody's got to do it. Somebody's got to step up to the plate in defense of God when God can't do it for himself, right?

We meet with a brother or sister today trusting in Christ to bring victory. And together we thank God his plan will ever move securely through space and time, and eternity's beyond.