Daily Reading

Matthew 28:1-20; Psalm 34:11-22; Proverbs 9:9-10

Praise the Lord, He is risen today!! Due to the holiday weekend, we will not have a reading for this weekend. Spend time meditating on the resurrection of Jesus Christ this weekend.

On the third day the women followers of Jesus went to the tomb in order to prepare Jesus' body for burial. Why didn't they do this prior to His burial? Because Jesus was buried on a high holy Sabbath day - Passover. In Jewish tradition, touching a dead body made a person unclean for a specific number of days. If you were unclean, you could not participate in any religious celebration. So it was common to wait until after the Sabbath to prepare a body. Remember our reading yesterday - the women watched to see where Jesus was buried, so they could come back & prepare His body after the Passover was complete.

As they arrive at the tomb, there is an earthquake & an angel rolled away the stone. This event was so impressive that the guards fainted dead away. (They were later bribed by the chief priests to deny what they saw.) The angel then gives the women a message to give to the disciples - meet Jesus in Galilee. The women believe & obey, as they are on their way to deliver the message, Jesus appears to them.

The disciples go to Galilee & meet Jesus there. He then gives them the Great Commission - preach all that Jesus taught them to everyone, everywhere. This is still our commission, our job as Christians, to share the message of Jesus Christ with everybody.

For some really good information about the crucifixion & resurrection of Jesus Christ, read Lee Strobel's "A Case for Christ."

This reading finishes up the book of Matthew. While all of the gospels give us good information about the life of Jesus, we are going to skip ahead to Acts & continue the story of the risen Jesus Christ & the work of the disciples.

I am reminded of two great lessons in our psalm & proverbs readings:
1. Watch what you say - controlling your words will avoid many difficulties & troubles.
2. A relationship with God is the basis & foundation of life. You want wisdom & understanding, start with God.