Easter Sunday 2024

Thank you Hawk for your Good Wishes on this day....the Day the Lord has Risen from the Grave, defeating death and he offers this to us.

Thank you Lord Jesus for what you endured for us so that our relationship with God is restored.

All through my trial last summer i repeated this bit of psalm 18 often.

I love you Lord.
You are my strength.
You are my rock, my fortress and my salvation.
My God is my rock, in whom i find protection.
He is my shield, the power to save me, my place of safety.
I called on the Lord who is worthy of Praise and he saves me from my enemy.

See how often the LORD is referred to as a rock?

That morning when Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw the Stone, which was a hewn ROCK rolled away...there is great symbolism and meaning in these words.

https://www.wnd.com/2023/04/cant-unsee-mind-blowing-double-triple-meaning-1-resurrection-verse/

The line in question is from the beginning of the 20th chapter of the Gospel of John where it states: "On the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark. She saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb" (John 20:1 CSB).

https://harbingersdaily.com/former-cold-case-homicide-detective-christs-victory-over-death-is-indisputable/

Christ's victory over death is indisputable, says former cold case homicide detective.

My favorite Easter song written by Gloria Gaither.  I love this Sandi Patty/ Larnelle Harris version because Sandi's mom is in it.  Carolyn Patty passed away this past year and is sorely missed by her family.  Ron Patty was music director at my grandmothers' church in Oklahoma City when I was a child.

This song always gives me goosebumps.....  
https://youtu.be/_yLgtd_kkxw

https://stream.org/caravaggios-blood-and-guts-doubting-thomas-offers-surgical-proof-of-jesuss-resurrection/

We're still in the 40 days that Jesus continued to walk on earth after his death and resurrection.  first week actually.

The Empty Tomb
20 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. 2 So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”

3 So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4 Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7 as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. 8 Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. 9 (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) 10 Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.

Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene
11 Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.

13 They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”

“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” 14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.

15 He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”

Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”

16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.”

She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).

17 Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

18 Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.

Jesus Appears to His Disciples
19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.

21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

Jesus Appears to Thomas
24 Now Thomas (also known as Didymus[a]), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”

But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”