Job 14:1-14; 1 Peter 4:1-8; Matthew 27:57-66 (NRSV)
Read Job 14:1-14; 1 Peter 4:1-8; Matthew 27:57-66 on biblegateway.com
Devotion
Today is the day of the silence of death. As Job writes, “so mortals lie down and do not rise again; until the heavens are no more, they will not awake…” (Job 14:12). “For this reason the gospel was proclaimed even to the dead, so that, though they had been judged in the flesh as everyone is judged, they might live in the Spirit as God does. The end of all things is near” (1 Peter 4:6-7). This promised life in the Spirit is begun even in the inadequacy of the tomb. At the plea of the priests and Pharisees that the tomb be secured, Pilate remarks prophetically, “You have a guard of soldiers; go and make it as secure as you can” (Matthew 27:65). Neither death nor the power of empire could contain Christ’s incessant life, nor ours. Thanks be to God!
Prayer
O God, through your Spirit bring us to the recognition that no tomb can contain your promise, through Christ our Savior. Amen.