Daily Devotions – Our Vocation as Children

Daily Devotions – Our Vocation as Children

Photo by Jack Sharp on Unsplash

 

Click this link to hear an audio version of the below text narrated by SOTH member Jerry Rhinehart:

 

John 20:11-18  (NIV)
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 tells Mary Magdalene to “go to my brothers” and tell them that he will be ascending to “my Father and your Father”. In the ancient world, almost every son followed his father’s footsteps. Sons of farmers became farmers. Sons of carpenters became carpenters (Jesus in Mark 6:3). When Jesus calls us “brothers” this does not exclude women, but is using this metaphor of being a “son” and “brother” to describe the calling of his followers to follow in their Father’s footsteps just like Jesus, their brother, did! You are a child of the Father. Your identity is secure and cannot be taken away by anyone or anything. How can you live today as a child of your Father? How can you love like Him? Show mercy like Him? Forgive like Him?