Day 1 of 49
The Lord is risen.
He is risen indeed!
Today we celebrate the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Many spent the forty days prior to this in contemplation, sometimes giving up a food or activity, allowing them to consider the Messiah’s sacrifice on the cross.
I will try something different this year, using the next 49 days to contemplate the ministry of Jesus Christ. What interactions did he have while on earth? What miracles did he perform, and what do they tell us about his purpose here? What questions did he ask…and what questions did others ask him? What did his teaching reveal about our relationship to God and to one another?
You may be wondering, why 49 days?
The crucifixion of Jesus happened on the day before Passover, the day the people in Judea killed the Passover lamb for their Seder celebration. Paul referred to Jesus as the Passover lamb in 1 Corinthians 5:7 when he told the people to clean out the leaven of malice and evil, because Christ the Passover lamb had been sacrificed.
Jesus rose again on the Day of First Fruits. The people brought the first produce from their crops along with other sacrifices to honor God who provided the yield of the crops. And again, Paul refers to Christ as the firstfruit for all who will be made alive at Christ’s second coming (1 Corinthians 15:23).
This began the Feast of Weeks, Shavu’oth, which concluded with a pilgrimage to the temple in Jerusalem on what we call the Day of Pentecost. The people were to count 7 weeks from their first harvest, 49 days, then bring a freewill offering to give as the Lord had blessed them on the fiftieth day. God commanded them to rejoice including their servants, the Levites and any sojourner within their town (Deuteronomy 16:10-12). Over time it changed from a harvest celebration to a time associated with covenant renewal and the giving of the Law. Christians know it as the day the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples.
During this 49 days of counting, Jesus appeared to his disciples and continued to teach them for 40 days. Then he told them to wait in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit came to them. So about 120 disciples, including women and Jesus’ brothers waited, devoting themselves to prayer, in one accord…I find that to be a miracle in itself.
They may not have known what to expect, but they remained faithful.
I’m not really sure what to expect in this 49 day journey, but I will try to be faithful to contemplate the ministry of Jesus Christ, the Messiah.
Lord, open our hearts to your truth, as we wait for you.
He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.
4 And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me;
5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”
7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.
8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
9 And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.
10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes,
11 and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ac 1:3–11.
TRICIA LATHROP 