Defining Roads
The following devotion was featured in Unfinished, Church Anew’s Lent in a Box series for 2023. Learn more about the resources here.
Matthew 28:1-10
1 After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. 2 And suddenly there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning and his clothing white as snow. 4 For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men. 5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here, for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.’ This is my message for you.” 8 So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy and ran to tell his disciples. 9 Suddenly Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers and sisters to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”
There are many roads in this life. Some are actual roads that take us from “point A to point B.” Others are metaphorical, roads that we travel in our hearts. Many of the roads we travel, we never think of again, but some roads are so defining that they become drawn across our story with indelible ink.
What are some of your defining roads?
What about the road that you traveled to the first day of school, or the road that you took as you moved from one community to the next, moving with your family, or to college, or for a new job? Or what about the road that you traveled toward a significant relationship or the road away from a relationship? And what about the road home, how would you describe that road?
In the story of Jesus, much of his life was lived on the road. He was born on the road, away from home, in his ancestral town of Bethlehem. When he was very small, he traveled the immigrant road with his family, fleeing a tyrant who wanted him dead. When he was 12, he journeyed with his family to Jerusalem, and there was a frantic search for him on the road home. And the whole of his ministry life was spent on the road, traveling from place to place – teaching, healing the sick, casting out demons, giving sight to the blind, raising the dead.
His was a life on the road.
But at the beginning of the Easter story, it is not Jesus who is on the road: it is the ever-faithful women. They have traveled with him throughout his ministry, tending to his needs, serving him, following him along the various roads he traveled. They followed down the road to Jerusalem, and they walked the road with him during the last week of his life, a road from which most of his followers eventually fled. Then, on the first day of the week, they walked the road to the grave, the road of grief, the road of sorrow, the road of despair.
As they walked this road, they did not know that the grave would not be what they expected it to be. For the first time in forever, the grave had been forever changed. For the first time in forever, one who once was dead, lives to die no more. As if that was not good news enough, the messenger from God then told them, Jesus is going ahead of you, and you will see him.
Jesus is going ahead of you.
That same promise is for you. On whatever road you find yourself, Jesus is going ahead of you. As you travel the everyday road of your daily routine, Jesus is going ahead of you. Whether you travel the road of joy or sorrow, hope or despair, anxiety or contentment, fear or certainty, Jesus is going ahead of you, and that makes all the difference in the world.
May this promise grant you strength for today’s road, courage to keep going when the burdens are heavy and your footsteps are slow, and assurance that whatever roads you travel, you never walk alone.
Prayer
God of Resurrection and Life, you go ahead us wherever the road may take us. In confidence and hope, give us good courage to trust and believe that wherever we go, we never journey alone. In the name of Jesus, Amen.
