Read Mark 16:1-8:

When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body. Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?”

But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.

“Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’”

Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.

Sometimes we get to the resurrection of Jesus and we close the book, sit back, and say to ourselves “what a nice story, I’m glad it ended that way.” But when we read the death and resurrection of Jesus as an ongoing pattern that God infuses into our lives as Christians (in addition to the bodily resurrection of Jesus), the opportunity to continually live and pray in the pattern of death and resurrection becomes a much needed foundation for our life with God and with others.

As you pray today:

Ask God to help you notice the pattern of death and resurrection all around you in the natural world, and then cultivate an attitude of thankfulness for that awareness.
Ask God to help you notice the pattern of death and resurrection around you in your social relationships, and then cultivate an attitude of thankfulness for that awareness.
Ask God to help you notice the pattern of death and resurrection in your own internal life, and then cultivate an attitude of thankfulness for that awareness.

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Tomorrow on the Daily Connection: Deeper Dive Podcast (Mark 16:1-8)

About the Author
Isaac Gaff is the Managing Director of Worship and Creative Arts at Calvary UMC