Morning Devotional

April 11, 2004

"Shattered Hopes & Dreams" 

by Don Emmitte

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But very early on Sunday morning the women came to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. They found that the stone covering the entrance had been rolled aside. So they went in, but they couldn't find the body of the Lord Jesus. They were puzzled, trying to think what could have happened to it. Suddenly, two men appeared to them, clothed in dazzling robes. The women were terrified and bowed low before them. Then the men asked, "Why are you looking in a tomb for someone who is alive? He isn't here! He has risen from the dead! Don't you remember what he told you back in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be betrayed into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and that he would rise again the third day?" Then they remembered that he had said this. (Luke 24:1-8 NLT).

Shattered hopes and dreams.  Perhaps you thought that you had the perfect job, and then lost it.  Maybe you thought that this would finally be the right relationship for you and it ended.  Or maybe your dream of having children was dashed by a miscarriage or some other unfortunate circumstance.  Life throws us all kinds of twists and turns.  That’s one of the stories of the first Easter.

Our reading this morning is only a part of the whole story of the first Easter. The entire Luke 24 passage is beautiful in relating the story of the disciples' dashed hopes.  The first story is of the women who come to the tomb early in the morning to finish the necessary preparations to the entombment of Jesus’ body. Of course the angels tell them of Jesus’ resurrection. I love the question, Why are you looking in a tomb for someone who is alive? It is how we live our lives at times.

Later in the chapter there are two disciples walking along the road disheartened at the events of the past few days.  Jesus has been crucified and now the tomb is empty.  It is of course empty because of the resurrection of Christ.  So in their disheartened state, He comes to them and begins talking to them and hears them talk about their dashed hopes and dreams, "we trusted that it had been He which should have redeemed Israel..." Soon after, he appears to all of the disciples and their eyes are finally opened to the fact that it is Christ and they are overjoyed and feel like it's too good to be true.  Now they have returned to the joy that they had and they enter into a new level of understanding and belief, so much so that they returned to the temple praising and blessing God.

Just as it took the resurrection for the disciples to enter into another level of worship and praise, we need a personal resurrection of Christ in our lives.  We've got hopes and dreams or we have had them and many of them were dashed.  We trusted in our dreams, whether they are in job, family, marriage, or another. We believed they would be glorious and now they are in ruins.  Well it's resurrection time.  Christ is there for you and ready to talk about your dashed hopes and dreams just as He did with the men walking along the road.  Tell Him about it.  He's ready to tell you that what you thought was dead, in Christ, can be made alive again.  It didn't work out according to your plan, but God will raise it up in His own timing and according to His plan. Let's begin to worship and praise Him now for the dead things in our lives because without death, there is no resurrection and sometimes it simply takes a resurrection for us to enter a new level of worship and praise. Happy Easter!