Forward Movement is an official, non-profit agency of the Episcopal Church whose mission is to create compelling content for Christian living. Since 1935 we have published the quarterly devotional Forward Day by Day, as well as pamphlets, booklets, and books that encourage and nourish people in their lives of prayer and faith.
SATURDAY, April 10 Saturday in Easter Week
Mark 16:9-15, 20. Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation.
In the most ancient manuscripts of the Gospel of Mark the story breaks off abruptly after "they were afraid." Later copies added the verses we have just read. In still other manuscripts, after verse 8, the scribe has added:
But they reported briefly to Peter and to those who were with him all that they had been told, and after this Jesus sent out by means of them, from east to west, the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation.
Although the original conclusion may be unknown, the Bible tells us as briefly as can be stated what happened after Easter: the disciples were sent to proclaim the gospel to the world.
The first response to the news of Christ's resurrection was not joy but fear, and there is always about it something truly awe-inspiring. For Easter means not only that Jesus lives, but that he is the Lord who shall come again with glory to judge both the living and the dead. As people who must stand before the judgment seat of Christ, we are to live all our days not only in God's love but also in that reverent fear of the Lord which Proverbs 9:10 calls "the beginning of wisdom." (1951)
PRAY for the Diocese of Canberra and Goulburn (New South Wales, Australia)
Ps 118:14-18 or 118:19-24; Acts 4:13-21
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That brought to my mind the proclamation against the gay soldier by the Westboro Baptist Church. While I am not in favor of the gay lifestyle, this is not what Christ wanted his disciples, you and me, to proclaim to the rest of the world.
That is to say that we have to be careful not only in what we proclaim (in our words and our lives), but how we proclaim it. Jesus calls us to love others, no matter what, and to tell others of what Jesus did for us on the cross. May we never, ever lose sight of that fact.