Weekend Recharge

FOLLOWING THE REFLECTIVE QUESTIONS, BE SURE TO CHECK OUT THE EXPLANATION OF ROMAN TIME AND THE CENTRALITY OF THE RESURRECTION. 

Below are reflective questions for you to prayerfully consider; choose one or two to focus on this week. 

1. PRAY: Ask God to open your heart so you can hear him speak to you about the issue.
2. RESPOND: Confession. Repentance. Surrender. Thanksgiving.
3. ACT: Take the steps to do what God is calling you to do.

Questions for Reflection:

1. When you receive communion, do you simply remember what Jesus did for you, or does his sacrifice shape how you live, serve, forgive, and love others?
2. Peter confidently declared that he would never deny Jesus, yet fear caused him to deny Christ three times. Where might fear, pressure, or the desire for acceptance be tempting you to distance yourself from Jesus?
3. How does remembering that Jesus bore your sin on the cross change the way you approach God, respond to your failures, and extend grace to others?
4. Jesus bore your sin and opened the way into God’s presence. How does knowing that you can approach God directly through Christ change the way you pray, worship, and respond when you feel distant from him?
5. The women believed the message and went to tell the others, even though the apostles initially did not believe them. How is the reality of the resurrection shaping the way you live, trust Jesus, and speak about him to others?
6. The disciples said, “Did not our hearts burn within us?” as Jesus opened the Scriptures to them. What practices or distractions are helping—or hindering—you from developing a heart that is increasingly hungry for God’s Word?
7. The risen Jesus commissioned his followers to proclaim repentance and forgiveness of sins to all nations and promised them power from on high. Where is Jesus inviting you to move beyond simply believing the gospel to actively living and sharing it with others?

ROMAN and GREEK TIME

Luke 23:44 “It was now about the sixth hour”—There is some confusion over   whether this is Roman time or Greek time. Here is my comment from Mark 15:1:

Mark, like all Jewish writings, does not focus on specific times. It is probable that the Jews of Jesus’ day divided the night and day into twelve hours each (cf. John 11:9), with three four-hour segments. The twenty-four hour day comes from Babylon. The Greeks and Jews borrowed it from them. The sundial was divided into twelve segments.

In chapter 15 Mark has several time markers;

1.            sunrise, v. 1 (around 6 a.m. depending on the time of the year)

2.            third hour, v. 25 (around 9 a.m.)

3.            sixth hour, v. 33 (around noon)

4.            ninth hour, v. 34 (around 3 p.m.)

5.            evening, v. 42 (sunset, around 6 p.m.)

“and darkness fell over the whole land”— This is one of the OT judgment signs, either in a covenantal sense (cf. Exod. 10:21; Deut. 28:28–29) or an apocalyptic sense (cf. Joel 2:2; Amos 8:9–10; Zeph.1:15). This is a symbol of God the Father taking His presence away from His Son, who bore the sin of all humanity. This is what Jesus feared most in Gethsemane (expressed by “My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me?” in Mark 15:34). Jesus became a sin offering and bore the sin of all the world (cf. 2 Cor. 5:21). He experienced personal separation from the Father. Darkness was a symbol of God the Father turning away from His Son.

Robert James Utley, The Gospel according to Luke, vol. 3A, Study Guide Commentary Series (Marshall, TX: Bible Lessons International, 2004), Lk 23:44.

THE CENTRALITY OF THE RESURRECTION
Luke 24:6 “He is not here, but He has risen” The resurrection is the central pillar of the Christian faith (cf. 1 Cor. 15). This shows God’s approval of Jesus’ life and sacrifice. This is a recurrent theme of Peter (cf. Acts 2:24–28, 32, 3:15, 26; 4:10; 5:30; 10:40; 1 Pet. 1:13, 3:18, 21), and Paul (Acts 13:30, 33, 34, 37; 17:31; Rom. 4:24, 8:11; 10:9; 2 Cor. 4:14). This is confirmation of the Father’s acceptance of the Son’s substitutionary death (cf. 1 Cor. 15). Theologically all three persons of the Trinity were active in Christ’s resurrection: the Father (Acts 2:24; 3:15; 4:10; 5:30; 10:40; 13:30, 33, 34; 17:31); the Spirit (Rom. 8:11); and the Son (John 2:19–22; 10:17–18).