Third hour

Jesus appears to Peter by the tomb

a) Reflection on God’s Word

What feelings and thoughts filled Peter’s heart when on Friday, before the rooster crowed, he publicly denied Jesus three times – cursing and swearing that he did not know Him, that he had nothing to do with Him?! Fear and, moreover, remorse for his betrayal of his Lord tormented his soul. The other apostles likewise are in deep sorrow and fear.

Second Hour

Angels appear to the women

a) Reflection on God’s Word

On Sunday, very early in the morning, while it is still dark, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary come to the garden where Jesus was buried. Near the tomb they are suddenly frightened by a great earthquake. Here an angel of the Lord appears to them. They see him descend from heaven, come and roll back the large stone from the door of the tomb and sit on it. Perplexed, the women look at the angel’s face.

“And if children, then heirs – heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.”

The previous verse 16 reads: “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” And this is followed by verse 17 which we are going to reflect on at the beginning of Lent: “And if children, then heirs – heirs of God…” Are we aware of what it means to be an heir of God? If someone had said in the past that he or she was the Emperor’s child, and hence his heir, others would have been envious: “They will get so much without making any effort, and they inherit a fortune! Why not us? Why not me?”

Imagine a billionaire who has no children and suddenly decides to make you heir of all his wealth. Oh, how happy you would be! What a great fortune! But think: will such wealth really make you happy? You have only one stomach and you can only be in one place at one time. If you fell seriously ill and were confined to bed with fever, you would just look helplessly at all this wealth and money. What good would it be for you if you inherited the whole world? The Lord Jesus Himself says, after all: What profit is it to a man if he gains or inherits the whole world, and loses his own soul?

First hour

The Resurrection of Christ

a) Reflection on God’s Word

Turn your eyes towards the sky of stars. Millions of stars. They all move according to laws established by God. And how big they are! The Sun is 1.300.000 times as large as our Earth. Sirius is 8 times larger than the Sun and there are even bigger celestial bodies! The Milky Way is 20.000 light years away. Many other constellations are millions of light years away.

“And if children, then heirs – heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ,

if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.”

“The lamp of the body is the eye. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.” (Mt 6:22-23)

If a person is blind, he sees nothing but darkness. If your eyes are healthy, you can see everything.

There is light which comes to us through our physical sight. We can see the light of the day, people, trees, houses, the beauty of nature. There is also the light of reason through which we can know certain hidden truths. Then there is also the light of faith. Thank God for the light of reason, but it cannot show us everything. How many people, all kinds of philosophers, rely on reason; however, if they are not converted and do not use their reason to serve God, they are like mediums of the spirit of darkness. E.g. Marx, Darwin… Darwin was an atheist and Marx was a Satanist.

The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.

Let us realize that the Spirit of God is in us. But let us also realize that the deepest part of our being is our spirit. What is the difference between our soul and our spirit? Both are spiritual and it is hard to distinguish between them. The soul has God-given powers, but the spirit is the pure “self”, the deepest essence of our being. At the same time, it is the opposite of the negative self, the so-called old self, ego, which binds and substitutes for the spirit. Our spirit longs for God as the magnetic needle always points to the North, because God is our beginning, and we are created in His image having an immortal spirit.

“The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.”

Let us notice some terms in the Greek original, such as “pneuma douleia” and “pneuma hiuothesia”. Pneuma means spirit, doulos means slave. So it is said that we did not receive the spirit of bondage (slavery). Huios means son, hiuothesia means adoption as sons. It is said that we did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear. The term “to fear” is expressed with the words “eis (unto, towards) phobos”. The Greek word “phobos” is used internationally to denote fear – phobia. We received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out – Greek “krazomen”. Krazo literally means cry aloud. In the Gospel of St Matthew we read that as Jesus was dying He cried out with a loud voice – “krazomen” (Mt 27:50). The word “Abba” is Hebrew for a diminutive form of ‘Father’, like “Daddy!” The Greek original uses the word “elabete” twice. Lambano (elabon) – to take, receive. It is written here: “you did not receive the spirit of bondage, but you received (elabete) the Spirit of adoption”. So much, briefly, for the explanation of terms.

Now let us realize the spiritual content, and this is the main thing to reveal the depth of certain truths. The word ‘receive’ (labein) is very important. The Scripture says that as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God (Jn 1:12).

“For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear,

but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, ‘Abba, Father’.”

As many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.

The majority of people are led by the spirit of the world and ignore the Spirit of God. The spirit of the world, however, does not make people sons of God but rather sons of rebellion and wrath. Be aware of the dignity of being a son of God.

Question: What does verse 15 say about the Spirit of adoption (sonship)?

Answer: ……………………

Question: And what does the Spirit of God together with our spirit bear witness about in verse 16?

Answer: ……………………

“As many as are led by the Spirit of God,

these are sons of God.”

“Therefore, brethren, we are debtors – not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.

For if you live according to the flesh you will die;

but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”

Therefore, brethren, we are debtors – not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

Question: According to Rom 8:12, what are we not debtors to?

Answer: ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Question: What follows from this according to Rom 8:12?

Answer: ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

“But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, 

He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal 

bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”