Maybe this has worked for you, maybe it hasn’t. I hope it has. To read and re-read Mark 15 and 16 has, to me, laid out layers and layers and layers of knowing, and often visualizing, how Jesus was treated, and how he was brutalized and killed.
Not only how he was treated, but also who treated him in such terrible, terrible ways. For me, the more layers, the more real it is, and the less of a distant fact or concept it all is. Then I ask myself this hard question; so what is my response?
The more I’ve read the chapters this month the more sensitive I am to wanting to be like Mary Magdalene and Joseph of Arimathea. Joseph was proactive and wanted to ensure Jesus was properly put into a tomb. Mary was proactive and wanted to ensure that no one was mistreating the body of Jesus.
I have been loved. I have been forgiven. Someone paid a very great price in my place. I want to be proactive. I need to be proactive. We all do.
May I offer two ways to be proactive in light of what Jesus suffered for you? Name your sin, confess it, repent of it. Now. Second, Be good to someone today who annoys you, or who has hurt you, or who is difficult to love. Do both of these in the name of Jesus. Do both of them because of what Jesus has done for you.
The Men's Bible Reading Idea 