Easter Day: Questions That Heal

As I enter this time of prayer, I repeat the words of an Easter prayer from the Melanesian Brotherhood, slowly, several times, making them my prayer to God:

Look: the hills and the valleys shine with promises,

And every burning morning is a prophecy of Christ.

He is coming to raise, forgive, and to heal.

Open wide your lives and forever love, not fear, those you meet.*

Pause and repeat

Pause to read the passage: 1 Cor. 15:55–58

The book God on Mute, is, ‘all about questions: questions of the heart (“How am I going to get through this?”), questions of the head (“Why aren’t my prayers being answered?”), and questions of the soul (“Where are You, God?”). On Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday, we ask such things again and again. But then, on Easter Sunday, the tables are turned. Now it is Jesus coming at us with questions, not to test but to heal us.… ‘Jesus’ question for Mary Magdalene, “Why are you crying?” (John 20:13) targeted her pain. His question for the two men on the road to Emmaus, “What are you discussing … Don’t you understand?” (Luke 24:17–25), targeted their confusion. His question to the disciples, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds?” (Luke 24:38), targeted their crisis of faith. And then He cooked breakfast for Peter and asked him a question that targeted his guilt: “Do you truly love me?” (John21:15).‘The journey through Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday leaves us in a state of pain, confusion, doubt, or shame. But Jesus loves us too much to leave us here for long’**

Addressing pain

‘If your experiences of unanswered prayer have left you hurting and disorientated like Mary Magdalene, Jesus asks you the question He asked her: “Why are you crying?” So tell Him! Lament. Rant, if you need to. And when you are done, stop and hear the way He speaks your name.’

Pause and pray

Addressing confusion

‘Maybe your disappointments in prayer have left you confused like that earnest couple on the road to Emmaus. Don’t run away from the questions. Allow Jesus to … help you make sense of what you’re going through. Study and think. Discuss these matters with friends. Perhaps, as you talk, there will be moments when you realise that Jesus has joined the conversation, just as He did on the road to Emmaus.’

Pause and pray

Addressing doubt

‘Maybe unanswered prayer has created a quiet crisis of faith in your life. Like the disciples, who could hardly believe it when Jesus appeared in their midst, your old confidence in God has been eroded. You are older and wiser, which is good, but you are also suspicious and weary. Imagine Jesus stepping through the locked doors of your heart and asking, “Why are you troubled, and why do you doubt?” Tell Him! You would not be the first, of course, to say, “I do believe; help me in my unbelief!”’

Pause and pray

Addressing sin

‘Or maybe in your journey through disappointment you have surrendered to some “besetting sin” (Heb. 12:1 KJV). You may, like Peter, have lied and even denied your Lord in ways you thought He’d never see. In which case, He will be pursuing you now just as He pursued Peter, with a quiet determination to dismantle your shame, restore your relationship, and renew your commission’**

Pause and pray

As I bring both this time with God and this 41-day devotional to a close, I pray the passage of the refiner’s fire from 1 Peter 1:6–7:

‘Though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed.’

Amen.

Find out more about Pete’s book God on Mute and other resources from the 24-7 Prayer movement. This plan was produced by 24-7 Prayer with thanks to David C Cook and Zondervan.

Excerpted from God on Mute © 2007, 2020 by Pete Greig. Used by permission of David C Cook and Zondervan. May not be further reproduced. All rights reserved.

* Thomas Merton, A Book of Hours (Notre Dame, IN: Ave Maria Press, 2007).

** Pete Greig, God on Mute, David C Cook, (Colorado Springs, 2020), p256-57