This is for You

“Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’” – Mark 16:6-7 NIV

Go, tell his disciples. And Peter. Just recently, when reading through the book of Mark in a devotional, this passage jumped out at me. Why does the angel mention Peter’s name specifically? I’d never thought about it before. Until now.

Peter had just denied Jesus, despite his fervent declaration that He’d follow Jesus even to death. He denied Him, just as Jesus foretold that he would. Then he watched His Lord, the One he’d already confessed to know was the Son of God, die on the cross.

Imagine the state of Peter’s heart that Easter weekend. Despairing. Guilty. Hopeless. He probably hated himself, maybe even to the point of death!

But Peter…This is for you!

And Dear Ones, bruised, broken, weary…This is for you, too!

Good News! He is risen!

• Though your sins were like scarlet, you’ve been washed white as snow! (Isaiah 1:18)
• There is now no condemnation! (Romans 8:1)
• You are more than a conqueror! (Romans 8:37)
• Nothing can separate us from God’s love! (Romans 8:38-39)

Can you imagine the joy, the game-changing hope, these words would have been to Peter’s ears? He’d messed up. Bad. But Jesus had risen. Death could not hold Him.

And now, despair could hold Peter no more. This message of good news was for him. Despite his stumble into sin. He was free. He was clothed in righteousness—not of his own doing, but of God’s grace.

That same freedom. That same hope. That same joy. It’s for you, too.

In Isaiah 61, the prophet tells us he’s been anointed to proclaim this good news, thousands of years before its fulfillment. Good news. News that,

• binds up the brokenhearted
• proclaims freedom for the captives
• releases prisoners from darkness
• comforts those who mourn
• bestows a crown of beauty in place of ashes
• gifts the oil of joy instead of mourning
• offers a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair

Hallelujah!

We have a choice, Beloved. The Good News has been declared. Sin has been defeated. Not of our own doing, but by grace. Will you receive it?

It’s good news that changes things. You will not be left the same.

This is for you. He is risen. Grab hold of grace and run with freedom into the glorious calling you’ve been given.