Grateful Beyond Measure

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Wishing you a meaningful Easter Sunday. May you stay safe and walk on holy ground today and every day.

John 20: 11 Mary was standing outside the tomb crying, and as she wept, she stooped and looked in. 12 She saw two white-robed angels, one sitting at the head and the other at the foot of the place where the body of Jesus had been lying. 13 “Dear woman, why are you crying?” the angels asked her.

“Because they have taken away my Lord,” she replied, “and I don’t know where they have put him.”

14 She turned to leave and saw someone standing there. It was Jesus, but she didn’t recognize him. 15 “Dear woman, why are you crying?” Jesus asked her. “Who are you looking for?”

She thought he was the gardener. “Sir,” she said, “if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and get him.”

16 “Mary!” Jesus said.

She turned to him and cried out, “Rabboni!” (which is Hebrew for “Teacher”).

17 “Don’t cling to me,” Jesus said, “for I haven’t yet ascended to the Father. But go find my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

18 Mary Magdalene found the disciples and told them, “I have seen the Lord!” Then she gave them his message.

19 That Sunday evening the disciples were meeting behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them! “Peace be with you,” he said. 20 As he spoke, he showed them the wounds in his hands and his side. They were filled with joy when they saw the Lord! 21 Again he said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” 22 Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

24 One of the twelve disciples, Thomas (nicknamed the Twin), was not with the others when Jesus came. 25 They told him, “We have seen the Lord!”

But he replied, “I won’t believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound in his side.”

26 Eight days later the disciples were together again, and this time Thomas was with them. The doors were locked; but suddenly, as before, Jesus was standing among them. “Peace be with you,” he said. 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!”

28 “My Lord and my God!” Thomas exclaimed.

29 Then Jesus told him, “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.”

35 COMMENTS

  1. Thank you for sharing..Happy Easter to you and your whole family. FATHER LORD DIED AND RESURRECTED….HE WILL COME AGAIN.??

  2. As timely as ever to publish the source document on the resurrection of Jesus!
    Interesting how Jesus chose to reveal himself to women first. No “new made up” religion would think it wise do that back then, let alone RECORD it. Women’s word back then was not taken without a couple of other men backing it up (like Islam still is today). Yet, Jesus was formally establishing that women and men would not be shown partiality in the new covenant despite worldly norms. We are equal in God’s eyes.
    It seems a feminist would surely defend Christianity a lot faster than Islam. But alas, knowing the truth is better than being politically correct.
    Thanks for publishing the truth, Suzanne.

  3. Outstanding, Suzanne. Thank you for your great reporting, honesty and loyalty to your readers. Happy Easter!

    • Thank you, Greg, for reminding us that Russian Orthodox Easter is celebrated on April 19 this year. – sd

  4. God’s word never returns void. You are an accomplished woman Suzanne and your days will be long and honored for having the courage to speak truth and use your talents for good. Thanks for sharing the Easter history.
    I love that Jesus spoke gently but powerfully to the marginalized. Women were outside the margins by a long shot in the first century. They were not worthy of notice, respect or credible witness. Yet He speaks to them repeatedly throughout his ministry and most pointedly, he shares his first words after defeating death with a woman. How like Him— to defy cultural norms and use the weak to bring strength. May we all take time to listen to the Son of God who divided human history and was like none other. Happy Easter Suzanne and keep up the great work!

  5. The positive comments left here about your column are spot on, therefore, all I can say to you is

    THANK YOU!

  6. Happy Easter, Suzanne.
    Thank you for all of your hard work that results in your outstanding reporting of the only accurate news of everything that happens in our great state, this the last frontier.

  7. It’s the theological exclusivity of Christianity that offends. 31% of the world will be saved, but too bad for those of other faiths, or none at all, who will be eternally damned. So lucky to be born into the right cohort…

    Many beautiful concepts emanate from religion, but perdition for unbelievers is not one of them.

  8. Marc,
    Disbelief does not make something untrue. May the blessings of Jesus Christ and of the Lord God almighty continue to be poured out on you and yours. Happy Easter, and all the promise it carries, Marc.

  9. Thank you for giving us this forum to exxpress ourselves regarding a wide array of subjects forbidden by the liberal elites who are attempting to usherette global communism stealthily into Alaska. They co-opt the legislators for the west coast which is super easy to do evidently. Without expression in this state the collective mental illness would be unbearable. For some of us it has been hell to attempt to live here for decades.

  10. Thank you, Suzanne! This blessing is the ultimate example of why an internet blog like yours beats corporate media. May the resurrected Christ bless you and yours with peace and prosperity all year long!

  11. Tell someone about God’s love us and what He did for reconciling us back to Himself.

    Anchorage really wants to hear people telling them about that even the Democrats voting for Dunbar need to hear from you about Christ.

    If someone refuse hearing it, shake the dust off your feet at them and go on and share with the next Anchorage person.

    The battles we are fighting isn’t between one another, we are living amidst a War between Good and Evil, and all of us,Democrat and Republican and non voters, are somewhere in the middle as both sides are raging against for ALL of our souls.

  12. SD,
    Thank you for publishing this piece. It is refreshing to see positive messages from a good article backed up with applicable references.

  13. Thank you again, Suzanne, for reminding us what our short time here on earth is really all about.

  14. To Whidbey the Dog:
    .
    No one is stopping you from joining US Whidbey. You will be a much happier person. Giving gratitude takes but a few minutes and it is free. Happy Easter!

  15. AWESOME ?
    Thank you for sharing the good News
    May you all, have a blessed day
    Happy Easter. ✝️

  16. “Don’t cling to me,”
    This part has been misunderstood because it is a Hebraism which didn’t translate very well into the Greek. When paraphrased, the expanded meaning is “I know you’re afraid of losing Me again, but don’t cling to me, preventing me from leaving, for I haven’t yet ascended to the Father, which is necessary to complete My work of salvation.”
    Mary understood the expanded Hebraism, the full implied meaning … just as we understand Americanisms which have been condensed in common usage for brevity.

  17. “Receive the Holy Spirit.. If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
    Yahshua (Jesus) wasn’t directly granting the disciples personal authority … rather, He was revealing to them the authority of His personal presence, which He had just placed within them.
    This goes in hand with the teaching that to take no thought of what you will reply to an unbeliever’s challenge, for at that moment, the Spirit will give you the right words to reply with.
    Also, where any two of you are gathered in My Name, I will be there with you. His self-existent life-force will be with us, in us. He will personally show us what to reply.
    As He said … He wasn’t speaking His own words, but He spoke only what He heard the Father speak.
    If we hear someone confess any sin, or their sin is otherwise revealed to us, Yahshua (Jesus) will either forgive them, or not. We are just to repeat what He says to us.

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