Transparent Generosity
Chesed of Chesed Day 1 of 50 · Lovingkindness within Lovingkindness
Transparent Generosity
These are the words of the Living Christ to the faithful, spoken in Spirit and Light in the days following his resurrection. Mary Magdalene first beheld him as a gardener beyond the empty tomb.1 Jesus met the Magdalene and the other Marys on the road and called them to tell the other disciples he had risen.2 He appeared to Simon Peter,3 and to two disciples on the road to Emmaus.4 He spoke peace to ten of the twelve and breathed the Holy Spirit upon them.5
Behold, the first saying of the Risen Christ.
That night, the Living Christ appeared to his mother, embraced her and said, “In love I poured myself out upon the cross, and in love I have risen. I drank from the cup and poured out my life; it was not taken from me. I did not cling to it, nor did I seek the glory many will attach to my name. I open my heart so that the grace and the waters of life might flow freely, without obstruction.
“In service to the Living God, I lived in grace so that grace would flow through me. At your knee, I learned not to labor in my own strength, but to lean into the power of the Spirit. Our hearts, like a cup have overflowed as the Light of God shines through us.
“May those who walk this way not presume upon this grace believing they may harm others because grace is ever present to wash away their sins. May their hearts be open as ours are open, so their lives can be a river of the waters of life healing the world and not seeking to control it or others. May they drink from these waters and be filled, yet never take our names merely to belong. For those who do not drink from the waters of life will pour themselves out until they are empty, becoming resentful and manipulative of others to gain power and wealth.
“The love of God cannot be grasped. The tighter it is held the more it slips through the fingers. This love must flow. Freely given from the endless river of God, it heals the soul. As it pours out into the world, it washes away all that might snare or entangle it. The kin-dom does not come from giving more or less, but through giving freely. The river of life does not possess the land it flows through, it simply flows.”
Mark 16:9; John 20:11–18
Matthew 28:1-10
Luke 24:34; 1 Corinthians 15:5
Mark 16:12–13; Luke 24:13–35
Luke 24:36–49; John 20:19–23
Thanks Charlie, I noticed your references to the bodily resurrection were from the later written ending to Mark’s Gospel. Why do you think that there is no reference to the bodily resurrection of Christ in Paul’s writings and the early version of Mark?