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In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first
day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.
There was a violent earthquake, for an
angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the
stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were
white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like
dead men.
The angel said to the women, “Do not be
afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not
here; He has risen, just as He said. Come and see the place where He lay. Then
go quickly and tell His disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going
ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see Him.’ Now I have told you.”
So the women hurried away from the tomb,
afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples.
Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” He
said. They came to Him, clasped His feet and worshiped Him. Then Jesus said to
them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell My brothers to go to Galilee; there they
will see Me.”
Matthew 28:1-10
This ends today’s reading
from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Today is Resurrection Sunday, the day when Jesus came to
life, conquering sin, death, and the grave. It is a day of celebration, a day of
recovery from the sadness and sorrow of Jesus’ crucifixion. It is a day that
brings us a hope that can never be taken away if we choose to accept Jesus as
our personal Savior.
So how did the resurrection miracle unfold and what is our
role in it more than 2,000 years later?
We’ll look at this in today’s devotion, the eighth and final
devotion in the Passion Week series, as we examine these scriptures from the
Gospel of Luke:
After
the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other
Mary went to look at the tomb.
There
was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and,
going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like
lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him
that they shook and became like dead men.
The
angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for
Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; He has risen, just as He said. Come
and see the place where He lay. Then go quickly and tell His disciples: ‘He has
risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see
Him.’ Now I have told you.”
So
the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to
tell his disciples.
Suddenly
Jesus met them. “Greetings,” He said. They came to Him, clasped His feet and
worshiped Him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell My
brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see Me.” Luke 23:50-56
The Sabbath after Jesus’ crucifixion had concluded at
sundown on what we would consider Saturday today. Jesus had been taken down
from the cross by Joseph of Arimathea and His body was prepared for burial by
Joseph and Nicodemus before being placed in a new tomb owned by Joseph.
Scripture tells us that Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of James (also
referred to as the “other Mary” to distinguish her from Jesus’ mother) were
present at the tomb on the day of burial.
And then everyone went to their respective dwelling places
to recognize the Sabbath. Imagine the anxious anticipation of the women as they
had to wait more than a full day to get to go to the tomb. These women had
spent a lot of time with Jesus during His ministry and had a great adoration
and love for Him, an adoration and love they wished to express through anointing
His body with spices and perfumes.
So at dawn on the first day of the week (the day we know as
Sunday which actually had begun at sundown on Saturday), the women went to the
tomb. We know the names of some of the women (Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother
of James, Joanna, and Salome) but not all. Of interest, Mark’s Gospel tell us
that the women were discussing how they might get the stone rolled away from
the tomb to access Jesus’ body but once they arrived at the tomb, they would
find that God had that already covered.
For God’s word tells us that a violent earthquake struck as “an
angel of the Lord came down from heaven” and rolled away the stone which he
then sat on. You’ll recall that Pontius Pilate had been approached by the
Pharisees and chief priests the day after Jesus had been crucified, asked to
place guards at the tomb so none of Jesus’ disciples could come and take the
body to claim He had been raised from the dead. Pilate sent guards to the tomb
but as we see in the scriptures, they were so terrified after seeing the angel
that they “became like dead men” and would not become a deterrent for the women
to look in the tomb to see Jesus was indeed gone.
The guards weren’t alone in being afraid because
the women were also frightened but note the immediate words of the angel to put
the women at ease:
“Do
not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified.”
He then followed this by telling them
that Jesus was not in the tomb:
“He
is not here; He has risen, just as He said. Come and see the place where He
lay.”
As mentioned prior, the women had been
with Jesus during His ministry journeys and were aware that He said He would be
crucified and rise again on the third day. Now His words had come to life and
the angel invited the women to go into the tomb and see where Jesus had laid
before giving them this command:
“Go
quickly and tell His disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead
of you into Galilee. There you will see Him.’ Now I have told you.”
And the women wasted no time to do what
the angel had told them to do. They “hurried away from the tomb” to “tell the
disciples” even though they were still “afraid” but also “filled with joy”
Before they could reach the disciples, we
find Jesus appearing to them suddenly, simply saying:
“Greetings.”
Imagine the absolute elation, even in the
midst of fear, that the women had to experience at that moment. Their risen
Savior was before them and, afraid they had lost Him and would never see Him
again, the women “clasped His feet and worshiped Him”, just another indicator
of how much they revered Jesus.
Note that Jesus didn’t let them women
stay with Him long. There was still much to be done on the day He was
resurrected so He told the women to do just as the angel had told them prior:
“Go
and tell My brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see Me.”
And so the women did what their Lord and Master had
commanded. They went quickly to tell Jesus’ disciples that He had risen from
the tomb and was very much alive. They knew it because they had seen and
touched Him themselves.
So that brings us to today and our resurrection day
celebration.
What do you think Jesus would say to us if He appeared
today?
I think His words would be the same as they were to the
women. He would tell is to go quickly and tell others the good news of His
resurrection, that He had been raised from the dead just as He said He would,
and because of His resurrection, those who place their hope and trust in Him
can experience resurrection themselves when their earthly life ends.
Friends, Easter Sunday (also referred to as Resurrection
Sunday) is not a day that we are expected to rejoice in and then forget.
Rather, we are to consistently and intentionally share the good news of
everlasting life through Jesus with everyone we encounter during every day that
God blesses us with.
For there is much work to be done to carry on what Jesus
started and, like Him, we shouldn’t rest until our time here on earth is finished.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
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