April 4, 2026, the 94th day of 2026
In the Tomb
I was thinking this morning about those who woke up the day after Jesus was taken in the night and crucified in the morning. What were the words that... View MoreApril 4, 2026, the 94th day of 2026
In the Tomb
I was thinking this morning about those who woke up the day after Jesus was taken in the night and crucified in the morning. What were the words that they woke up to? How would they have felt? This is speculation on my part, but I could feel something of it as I wrote.
The hopelessness that must have filled their hearts knowing their belived Rabbi had been taken and judged while they celebrated their Passover Meal with their families and slept deeply and contentedly into the morning, knowing nothing of what was happening.
But they would be told, and their hearts would break. Their hopes would shatter. All the promises they felt so close to being fulfilled in this Jesus, crumbled in moments.
So many had hoped that they had found their Messiah, their Lord, their King. But, in an instant that was all taken from them. Without Jesus, and all that His coming promised, how could they go on?
We can read the words of Jesus and see that He was warning them that He had to suffer and die, but that He would rise again. Yet, even for the disciples, who heard it all, it somehow got lost to them in all the parables and the lessons on living a godly life, a citizen of the Kingdom of God, and wondering what their place was in it.
We still don't grasp a fraction of what Jesus taught, and we have the full Bible, all kinds of study guides and actual time to study. But the truth was that at that moment all they felt was the raw agony that their beloved Teacher had been taken by evil men and they were powerless to do anything but mourn!
Before the tomb, some had seen as He carried His cross through the streets after having been flogged. He was not in good shape then. They had to see that.
Some had seen Him nailed to the cross, if they could have handled that sight and did not turn away in horror from it.
Some had seen Him on the cross, hanging there, with no Heavenly host coming to His aid.
Even as the soldier's mocked Him and others heckled Him, no one did a thing to rescue Him.
Some had seen as He breathed His last, then His side pierced, and being taken down from the cross.
They had to wonder where God was in all of this. And if God let such a man die, what hope did anyone have?
Jesus was dead! And with His death they had to feel that all of their hopes and dreams had died with Him.
They were not a group of scholars, and even if they were, the scholars missed seeing their Saviour, because they had preconceived notions of how their Saviour would come--their deliverer and conquering King.
Yes, He will return that way. But they did not know that yet. They didn't even remember His promisr to rise from dead. How could the One Who rose others, rise Himself once death stold all from Him?
They did not realize that first He had to come and be our Passover sacrifice--the Lamb of God Who takes away the sins of the world. Jesus had to breech the gulf that separated us from God. Jesus had to take our place--pay oir debt--if we were to ever have a chance to come to the Father, in repentance and surrender.
They did not know. And so, with their hopes wrapped up in a tomb, they agonized over what to do next, with the Light of the World snuffed out. And they couldn't think. They couldn't decide. They could do nothing but mourn and grieve for what was lost to them, not only their Teacher, but their hopes.
And the tomb would remain silent, until...
Stay strong! No matter how bad it looks at any moment, is not the final state of things. Hope in the Lord!
NAN
