Christmas 2024

Posted on by korgrocker

“All right then, the Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’).”
Isaiah 7:14
“For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
Isaiah 9:6 NLT

Two well-known verses from the prophet Isaiah, fore-telling an event yet to come many years hence. A Son was to come, born of a virgin mother, to be called Immanuel, or “God with us”. We of course know about that Son, called Jesus, and the meaning of His name was not far from the Isaiah promise. “Jesus” means Saviour and the name is derived from the Hebrew Yeshua, meaning to deliver or to rescue. And we celebrate the virgin birth of Jesus once again, experiencing the excitement around seeing the Saviour of the world starting His journey. We read again the Scriptures, about Simeon and Anna, the journey to Bethlehem, the manger, shepherds and angels. And the Magi from the East appear on the scene, with valuable gifts, God’s provision for a young couple entrusted with the care of His Son. This year, Christmas is a time indeed of celebration, becoming a ray of light in a dark and evil world, riven by wars and strife. The only Hope for a depressed world convinced that things are getting worse, with people worrying about the future for their children and grandchildren. Light and Hope. That is what the coming of Jesus was all about, but, amazingly, He comes again each Christmas. His presence is always with us, and His message of salvation, foreseen by Isaiah, and accomplished by Jesus, is still hanging in the air before us today.

Here in the UK, most families will be sitting down together to a Christmas meal, enjoying an opportunity to laugh with each other, perhaps reminiscing about things that have gone before. In some family gatherings there will be sadness because a loved one passed away in the time since the previous Christmas. In others there will be happiness at the birth of a new child, bringing pleasure and hope to the family. But how many will stop, pause for a while, thinking about the first Christmas? Saviour? Prince of Peace? Immanuel? God with us? Such thoughts, even if they happened, dissipate quickly, crowded out by the meal being shared.

But the coming of Jesus brought a message far beyond the turkey and tinsel. In a dark and evil world it brings the only message of hope worth considering today. We pilgrims know about how the story ends. Our journeys coincide at the doors of Heaven where we will find the Saviour of the World waiting for us. The invitation in Revelation 22:17 is still with us. “The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” Let anyone who hears this say, “Come.” Let anyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who desires drink freely from the water of life”. In Jesus we remember His birth, life and death, and we have felt the refreshing of the “water of life”. In the darkness we turn to the Light Himself, reaching out for the refreshing that our thirsty souls so desperately need. Wars and rumours of wars? We know that they are just the birth pangs of the End Times, not the end themselves. We turn away from the darkness and gaze intently at the Source of Light. There is no better way to spend Christmas.

Dear Lord Jesus. Thank You for coming to this world, bringing Your Light and Hope. Amen.

The Unbelieving

Posted on by korgrocker

“One of the twelve disciples, Thomas (nicknamed the Twin), was not with the others when Jesus came. 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.” 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. 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!” “My Lord and my God!” Thomas exclaimed. Then Jesus told him, “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.””
John 20:24-29 NLT

Why wouldn’t Thomas believe what the other disciples had told him? He wasn’t with them when Jesus first appeared in the locked room – I wonder where he was? – and he totally rejected the disciples’ testimony. He knew these men. He had been with them for over three years at least. He had seen Jesus’ miracles and even the dead raised. And yet he was unable to accept the account of how Jesus had appeared in their midst. He wanted to see the risen Jesus at first hand, with his own eyes, although even that wasn’t enough for Thomas. He wanted to supplement the visual with other senses, by touching Jesus’ wounds. 

John’s account continues by fast-forwarding to another meeting, again behind locked doors. This time there was a full contingent of disciples including Thomas. Again, Jesus said “Peace be with you” and then He turned to Thomas, telling him to do what he had previously asked by fingering the wounds in Jesus’ hands and side. Incidentally, had these terrible after effects of crucifixion started to heal, or were they still red and raw, seeping blood as they had on that fateful Friday? Jesus had a new body that was able to pass through locked doors, but a body that still bore the scars. It was a resurrected body, recognisable by all who knew Him, but a body without human limitations.

Jesus’ response to Thomas has resonated with many believers over the years since. Thomas, faced with the evidence, could only utter “My Lord and my God”. But Jesus rebuked him for his lack of faith, telling him to “Believe”, and then said, “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.” 

Thomas missed out on Jesus’ first post-resurrection encounter with the disciples because he wasn’t present with the rest of them. Isn’t it the case, when we look out of the window on a cold and wet Sunday morning and decide to have a duvet day, that we are in danger of missing out on an encounter with the risen Jesus. In the church I attend there was a wonderful presence of the Holy Spirit last Sunday. There was a time when the worship just seemed to attain new heights. There was a holy pause and a Presence joined with us. A time of silence where we almost had to hold our breaths in case we destroyed the moment. But after the service I looked around and there were several people absent. They had become like Thomas, missing out on a precious God-encounter.

Today there are no people, believers or otherwise, who have had a physical encounter with the risen Jesus. But we believe anyway, that Jesus died and rose from the dead on the third day. We believe and will never stop believing, until we see Him again, welcoming us through the gates of Heaven. 

Dear Lord Jesus. You graciously appeared to the disciples all those years ago, in a body resurrected from the grave. They believed and never stopped believing for the rest of their lives and neither shall we. We praise You today. Amen.

Peace and Forgiveness

Posted on by korgrocker

“Again he said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.””
John 20:21-23 NLT

Once again Jesus said “Peace be with you”. In a world that had seen the disciples’ bumpy ride following Jesus in His ministry, the chaos was continuing in their souls. They had seen the miracles, the dead raised, Jesus walking on water. They had received training for the future in Jesus’ University of Kingdom Life. They had experienced the abuse from the Jewish leaders. They had even gone out themselves, healing the sick and preaching the good news about the Kingdom of God. And now, following a couple of days of grieving for their crucified Leader, entombed and graveyard dead, He was now standing with them, alive and well, in a locked room. And He said “Peace …”. They needed a shed load of that, for sure.

Jesus then said to them, “As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” The disciples commissioned, sent out to continue Jesus’ mission. The handing on of the Kingdom baton, charged with the message of hope for an otherwise dying race of people. Then Jesus breathed on them. This wasn’t just a febrile puff. It was a full throated blast of air from the bottom of Jesus’ lungs, emulating what was to come on the Day of Pentecost, where the disciples would indeed “Receive the Holy Spirit”. The connection was that on their own, and in their own strength, they would be unable to carry out their mission. They would need the Holy Spirit without doubt, empowering them and working through them each and every day. 

Jesus continued, “If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven”. Does that mean that Jesus was giving the disciples the authority to forgive sins? That can’t be true of course, because only God can forgive sins. There seems to be a problem with the translation, according to Greek scholars, and a better translation might be, “If sins have already been forgiven, then they are forgiven. If they have already been retained then they are not forgiven”. Perhaps another of the Bible’s foibles that needs further scrutiny, which is why we need to read the Scriptures often and in depth, prayerfully asking God to reveal the meaning of His Word.

Peace and forgiveness are both features of God’s Kingdom living. We pilgrims can experience both on our journey to Glory.

Dear Father God. Living in Your Kingdom here on earth provides a foretaste of what is to come, and we are so grateful. Amen.

Peace Be With You

Posted on by korgrocker

“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. As he spoke, he showed them the wounds in his hands and his side. They were filled with joy when they saw the Lord!”
John 20:19-20 NLT

The eleven remaining disciples had called a meeting, and to make sure they were not disturbed, they locked the doors. In those days door locks were very basic and may have consisted of little more than a wooden bolt. Doors were ubiquitous though and the disciples took steps to prevent unauthorised people from entering. John recorded that they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, with good reason because they were now on a roll and would do anything to stamp out Jesus’ influence on Jewish religious society. But I wonder what the disciples were discussing? Obviously, the report from Mary Magdalene would have been at the top of the agenda, and they must have discussed how valid and reliable her feedback was because women were not exactly well considered in those days. They would also have been discussing what to do next, now that their Leader and Master, Jesus, was no longer with them. But then, Jesus suddenly appeared. John’s language in his account was very factual and unemotional, but to be sitting or standing around in a group, and then to suddenly see a person appear before them, must have been a significant and even fearful situation. “Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them!”. This was no gradual “beam me up” moment, with a figure gradually appearing before them. It all happened suddenly, and the first words that Jesus spoke were, “Peace be with you”. The disciples were a superstitious lot, and they were already in an advanced state of fear, hence the locked door. So Jesus’ greeting about peace would have gone some way to allaying their nervous states, and after He had showed them His crucifixion wounds we read that “They were filled with joy”. Of course they were! What else could they be? But the initial joy would have been accompanied by the thought that something was happening here far beyond their experience and understanding. People just do not walk through locked doors. As an aside, if Jesus was able to pass through locked doors, then He would have been able to exit the tomb without removing the stone, which must therefore have been rolled away for the benefit of the disciples, so that they could see it was empty. 

Sometimes people lock the door to their hearts, for a number of reasons including previous hurts and disappointments. They put up a barrier to prevent more pain in the future and that applies to their contact with God as well. Perhaps they had a bad experience in a Sunday school as a child. Or a church experience turned sour and they left, never to return. But in Revelation 3:20 we read, “Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends“. A poignant invitation from Jesus to everyone, including us pilgrims. We must be sensitive to hear Jesus’ knock at the door of our hearts. Once allowed in, He will bring His message, “Peace be with you”, and our troubled thoughts and situations will take on a different perspective in His presence. 

We also remember that Jesus said He was the door. John 10:7, 9, “So Jesus said to them again, “Truly, truly I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. … I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture”. Jesus’ door is never locked and all can enter into eternal life if they believe in Him. 

Dear Lord Jesus. You are the Way into Your Father’s presence. There is no other way – please help us to communicate with those who have chosen the wrong way, so that they too can find the Door. Amen.

Stop Clinging

Posted on by korgrocker

“Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Thinking that He was the gardener, she said to Him, “Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you put Him, and I will take Him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to Him in Hebrew, “Rabboni!” (which means, Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.’ ” Mary Magdalene came and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and that He had said these things to her.”
John 20:15-18 NASB

What else could Mary Magdalene do? Here was the Man, Jesus Himself, who she had seen being crucified and dying on the cross. She knew that He had been buried in a sealed tomb. Yet here He was, standing before her. In spite of the misogynistic culture of those days, Mary was overcome with all sorts of emotions, and just couldn’t help herself. She gave Jesus a big hug. How long it went on for we don’t know, but Jesus had an important message for her to take to His  brothers, the disciples. Factually, and unemotionally, John wrote that Mary “came and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”. I suspect that, if I had been a fly on the wall, I would have found it was more than that. Mary would have burst into the room where the disciples were and exploded with shouts of joy as she delivered the message Jesus had given to her. But what would those disciples who were there have made of her display of emotion? We know that Peter and John had seen the empty tomb, so they must have been wondering. But, as cold logic goes, a corpse does not just climb out of a grave and start a conversation with a random woman who just happens to be there. The disciples must have had some thoughts about the reliability of the woman’s account. That something significant had happened would have been without doubt, but Jesus, risen, alive and well? Surely that can’t be true, must have been their thoughts. 

In a way, Mary was a very fortunate woman, who saw the fruit of her commitment to Jesus. Note that there were no disciples hanging around the tomb that Easter Sunday morning. The experience of being the first to see and hold the risen Jesus would never have left her, and I’m sure that there came a day when she was with Him again. Hearing His voice once again say, “Mary”, as she crossed the Great Divide. As we pilgrims take our final breaths, our spirits will also follow Mary into our new home. Will we too renew our friendship with Jesus as He calls our name? We won’t have had the opportunity to cling to Jesus but we can talk to Him in prayer. We can fellowship with Him, walking with Him through the Gospel pages. Constantly wondering about how He loved us so much that He did what He had to do, just for You and me.

Dear Lord Jesus. Will we really hear You call our name one day, as You welcome us into Your home? Thank You for all You did that weekend long ago. Amen.

Rabboni

Posted on by korgrocker

“She turned to leave and saw someone standing there. It was Jesus, but she didn’t recognize him. “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.” “Mary!” Jesus said. She turned to him and cried out, “Rabboni!” (which is Hebrew for “Teacher”).”
John 20:14-16 NLT

Mary Magdalene had just received a vision of two angels in the empty tomb, seen through her tears of grief, and she was now turning away to leave, broken-hearted. But she then became aware that there was someone standing there. The person asked her why she was crying and who she was looking for. Perhaps at this point she thought there was something familiar about the person she saw, but her first impression was that she was conversing with the gardener, who was looking after the cemetery where the empty tomb was situated. She thought that perhaps it was he who could have removed the body of Jesus, so Mary asked where He was now so that she could make other arrangements for His burial. But there was then a pivotal moment in Mary’s life. The person before her knew her name and spoke it out. And all of a sudden, Mary turned to the Person before her and called out “Rabboni”, which we are told means “Teacher”. She recognised it was Jesus standing before her. But why refer to Him as Teacher? It explains much about their relationship, because she could have used His name, or Master, or Lord. The word “Rabboni” signified respect and her close friendship with Jesus, and could even have raised her expectations that Jesus had returned from the dead, as He said He would, to continue His ministry. 

That moment on the first Easter Sunday morning brought a message of hope, not only to Mary, but to the disciples and for anyone reading this Biblical account over the years since it was written by John. There were many ways in which Jesus could have used Mary’s name. Harshly, unfeelingly, or even dismissively, but I’m sure that when Jesus used her name, Mary felt waves of love and acceptance wash over her. Had Jesus spoken her name before? He must have done because in Luke 8:2 we read, “along with some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases. Among them were Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons“. Mary had been a follower of Jesus for some time, grateful for her release from demonic influences, and she knew Him as her Teacher and friend. 

There were several times when Jesus called someone by their name. Worthy of note is the time when Jesus called the dead Lazarus, now resurrected, from the grave. The account is in John 11, but in verse 43 we read, “Then Jesus shouted, “Lazarus, come out!”” But before Mary on the Easter Sunday morning it was the resurrected Jesus who was calling out another name.

Our names are important to God. We get a glimpse of God’s love for us from Isaiah 49:14-16, “Yet Jerusalem says, “The Lord has deserted us; the Lord has forgotten us.” “Never! Can a mother forget her nursing child? Can she feel no love for the child she has borne? But even if that were possible, I would not forget you! See, I have written your name on the palms of my hands. Always in my mind is a picture of Jerusalem’s walls in ruins“. In Hebrews 13:5b we read, “ … I will never fail you. I will never abandon you”. We pilgrims are truly favoured children of God and He knows our names. And sometimes in a moment of quiet, He whispers them so that we can receive the assurance that He is still there and is still with us. One day each of us will receive a new name that will only be known to Jesus and to us. Revelation 2:17b, “ …  And I will give to each one a white stone, and on the stone will be engraved a new name that no one understands except the one who receives it“. 

Dear fellow pilgrims, our names are important to both us and to God. There was no special relationship between Jesus and Mary, exclusive just to them. Jesus knows our names too because we matter to Him. He loves us and will never abandon us. Ever.

Father God. We can only pray prayers of thanks and worship today, saying that we love You Lord, and we always will. Thank You. Amen.

Mary’s Tears

Posted on by korgrocker

“Mary was standing outside the tomb crying, and as she wept, she stooped and looked in. 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. “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.”
John 20:11-13 NLT

Our first thoughts are probably about which Mary this was, but further down in John 20 we find that it was Mary Magdalene. Different people grieve in different ways and Mary was at the tomb, returning there after she had told Peter and John about the rolled-away stone. She was breaking her heart because of her loss, probably wondering how Jesus could have been taken from His friends so quickly and so barbarically. Trying to get her mind around a future without Jesus. Feeling pain inside her, but through all her tears she took a peep inside the tomb and found two angels there, sitting either side of where Jesus’ body had been placed. They asked her why she was crying and clearly and succinctly she said, “Because they have taken away my Lord, … and I don’t know where they have put him.” 

People often need a grave to visit after the death of a loved one. Walk around any graveyard and you will find bunches of flowers, freshly laid, or, occasionally, single people or families just standing there by the gravestone, silently reflecting or praying. There is something special with the thought of being near the remains of a loved one, ever though the life that was once enjoyed has gone. In my early years, there was a family tradition to go to my grandfather’s grave several times during the year to tend it, cut the grass and reflect. Today, more and more people are being cremated and the place of memories replaced by a favourite garden, somewhere at sea, where the ashes are scattered, and a gravestone replaced by a plaque on a park bench. 

But how did Mary, or John who wrote the account, know that the two figures in the tomb were angels? Many people today do not believe that angels exist, consigning them to the domain of fairies and the like. But there was something about the two men in the tomb that convinced Mary that they were indeed angels. It could have been their attire. Or the fact that they had never been seen in that area before. Perhaps their features and clothes were glowing. We don’t know, but Mary was convinced about what she saw, and John as well, because he wrote it down. 

We pilgrims will inevitably experience the death of a loved one. It may be expected, after or during an illness. It may be, as in the case of my father, due to old age, when he just slipped away in his sleep. A friend of mine has just lost his 103-year-old father-in-law after a chest infection. The saddest occasions are when a young person or baby dies, unexpectedly and tragically. Families are left in turmoil, whatever the cause of their loss, and the grieving process starts, the tears fall, an emptiness remains. But there is something about the death of a believer, because the believers left behind know where they have gone. Their bodies may end up in a tomb but their spirits live on in the presence of the Lord, and there is always the prospect of a reunion one day. Because of this, we pilgrims must make every attempt to evangelise our families. While the person is still alive they can make a choice of their ultimate destination, their new spiritual home. Those who fail to believe will still live on through their spirits, but in a place where they find they don’t want to be.

Mary was weeping because she didn’t have a tomb where she could grieve the loss of Jesus. But as a preacher once said, “It may be Friday, but Sunday’s a-coming”. Mary was about to find something better than an empty tomb – the risen Jesus Himself.

Dear God. Jesus could never stay in a grave and we thank You that He is alive today. We worship You. Amen.

The Empty Tomb

Posted on by korgrocker

“She ran and found Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. She said, “They have taken the Lord’s body out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” Peter and the other disciple started out for the tomb. They were both running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He stooped and looked in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he didn’t go in. Then Simon Peter arrived and went inside. He also noticed the linen wrappings lying there, while the cloth that had covered Jesus’ head was folded up and lying apart from the other wrappings. Then the disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in, and he saw and believed— for until then they still hadn’t understood the Scriptures that said Jesus must rise from the dead. Then they went home.
John 20:2-10 NLT

John’s account of the first Easter Sunday morning continued to be factual, providing details of the events following Mary Magdalene’s startling news that the tomb was empty. We don’t know where Peter and John were when they heard the news but they wasted no time in getting there and we then read of what they saw. No body and the grave-clothes, the “linen wrappings”, just lying there, as though the structure, the body, that was holding them in shape, had suddenly disappeared, leaving them to collapse under their own weight. It is significant that the two disciples didn’t just assume that someone had stolen the body, because if that was the case, the graveclothes would either not have been there, or would have been lying in an unravelled heap. But Peter and John immediately “saw and believed— for until then they still hadn’t understood the Scriptures that said Jesus must rise from the dead”. And the verses today end with the underwhelming statement that “they went home”. Really? I expect that they were talking excitedly with each other, even offering prayers to God requesting an explanation. If social media had been around in those days, their Facebook pages would have been buzzing. Everyone in their WhatsApp group would have received a message. But John was now a believer in Christ. Before, he was a disciple and friend of Jesus, now he said that he believed. 

To be fair to the two men, the events that Sunday morning were far outside their experience. Nothing like this had ever happened before, certainly in their lifetimes. So what was going to happen next? They were in uncharted waters and were probably feeling that they had lost control of their lives. But there had to be an empty tomb. If Jesus had still been inside a grave then there would be no Christianity. No eternal life. No Holy Spirit as we know Him. After all that Jesus had said, then if He was still in the tomb today, then He would have had no credibility at all. But, praise God, the tomb was empty. Demonstrably so. In Acts 13:35-37 we read, “Another psalm explains it more fully: ‘You will not allow your Holy One to rot in the grave.’ This is not a reference to David, for after David had done the will of God in his own generation, he died and was buried with his ancestors, and his body decayed. No, it was a reference to someone else—someone whom God raised and whose body did not decay“. The Holy Spirit prophesied through David when he wrote Psalm 16, enabling him to see down the centuries to an empty tomb.

We thank God today for the empty tomb. There is no other religion on earth today where their god came to earth, born as a human baby and after their death, left behind an empty tomb. I love Matthew’ account where the angel rolled away the tomb and then sat on it. A touch of humour that seemed to say that it would take more than a lump of rock to keep Jesus in the grave. There was no tomb on earth that could retain the Son of God because, as Jesus said, He not only had the power to lay down His life. He also had the power to take it up again. We worship a living Saviour today, not mourn and grieve in front of a grave, marked with the gravestone inscription, “Here lies Jesus, the Son of God”.

Dear Lord Jesus. There was no power that could keep You dead and buried. And today You await us in Heaven, having gone before us. Thank You. Amen.

The Stone

Posted on by korgrocker

“Early on Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. She ran and found Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. She said, “They have taken the Lord’s body out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!””
John 20:1-2 NLT
“On the way they were asking each other, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?””
Mark 16:3 NLT
“Suddenly there was a great earthquake! For an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled aside the stone, and sat on it. His face shone like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow.”
Matthew 28:2-3 NLT

The question, “Who rolled the stone away”, is answered in Matthew’s Gospel. As he wrote, “an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled aside the stone, and sat on it”. There were a number of guards there, ensuring that no-one came to steal the body and Matthew records that “The guards shook with fear when they saw him, and they fell into a dead faint” (Matthew 28:4). These were seasoned soldiers, battle hardened, and not easily scared. But they saw something early that morning that had a devastating effect on them. It was only Matthew who recorded in his Gospel that an angel rolled away the stone, accompanied by a “great earthquake”, and the amusing part of the story is that the angel then sat on the stone, almost as though he was saying that it would take more than a stone to hold Jesus in the tomb. The stone would have been very heavy, and it took at least two men to move it into place – Joseph of Arimathea, and Nicodemus. So the women who came to the tomb that first Easter Sunday morning were of course concerned about how they would remove it. But they needn’t have worried – the task had already been done.

John records that it was only Mary Magdalene who came to visit the tomb and it was still dark. She must have had little sleep, and was probably feeling a bit frustrated that she couldn’t have been there before, prevented by the Sabbath and Passover events. Mary reached the tomb and immediately she must have assumed that the body of Jesus had been removed, so John records that she ran to find Peter and John, to let them know. In some ways this was a nightmare scenario for Jesus’ friends, because they were unable to complete the burial process. 

We read the account and immediately we are aware of the authenticity of what happened. Small details emerge in the different accounts and come together to set a backdrop for the events yet to come. The rolled away stone emerged as a symbol of the empty tomb, as though God was saying that there was nothing that could keep His Son in an earthly grave. If the story of Jesus had ended with a sealed up tomb then there would be no pilgrims like us, and I wouldn’t be writing these words down. But the stone signified the start of Christianity, and believers in Jesus have increased in every period of history ever since. Were Jesus’ friends and the first disciples starting to feel that something significant was about to happen, as reports of the empty tomb started to circulate? We’ll soon find out.

Dear Heavenly Father. Thank You for Jesus, the One who left the tomb, alive and well. Without the empty grave we would have had no faith or belief in Jesus for His forgiveness for our sins. We are so grateful and we worship You this morning. Amen.

Nick and Joe

Posted on by korgrocker

“Afterward Joseph of Arimathea, who had been a secret disciple of Jesus (because he feared the Jewish leaders), asked Pilate for permission to take down Jesus’ body. When Pilate gave permission, Joseph came and took the body away. With him came Nicodemus, the man who had come to Jesus at night. He brought about seventy-five pounds of perfumed ointment made from myrrh and aloes. Following Jewish burial custom, they wrapped Jesus’ body with the spices in long sheets of linen cloth. The place of crucifixion was near a garden, where there was a new tomb, never used before. And so, because it was the day of preparation for the Jewish Passover and since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.”
John 19:38-42 NLT

In spite of the conspiracy theories that claimed Jesus never died on the cross and that He just “swooned”, Jesus definitely died that fateful day. The Roman soldier, used to seeing death, confirmed it with his spear, and the two Jewish leaders (secret disciples of Jesus), took Jesus’ body down from the cross and prepared His body for burial, tightly wrapping it in sheets of linen interspersed with a large quantity of spices. That they were fooled into thinking Jesus was dead when He was still alive, is so unlikely that such an event can be discounted as being totally untrue. There are all sorts of legends around Joseph but little about him can be found in the Bible. He may have been a relative of Jesus and, because Jesus’ father, Joseph, was no longer around, he may have taken on the responsibility of dealing with Jesus’ body, hence Pilate’s willingness to allow him to do so. Nicodemus we know more about, as we can read in John 3. After preparing the body, the two men laid Jesus in a new tomb, that Matthew recorded had been prepared for Joseph. But Nicodemus and Joseph were in a bit of a hurry because the start of the Passover celebrations were imminent. The proximity of the tomb to the place of execution helped them greatly.

This factual account of what happened to Jesus’ body forms another facet of the Good Friday events. They were just normal details of the process of dealing with the dead. Nothing really worthy of note at all. But John included them, facts for which we’re grateful. To just have been told that Jesus died and was buried, although true, would not have provided the authenticity that has helped people come to faith in Jesus ever since.

What do we pilgrims think of the arrest, trial, whipping, crucifixion and then burial of Jesus? It of course has formed the bedrock of our faith, that Jesus went through all of that and in the process took on the punishment we so richly deserved for our sins. It was a time when Heaven and earth collided, when sins performed in the body on earth, were forgiven in Heaven, implementing God’s plan for the salvation of the world. But, as we will find out, it didn’t just end with a body in a tomb. Jesus’ body rested there for a while as His Spirit spent time elsewhere. But we pilgrims look at the story before us with horror, that God would allow His Son to suffer what He did, but also with gratitude that His love for us was so great that Jesus’ death was a price worth paying. 

Dear Father God. We pray prayers of gratitude this morning. We worship You with wonder in our hearts. We once again confess our sins, knowing that You will forgive us and wipe the record clean. Thank You Lord. Amen.