“How Will We Roll Back the Stone?”
Have you ever done something and realized halfway through it that you forgot one of the most important parts? Maybe it was buying a dozen eggs to make that cake for the sick neighbors. You have just enough time to mix the ingredients and pop it in the oven. You lay out all of the ingredients. And you don’t have any eggs. What do you do?
Well, in today’s Bible reading*, three women went to anoint Jesus’ body for burial. Because the Sabbath was approaching with the sunset, Joseph of Aramathea barely had time to get Jesus’ body in the tomb and covered. He rolled a heavy rock to cover the entrance and went home to prepare for the Sabbath.
And here we are on Sunday Morning. These women are about to round a corner and it dawns on them that they have no way to roll back the stone “door” to the tomb. The stone weighs over a ton. How will they anoint Jesus’ body with that big fat rock in the way?
Just then, as they round the corner, they see that the stone has already been rolled back. Looking inside the tomb, they don’t see Jesus’ body. Instead, they see a man who tells them that “Jesus is not here. Go! Tell His Disciples that He has risen from the dead — just like He said He would!”
Application
Jesus isn’t in the tomb! Jesus is alive! I mean, He’s really alive! Yes, really!
What difference does it make that unlike every religious leader, Jesus’ tomb is empty? What difference does that make in the reality of the universe? And what difference does that make in your life?
* Today we are reading Mark 16.
This devotional was originally published on January 22, 2020.
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