day 16 - tombstone

 So this is the most important stone in the Bible. The one that was rolled away on resurrection morning by an angel who sat on top of it waiting for the women to arrive so they could share the monumental message that Jesus had risen from the dead (Matt 28;1-8)



Here's something I hadn't considered before.  The stone wasn't rolled away to let Jesus out.  We know that the risen Jesus could walk through walls.  He could have chosen to 'disappear' from the tomb and 'reappear' in the upper room in front of the disciples.  But He didn't choose to walk through walls till a bit later.  Why?  I mean, it might have been even more impressive to have appeared alive to the disciples and then Roman guards roll away the still sealed stone to find nobody in the tomb.   Thats probably how I would have played it.  Jesus chose something different.  And He always does everything for a reason.

So, first off, the stone was moved by angels, not by Jesus exercising His risen power. Angels have been crucial to the Jesus/Christmas story from the start so I suppose its not surprising that they should be around for the most important and exciting bit.  I can almost imagine God consoling the devastated heavenly host as they mourned, horrified, the death of the Son of God, by saying ' Why dont you go down there and bring me His body'  - only for them to go and roll away the stone to find Him not there!  And then the insane rejoicing of heaven as they realise whats happened.  Fanciful. But hey. Its Christmas. Cut me some slack 😃

And then there are the women.  God likes women. God knows that throughout history women have been owned, misused and poorly treated by men. Jesus came to show a radical new way of love which absolutely treated women as equals and crucial to His continuing mission.  Jesus knew that it would be women who came to the tomb first.  He showed His deep concern for His mother as He hung on the cross. Of course one of His first thoughts on rising from death would have been for her.  And for the other women who had loved Him with passion.  I dont think it would have been possible to have known and walked with Jesus for three years and not have been utterly in love with Him.  The women who came to perform one last act of love for their Lord were greeted by one massive, powerful, overwhelming act of love in return.  The very presence of an angel declaring that He was risen.

And lastly theres the physical evidence of resurrection power at work.  The guards at the tomb overcome with fear by what had happened on their watch, knowing full well that they would be put to the sword for having let the tomb be opened, but being utterly powerless to do anything about it. 

Heres a song which sums up that day as well as anything Ive heard. And expresses the joy of the moment the stone was rolled away

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xl6Okh5VEr0



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