Matthew 27: 57 When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea named Joseph, who himself was a disciple of Jesus. 58 He went to Pilate to ask for the body of Jesus, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. 59 So Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, 60 and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut into the rock. Then he rolled a great stone across the entrance to the tomb and went away. 61 Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb.
62 The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and Pharisees assembled before Pilate. 63 “Sir,” they said, “we remember that while He was alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ 64 So give the order that the tomb be secured until the third day. Otherwise, His disciples may come and steal Him away and tell the people He has risen from the dead. And this last deception would be worse than the first.” 65 “You have a guard,” Pilate said. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.” 66 So they went and secured the tomb by sealing the stone and posting the guard.”
Jesus was dead! The women had watched as the soldiers thrust a spear into his side and blood and water flowed out. They had helped take the body down from the cross and had done what they could to help prepare the body. There was very little that could be done because Jesus died at 3 PM and the Shabbat had to start at sundown, or roughly 6 PM. So there was relatively little that could be done until the Sabbath was over. Joseph of Arimathea was a wealthy disciple who had prepared a tomb for himself and now offered it as a place for Jesus’ body. This act fulfilled the Messianic prophecy in Isaiah 53: 9 that said “He was assigned a grave with the wicked,and with a rich man in His death, although He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth.”
No, there was nothing that anyone could do. All they could do was to go quietly and celebrate the Sabbath and try to nurse their broken hearts. All of the hopes and dreams of Jesus’ followers seemed to lay in the dust, shattered and completely destroyed. Sometimes we feel like those followers of Jesus. We have hoped. We have struggled. We have sacrificed, and it looks as if it was all for nothing. We torment ourselves with questions: “Should I have been wiser? Should I have kept more of my resources for myself? Should I have refused to take that risk?” We pray, but it seems as if the heavens are brass; there are no answers forthcoming, at least that we can see or hear or understand.
But, unbeknownst to Jesus’ followers, Jesus had already conquered! When Jesus cried out that “it was finished!” he really meant it. Everything in Jesus’ life had led up to the moment in which he cried out. Jesus was in anguish, so this was a cry of anguish. But Jesus was also victorious! He had made it successfully to the finish line. He had fulfilled the ultimate purpose of his life. He was through! And as Jesus gave up his breath and died as a human being, he was released into victorious eternal life. Why was it necessary for Jesus to wait until Easter morning? Why didn’t he just rise right then? Let me suggest something: Jesus’ followers weren’t ready for an instant resurrection.
Peter needed to thoroughly and completely face the fact that he had denied Jesus; he needed the full force of that denial to work its way in his soul so that he would never again judge someone else hastily. We don’t know what issues the other disciples were dealing with, but we do know that none of them had been able to stay awake in Gethsemane. That failure alone must have haunted those men. No, spiritual change does not take place instantly; it takes suffering and time to reflect.
God’s timing is perfect. Many times we feel that God has really made some mistakes! How can He possibly insist that we suffer sickness or poverty or loss of money or jobs or friends or loved ones? But the fact remains that we learn very little from prosperity and a great deal from suffering. And God is too great to allow us to wallow in our mediocrity; it is God’s goal to “bring many sons to glory,” to help us to mature as believers.
Today you may feel like those disciples on Easter Saturday. You see no hope. But don’t give up. God is always doing new things, and He shows up when and where you least expect Him.
PRAYER: Father God, we come to you in our despair. We had such high hopes and now it seems that everything we have treasured is being taken away from us. But Lord, you are the One who gave us friends and loved ones and everything else that we had in the first place. Thank you that no matter how hopeless it appears, you are faithful and you have proven your faithfulness by sending Jesus to die for our sins and to rise from the dead. In Jesus’ mighty Name. Amen.
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