Victory

First day of the week, A.D.33: After several days and nights of sorrow, the three women who loved their crucified Teacher woke with a plan: to meet very early. To hurry to the tomb. To offer a final gift of service: the embalming of his body.

They worried that the impossibly heavy stone would stop them. They expected a dead body.

They found neither stone nor body.

Instead, a heavenly messenger delivered an unprecedented epilogue: Jesus of Nazareth, crucified just days prior, had slipped the surly bonds of death, and absented the tomb.

These women had witnessed that unspeakable horror. Now, upon seeing evidence of God’s incomprehensible power, Mark writes that they did a curious thing: “Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled. . . (v 8).”

They said nothing, at first. Not to anyone. Jesus had predicted both his death and his resurrection, and the angel assured them they would soon see him, but to these dear friends, his empty tomb brought a paralyzing sense of puzzlement and abandonment. For a brief time, perhaps they felt they had no Lord. No friend to serve, even in death. No closure.

After a troubled night, tossed and tousled by world news, I awake with a plan—one possible only because I have the privilege of knowing the end of the story those women had not yet seen:

Jesus lives!

And so I will bundle the sorry mess in my heart and take it to Jesus. I will also, this coming Sunday, meet with other Christ-followers, not to embalm a dead body, but to remember that together we are His Living Body.

We’ll worship and praise the God who rolls away impossible stones. Who speaks victory over death. Who remains sovereign over every broken circumstance and our broken world.

We’ll praise the Son he resurrected; the Head of that Body, the Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ, eventually revealed to these faithful, serving women.

And we’ll open our hearts to the Holy Spirit who empowers us to live in hope, serving those around us in Jesus’ victorious name.

Respond in Prayer

Father, in all the “impossible” that surrounds me, remind me that in Christ’s resurrection are planted unstoppable seeds of victory.

Kathleen Gibson