Daily Scripture
Mark 15:40 There were women looking on from a distance; among them were Miryam from Magdala, Miryam the mother of the younger Ya‘akov and of Yosi, and Shlomit. 41 These women had followed him and helped him when he was in the Galil. And many other women were there who had come up with him to Yerushalayim.
42 Since it was Preparation Day (that is, the day before a Shabbat), as evening approached, 43 Yosef of Ramatayim, a prominent member of the Sanhedrin who himself was also looking forward to the Kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for Yeshua’s body. 44 Pilate was surprised to hear that he was already dead, so he summoned the officer and asked him if he had been dead awhile. 45 After he had gotten confirmation from the officer that Yeshua was dead, he granted Yosef the corpse. 46 Yosef purchased a linen sheet; and after taking Yeshua down, he wrapped him in the linen sheet, laid him in a tomb which had been cut out of the rock, and rolled a stone against the entrance to the tomb. 47 Miryam of Magdala and Miryam the mother of Yosi saw where he had been laid. (Complete Jewish Bible)
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Reflection Questions
Modern readers may feel like skimming over Mark’s account of Jesus' burial. But to Mark, it was vital to record the burial because Hebrews saw burying the dead as a moral duty. And scholar N. T. Wright also saw it as setting the stage: “We might suppose the burial narrative to be a sad and not particularly interesting appendix to the story of Jesus’ death; for Mark, it trembles with the suppressed excitement of what he knows is going to happen next.”*
Lord Jesus, from the place of your burial came the first news that you were alive. Thank you for emptying your tomb, a sign that you will one day empty all the tombs that signal sadness and loss for us. Amen.
* N. T. Wright, Mark for Everyone. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004, p. 219.
** Craig A. Evans and N. T. Wright, Jesus, the Final Days: What Really Happened, edited by Troy A. Miller. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009, p. 68.
Read today's Insight by Melanie Hill
Melanie Hill is the Guest Connections Program Director at Resurrection.
This week I have been contemplating the in-between; the times in life where we live in-between beginnings and endings, brokenness and healing, mourning and reuniting. This week a dear friend suffered a terrible loss, and in my attempts to empathize I was reminded how long the in-between can be.
As this was also Holy Week I was reminded of what it must have felt like for Jesus’ followers as they lived into Saturday. Christians are fond of saying, “It’s Good Friday, but Sunday is coming.” I love the picture of hope that this brings, but I am always struck by the fact that we often skip over Saturday. What was it like to be Jesus’ friends and family on Saturday?
The waiting is hard and difficult. Being in the middle of your story can leave you feeling exhausted, breathless, hopeless, and discouraged; a place no one wants to be. So what do we do in the depths of our pain? We try and find ways to manage the waiting. We clean until there isn’t anything left to clean. We redouble our efforts at work. We find anything we can do to keep us from thinking and feeling because if we stop, the weight of waiting sets in.
I think this is part of what the women were doing when they went to the tomb. In their grief they just wanted something to do, something that would make the waiting manageable. The middle part is hard and we are so often tempted to try and skip over it, which we all know is impossible. And maybe that’s the point. The middle part, the waiting, is hard but it’s also where we grow and change the most. We become stronger through the wait, not all of a sudden but gradually, step by step.
I wonder—what you are in-between? How long has it been? Are you on the brink of giving up? Don’t give up; eventually Sunday comes. I love Sunday! Easter reminds me that although I will carry the scars of my waiting while here on earth, someday I will get to live fully into Sunday. Someday all the in-betweens will be fully realized. As Pastor Adam is fond of saying at Easter, “I not only believe it; I’m counting on it.”
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Modern readers may feel like skimming over Mark’s account of Jesus' burial. But to Mark, it was vital to record the burial because Hebrews saw burying the dead as a moral duty. And scholar N. T. Wright also saw it as setting the stage: “We might suppose the burial narrative to be a sad and not particularly interesting appendix to the story of Jesus’ death; for Mark, it trembles with the suppressed excitement of what he knows is going to happen next.”*
- Jesus' ministry was not just Jesus and twelve men. Picture the devotion Mark 15:41 summed up: “When Jesus was in Galilee, these women had followed and supported him, along with many other women who had come to Jerusalem with him.” Have you ever poured your heart into a ministry or cause, and seen it seem to fail? How much hope do you think the women (who hadn’t scattered like the men) held onto after Jesus died?
- Some skeptics claim the women went to the wrong tomb, found it empty and fancied that Jesus had risen. Scholar Craig Evans said, “The literary, historical and archeological evidence points in one direction: the body of Jesus was placed in a tomb, according to Jewish custom… there is no good reason to think that family and friends of Jesus had no idea where Jesus was buried.”** Matthew added that the authorities guarded Jesus' tomb, because they feared claims of him rising (Matthew 27:62-66). Would those first Christians have risked their lives declaring that Jesus was alive if they thought his body might just lie in some misplaced tomb?
Lord Jesus, from the place of your burial came the first news that you were alive. Thank you for emptying your tomb, a sign that you will one day empty all the tombs that signal sadness and loss for us. Amen.
* N. T. Wright, Mark for Everyone. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004, p. 219.
** Craig A. Evans and N. T. Wright, Jesus, the Final Days: What Really Happened, edited by Troy A. Miller. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009, p. 68.
Melanie Hill is the Guest Connections Program Director at Resurrection.
This week I have been contemplating the in-between; the times in life where we live in-between beginnings and endings, brokenness and healing, mourning and reuniting. This week a dear friend suffered a terrible loss, and in my attempts to empathize I was reminded how long the in-between can be.
As this was also Holy Week I was reminded of what it must have felt like for Jesus’ followers as they lived into Saturday. Christians are fond of saying, “It’s Good Friday, but Sunday is coming.” I love the picture of hope that this brings, but I am always struck by the fact that we often skip over Saturday. What was it like to be Jesus’ friends and family on Saturday?
The waiting is hard and difficult. Being in the middle of your story can leave you feeling exhausted, breathless, hopeless, and discouraged; a place no one wants to be. So what do we do in the depths of our pain? We try and find ways to manage the waiting. We clean until there isn’t anything left to clean. We redouble our efforts at work. We find anything we can do to keep us from thinking and feeling because if we stop, the weight of waiting sets in.
I think this is part of what the women were doing when they went to the tomb. In their grief they just wanted something to do, something that would make the waiting manageable. The middle part is hard and we are so often tempted to try and skip over it, which we all know is impossible. And maybe that’s the point. The middle part, the waiting, is hard but it’s also where we grow and change the most. We become stronger through the wait, not all of a sudden but gradually, step by step.
I wonder—what you are in-between? How long has it been? Are you on the brink of giving up? Don’t give up; eventually Sunday comes. I love Sunday! Easter reminds me that although I will carry the scars of my waiting while here on earth, someday I will get to live fully into Sunday. Someday all the in-betweens will be fully realized. As Pastor Adam is fond of saying at Easter, “I not only believe it; I’m counting on it.”
Like this post? Share it!
You might also like
- Prayer Tip: An Oddly Perfect Ending
- The centurion: “This man was certainly God’s Son”
- Peter and Pilate both wilted before a crowd
- Betrayal: a kiss led to a pre-determined verdict
- “The time has come”
- Or download this week's printable GPS.
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Scripture quotations are taken from The Common English Bible ©2011.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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