Friday, April 5, 2013
Luke 18:33 On the third day he will rise again.
NOT THE USUAL PLACE TO FIND LIFE
Mary Magdalene had reached Peter and John and had told them what she had seen. Winded and frightened she said, " ... They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have put Him!" (John 20:2).
Peter and John wasted no time. Leaving Mary to catch her breath, they left together. John's stride outdistanced Peter's putting John at the tomb first. But stepping up to the shadowy door, John stopped. He saw the grave clothes lying there -- empty. And even though Jesus had told them of His coming death and His resurrection to follow, John stood puzzled at door of the tomb. Perhaps Jesus' words were finally coming back,
" ... We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. He will be handed over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him, spit on him, flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again" (Luke 18:31-33).
As Peter reached the tomb he barged into the tomb. Apart from the grave clothes, Peter found the cloth used to wrap Jesus' head. But it was not cast aside in haste. It had been folded and set aside like something that had served its short lived purpose and was now of little use.
Grave desecrators would have taken everything, or left a mess. They certainly wouldn't have folded the head cloth into a neat little square! Why they blew the door away and then carefully folded this little cloth was beyond explanation. Unless ...
Standing in the tomb, perhaps John finally realized that it was true. The Master had risen, just as He had said He would.
Whatever John expected to find, it wasn't this. A tomb is not the usual place to find life or a new beginning. But God smiled when His Son finished suffering the punishment for the sins of the world. In the empty tomb of our risen Savior, we find that God greatly exceeds our expectations.
