Title: The Day When Our Lord Jesus Resurrected
Jesus was hung on the cross at 9am and died about 3pm on Friday. Joseph of Arimathea took the body of Jesus and buried it before 6pm on Friday. Mark 16 and John 20 recorded that some people like Mary Magdalene and Apostle Peter came to the grave in the early morning of Sunday.
Why didn’t they come on Saturday? Saturday is the Sabbath day for the Jews. Therefore, it could be that as the Jews can only travel a certain distance on the Sabbath day to keep ‘do not labour but rest’ law, and the distance to Jesus’ grave exceeded the allowance of travel.
Another aspect we can think of is because in the year when Jesus was crucified, that Sabbath day was the day of Passover. According to the Law, those who touch the dead body, or the corpse are considered unclean, thus they cannot observe the Passover (Jhn 19:31; Num 9:6).
In order to keep the Sabbath and the Passover, these women and disciples couldn’t come to see Jesus’ body during the Saturday. So, in the early morning, first thing of that day, these women and disciples came to Jesus’ grave, but the tomb was open and empty (Mrk 16:4-6).
Let’s think about what we can learn from the resurrection of Jesus.
- The complete resurrection of Spirit and Body
These women went back to the disciples and told them that Jesus was resurrected. But they didn’t believe. Only Peter and John came to the tomb and checked. Even after Peter and John confirmed that Jesus’ tomb was empty and He had risen, some people thought that Jesus resurrected only in the form of spirit like ghost, but Jesus said He has physical body (Luk 24:36-39).
Therefore, the resurrection of Jesus was done physically and bodily and historically. The resurrection of Jesus is real.
If Christmas, the birth of Jesus is an incident that began the history of redemption, Easter, the resurrection of Jesus is the incident that completes the redemption. If the birth of Jesus is an event that happened in the history, the resurrection of Jesus is an event that happens and continues now until the redemption is completed (Jhn 20:19-20).
Jesus resurrected bodily but His body was not the same as before, He could enter the house without opening door or window: the resurrected body of Jesus can go through the door and window and wall. Yet, when He decided, He can make His body to be touched by His disciples or He could eat food (Jhn 20:27; Luk 24:41-43).
This is the spiritual body that man supposed to have if we didn’t encounter the Fall. Jesus showed how the spiritual body is like, and His resurrection is the promise to give this spiritual body to His believers. Therefore, the most important church event or festival for any believer is Easter. Easter is when Jesus overcame the power of death and gives such victory to us. Through Easter, we are being shifted from death to life.
Passion Week is the time to prepare ourselves to be ready and worthy to partake in His glorious resurrection. Passion Week is the time to commemorate the donor and give thanks to His kindness and generosity.
Have you thanked enough to Jesus Christ though this Passion Week?
If you haven’t prepared yourselves during the Passion Week, let’s ask God’s great mercy to be upon you so that through repentance may God prepare you and me worthy to receive Eternal Life and to partake in His glorious resurrection.
Conclusion:
We must stand up for Jesus
Jhn 11:25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies,
Greek word for ‘resurrection’ is ‘anastasis’ which means ‘to stand up.’ From here, the meaning of resurrection: ‘to stand up from the grave’ comes out.
So, the true meaning of partaking in His glorious resurrection in the meantime is to stand up for Jesus right now (Acts 3:1-8).
If for whatever reason we became lame spiritually, through this Easter, I pray and bless that may all of us stand up for Jesus. I pray and bless that all of us break our comfort zone and come out to Jesus. If our hearts got cold, I pray that our hearts get burning again in His love.
Amen.
The Lord's Covenant Church Malaysia 