Stone Mountain Park, Stone Mountain, Georgia
The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. “Sir,” they said, “we remember that while He was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day . . .” ~ Matthew 27:62-64a
We’re in a holding pattern today. Jesus is dead. It’s not yet resurrection Sunday. Usually, no one talks about this day, so just what did happen on Saturday?
We know from Jewish history that they were all confined to their homes. It was their Sabbath. A day to focus on God and His provision for them – “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.” – a day when God commanded no work was to be done. And in addition, over the centuries, the Jewish leadership had added many, many more rules for this day. Their Sabbath began at 6:00pm Friday and ended at 6:00pm Saturday, and not only was it the Sabbath, but it was the Sabbath during the most holy time of their year. This is why those who were being crucified had their lives ended more quickly than usual; in order to be over and done with it before 6:00pm, so it wouldn’t violate their Sabbath. This request was at the behest of the Jewish leadership. Surprisingly, the Romans agreed.
But not everyone adhered to the Sabbath rules today. In fact, it was the religious leadership themselves who broke their own rules. We’ve already seen that they weren’t too concerned about God’s, nor their own self-made rules, which gives credence to Jesus’ criticisms of them.
They were so blinded by their own lack of belief and hatred of Jesus, they would go to any length to prevent Him coming through on His promise to come back from the dead. They left their homes on an early Holy Sabbath morning and returned for another audience with Pilate in order to persuade him to seal up the tomb, thus ending the perceived threat that the disciples would move Jesus’ body. Funny, they weren’t worried about that on the day He died but waited until the next morning. I guess they had so much belief in their system, that they never considered that anyone would break the Sabbath rules – except them. But it’s even more odd that they refused to believe that Jesus was actually their long-awaited Messiah.
Let’s talk about the sealing of the tomb. What does that mean exactly? For some reason, I don’t remember anyone talking about it, so I had to research it a bit, and even more to find a picture that depicted it. (sometimes, it’s helpful for me to see something in order to understand it. 😊)
A tomb (or anything else) was only sealed by authorized personnel under the authority of Rome. In the case of a tomb, they would’ve closed the entrance tightly, placed a rope on one side of the entrance and pressed a large lump of clay across it. Then the rope was strung across the rock and more clay was adhered to the other side, holding the rope in place. A Roman seal, in this case Pilate’s, would have been pressed into the clay. If anyone disturbed the seal, it was an offense to the Empire. Punishable by death. In addition, you’d have to get passed the guards.
but it’s the best I could do.
No where did I read anything about hammering in spikes (or what ever they are).
Although that would certainly make it even more secure!
And so the tomb was sealed and guarded, by both Roman and temple guards, although we don’t know how many were actually there, but most likely at least four – two from each.
No one was getting in – or out.
However, the chief priests were still trying to cover everything up illegally, even after Jesus’ resurrection. Matthew 28:11-15 tells us that when some of the guards went to report to them what happened, they gave the guards “large sums of money” to say that the disciples stole Jesus’ body while the guards were asleep. That must have been quite a large sum of money, because falling asleep while on duty was a death sentence in Rome. And seriously, could these frightened fishermen actually sneak by Roman and temple guards, move an enormous stone, unwrap Jesus’ body and fold the garments, sneak back past the guards carrying a grown man, and run off into the night, all without waking anyone up? And people were supposed to believe this?
And yet, many did.
But is today that much different? What lengths do you go to in order to hide the fact that you’re a Christian?
Or what are you willing to believe in order not to believe that Jesus is the risen Christ, the Redeemer of the world?
Jesus is exactly Who He said He was. Time and evidence have not changed the facts. We’re not any more enlightened. In fact, as time goes by, the things written in God’s Word get more corroborated rather than disputed. And many who’ve set out to prove that Jesus was just a man like any other, have ended up proving to themselves that He really is the risen Son of God and have consequently put their faith in Him.
How do you respond to Him?
It rained all the day long today.
I don’t even know what we did all day, except that I’m certain I worked on the blog. This project the Lord has chosen to give me is taking an awful lot of time. It’s no wonder pastors need to be full-time. 😊 But I’m enjoying it!
The only picture I have today is of dinner. A very simple meal called chipped beef gravy. We ate it a lot when I was growing up, and I made it for my family until our oldest decided he didn’t like it. Since it was the only thing he ever said he didn’t like, I stopped making it. Blaine and I rediscovered it after the boys were out on their own. 😊
CHIPPED BEEF GRAVY
1 large jar Armour chipped beef, rinsed well and chopped
6 T. butter
6 T. flour
3 C. milk
Melt the butter in a skillet. Stir in flour until thoroughly combined. Add milk all at once and stir constantly with a whisk, bringing to a boil. Boil for 1-2 minutes. Add beef and continue to cook until hot.
Serve over toast or biscuits.
Serves 4
HINT: I make peas on the side and add them to my serving, because Blaine doesn’t like peas. When I was growing up, Mom kept the glass jars the beef comes in and we used them as drinking glasses. Gotta love that free stuff!