No Other Week Like This: Sunday

Uncertainty

The sun had not yet rose on an uncertainty of the first day of the week. Jesus having died Friday in the afternoon, had been dead for over 36 hours. His disciples were tempted to give into despair and were in hiding. His enemies were beginning to think that their plot had been successful.

Yet, while it was still dark, there was one person who was brave enough to venture out and visit his tomb...And what she would find there would eventually "turn the world upside down." (Acts 17:6)

John 20:1

“Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.”

He was Gone

The guards were gone, the stone was rolled away, and the tomb was empty. The burial clothes were in the tomb but there was no body. Mary ran to where the disciples were hiding and declared to them, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.”

Two disciples ran to the tomb and they too are greeted by its emptiness. One after the other, they both enter and explore it. He is not there. As unsettling as this was, a seed of hope was quickly growing in their hearts as they remember what Jesus had taught them.

Mark 8:31

"And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again."

He is Risen

As if a fog had lifted, the two disciples now see clearly. Their master and teacher was the suffering servant found in Isaiah's prophecy, by whose wounds we all would be healed. The disciples went home with a hope filled wonder at what had happened.

But it doesn't stop there. The resurrected Jesus appeared to Mary, then all the disciples, and then to many more people before be went to be with the Father.

1 Corinthians 15:3-6

"For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time."

Believe on Him

Easter Sunday is the day we set aside to commemorate the Resurrection of our Savior and the salvation of all who will believe on Him.

Romans 4:24-25

"It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification."

Take time today to consider the events of Crucifixion and Resurrection. Remind yourself of the blood that poured out of the wounds of Jesus. Remember the pain that he went through, and punishment he received in our place. Reminisce about the love and grace displayed on the cross, and the forgiveness that was purchased there.

Believe on Him, because He is Risen Indeed.