by Roma Downey
Normally, the bodies of the crucified are left to rot or are thrown into shallow pits. But Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea have secured special permission from Pilate to take the body down and bury it decently. Tombs overlooking Jerusalem are normally reserved for the wealthiest citizens, but Joseph has arranged for an expensive, newly hewn tomb to be the final resting place of the Messiah. Normally, a tomb contained the bodies of several family members, but Jesus’ body would be the first and only body to be laid there.
The two stately elders, the older Mary and the younger Mary, and John gingerly retrieve the mangled Messianic body and prepare it for burial and, unwittingly, for its forthcoming bodily resurrection. His mother lovingly washes him with a sponge, cleaning away all the dirt and dried blood while the other Mary tears strips of linen. Mother Mary places one over Jesus’ face. Nicodemus anoints each cleansed portion of the body with fragrant oils. Nicodemus prays over Jesus the entire time. Then the process of wrapping his body in linen begins. It is a long, emotional process, the official beginning of Jewish mourning.
A vast slab of stone is the opening of a cave, and Jesus’ body is placed inside. The body of Jesus, immaculately wrapped in linen, lies alone on a hewn rock. Strong servants of Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea roll the rock over the opening of the tomb to make sure that the body won’t be disturbed. Night has fallen, so the burial party lights torches to guide their way back down the path. As the group begins to leave, they are surprised to see a pair of Roman guards stepping forth to stand sentry. Pilate is fearful that if the body of Jesus disappears, all of Jerusalem will riot. Better to make sure it doesn’t leave the tomb.
All over Jerusalem, the people are celebrating the Passover. But in the small upper room where Jesus and his disciples took their last meal, the mood is somber. The disciples expected the Kingdom of God to come when they entered Jerusalem six days ago. Now everything they believe in has been destroyed. Their hope is gone. They have lost everything. They eat a small quiet meal together, certain that within moments Caiaphas or Pilate will send soldiers to arrest them.
The morning of the third day after Jesus’ death, Mary Magdalene takes it upon herself to go visit the tomb. She misses Jesus enormously, and even the prospect of sitting outside his burial site is a source of comfort. Her eyes are tired as she ascends a small hill. She knows that even in the early morning fog, she will be able to see the tomb from the top, and she begins looking once she gets there. The entrance to the tomb stands open. The rock has been moved aside. She gasps. Someone has stolen Jesus’ body. Mary fearfully takes a step toward the open tomb, but she doesn’t dare enter.
Perhaps grave robbers are still inside, prepared to beat her for interrupting their labors. Then, an unrecognizable, distant figure standing on the ridgeline catches her eye. “Teacher?” Mary asks in a small and terrified voice. For a moment, Mary thinks she sees Jesus alive. But she can’t be sure. Soon the figure disappears from sight. The fact remains that the tomb is open and the body isn’t there.
Where is Jesus?
CHAPTER FIVE
NEW WORLD
Mary weeps at the empty tomb and then, still sobbing, takes a deep breath and conquers her fears. It’s pitch-black, but her eyes soon adjust. She sees the slab where Jesus’ body was laid. The linens that were bound tightly around his body now lie in a pile. Mary smells the sweet perfume that was poured onto Jesus’ corpse to minimize the smell of decay.
“Why are you crying?” says a man’s voice at the tomb’s opening. “Who are you looking for?”
Mary can’t see who’s talking. Terrified, she finds the courage to call out from the darkness: “If you’ve taken him, tell me where he is.”
“Mary.”
It is the calm and knowing voice she knows all too well. Mary’s heart soars as she realizes who is talking to her. “Jesus!” Her eyes swim with tears of joy and amazement as she steps out into the sunlight.
“Go and tell our brothers I am here.”
Mary stares at Jesus in awe. She can see the marks on his hands where the spikes pierced his flesh. A quick glance at his feet reveals the same. There is an aura about Jesus, something far more heavenly than anything she has experienced in all their many days together. It is as if she is looking at two sides of the same being: God and man. Then he is gone. Mary, overcome with joy, sprints back into Jerusalem to tell the disciples the good news.
The disciples have been terrified since Jesus’ execution that the religious authorities and Romans are working in unison to end all traces of Jesus’ ministry—and that means snuffing out his disciples as well. They are hiding, fearful of that knock on the door in the dead of night telling them that they’ve been discovered.
Peter glances out a window. He is a shell of the man he once was, and no one would confuse him for the gruff fisherman Jesus recruited three years ago. Roman soldiers march up a nearby alley, breastplates and swords glistening in the early morning sun.
There is no knock at the door. Instead, a clearly delusional Mary Magdalene bursts inside, screaming at the top of her lungs, “I’ve seen him! I’ve seen him!”
“Close the door,” barks John.
Mary slams it shut. “The tomb is open,” she gasps. “He’s gone.”
“He’s dead and buried,” says a morose Peter. “That’s impossible.”
“You have to believe me. I saw him!”
“I think you were at the wrong tomb,” mutters Thomas. “It must have been someone else.”
“You don’t think I know what Jesus looks like? Do you think I’m mad?”
“It’s been a stressful time, Mary. For all of us.”
This infuriates her. She grips Peter’s wrist hard and pulls him to the door. “Come with me. Now.”
Peter looks to John. Then at the other disciples. It wouldn’t be safe for all of them to venture out, but perhaps maybe just two of them.
Peter nods. Mary leads John and Peter out into the sunshine.
They stare in shock and disbelief at the empty tomb. Peering sheepishly inside from a few feet back, they can’t see footprints or any other sign that tomb robbers have been here, but they know that’s the obvious answer.
“Thieves,” says Peter.
“That’s right: tomb robbers,” adds John.
Peter steps closer to the opening. A white circle of light suddenly shines inside. Peter moves toward the light and sees the unmistakable Jesus. “My Lord,” he says in a hushed voice. Peter reaches forth to touch Jesus. And then Jesus disappears.
A stunned Peter steps back out of the tomb. Mary sees the look on his face. “Now do you believe me?” she asks.
Peter hands John a strip of linen from the tomb. “But he’s gone,” John says, mystified.
“No, my brother,” Peter assures him, that old confidence suddenly returned. “He is not gone. He’s back!” An exuberant Peter takes off and races down the hill. On the way, he purchases a loaf of bread from a vendor.
“What happened?” asks Matthew as the three of them step back inside the hiding place.
“A cup,” Peter answers. “I need a cup.”
Peter gives a piece of unleavened bread to John, who puts it slowly into his mouth. “His body,” Peter reminds him. A cup is found and thrust into John’s hand. Peter fills it with wine. “And his blood,” Peter says.
Peter, suddenly transformed into the rock of faith Jesus always knew he could be, looks from disciple to disciple. “Believe in him. He’s here. In this room. Right now.”
John drinks deeply from the cup as Peter continues talking. “Remember what he told us: ‘I am the way, the truth—’ ”
Jesus finishes the sentence: “ ‘—and the life.’ ”
Peter spins around. Jesus stands in the doorway. The disciples are awestruck as he walks into the room.
“Peace be with you,” Jesus, the risen Messiah, tells them.
“No,” says Thomas. “This is not possible. There is no way you are Jesus standing here with us. This is all a fa
ntasy, an apparition brought on by our insane mourning for a man we loved so very much.”
Jesus walks toward Thomas and takes his hand. “Thomas,” Jesus tells him. “Stop doubting and believe.” He places Thomas’s fingers into the gaping holes in his hands, and then to the hole in his side. Looking down, Thomas can clearly see the awful marks atop Jesus’ feet where the spikes passed through flesh and bone, then into the wood of the cross.
Thomas doesn’t know how to respond. He has traveled far and wide with Jesus, and he knows Jesus’ voice and appearance as well as he knows his own. But what Jesus is asking of him is impossible. Thomas is a man of facts—a man committed to truth that cannot be disputed by emotion or trickery. He is being asked to believe that he is touching Jesus, as alive as the last time they all broke bread together in the upper room. It seems impossible. But it is real. This is Jesus, not some dream or vision. Thomas touches the wounds and hears his teacher’s voice. Overwhelmed, Thomas looks into Jesus’ eyes. “My Lord and my God,” he stammers, tears filling his eyes. “It is you.”
Jesus looks at his disciple with compassion. “You believed because you see me. But blessed are those who have not seen me, and yet have believed.”
Faith floods Thomas’s entire being as he slowly accepts what it means to believe that anything is possible through God. This is the faith in Jesus that will transform lives. Not seeing and yet still believing.
Jesus soon passes on some sad news to his disciples: He is not here to stay. His work on earth is complete. He has died on the cross as a sacrifice for the sins of all men. Throughout history, a lamb has been slaughtered for the same purpose. Jesus has been the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world. He has conquered death.
He appears to his disciples one last time before ascending into heaven. Peter has been fishing all night and pulled in more than 150 fish. The other disciples had spent the night on shore. As Peter pulled in his nets, Jesus invited them to share breakfast. When they were finished eating the small meal of bread and fish, he spoke to them of the future. He twice asked Peter, “Do you love me?”
The response came back as a surprised yes every time. And on both occasions, Jesus instructed him to feed his lambs and take care of his sheep. But when Jesus asked a third time, Peter was hurt. Peter also knew he had denied Jesus three times, so these responses were his moment of redemption. “Lord,” Peter sighs, “you know all things. You know that I love you.”
“Feed my sheep,” Jesus tells him a third time. “Follow me!”
Jesus says good-bye to his disciples after forty days back on earth. For three full years he has trained them, equipping them with the skills to lead others to follow in his footsteps and worship God. “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes to you,” he tells them. “My body can be in only one place, but my spirit can be with you all wherever you are. Go into the world and preach the gospel unto all creation.”
The disciples listen intently, knowing that this is the last time they will see Jesus. He is not saying that the Holy Spirit will come into them right now, so they know they must wait for this great moment. Jesus stands before them and gives them peace. Everything he said would happen has come to pass, and it is clear that the power of God extends much farther than they even dared to believe. They have nothing to fear—even death. It is a proper and fitting way to say good-bye. Peter is anointed as the new leader of the disciples in Jesus’ absence.
“Peace be with you,” says Jesus.
The words echo in the disciples’ ears. This peace pulses through them, infusing them with energy and calm resolve—this is the peace that will fortify them as they do God’s work.
He then ascends into heaven.
The disciples feel the loss, as Jesus’ physical presence among them is no more. Peter’s eyes fill with tears. He tilts his head upward, as if squinting into the sun. Peter blinks away his tears and feels his breath return. He stands and addresses the disciples. He knows that Jesus will always be with them, and with all people. He has accepted Jesus’ command that he follow him, no matter what the physical cost. Now it is time to go out into the world and let the people know about the greatness of God.
“Be strong, my brothers,” says Peter, his voice sure and brave. “We have work to do.”
With Peter as our leader we spread the word of Jesus throughout the world, shining the light on all creation. But with light there is darkness.
Persecuted for our preaching, all of the disciples die for our cause… except one.
I must live out my days in exile. Alone. On the island of Patmos.
One day I hope to see my friends again, for they are with our lord. I have been expecting death to come. And when He speaks to me I will listen, for His words are my fulfilment.
“I AM THE WAY.
THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE.
I AM THE ALPHA AND THE OMEGA,
THE FIRST AND THE LAST, THE BEGINNING AND THE END.
THERE WILL BE NO MORE DEATH,
OR MOURNING OR CRYING OR PAIN.
I AM MAKING EVERYTHING NEW.
YES, I AM COMING SOON.
MAY THE GRACE OF THE LORD BE WITH ALL GOD’S PEOPLE.”
Amen.
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CONTENTS
Cover
Title Page
Welcome
Chapter One Hope
Chapter Two Mission
Chapter Three Betrayal
Chapter Four Deliverance
Chapter Five New World
Newsletters
Copyright
Copyright
Copyright © 2014 by Lightworkers Media and Hearst Productions, Inc.
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ISBN 978-1-4555-8592-2
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