Cliffhanger

Linda Pollock April 26, 2023 1 0

Playlists

Add to Favourites

Save for later

Listen to this daily worship

Mark 16: 8 (NRSVA)

8 So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

MOURNER: “It was too late to anoint His body when they took Him off the cross, it was almost the Sabbath. We were heartbroken and decided to return at sunrise on Sunday. He was the focus of our conversation throughout the Sabbath and when we sat at the holy table most of us our had lost our appetite.

As we approached the tomb, I could feel tears coming again, how were we going to manage without Him? The least we could do was clean His body and show our love and respect as we wrapped Him in clean grave clothes and spices, this would be our last act of love for our beloved Rabbi.

We were chatting about rolling the huge stone away to gain entry and we realised that it was already moved! We hurried closer in disbelief and saw a young man wearing a white robe.

I was about to thank him for moving the stone, but he spoke first and we nearly fainted because we didn’t know who he was! Before we had a chance to ask anything he spoke up and told us not to be alarmed – too late, we were completely terrorised! He then told us that we were looking for Jesus of Nazareth – but we wouldn’t find Him here because He had been raised from death to life. He must have seen our scepticism! Because he then urged us to look inside the tomb and see for ourselves that Jesus was not there!

Many thoughts ran through my mind – not least that this young man had stolen the body of my Lord and was being paid by the High Priest to trick us!But no, we looked inside the tomb, and the young man was right, Jesus was nowhere to be seen.

We were given orders to tell Peter and the others that Jesus was going ahead of them to Galilee, just as He had promised… but truth be told, we were paralysed with fear and could do nothing. He was risen! He was going ahead of us!

We finally moved out of our paralysis, dried our eyes, and realised that Jesus had trusted us to pass on His message to the disciples and especially Peter, who was despairing, ashamed and desperately trying to forgive himself. He trusted us with His message of hope then — and He trusts you with His message of hope today.”

PRAYER:

Risen Lord, help us rise above our fears to proclaim Your message of hope in our broken world, trusting in Your resurrection and grace for all that we may face as we serve Your purposes. Amen.