Darkness prevailed early that morning in Jerusalem. It was the start of the feast of Passover, around the year 30 CE. Shortly after Jesus of Nazareth’s gruesome crucifixion, His friends and followers had gathered to observe the Sabbath. We can only imagine their feelings; crushed with shock and despair. Within a day or so of Jesus’ death, several women who were His followers, including those who had witnessed His death and burial, walked to His tomb. They were headed to anoint Jesus’ body. Approaching the grave tomb, they were startled; the stone slab covering the entryway had somehow been moved from the tomb. They went in. To their utter astonishment, the body of their Lord, leader, and king, was gone; the tomb empty! They were convinced that He who had died had been resurrected by the incomparable power of God. The narrative that had begun with Jesus’ languishing and humiliating death, lifeless, in a criminal’s tomb concluded amazingly and miraculously, with his victorious exodus from the grave. Jesus’ death on the cross was a sacrifice for our sins. Our broken relationship with God is restored at the initiative of God and not on the basis of our merits.
Christian hope, that the dead will rise from the grave does not rest on an analysis of human nature, but on the conviction that God will prove faithful to His promises. Jesus reminded Mary and Martha who He is. “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25).
A perfect body without blemish or wrinkle is promised to us at our resurrection, because Jesus rose from the dead. Claim God’s incomparable power for yourself also in the daily routines of life as you share the Easter joy and hope.