Reading:
Matthew 27:57-66 and John 19:38-42
Devotional:
They left my Savior in the tomb,
Hope was lost, and the doubt was breaking through.
–"Wouldn't it Be Like You?", Bryan and Katie Torwalt
The crowds have dispersed. Jesus’s mother has been taken home. The silence is settling in. The absence continues to grow longer. And with each passing moment that feels too short and too long all at once, the shock and numbness deepen. The conversations and memories replay in all the wrong order as those closest to Jesus start to search for answers. Can you feel the heaviness of it?
The disciples must have. His family must have. Death has the harsh ability to confront everything you thought you knew, everything you expected to be, swiftly and callously. And now the illusions start to fade, and doubt begins to creep in. Was He who He said He was? What have we been doing all these months? What now? The cast of characters is scattered and reeling.
And we come to these two accounts of Jesus being placed in the tomb, and we have to be struck by who is involved. Who is with Jesus in His most vulnerable and broken state? It’s not the disciples, the same who swore they wouldn’t fall away from him just the night before. It’s not his family.
We see instead the characters of the darkness: Joseph of Arimethea: who had been afraid and was following Jesus in secret. Nicodemus, who had been afraid and came to Jesus at night.
But there’s no secrecy left in Joseph’s act. He’s not only rich, but a member of the Sanhedrin (the Jewish Supreme Court). In his very act of placing Jesus’s body in his own family tomb, he has made the association and affiliation with Jesus as public as it gets. Everyone will know where his allegiance truly lies, and there won’t be any justifying his decision. But for Joseph, there’s no fear left. He’s seen Jesus’s act of love, seen Him for Who He is, and it has dispelled his ideas of reputation and safety.
And there’s no hiding under cover of night for Nicodemus the Pharisee. The many pounds of spices and myrrh are the equivalent of a royal burial, approximately $150k-$200k worth in modern value. And the clean linen suggests priestly quality. His response to love is dispelling the expectations of his station, the presumptions of propriety, and the conventions of his faith. He has treated Jesus like the king and high priest that he believes Him to be. Anyone would see the extravagance, much like Mary anointing Jesus days before, and question the decision. But Nicodemus too is rid of his fear; love has intervened and dispelled any sense of tradition or authority.
Light is creeping in even now, and there’s no stopping it.
Because love is a powerful motivator and catalyst, covering a multitude of sins. Or maybe we could say causing a multitude of forgivenesses. Or even dispelling a multitude of encumbrances. The love of Christ, extended to Joseph and Nicodemus, releases them from fear and reframes their positions of power.
For us too, we have that same heritage of love available, both in Christ’s example and as a resource, that helps us overlook the right way of doing things or the agreed-upon definitions or the reciprocal actions. Love that relinquishes our sense of justice and authority or our need for security. Love that extends our patience… three days is a long time to wait and wonder in the silence and absence, after all. Love that casts off our pride and releases our offenses. Love that softens our answers and expands our generosity.
So as we follow Christ, we take up the command to love one another, enduring what is required, but now also with the hope and great courage of what love will dispel in us. And it is with this hope and anticipation, this small glimpse of what is coming, that we await the glory of Christ resurrected.
A Prayer for Each Moment:
God our Strength,
In the long waiting, in the uncertainty of silence and absence, we cling to the hope of Your unwavering love and kindness. Equip us with the same mindset as Christ, that in our struggles we would find the power of sin broken and our old limiting ideas dispelled, and we would be spurred to love each other deeply.
Amen
A Prayer for Each Other:
Our Father,
You know the frail needs of Your children. Lead us and guide us that when You call us from our dead past, we would courageously answer and embrace life as You always imagined it. Strengthen our roots in the moments where we are unsure what will happen next, and remind us of our confidence and security in Your love.
Amen
Blessing:
May we hold our heads up, face shining, as we experience deep, earnest love from the Father and extend the same to each other.