When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome brought spices so they might go anoint Jesus’ body. Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?” But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, “He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.” Mark 16:1-7 NIV
The women were concerned about the stone in front of the tomb. They knew this was an obstacle too large for them to handle. Verse 4 starts out with these words, “But when they looked up….” When we are worried and concerned about problems that are bigger than we can handle, we need to look up! God is our source of help. As the old hymn says, “My faith looks up to Thee, Thou Lamb of Calvary.”
Verse 4 goes on to tell us that when the women did look up, they saw that stone had been rolled away. There is an important clarifying phrase in this verse. Mark says that they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. God can handle problems which are very large! There is no stone that He can’t roll away! Even our biggest challenges are no challenge for our Lord!
The women must have been excited that their problem was resolved. Yet the miracle of the stone being rolled away had been greatly surpassed—the angel told them that Jesus had risen from the dead! They were looking for victory over a stone, but God had given victory over death itself! Like these women, we often look for solutions for the problems we can see, the every-day battles of our temporal, physical lives. God is interested in our daily lives and He is our source of help, but He is most interested in solving the problems we may not see because of His focus on our eternal, spiritual lives. When we grasp this, our daily problems no longer take precedence. To quote from another old hymn, “the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.”
The angel stated that this event was “just as He told you.” God’s Word always prevails. We can depend on the fact that God’s plan and purposes will always come about. The women were told to “Go and tell….” Because of Christ’s work in our lives, we are also commissioned to tell others.
The message “He is risen!” is a message of great encouragement because it declares Christ’s victory not only over death, but over sin. In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul discusses the link of sin and death and declares with joy that “Christ has indeed been raised from the dead,” and “…thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” We, too, rejoice in Christ’s resurrection. He is our hope and our salvation. May you grasp the joy in this message as you celebrate!
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