This is it! The commitment to the daily discipline of writing on my blog is completed for this season! My commitment challenges me on days I don't 'feel' like writing - but I completed what I set out to do - and in the process, God always teaches me.
Focusing only on the book of John has been interesting, because I know there are lots of details he doesn't mention. But - when he writes about something he experienced firsthand, I pay attention. Some of the Gospel writers wrote from personal experience, some wrote what they heard from others. Even eye witness accounts vary - - we know that from accident reports - - but it has been instructive in a minimalist way to see events limited to what I see through John's writing....
And - there have been little things I've noted, such as one that intrigued me yesterday, though I didn't write about it. It must have taken incredible restraint for the angels to not come destroy all of mankind and free Jesus from the cruel suffering He endured. The King of Kings and Lord of Lords was stripped down to his loincloth and suspended between earth and sky for all to gaze upon and ridicule. The angels were obedient to His plan, thank God.
Joseph of Arimathea got permission from Pilate to take Jesus' corpse, and with Nicodemus' help (you remember Nicodemus, the one who came to Jesus by night) the two men buried Jesus in a garden tomb where no one had ever before been laid.
I've been to the hill just outside the old city that fits the description - and to a tomb there that could have been the very one in which they laid His body. Our tour group had communion in a little cave chapel at the Garden Tomb site. It was a very tender site to visit. It resonated as "This is the place!"
From 3 p m on Friday, throughout Saturday and until sometime near dawn on Sunday morning - part of 3 days that totaled 39 or 40 hours at the most, Jesus body lay in the tomb. John tells us absolutely nothing about the disciples. We know without wondering that they were devastated and confused, as well as fearful for what would happen to them as his followers. What a shock! Just the past Sunday Jesus rode through the streets, hailed as King, and now He was dead....
I had a poignant reminder yesterday of how quickly life can change. Fortunately our story has a happy ending - but today I could have been a widow. That reality is not lost on me as I consider the Lenten journey as it endures the cross and the seeming hopelessness of the One who is Hope lying in the cold stone cave.
Low in the grave He lay, Jesus My Savior; waiting the coming day, Jesus, my Lord....
I can't wait for tomorrow! They didn't understand then what we get to see in retrospect! Jesus words, "It is finished!" make our life complete! It is finished indeed!!!!!!!
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