A post by Jon E:
Joe & Nick
Joe was getting on in years now, but as an idealistic youth he had dedicated his life to serve God. Through his study of the Scriptures he had come to the life-transforming conviction that God was about to move in a new and powerful way. Over the years his faith had deepened, while the political activism all around him proved tasteless and futile.
Joe decided to invest his resources in a way that would free his family of worries at his death. He hired workers with sledge and chisel to hammer out a burial niche in a small rocky hillside just outside of town.
Then he met the man his colleagues called “The Rabble-rouser.” Some adored Him as The Healer or The Helper. Others ridiculed Him as the Carpenter-turned-Teacher. But everyone was whispering about His claim to be the Messiah, God’s Son sent to save the world.
The judicial farce that Friday was beyond belief or precedent. Things had moved so quickly and forcefully that Joe hadn’t even been able to lodge an objection on the record.
Now it was over. The murdered Man from Nazareth hung in bloody shreds between two of the vilest criminals. But wait — the law stipulated that he must not pass the night covered by those nauseating flies!
Joe made a move that would inscribe his name in Scripture. He risked his career and signed over his life insurance policy to Public Enemy #1.
Bravery joined hands with boldness as Joe slipped into the Roman Praetorium. His Sanhedrin credentials allowed him entry all the way to Pilate’s secretary, where the sneering soldier growled permission to bury the King of Life.
Working quickly, Joe and Nick tenderly extracted the vicious spikes from the palms that touched healing, from the feet that ever walked in obedience to the Father. Wetting and winding the spiced strips of cloth, soon the gruesome corpse became a firm cocoon. Entombed safely where Joe was to have lain, they hastily sealed the entrance with a huge boulder and hurried home just at sunset, the start of the Sabbath.
While Jesus’ body slept, his followers did not. Whirlwinds of uncertainty whipped up the grit of doubt and flung countless stinging questions in their faces: Had they been brainwashed? Overly zealous? Mistaken? But His message was so clear!
That incredible Sunday demolished the doubts, as the Savior burst the
barriers of death and rose again! Places too holy for human defilement now invited public access because the cemetery rock was cast aside and the temple curtain became a doorway. The earthquake was contagious, as first the sepulcher and then the soldiers trembled.
By the time Joe arrived on the scene, the news was out: Jesus had proven Himself to really be the Christ! The rock resting place of the crucified Carpenter became the rock-solid evidence that He rose to offer life eternal to the entire hopeless human race. Indeed, it was impossible to hide the tomb, to destroy it, or to deny that it was now as empty as the hearts of those who crucified Jesus.
Joe had given what was of great value to him, and God returned it to him after transforming the world through his act of submission to the divine will. Can you imagine what went through his mind every time he paused before the used but now empty tomb…where one day he himself would be laid to rest? Better yet, what about the personal Thank You that Jesus Christ quite probably expressed when He appeared to His followers!
What about us? The resurrection of Jesus Christ should produce in His own a joyful urgency to put everything of value at His disposal. “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” Jim Elliot
