THE BODY

Mark 15:42-47
42 It was Preparation Day (that is, the day before the Sabbath). So as evening approached, 43 Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the Council, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for Jesus' body. 44 Pilate was surprised to hear that He was already dead. Summoning the centurion, he asked him if Jesus had already died. 45 When he learned from the centurion that it was so, he gave the body to Joseph. 46 So Joseph bought some linen cloth, took down the body, wrapped it in the linen, and placed it in a tomb cut out of rock. Then he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. 47 Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where He was laid.

I arrived at the funeral home 20 minutes before the service was scheduled to begin and was surprised to find the parking lot empty and the front door locked. Had I come at the wrong time or on the wrong day? Finally, a lady opened the door and told me that the 11 a.m. service had been canceled. She directed me to enter by a side door for more information.

I walked down a quiet hallway and noticed an open casket in a side room. The body of my friend lay dressed in a western suit, with his best felt hat resting on his chest. He appeared to be the only person unconcerned about the final resting place for his body. His ex-wife, the next of kin, wanted to bury him in a veteran's cemetery in Denver. His cowboy friends said he could never rest peacefully there and proposed wrapping him in a blanket and leaving him in the mountains he loved. They had even obtained a court order stopping the proceedings--including the service I had planned to attend--until a decision could be reached.

The friends prevailed and their old-fashioned cortege with a horse-drawn cart headlined the local paper and even made
Newsweek magazine. The issue was a body, a corpse, a dead man's former home.

As we approach Easter, it's easy to forget that after Jesus died, His followers faced the awful finality of dealing with His body. All four gospels record Joseph of Arimathea's visit to Pilate requesting the body of Jesus. Joseph removed the body from the cross, wrapped it in linen, and put it in a tomb. He was dead, buried, gone.

And that's what makes what Jesus did next so astonishing. On Easter, He came back from the dead. His followers couldn't
believe it when the news first broke about the empty tomb.

When you sing, "Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb?" think about a body and a burial and the heartbreak of everyone who grieved the death of Jesus. Then sing louder on Sunday because HE IS ALIVE! --Dave McCasland

DESTINATION POINTS

* In Mark 15:42-47, how many references to the body of Jesus do I find?
* What are my thoughts on why the gospel writers placed such emphasis on the death of Jesus?

LINKS:
10 Reasons To Believe Christ Rose From The Dead
http://www.rbc.net/rtb/8rsn

Did Christ Really Rise From The Dead?
http://www.discoveryseries.org/q0203

bottom line: The tomb is empty!

soul journey