Jaw-dropping Jewels about Jesus
Rarely does Jesus, God the Son, do exactly what we expect of Him. It seems odd that He so frequently surprises us, given that He never changes. Hebrews 13:8 makes this absolute statement: “Jesus the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” Still, though He is blessedly consistent in His goodness, Jesus does unforeseen things. Even when He does what is expected, He does not always do it in the way that we anticipate. Let us join with Jesus on a jaw-dropping journey. (I will be using this opening paragraph for each of the brief messages in this series. The following material will change daily.)
The simple burial of Jesus becomes a more complicated matter because of the time constraints: “And now when the even was come, because it was the preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath, Joseph of Arimathaea, an honourable counsellor, [who] also waited for the kingdom of God, came, and went in boldly unto Pilate, and craved the body of Jesus. And Pilate marvelled if He were already dead: and calling unto him the centurion, he asked him whether He had been any while dead. And when he knew it of the centurion, he gave the body to Joseph. And he brought fine linen, and took Him down, and wrapped Him in the linen, and laid Him in a sepulchre which was hewn out of a rock, and rolled a stone unto the door of the sepulchre. And Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses beheld where He was laid” (Mark 15:42-47). Burial was not permitted on the Sabbath (our Saturday) because the religious leaders considered it to be work. Since Jesus dies in the mid-afternoon, there is limited time to get permission from Pilate, remove His body from the Cross, convey Him to a tomb, and perform the basic burial preparations that fit into this tight time schedule. Life is often hard, filled with such days of despair. Like Joseph and the others, we cope by doing what small things are available to us. However, this relatively small thing becomes crucial to the Gospel message. I Corinthians 15:3-4 is a summary of that good news: “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He rose the third day according to the scriptures.” The specific inclusion of Jesus’ burial in this passage points both to the reality of His death and to His physical place of resurrection. Thus, even the relatively small things that we do for Jesus have a significant place in His plans and purposes.