Some years ago, I hopped aboard a plane in Simferopol, Ukraine, for a flight to Moscow. Officials had told me a separate Russian visa was unnecessary. They were wrong. Russian military stopped me at the plane’s door upon arrival in Moscow, detaining me overnight until they could stick me on a return flight the next morning. Meanwhile, my family was in a hotel a few miles away with no idea where I was. I couldn’t communicate with anyone. I had no food. I was trapped, and there was nothing I could do about my situation.
We’ve all experienced moments of helplessness, utterly unable to do anything that would affect any movement, much less achieve a remedy. The three women who came early Sunday morning to Jesus’ tomb were living such a moment. Hours earlier, their every hope had been buried in this tomb. Interestingly, these are the exact same three women who had seen Jesus die (Mark 15:40). There probably were a few others present, but Mark emphasized that these three women had seen it all, from Jesus’ final breath to the cave where His lifeless body lay.
What does one do when death comes and we’re helpless against it? Both Marys and their friend Salome took oil and herbs to put on Jesus’ body. These mourning women could not stop the ruin and death. They could only try to minimize the stench.
We experience something similar whenever we meet a death of any sort (a marriage, a job, a dream). We can’t stop death. The best we can do is to try and make death smell a little better. And cry for mercy.
The exciting news is that when we do cry for mercy, we’re crying to the One who has already conquered death. As the angel declared at Jesus’ empty tomb: “He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead!” (Mark 16:6).
NLT 365-day reading plan passage for today: 2 Samuel 13:20-39
More:
Read Psalm 3:7 to see a heartfelt prayer for God’s mercy.
Next:
Where are you encountering death? In what ways do you need to relinquish control and turn to God for hope and mercy?
daisymarygoldr on April 8, 2012 at 12:32 pm
Sometimes we think it is comforting to cling to the dead past. We keep running back to the tomb looking for answers… in the hope, life will somehow revert back to the old happy and healthy days, just the way things were before. However, there is no hope and nothing reassuring in this fallen world. The tomb is empty. There is nothing there. Why look for living among the dead?
Christ is raised. He is risen indeed! In His great mercy God has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. This hope transformed Jesus’ doubting and depressed disciples. We too can live by the same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead.
The resurrection power and the hope of eternal life is like the first rays of sunlight that break over a mountain ridge, streak colors across the dark dawning sky and splashes onto the lake, making the muted gray scene change into brilliantly shimmering gold, blue and green.
We can now look down on our hopeless decaying bodies, decomposed relationships and dead situations and say, “Oh, death, where is your sting? Oh, grave, where is your victory?” (1 Corinthians 15:55).
Happy Easter!