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APRIL 9TH
Some scholars think they've come to the end of Mark's gospel when they get to verse 8 of the last chapter.
"Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid." Mark 16: 8
There was something eerie, uncanny, about the empty tomb.Perhaps it was something to do with the grave clothesThey had not been taken off,not disturbed - John seems to make a point of this.
So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb.Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in.Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb.He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus' head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen.Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside.He saw and believed. John 20: 3-8
What was it about those grave clothes? It appeared that the head piece was still rolled up together as when it was bound about his head. What was it in this which filled them with a sense of dread? Was it the sense of the supernatural? The clothes had not been removed, they were empty, limp, like a glove when the hand is removed, deflated but otherwise intact.If this were true, then they would know that their Lord had risen from and through the earth-bound garments.He would be clothed now in glory-light, Lord and Master of the material world and the world beyond.How awesome.How supernatural! How terrifying!
The Resurrection of Christ is indeed a mystery, way beyond our powers of reason. No wonder the eye witnesses were afraid.They were facing something way beyond their tiny human minds.
A Prayer:
We can never understand this wondrous mystery, Lord God, but we do worship and adore the risen Christ, who is beyond all our little logic.
Now read I Corinthians Ch. 15.
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