One Look

The moon and stars they wept
The morning sun was dead
The Savior of the world was fallen
His body on the cross
His blood poured out for us
The weight of every curse upon Him

In the original Passion Week the disciples watched Jesus share a Passover meal with them, wash their feet, be betrayed by one of their inner circle, be arrested, tried, condemned, tortured, crucified, and buried. They spent two days in shock, wondering, what happened? why? what next? and a whole host of other questions. They must have found themselves in an emotional black vortex. 

Then the emotions changed.

Very early Sunday morning, before sunrise, Mary Magdalene made her way to the tomb. And when she arrived she discovered that the stone that sealed the entrance to the tomb was moved away! 

Boulders in front of tombs guarded by soldiers don’t just move themselves. What did Mary just see?

So she went running as fast as she could to go tell Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved.  She told them, “They’ve taken the Lord’s body from the tomb, and we don’t know where he is!”

What a shock to believe that the grave with the body of their Beloved had been robbed!!!

Then Peter and the other disciple jumped up and ran to the tomb to go see for themselves. They started out together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.   

What would they have been thinking and feeling as they were running?

[The disciple Jesus loved] didn’t enter the tomb, but peeked in, and saw only the linen cloths lying there. Then Peter came behind him and went right into the tomb. He too noticed the linen cloths lying there, but the burial cloth that had been on Jesus’ head had been rolled up and placed separate from the other cloths. Then the other disciple who had reached the tomb first went in, and after one look, he believed!   For until then they hadn’t understood the Scriptures that prophesied that he was destined to rise from the dead.* 

These two disciples approached the situation differently – one went right in, one waited and then went in. But I believe that in those moments, an understanding dawned, and a hope they never expected was birthed. They started to comprehend that this missing body was the fulfillment of the prophecies that Messiah would rise from the dead. They started to hope that this Jesus, their friend and the Messiah, was alive again!

The ground began to shake
The stone was rolled away
His perfect love could not be overcome
Now death where is your sting
Our resurrected King
Has rendered you defeated

After a lifetime of Easter services, Easter scriptures, Easter music, Easter sermons, and Easter musicals, I am pretty familiar with the Easter story. After all, have you ever heard an Easter sermon that DIDN’T say “He is alive”?? But something new caught my attention today. “After one look, he believed!” After one look in the tomb, the disciple Jesus loved – the Apostle John – realized that Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah, the Resurrected One. In that one moment, all his experiences with Jesus came into focus in a way that he probably never expected. In one look – in one moment – in a gut-wrenching, life-changing, heaven-invading way, he really believed.

Today, let us pray that we believers and the pre-believers that may come to our churches for Easter services would understand and BELIEVE as we look upon our Resurrected Christ.

He Is Risen! He Is Risen Indeed! Hallelujah!!

God of Resurrection,

Hallelujah! All praise, honor, glory, power, dominion, and adoration be to you, Jesus our Lord and Savior! Forever you are glorified, lifted high, and reign! Today as your Church celebrates your resurrection, give us a fresh mental, emotional, and spiritual understanding of the reality of your atoning death and resurrection. Holy Spirit, pour out into your churches in such a way that both believers and pre-believers gathered together may grow in love, faith, joy, and hope. Rule as King of our lives, our churches, our communities, our nation and our world. Bring everything under your rulership, authority and power until your last enemy is subdued. We sing hallelujah, you are risen, and forever you are glorified! AMEN.

But the truth is, Christ is risen from the dead, as the first fruit of a great resurrection harvest of those who have died. For since death came through a man, Adam, it is fitting that the resurrection of the dead has also come through a man, Christ. Even as all who are in Adam die, so also all who are in Christ will be made alive. But each one in his proper order: Christ, the first fruits, then those who belong to Christ in his presence. 

Then the final stage of completion comes, when he will bring to an end every other rulership, authority, and power, and he will hand over his kingdom to Father God. Until then he is destined to reign as King until all hostility has been subdued and placed under his feet.   And the last enemy to be subdued and eliminated is death itself. 

The Father has placed all things in subjection under the feet of Christ.  Yet when it says, “all things,” it is understood that the Father does not include himself, for he is the one who placed all things in subjection to Christ. However, when everything is subdued and in submission to him, then the Son himself will be subject to the Father, who put all things under his feet.  This is so that Father God will be everything in everyone! (1 Corinthians 15:20-28 TPT)

(*John 20:1-9 TPT)