Daily Manna 20-04-2016

Topic: The empty tomb 20

Reading: Matthew 27:57-66, 28:1-15

Scripture: He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee. (Luke 24:6)

Note: The enemies of Christ and the empty tomb saga, had wide ranging enemies due to the ramifications in allusion to the claims made by Jesus before his death. The fiercest of the enemies, the Jewish religious leaders comprising the chief priests, captains of the temple, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, continued to pursue aggressively the disciples of Jesus Christ and any preaching in relation to the news of his resurrection.

The Jewish leaders were not the only enemies. The list includes the Roman soldiers who brutally tortured Christ for no real reason other than to scare the hell out of him. They crucified Christ at Golgotha and made sure he hadn’t cheated on death when they thrusted the spear through his side to make sure he was doubly dead. What Pilate’s centurion witnessed after the unusual darkness over the land, the unwarranted mockery of Jesus on the cross when Christ cried out to God for forsaking him when the sin of humanity was placed on him, they supposing that Jesus was invoking the name of Elijah for help and taunting him with vinegar, was to change his opinion of Jesus forever when he confessed, “Truly this man was the Son of God” (Mark 15:39).

The Roman watch that were designated to watch over the tomb of Jesus after their Jewish cohorts had demanded that they wanted to make sure that the tomb remained unempty with the body of Jesus fully represented, so that they could defy his claim to rise from the dead on the third day, had a strange and a humbling story to tell when a great earthquake coupled with darkness, released in its fold the angel of the Lord descending from heaven in shining light that put the hardened and fearless soldiers to quick flight for dear life.

The fiercest enemies of Jesus, traumatised by the news of the empty tomb, resorted to an underhand deal with the greedy soldiers to save their public image. Money changed hands under the table so that the true story of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead would be massaged into history to reflect something like this: “His disciples came to steal his body away at night while we were asleep.”

Food for thought: The disciples needn’t say that the tomb of Jesus is empty. The enemies of Jesus already attested to it that his body is not there.

Declaration: Saying, say ye, “His disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept.” (Matt 28:13)

© Author: Rev Fred Aboe