Reading the Scripture:
“And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people.” (Matthew 27:50-53 NIV)
Using Our Imagination:
It is late in the morning on the first day of the week. Inside the house, Hannah is working, but not in a hurry. She cleans and puts away what was used for Passover. The jumbled table with near-empty jars and leftover scraps of food speaks of the gathering that happened here. Some of the clutter remains as signs of the earthquake from two days before. She refills a lamp and smiles, lost in the memory of yesterday’s family and food, and the ancient story of God’s provision when death came for her ancestors in Egypt.
The smile evaporates. She is sobered by the memory of death visiting her own family just seven months ago. Her husband left one morning to do a merchant’s work but never returned home. An overloaded cart, they said. A spooked animal, they said. This year’s Passover was the first with an empty place at their table. There were several kinds of empty in Hannah’s home.
———-
On a street in west Jerusalem, a man approached a familiar door late in the morning on the first day of the week. He pushed against it, finding the latch tied from the inside. Now with both hands pressed against the wood he spoke, “Hannah, it’s me.” Philip had not been there in seven months—since the cart overturned.
From inside he heard something shatter against the stone floor. Hannah turned toward the door, ignoring spilled oil and the scattered clay that used to be a lamp. She knew the voice. She also knew it couldn’t be Philip. But it was Philip. Alive.
Honoring Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday:
Just think. Scenes like this probably played out all over Jerusalem on Resurrection Sunday.
On Good Friday Jesus suffered what he did not deserve. He laid down his life so that people like us could be reconciled to the Father. When the Son of God breathed his last, extraordinary power erupted from the place of the skull. Was it a shockwave from the great battle, as death received the death blow? Whatever it was, it rocked Jerusalem with seismic force. The events were wonderful and terrible; disturbing and shocking. Darkness, insults and mockery, nails through flesh, blood and screams, earthquakes, and wrecked cemeteries. The Temple veil, separating the Holy Place from unholy people, ripped from top to bottom. The earth shook—provoking panic and fear. Everyone felt it. And tombs broke open. Let that sink in—dead people came back to life, eventually making their way back to their families.
As you move through your remembrance of Good Friday, remember it as a day that changed history. It changed eternity. The foundations of sin were shaken; its influence forever gutted. Access to God became possible for unholy people.
Remember the dead who came to life. Jesus would experience a resurrection days later and we will experience something similar when our time on earth is done. One day, we will get to go Home.
Thank you, God, for making a way to know you. Thank you for giving your Son in the heat of Calvary’s rejection and in the knowledge of my disobedience. I love that when you act on behalf of your people, mountains move, graves open, and things change. I will live in the grace of Good Friday and the hope of Resurrection Sunday—today and every day—until I am Home.
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