REFLECTIONS

Message Left in the Tomb

No wedding planner could have designed the events in greater detail. And no playwright could have added more drama. Only it wasn’t a wedding on the drawing board; and it wasn’t a play writer scripting the events. Passover set the scene, and sacrifice the subject of the day. Isaiah transcribed much of the script, but God conceived it thousands of years before.

The grand entry into Jerusalem included a donkey for Jesus to ride, a confrontation that turned the tables at the temple, condemnation of a fig tree that bore no fruit, and an unnamed man who provided a large room for a farewell meal. The villain turned out to be a Satan possessed disciple who betrayed his master with a kiss, followed by an unfair trial and a torturous form of capital punishment. And then the miracle that changed the world. But let’s go back a little.

The day before Passover the disciples asked where they would have the Passover meal. So in accordance with the script, Jesus directed them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him. Say to the owner of the house he enters, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’  He will show you a large upper room, furnished and ready” (Mark 14:13-15)

The evening began with Jesus washing his disciples’ feet, revealing that a betrayer sat among them, followed by comforting words to appease the anxiety about tomorrow’s events. Jesus reclined at the table’s head. Then he told them goodbye serving bread and wine—his body and his blood. Then he withdrew to Gethsemane to pray.

He prayed for himself while beads of blood-filled sweat seeped from his forehead. He prayed for his disciples; and he prayed for you and me before an army of Pharisees interrupted the quiet. Time for the final act—the arrest, trial, crucifixion, death, and burial. Then the empty tomb with a handkerchief folded together in a place by itself.

In a Jewish home where the master of the house sits around the table to have the meal, if he takes his napkin and throws it on the table and walks out, the servants will come and clear the table. The meal is over. But if the master folds the napkin, puts it on the table, and walks away, then no one will touch the table. They leave it as is. You see, the folded napkin is a message. The message says, “I’m coming back.”

And that is the message left in the tomb.

You are the light of the world,

Richard +

www.reflectingthesavior.org.

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