So
they went with the guard and made the tomb secure by sealing the
stone. (Matthew 27: 66)
You
have just read an exercise in futility. The enemies of Jesus were
afraid, but their fears were ill-placed. They thought perhaps Jesus’
followers would steal His body. When one sees how they forsook their
Lord on the night of his arrest and the safe distance that most of
them kept during the crucifixion, one can hardly imagine their being
so bold as to engineer a raiding on His tomb.
As
it turned out, the tomb was indeed raided–not by the disciples of
Jesus, but from within by God’s invasion of resurrection life.
Over
the twenty succeeding centuries, an unbelieving culture has again and
again tried to make the tomb “secure.” A series of potentates
and dictators from Nero to the 21st
Century have done their worst to seal out the power of Jesus Christ.
But, as I said a moment ago, it is an exercise in futility. The One
who was placed in the tomb is the Lord of the Tomb–and also of all
who seek to hold Him there. They may not recognize it, but this
doesn’t change the fact. No wonder, then, that He is called
“Lord.”
As
we celebrate a Saturday that so long ago was marked by silence and
despair, our hearts rejoice in the final chapter of the Easter story!
