Who will roll the stone away?
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Mark chapter 6 verse 7: ‘Who will roll the stone away?’
Easter Joy
Whatever this glad day might mean to us or
however happy our hearts may be, we need
never spoil our Easter Joy by allowing our hearts
to be sad, so long as we understand we can’t
have one without the other.
For some there may be a glow around the tomb on Easter Day.
After all you cannot have a resurrection of a death that never was. It takes two sides of any coin to make it valid.
We sometimes say the joyful first cry of a baby cancels out the trauma of labour, but like most of our assertions it is less than the whole truth. The new-born baby owes everything to the long and painful frustrations of months.
But He is alive this morning and this makes credible His claim: “able to save to the uttermost - - - - because He ever liveth”. Hebrews Ch. 7. V. 25. No dead priest however great can plead our cause in heaven. Once we were dead in our sins, but now we are alive in Him. “Because I live you shall live also”; and “God raised us up and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages He might show the incomparable riches of His grace expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.” Ephesians Ch. 2 verses 6 – 8.
What a problem Easter Morn brought. Think back to that great stone. The women, as recorded, were the only ones who were apparently concerned, yet there was no spring in their step. This was no Palm Sunday. Maybe they should have asked some of the men to come with them, if they could have found them. Peter was the obvious choice, but he was nowhere to be found. Would the soldiers help? What about that kind centurion? He might be there. “Oh” we say, “if only we had been there. We would have known the stone would have been rolled away.” The arrogance of hindsight!! Couldn’t we have learned an awful lot from these good women? There is no record of questions being asked. How could we possibly go? What a lovely story of uninhibited love and what about the glorious outcome. Such is the abounding, transcendent, incomprehensible love of the Father towards those of us who are peculiarly His own, that He appears to work on our behalf even when our faith is less than quantifiable. When our gloom is such that our faith is submerged, He sympathises with our weakness, recalls His own agony of soul in the Garden of Gethsemane and envelopes us in His love. He refuses to allow the gloom to shut out His Presence. As He did with those marvellous women, so with those of us who are looking for Him.
“Behold I go before you into Galilee” was echoing the Old Testament promise: “Behold I go before you to make the crooked paths straight.”
Simply by going to the tomb, they put themselves in the way of unanticipated blessing, and what a reward they had for their endeavours.
What an encouraging re-assurance there is for those of us who are fearful of what difficulties are up ahead. We wonder, sometimes, what is around the corner, what is hidden from our sight.
For all who walk by faith there is always a Man who will roll our stone away. He never fails to reward those who diligently seek Him. He is never a disappointment. He always brings His joy with Him.
All may change, but Jesus never, glory to His name.
