Thoughts for the Day

Luke 23:56 Then [after seeing Jesus’s body placed in the tomb] they [the women who had come with Jesus from Galilee] went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.

Waiting!  Suddenly, but not for the first time, women take centre stage in Luke’s narrative.  I have no knowledge of the culture on this, but it seems from the context that preparing a body for burial was then women’s work.  Perhaps, stunned by how the events of the last few days have unfolded, they go into automatic and focus on what must be done.  But they are interrupted by the Sabbath the rules for which command them to delay finishing the task.  What goes through their minds as they rest and wait? The prospect appears bleak.  Their whole purpose for the last two or three years has seemingly come crashing down, the ministry abruptly terminated, their charismatic leader brutally killed like the worst of criminals.  Will they suffer repercussions?  And, even if not, what will they now do?   As I write this, along with many others around the world, I’m also waiting, waiting for an epidemic to peak, commanded to stay at home, wondering how the world will get back to what sort of normality.   These women were unaware that the joy of Easter Day was just around the corner.  We do not know what is around our next corner, but we do know the unchanging God of Hope who turned their sorrow into joy.  So, I conclude this series with the final verses of the Psalm Jesus quoted from the cross:

Psalm 31:23-24 Love the Lord, all his saints!  The Lord preserves the faithful, but the proud he pays back in full.  Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord.