Matthew 27:11–66

Be Still: Father, thank you that you know me and love me completely. Please fill me with the Holy Spirit and speak to me through your Word today.  Amen

Read: Matthew 27:57–66

Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb. (v61)

Encounter: What a day Mary Magdalene and the other Mary* must have had! They woke up to the news that Jesus had been arrested, having been betrayed by one of their friends, Judas. They’d trusted Judas, shared meals, and shared laughs with him for the past three years. It wasn’t just Jesus that Judas betrayed that night. 

News filtered out during the morning of how Jesus was being treated. Their beloved rabbi and friend beaten and humiliated by the Jews and Romans. It was heart-breaking to think of the man who had eased so much of their suffering, suffering himself and so frustrating that they couldn’t do anything about it. 

At least they had been there at the cross; even if they couldn’t ease his suffering, they would at least make sure that he didn’t die alone. And there was always a chance that there would be one last miracle. That Jesus would jump down off the cross and everything would go back to being wonderful again. 

But Jesus had died. And there’s no coming back from that. And now here they are sitting opposite the tomb as they buried his body, and with it all their hopes and dreams for the future. 

Apply: We will all go through periods like this at some point in our lives. Times when we are overcome with grief and sorrow. Heartbreak, trauma, loss. Times when it feels like all our hopes and dreams are buried six feet under. The promise in the midst of the sorrow is that Sunday Resurrection is coming. Hold on!

Devote: Thank you Jesus that you know what it is to suffer. I invite you into my pain and ask you to comfort me.

*Matthew isn’t being disrespectful – he tells us earlier in the passage that the ‘other’ Mary is Mary, mother of James and Joseph.