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It’s Saturday. What a week it has been. It is very dark in here, and a bit cool. Not cold, just a bit cool. I think these linen cloths they wrapped my body in keeps it from being too cold. You see, it was yesterday I died, but you know that. Are you wondering how I can sense cool or cold? Remember that I have always existed, from before the beginning, and will exist forever. There are no blank spots in my existence, not even when my body was dead and in this tomb. I am the Alpha and the Omega. I have almost completed my work here on earth. I have suffered; I have died; and tomorrow I will rise again. Tomorrow morning when Mary Magdalene and the other Mary come to anoint my body, they will find it is not here, but I will have someone explain it to them. I have cried a lot in the past few hours, not because of my circumstances, but because of yours. You see, I have done what was required of me, and I did it to save you. To my sadness, there are many of you who still won’t acknowledge me. Even after all I have done for you, because of my love for you. Yesterday, I cried out “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” But I know why; it was for you -- because of my love for you. So now I ask you -- why are you forsaking me? I love you -- please come to me.
Oh yes, what a week it has been. It was just last Sunday that I arrived in Jerusalem. I entered the town on a donkey amidst shouts of “Hosanna to the Son of David, the King of Israel. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord” from an enthusiastic welcoming crowd. It was only a short time later the same crowd was yelling “Crucify him!” , but that did not stop me from loving them. They did not know what they were doing.
On Monday, there was a little incident at the temple. When I got there, merchants were buying and selling doves and other things, and money changers were profiting from very active trade. They had turned my house into a den of robbers! How dare they! My house is to be a house of prayer. So, I turned over their tables and drove them from the temple. What else could I do? They had created an environment of stealing instead of healing. It could not be tolerated.
Tuesday was a little better. I was able to spend some time teaching at the temple. But even while doing so, my authority was questioned. Later in the day I went to the home of Simon the Leper. A woman there named Mary poured some nice perfume on my head, and then poured the nard on my feet and wiped my feet with her hair. She really didn't know it but she was preparing my body for burial.
Wednesday is the day that the plot against me began to take shape. Judas went to the chief priests and asked them what they would give him if he would hand me over to them. They gave him thirty silver coins.
Thursday I enjoyed Passover in a large upper room with my disciples. I let Judas know that I knew he would betray me. He denied it, but we know the truth, don’t we? During the meal I taught the disciples about the new covenant and how to stay in communion with me with bread and wine. The bread is my body, and the wine is my blood -- poured out for you. Later in the day we went to Gethsemane because I wanted to pray. I was very distressed and troubled. My soul was overwhelmed with sorrow. I fell to the ground in prayer and asked the Father to take this cup from me if it was possible, but I knew it wasn't possible, and I wept. Sweat that was like blood dripped from my body. I was in torment, but I understood my mission; a mission of love. A mission of salvation.
Friday was the worst! First I was arrested, then a trial that was nothing more than a mock trial. After it ended, I was flogged and handed over to be crucified. What do you know about flogging? Do you know that it is done with a leather whip with multiple ends, and that there are sharp pieces of bone and metal in each end? Do you know that it leaves the back raw and bleeding, and sometimes exposes bones and organs? Do you know that sometimes it actually causes death? Did you know that? I endured that for you -- because I love you. And do you want to know something else? I would do it again -- for you.
After they were done flogging me, they made me carry the cross they were to crucify me on, up the hill to Golgotha. People spit on me and mocked me. They hung me on that cross, between two robbers. They pierced my side with a spear. I died on that cross. I won’t tell you how horrible death on a Roman cross is, but you ought to know they came up with this method of execution because it is the most painful death imaginable. My mother was a witness. It is finished. In just a few hours I will leave this tomb, and my mission here will be finished, but I will be with you always -- until the end.
My beloved, I tell you the truth -- I did it for you. You and your salvation. Yet, I weep because some among you won’t acknowledge me. Some among you won’t listen to what I say when I say “Knock and the door will be opened.” I love you so much that I want you to spend eternity with me in paradise. Won’t you accept my invitation? Won’t you let me live in you? Won’t you experience the joy of real life?
CHRIST IS RISEN!
