(Part 3)
“Peter therefore went out,
and the other disciple, and were going to the tomb. So they both ran together,
and the other disciple outran Peter and came to the tomb first. And he, stooping down and looking in, saw the
linen cloths lying there; yet he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came,
following him, and went into the tomb; and he saw the linen clothes lying
there, and the handkerchief that had been around His head, not lying with the
linen cloths, but folded together in a place by itself. Then the other
disciple, who came to the tomb first, went in also; and he saw and believed.
For as yet they did not know the Scripture, that He must rise again from the
dead.”-John 20:3-9
More
than the tomb itself, it was the grave clothes that held Jesus in bondage. A
typical burial usually included packing the body with spices which was then
wrapped repeatedly. Considering the expediency of Jesus’ crucifixion and
burial; we can assume, that at a minimum, the body would have been wrapped
tightly with the expectation that they would return later to properly pack the
body once the Passover celebration had ended.
The
Apostle John focuses a lot of attention here in chapter 20 on the graves
clothes Jesus was been buried in. After running to the tomb, the first thing
that stuck in the mind of his disciples was not the empty tomb but the empty
grave clothes. They were both so fixated on what was left behind that they were
missing the fact that Jesus was gone!
It
had been reported among the people, by the Pharisees and Sadducees, that
someone came and took the body of Jesus. Yet, it is highly unlikely that
someone brazen enough to steal his body would have taken the time, at a heavily
guarded tomb, to completely unwrap the body and fold up the grave clothes.
No,
the grave clothes were left there by Jesus! Jesus wanted his disciples to
discover them! Why? Because those clothes were a reminder of his old dead life
and instead of bringing them out he left them buried.
We
could all learn a valuable lesson here. Jesus never intended for us to carry
around with us the tattered clothes of our old dead life; clothes that are
stained with sin and wickedness. Why do we continue, although we have been
freed from the bondage of sin and the stone rolled away feel compelled to carry
the grave clothes out with us?
Here
is a bold but very true statement: You simply cannot live a resurrected life
while still clinging to the remains of your old life. Like Jesus, we have to be
willing to leave our old lives buried.
Pastor
Scott Burr
Dayspring
Community Church
No comments:
Post a Comment