And there was Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, sitting over against the sepulchre.
Matthew 27:61 shows Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, with the other Galilean women, sitting opposite the tomb and lingering about it into the gathering evening shades after watching the burial of Jesus. They had drawn near to watch the burial out of love, to see that all that could be done for the lifeless form of their beloved Teacher was done. They would not leave until they saw His sacred body laid in the tomb and the heavy stone rolled against its entrance, remaining by His sacred resting-place shedding tears of sorrow over the fate of Him whom they loved. They watched in part because they feared His enemies would seek to obtain His body, but that fear was needless, for the angelic host watched and guarded the resting place with deep and untold interest, earnestly waiting for the command to take part in liberating Jesus, the King of glory, from His prison house.
By so lingering they were last at the cross and last at the tomb. Mary had stood beside the cross and followed Him to the tomb, and she was first at the tomb after the resurrection and first to proclaim that He had risen.
The burial they witnessed was hasty because the Sabbath was near, so that the day might be kept according to the commandment. That grief-filled Sabbath, while the antitypical Lamb prefigured by the Passover lay in Joseph's tomb, became a never-to-be-forgotten Sabbath to the sorrowing disciples, and also to the priests, rulers, scribes, and people. The disciples had hoped He would reign as a temporal king and grieved when that hope failed as they expected, but their hopes revived when the risen Jesus appeared to them.
The tomb in Joseph's ground, closed with a great stone and sealed with the Roman seal after His agonizing death, was not His final state and not where to keep looking for Him. Christ is risen and is no longer there, and is not a Savior remaining in the tomb. Because He rose and lives to make intercession, believers have hope that they too will live, and are called not to mourn hopelessly or despair.
Matthew 27:61 shows Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, with the other Galilean women, sitting opposite the tomb and lingering about it into the gathering evening shades after watching the burial of Jesus. They had drawn near to watch the burial out of love, to see that all that could be done for the lifeless form of their beloved Teacher was done. They would not leave until they saw His sacred body laid in the tomb and the heavy stone rolled against its entrance, remaining by His sacred resting-place shedding tears of sorrow over the fate of Him whom they loved. They watched in part because they feared His enemies would seek to obtain His body, but that fear was needless, for the angelic host watched and guarded the resting place with deep and untold interest, earnestly waiting for the command to take part in liberating Jesus, the King of glory, from His prison house.
By so lingering they were last at the cross and last at the tomb. Mary had stood beside the cross and followed Him to the tomb, and she was first at the tomb after the resurrection and first to proclaim that He had risen.
The burial they witnessed was hasty because the Sabbath was near, so that the day might be kept according to the commandment. That grief-filled Sabbath, while the antitypical Lamb prefigured by the Passover lay in Joseph's tomb, became a never-to-be-forgotten Sabbath to the sorrowing disciples, and also to the priests, rulers, scribes, and people. The disciples had hoped He would reign as a temporal king and grieved when that hope failed as they expected, but their hopes revived when the risen Jesus appeared to them.
The tomb in Joseph's ground, closed with a great stone and sealed with the Roman seal after His agonizing death, was not His final state and not where to keep looking for Him. Christ is risen and is no longer there, and is not a Savior remaining in the tomb. Because He rose and lives to make intercession, believers have hope that they too will live, and are called not to mourn hopelessly or despair.