Part 3
Since there are only four weeks in September, I’m going to skip all the parts about how Jesus was taken into custody and how He ended up being sentenced for a crucifixion. So much happened, and I encourage you to read it in as many translations as you can, for each one brings another element to the story towards His resurrection.
Let’s begin….
Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.
-John 19:38-42 NIV
Let’s recap:
Permission was granted.
They prepared Jesus for burial.
They anointed and wrapped Him.
They placed Him in a NEW TOMB.
Let’s see what happens next….
Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) Then the disciples went back to where they were staying. Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?” “They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”). Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ” Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.
-John 20:1-18 NIV
This passage of scripture gets me in the feels, for the women came first. Yeah, I like the sound of that. Then, the men came and soon after returned home. Yet, Mary stayed and cried, and then she was encountered not only by angels, which she didn’t seem concerned by, but by the Rabbi, “Jesus.” He called her by name, “Mary,” and suddenly she knew it was Him. When Jesus calls you by name, all your heart can do is respond. The woman He delivered from so many demons a few years back was the first to see Him in His ascended state of being. I mean, what honor! What an honor to behold the King. Can you see it? Can you image this moment?
Once, I was in a Good Friday service out of town and the spirit of revelation was in the room. So, I want to leave you with these words that will give you a glimpse of those moments.
As the women gazed at Jesus on the cross, oh the loss of words happened. They experienced the brutal visualization of this crucifixion. The loss of breathe. The loss of a friend and loved one. How can this be? My Jesus is dying? He is innocent. He is innocent. He is innocent.
But yet, their words landed only on the floor. The blood drenched ground surrounded by mockers. Surrounded by onlookers. Where were His followers? Why didn’t they fight? Where was their faith? Where was their strength? The moment took all they humanly had to give. For it was a moment prepared since sin entered into this human land.
Jesus had to feel it to heal it. How can this be? Why would He not do something? Jesus, use Your powers! Yet, He said, “not My will but Yours.” And so, He yielded His last breathe and darkness fell. The veil was torn, for the resurrection was in preparation. All had to be for Him to connect with you and me.
This was and is beyond human understanding and feeling, for something eternal happened in the life-breathing realm. Was He really dead? By human standards, yes. But in an eternal realm, He was very much alive. The space that held His heart was not held by a human with broken parts. His heart was held by heavenly parts and hands. He was given divine direction in His room of rest in the tomb that is a representation of a woman’s womb.
This womb of rest gave Him back His breathe. He got His breathe back by receiving the rest by the eternal Breathe-Giver. The depth of His breathe awakened His mission to cast the vision for all those that would carry on without Him. He needed three days to absorb the power that was set to be poured as He adored on those in the early church. This is a glimpse of how the early church was birthed, by resting until He gave you His new awakened breathe.
By breathing in faith with a purity of heart into one another, we are able to go that much further. This is the Father’s heart. This is my heart for you, to understand the space that produces growing hands and hearts that touch different lands. Resurrection Breathing imparts healing to the believer and the unbeliever, if they are ready to become a believer of the Divine Healer that resides inside. This is why you cry, for you have received the breathe of resurrecting dead things.
This still gets me in the feels to read it again, for it was written over two years ago now. I can still feel the resurrecting power in this glimpse behind the veil. My…what a story that it is to tell.
The space that held His heart was not held by a human with broken parts. His heart was held by heavenly parts and hands.
This line here really gives a picture of our Heavenly Father that I had never heard before.
Lastly, here is a song that continues to give me fuel for this walk we call life. May it refresh your soul as it’s done mine.
Phil Wickham - Sunday is Coming
Until next time,
Keep gliding 🪁
Abiding 🙇🏼♀️
& Smiling 😁