So after Jesus was crucified and taken down from the cross among the thieves and sinners who were his people, he was placed in the borrowed tomb owned by Joseph (same name as his Dad and isn’t it funny how others come to replace the real one because we so desperately need a father or a mother), and then he was …dead.
For three days which means absolutely nothing in Hebrew (could be three days or could be three millennium), and in Konia Greek it is iffy so who knows what it means? If it were in classic Greek it would be precise. But I John, 2 John and 3 John are the only classic Greek written books in the New Testament (though let’s be honest, the play on words in them are fantastic!). But the Gospels are in Konia Greek, which is common language. Street talk. Rock-n-roll. Rap.
Regardless, Jesus evidently lay in Joseph’s borrowed tomb for three nights and you have to wonder what brought him out of it.
Mary Magdalene? Let’s be honest, a hot woman pours perfume on my feet and rubs it in with her hair, she could raise me from the dead.
There is a lot of speculation about their relationship, but what is above question is that they loved one another. How they loved one another may be the question; but they loved one
another.
And God is love and maybe that is what made Jesus’ eyes pop open in the dark dirty cave.
Or it could be his commitment to the others who believed in him? They needed him so badly and as he hung there dying he watched them cry and wail and thrash about. And it moved him so much that he told himself, “I will not leave you to this. I love you and I will be back. Damn this death! I love you more.”
And God is love and maybe that is what did it.
Or, he envisioned a world of love. And he looked into the future and said I am here to help the world get to a better place; where Jew and Gentile and Arab and black and white and rich and poor all come together as one. And he told himself, “This dream is what God wants and I will be back because it is more than me.”
And God is love and the belief in changing the world has kept many a dead prophet alive.
Or maybe it’s like the preachers tell us and Jesus knew all along that he was coming back as he looked at the nails in his hands and feet and he laughed and told himself, “I’ll show you!”
And…I’m not sure how much love there is in this one.
Now I have survived several crucifixions of my own. They came at me as though out of a machine gun in the last few years. I’ve learned betrayal and abandonment first hand. I have also learned love and grace.
At this moment in my life, I am laying in the tomb. It is dark. It is moist. It is lonely. I feel forsaken and dead.
But I am not.
Goddess licks my toes as I feel these things. The sun shines through the windows on my shoulders. I hugged my dear friend Stacy Jennings today. Keller Deal and I made one another laugh. Johnny O made me shake my head. Ryan and Franklin and I made plans for Sunday night. I chased serendipity. And it is good.
And there is love in all of that.
And this is where God is.
And that is why Jesus got up.
