What Jesus Did

The women ran quickly from [Jesus' empty] tomb... And as they went, Jesus met them and greeted them. And they ran to him, grasped his feet, and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, "Don't be afraid! Go tell my brothers to leave for Galilee, and they will see me there."

—Matthew 28:8-10 NLT

Key Thought​

Sometimes we think the best form of worship is what we sing and pray in church, what we do on a spiritual retreat, or what we study during a quiet time. But as we have seen...

 

[At Jesus' empty tomb, the angel said to the women:] "He isn't here! He is risen from the dead, just as he said would happen. Come, see where his body was lying. And now, go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and he is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there. Remember what I have told you."
The women ran quickly from the tomb. They were very frightened but also filled with great joy, and they rushed to give the disciples the angel's message...

 

Early on Sunday morning [after Jesus' crucifixion and burial], as the new day was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went out to visit the tomb.
Suddenly there was a great earthquake! For an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled aside the stone, and sat on it. His face shone like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow. The guards shook with fear when they saw him, and they fell into a dead faint.

Then the angel spoke to the women. "Don't be afraid!" he said. "I...

 

The next day [after Jesus' crucifixion], on the Sabbath, the leading priests and Pharisees went to see Pilate. They told him, "Sir, we remember what that deceiver once said while he was still alive: 'After three days I will rise from the dead.' So we request that you seal the tomb until the third day. This will prevent his disciples from coming and stealing his body and then telling everyone he was raised from the dead! If that happens, we'll be worse off than we were at first."
Pilate...

 

As evening approached [after Jesus' crucifixion], Joseph, a rich man from Arimathea who had become a follower of Jesus, went to Pilate and asked for Jesus' body. And Pilate issued an order to release it to him. Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a long sheet of clean linen cloth. He placed it in his own new tomb, which had been carved out of the rock. Then he rolled a great stone across the entrance and left. Both Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting across from the tomb and...

 

Among [the women at the cross when Jesus was crucified] were Mary Magdalene, Mary (the mother of James and Joseph), and the mother of James and John, the sons of Zebedee.

—Matthew 27:56 NLT

Key Thought​

We can't know what it was like for God watching Jesus die. We can imagine it. We can put our words and emotions into it. But we can't know. He is God. He had the power to stop it, but he didn't. He had to withhold what was rightfully his to use because our salvation was more...

 

The Roman officer and the other soldiers at [Jesus'] crucifixion were terrified by the earthquake and all that had happened. They said, "This man truly was the Son of God!"
And many women who had come from Galilee with Jesus to care for him were watching from a distance.


—Matthew 27:54-55 NLT

Key Thought​

Notice two powerful opportunites God gives us in the shadow of Jesus' crucifixion:

1. To admire the faithfulness of the women who stood at Jesus' side while most of...

 

At [the moment when Jesus died,] the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, rocks split apart, and tombs opened. The bodies of many godly men and women who had died were raised from the dead. They left the cemetery after Jesus' resurrection, went into the holy city of Jerusalem, and appeared to many people.

—Matthew 27:51-53 NLT

Key Thought​

There comes a time when God has to do something dramatic to help get it through...

 

At noon [when Jesus was being crucified], darkness fell across the whole land until three o'clock. At about three o'clock, Jesus called out with a loud voice, "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?" which means "My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?"
Some of the bystanders misunderstood and thought he was calling for the prophet Elijah. One of them ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, holding it up to him on a reed stick so he could drink. But the rest said, "Wait! Let's see whether Elijah...

 

The leading priests, the teachers of religious law, and the elders also mocked Jesus. "He saved others," they scoffed, "but he can't save himself! So he is the King of Israel, is he? Let him come down from the cross right now, and we will believe in him! He trusted God, so let God rescue him now if he wants him! For he said, 'I am the Son of God.'" Even the revolutionaries who were crucified with him ridiculed him in the same way.

—Matthew 27:41-44 NLT

Key Thought​

Where do...