He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. – Matthew 28:6

Today's Scripture Reading (February 21, 2024): Matthew 28

There are some interesting parallels between the beginning and the end of Jesus's life. For instance, at least two of the three gifts Jesus received from the Magi at his birth seem more appropriate for his burial: myrrh and frankincense. Beyond that, Jesus also began his life in a borrowed stable and ended it in a borrowed tomb.

But another thing is that in the beginning, part of the Christmas story is that Mary and Joseph have to make the trip from Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to Bethlehem, just south of Israel's capital, Jerusalem. Today, that is not a bad trip. You get onto Highway 6 in Nazareth, and Highway 6 runs kind of north-south; it goes out toward the Mediterranean Sea, which is west of Nazareth, but never quite gets there. Highway 6 then turns South. It runs close to Tel Aviv, but again, not quite there. Then, just south of Tel-Aviv, you pick up Highway 1, which turns east and takes you into the Holy City. Once you are in Jerusalem, take Highway 60 and go south for the short trip into Bethlehem, located just inside the boundaries that mark off the Palestinian West Bank. If we were to take the journey today, the 150 km journey should take about two hours. It wasn't quite that easy when Mary and Joseph made the trip two thousand years ago.

Two thousand years ago, Mary and Joseph got up, and Mary got on a Donkey because she was pregnant and about to give birth. I can't imagine what it would have been like to be as pregnant as Mary was and have to make that journey on the back of a donkey. And then, with Mary on top of the donkey and Joseph leading the way, they would make not the two-hour trip to Jerusalem but the multi-day trip to Bethlehem. When they finally got to Bethlehem, they went to the inn and found no room. And Mary looked at Joseph and said, "you should have called and made a reservation!" Okay, Joseph, you should have invented the telephone and then called and made a reservation.

Mary Magdalene gets to the tomb, which should have contained a body, and finds it empty. I can't imagine that moment. Mary, go and tell the disciples because this changes everything. There might not have been room at the inn when Jesus was born, but there is room in his tomb because Jesus isn't here. He has risen, just as he said.   

Mary heard the words, and I am sure her mind is reeling with everything she has seen and heard over the past month. It all started with Lazarus being raised from the dead. Then Jesus said, "In my house there are many rooms and I am going to prepare a place for you," and now, "Go and tell the disciples." All of a sudden, death isn't the forever stopping point. It is a pause on another journey. And at the end of everything, there will be room in the tomb because none of us will be staying there.

Jesus entered this world where there was no room, but now he proclaims that there is room because the nature of death has been changed. And the first person to hear this message is not Peter, James, John, or any other disciples. It is not the religious elite of the world. It is Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of James the Younger. These women, who in Jesus's day didn't even count, were the only witnesses to something that changed history: a reordering of what we mean when talking about life and death.    

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Mark 16