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THE KING’S BUSINESS
perform the last service in their power. They ought to have known that He did not need anointing (Matt. 16:21; 20:19), so their service was mistaken, but though mis taken it was acceptable to Jesus and He rewarded it by a revelation o f glorious truth through the angelic messengers. Mary o f Bethany was the one who was on time with her anointing, and she was not in this company. The angels put a startling ques tion to the women, “Why seek ye the liv ing among the dead?” The reason why they did not know that He had left the sepulchre was because they had not listened to and pondered His-own words, and this is the reason we do not know many things about our Lord which we ought to know. None o f the men were at the tomb: Not because o f their superior knowledge, but 'because o f their inferior love. They were at home mourning and weeping, ahd when told that the Lord had risen they did not believe (vs. 10, 11; Mark 16:10, 11). The women appear in a better light than the men in the story. The depth and genuine ness and unselfishness o f their love is seen in their Coming to serve Jesus at a time when their faith was blighted and they had nothing more to expect from Him (1 Cor. 13:8, R. V .). The stone sealed with the Roman seal stood between them and the service o f love that they had in mind, but when they reached the tomb “they found the stone rolled away.” God did not roll away the stone for Jesqs to get out, but for the women to get in. The women were perplexed at finding the tomb empty. If they had not forgotten Jesus’ words the true solution would have occurred to them at once. The angels gave to them one of the gladdest messages this old world ever heard, "H e is not here , but is risen .” Then the angels recalled to the women how Jesus Himself had predicted His resurrec tion while He was with them in Galilee. At last they remembered His words and then returned and told to the eleven what they , had found and what had been told to them. But to the eleven their words appeared “as idle talk.” To many today, even to many who call themselves Christians, their words also seem as idle talk, but so far from being
the temple was rent as Jesus dies, signify ing that the way into the holiest o f all had been operted by the shedding o f His blood (Heb. 10:19, 20). The death o f Jesus seemed like' the hour o f Satan s complete triumph, but in reality it was the hour of Satan’s utter defeat. (Heb. 2:14; Col. 2:15). The cross o f Christ is the supreme manifestation o f God’s love to man and o f man’s hatred of. God. Monday, March 20. Luke 23:50-56. Joseph, like Nicodemus, up to this time had been a disciple of Jesus secretly for fear o f the Jews, but in this hour o f crisis even when the twelve forsook the Lord and went into hiding, Joseph came out boldly on His side. Hitherto he had been “ a good man and a righteous” and had been “looking for the kingdom o f God,” but he had been timid, but now he comes out boldly to do what he thinks needs to be done for the One in whom he had believed secretly. He had not .consented to the council and deed o f the rest o f the San hedrim, but his protest had been feeble and his friendship for Jesus had not counted for much up to this time. It was “ the day o f the preparation” o f the Pass-, over. The Passover day proper began at sunset, it was just beginning to dawn (see v. 54; R. V. Marg.). The women who had followed Jesus out o f Galilee followed to see where the body o f Jesus was laid and then returned to Jerusalem and made ready to perform such services as they thought necessary for the body o f their Lord. Their faith in Jesus seems to have been under an- eclipse but their love was apparently as strong as ever. Tuesday, March 21. Luke 24:1-12. W e learn from John that the women Started out for the tomb while it was yet dark (John 20:1), but that Mary hurried on ahead and reached the tomb before the sun had risen, the other women reached the tomb “at early dawn.” The love o f these women for their Lord whom they fancied dead brought them early at His tomb to
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