3 AM

Happy resurrection morning!  I had to get up at 3 am to put a ham in the oven for this afternoon’s feast.  A ham to celebrate the resurrection of the Jewish Rabbi.  How odd.  But Jesus was the Savior of Jews AND Gentiles … even Gentiles in Ringgold, Georgia.  I was thinking of the proud disciples when the followed Jesus into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.  They held their heads high, waving to the crowds as they came into town riding Jesus’ coat-tails to fame.  But only five days later, their leader and hero, Jesus, was dead.  The betrayal and arrest late Thursday evening led to a kangaroo court in the wee hours of Friday morning.  Then the jealous religious leaders had incited a mob to force Pilate’s hand.  Jesus was condemned, crucified, and dead by sundown that Friday afternoon.  The disciples shock soon turned to fear.  Were they next?  Were the Jewish leaders, at that moment looking for them?  They cowered in the upper room all day Saturday afraid to make a move.  The followers of Christ had slept very little Thursday night.  But they slept even less Friday and Saturday nights.  But before the break of day on Sunday, the women were determined to put spices on the Master’s body.  The body would be stinking if they didn’t.  So, before dawn on Sunday morning … just about the time I was putting the ham into the oven … Martha, Johanna, and the three Marys showed up at the Garden tomb.  They had their story ready for the Pretorian Guard, but they were gone!  And the huge disk-shaped stone was rolled away leaving the tomb open for all to see.  But the most perplexing of all was the empty tomb!  Oh, they found the burial cloths where a body should have been, but where was Jesus?  But as they wondered, two men in blazing white garments appeared out of thin air!  The women fell to the ground (beginning in Luke 24:5&6), “And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they (the angels) said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee?”  And as I slid the ham into the oven, I thought of the ladies as their fear turned into excitement.  And minutes later, as they excitedly told the disciples, I thought of Peter and John.  They had to see the empty tomb for themselves.  And they did.  And on April 17, 1956, I too saw the risen Savior in the pages of His Holy Word!  66 years ago, today, I accepted the risen Jesus as my Lord and Savior.  I believed in the same Savior that those disciples did over two thousand years ago!  Hey, Jesus Christ is risen!  And Peter would have answered me, “He is risen indeed!”