By Max Lucado

Jesus' Burial

When Pilate learned that Jesus was dead, he asked the soldiers if they were certain. They were. Had they seen the Nazarene twitch, had they heard even one moan, they would have broken his legs to speed his end. But there was no need. The thrust of a spear removed all doubt. The Romans knew their job. And their job was finished. They pried loose the nails, lowered his body, and gave it to Joseph and Nicodemus.

Joseph of Arimathea. Nicodemus the Pharisee. They sat in seats of power and bore positions of influence. Men of means and men of clout. But they would’ve traded it all for one breath out of the body of Jesus. He had answered the prayer of their hearts, the prayer for the Messiah. As much as the soldiers wanted him dead, even more these men wanted him alive.

As they sponged the blood from his beard, don’t you know they listened for his breath? As they wrapped the cloth around his hands, don’t you know they hoped for a pulse? Don’t you know they searched for life?

But they didn’t find it.

So they do with him what they were expected to do with a dead man. They wrap his body in clean linen and place it in a tomb. Joseph’s tomb. Roman guards are stationed to guard the corpse. And a Roman seal is set on the rock of the tomb. For three days, no one gets close to the grave.

But then, Sunday arrives. And with Sunday comes light—a light within the tomb. A bright light? A soft light? Flashing? Hovering? We don’t know. But there was a light. For he is the light. And with the light came life. Just as the darkness was banished, now the decay is reversed. Heaven blows and Jesus breathes. His chest expands. Waxy lips open. Wooden fingers lift. Heart valves swish and hinged joints bend.

And, as we envision the moment, we stand in awe.

We stand in awe not just because of what we see, but because of what we know… We know that when Jesus was raised from the dead it was a signal of the end of death-as-the-end. Never again will death have the last word. When Jesus died, he took sin down with him, but alive he brings God down to us” (Rom. 6:5–9 MSG).



From From When Christ Comes: The Beginning of the Very Best
Copyright (Thomas Nelson, 1999) Max Lucado

Colossians 2:6-23

I don't very often read from the Message, but occasionally find it to be a helpful aid.  Colossians 2: 6-23 is one of those examples.  Read it below and see if it doesn't stop you in your tracks and make you think. Such a good message at this particular time of year.  Jesus has done the necessary work for us to be admitted into the Kingdom.  We don't need fancy degrees or titles to spread the Gospel.  We only need the faith He has given us.  We can study His Word our entire lives (and should) but at some point we need to share what we've been given.  Trust Him to supply the words in each and every situation.

 Below the Message version is the ESV version.  God bless you!

 ^6-7My counsel for you is simple and straightforward: Just go ahead with what you've been given. You received Christ Jesus, the Master; now live him. You're deeply rooted in him. You're well constructed upon him. You know your way around the faith. Now do what you've been taught. School's out; quit studying the subject and start living it! And let your living spill over into thanksgiving.
 ^8-10Watch out for people who try to dazzle you with big words and intellectual double-talk. They want to drag you off into endless arguments that never amount to anything. They spread their ideas through the empty traditions of human beings and the empty superstitions of spirit beings. But that's not the way of Christ. Everything of God gets expressed in him, so you can see and hear him clearly. You don't need a telescope, a microscope, or a horoscope to realize the fullness of Christ, and the emptiness of the universe without him. When you come to him, that fullness comes together for you, too. His power extends over everything.
 ^11-15Entering into this fullness is not something you figure out or achieve. It's not a matter of being circumcised or keeping a long list of laws. No, you're already in—insiders—not through some secretive initiation rite but rather through what Christ has already gone through for you, destroying the power of sin. If it's an initiation ritual you're after, you've already been through it by submitting to baptism. Going under the water was a burial of your old life; coming up out of it was a resurrection, God raising you from the dead as he did Christ. When you were stuck in your old sin-dead life, you were incapable of responding to God. God brought you alive—right along with Christ! Think of it! All sins forgiven, the slate wiped clean, that old arrest warrant canceled and nailed to Christ's cross. He stripped all the spiritual tyrants in the universe of their sham authority at the Cross and marched them naked through the streets.
 ^16-17So don't put up with anyone pressuring you in details of diet, worship services, or holy days. All those things are mere shadows cast before what was to come; the substance is Christ.
 ^18-19Don't tolerate people who try to run your life, ordering you to bow and scrape, insisting that you join their obsession with angels and that you seek out visions. They're a lot of hot air, that's all they are. They're completely out of touch with the source of life, Christ, who puts us together in one piece, whose very breath and blood flow through us. He is the Head and we are the body. We can grow up healthy in God only as he nourishes us.
 ^20-23So, then, if with Christ you've put all that pretentious and infantile religion behind you, why do you let yourselves be bullied by it? "Don't touch this! Don't taste that! Don't go near this!" Do you think things that are here today and gone tomorrow are worth that kind of attention? Such things sound impressive if said in a deep enough voice. They even give the illusion of being pious and humble and ascetic. But they're just another way of showing off, making yourselves look important.

^6(K) Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, ^7(L) rooted and^(M) built up in him and^(N) established in the faith, just^(O) as you were taught, abounding^(P) in thanksgiving.
 ⁸See to it that no one takes you captive by^(Q) philosophy and^(R) empty deceit, according to^(S) human tradition, according to the^(T) elemental spirits^[a] of the world, and not according to Christ. ⁹For^(U) in him the whole fullness of deity dwells^(V) bodily, ¹⁰and^(W) you have been filled in him, who is^(X) the head of all rule and authority. ¹¹In him also^(Y) you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by^(Z) putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, ^12(AA) having been buried with him in baptism, in which^(AB) you were also raised with him through faith in^(AC) the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. ^13(AD) And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God^(AE) made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, ¹⁴by^(AF) canceling^(AG) the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. ^15(AH) He disarmed the rulers and authorities^[b] and^(AI) put them to open shame, by^(AJ) triumphing over them in him.^[c]

Let No One Disqualify You

 ¹⁶Therefore let no one^(AK) pass judgment on you^(AL) in questions of food and drink, or with regard to^(AM) a festival or^(AN) a new moon or a Sabbath. ^17(AO) These are a shadow of the things to come, but^(AP) the substance belongs to Christ. ¹⁸Let no one^(AQ) disqualify you,^(AR) insisting on asceticism and worship of angels,^(AS) going on in detail about visions,^[d](AT) puffed up without reason by^(AU) his sensuous mind, ¹⁹and^(AV) not^(AW) holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.
 ²⁰If with Christ^(AX) you died to the^(AY) elemental spirits of the world,^(AZ) why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— ^21(BA) "Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch" ²²(^(BB) referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to^(BC) human precepts and teachings? ²³These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in^(BD) promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are^(BE) of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.