March 30th: Death, Burial and Resurrection

Today’s devotional is from Taryn Flake.  It is also the last devotional from this series. I am thankful to those that helped us share devotionals.  I am thankful to our readers and to those that have shared our devotionals with others.  I hope to see you at our Easter services.

Scripture:  Mark 16:1-20

Death, Burial and Resurrection

He is risen!…but not until tomorrow. This is a hard passage to read today and yet still try to stay somber in anticipation of the resurrection tomorrow.

While we are trying to stay somber on this Holy Saturday, I wanted to reflect on the timeline of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection. It has always bothered me that Christ preaches that He will die and be brought back to life 3 days later, and yet in our modern tradition and interpretation, Jesus is dead for about 39 hours.

One explanation is that the Hebrews kept time differently than we do today. He was crucified on Friday and died around 3 PM. The next Jewish day, the Sabbath begins at sundown, at approximately 6 PM. So Jesus has already been dead one day - 3 PM to 6 PM and is still dead all night 6 PM to 6 AM. The Sabbath runs until approximately 6 PM, finishing the 2nd day dead. Then the next morning at sunrise, approximately 6 AM it is now the third day. But what about the 3rd night?

Take this visual example from ugc.org instead:

This states that the week that Jesus was crucified, there was an additional Sabbath day due to the Festival of Unleavened Bread, in addition to the regular Friday-Saturday Sabbath, which would have also been observed. This timeline gives Jesus 72 hours in the tomb, 3 days and 3 nights. I personally prefer this explanation. I don’t think that God would want future generations to doubt the 3 days and 3 nights.

Whatever timeline you choose to believe, Jesus was crucified, died, and was risen 3 days later on Easter Sunday. Praise the Lord!

Questions:

1. Has the timeline from Good Friday to Easter Sunday ever bothered you?

2. Which explanation do you choose to believe? Have you heard another explanation of the three days and three nights?

3. How do you cling to the space between Good Friday and Easter Sunday?

Prayer:

Dear God, I know that You are bigger than time and space. I thank You for dying on the cross for our sins and for rising again on Easter morning. Help me cling to the space between our celebration of Good Friday and Easter morning. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.

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