We are at the first checkpoint of Mark
15:42. It is set within the context
of the burial of Jesus as recorded in Mark
15:39-47.
We see from the verse that Jesus of Nazareth
was buried on Preparation Day, the day before Sabbath.
From
John
19:14, we see that it was the day of Preparation for the Passover
week. And from the footnote to John
18:28 of the Amplified Bible,
we gather that the Passover week referred to the Feast of Unleavened Bread that
lasted for seven days. Again, from John
19:31 of the Amplified
Bible, we are told that it was not the ordinary preparation day for the
weekly Sabbath. Rather, it was the
Preparation Day for a high holy day.
To
me, it was the fulfilment of what the Feast of Unleavened Bread represented in
the Person of the beloved Son of God as Jesus of Nazareth. The Feast of Unleavened Bread reminded Israel
of God’s deliverance of their forefathers from Egypt. When the beloved Son of God in the flesh as
Jesus of Nazareth was crucified, He delivered the world from the penalty of
sin.
The
quality and success of an occasion hinges on the amount of preparation that
goes into it. Thus far, we have seen how
God had prepared His Son as Jesus of Nazareth for the Big Day of Salvation. It started with God having prepared a
physical body as stated in Hebrews
10:5. That physical body was
then indwelt by the beloved Son of God with the power of the Holy Spirit
without the stain of sin from natural procreation as mentioned in Matthew
1:18. Then, He was water
baptized to identify Himself with sinners as written in the footnote to Matthew
3:15 of the Amplified Bible. Thereafter, He was led away to the wilderness
to be tempted of the devil as written in Matthew
4:1-11. In Luke
4:13, we are told that the devil temporarily left Him until a more
opportune time after he had finished every temptation. That would mean the devil returned to tempt
Jesus many more times such that He was tempted in every aspect as we are but
did not commit any sin as Hebrews
4:15 tells us. All these were
followed by contempt and hatred as detailed in the seventh trailhead of the
second Marker of Isaiah 49:1-9 of this series on “The Messianic
Credentials”.
The
ultimate sacrificial lamb was tested and proven to be without spot or
blemish. It was well prepared, so to
speak, before being offered as the Perfect sacrifice for sin. We have been purchased with the precious
blood of a spotless and unblemished sacrificial lamb as 1
Peter 1:19 puts on record.
We
can draw tremendous encouragement from the above. When we encounter trials and tribulations,
consider it pure joy as the testing or preparation is meant to develop us
completely so that we would lack nothing. This is what James
1:2-4 is telling us. In other words, God is preparing us for something
awesomely good through those trials and tribulations. We have been admonished
by Colossians
1:11-12 to persevere and resist the temptation to give up. Nonetheless,
we will not need to resist to the point of having to shed our own blood (Hebrews
12:4). Again, 1
Corinthians 10:13 says that “God
will not let you be tempted beyond your ability to resist, but along with the
temptation He will always provide the
way out as well, so that you will be able to endure it without yielding, and
will overcome temptation with joy.” In the midst of our persevering, we can draw strength and
encouragement from the following passage of scriptures:
After
Jesus of Nazareth resisted the devil with the written word of God, angels came
and ministered to Him. Likewise, we will
be ministered to.
After
Jesus of Nazareth had persevered to complete the will of God, He was highly
exalted and bestowed with the name which is above every name. In similar
fashion, we will be greatly rewarded after the storm is over.
After
you have suffered a little while, God Himself will complete, confirm,
strengthen, and establish you; making you what you ought to be.
The
apostle Paul went through such intense trials and tribulations that he felt
like dying. It was so that trust would not be in self but in God Who raises the
dead.
At
times, the preparation would be so intense that we would feel like what Jacob
thought, “All these things are against me”
as recorded in Genesis
42:36. Unbeknownst to him, God
was working behind the scene to cause all things to work together for his good. This truth is illuminated in Romans
8:28.
It
is when the going gets tough that the rubber meets the road, so to speak. Mark
4:17 says that there will be those who fall away when persecution heats
up. Then Mark
4:18-19 mentions another group who would rather pursue money and other
things. In the words
of 1
Timothy 6:10, some people who
crave money have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many
sorrows. It reminded me of how the Israelites preferred the food of Egypt over
the manna (heavenly food) from God as recorded in Exodus
16:3-4 and Numbers
11:5-6.
The preparatory stage is painful because God is
cutting away parts of us that do not bear fruit as John
15:2 tells us. It is called spiritual circumcision as recorded in Colossians
2:11. In fact, God is
dealing with us as with His children according to Hebrews
12:7. We see from biblical
history that those who God ordained, He first prepared before deployment. It took 27 years for Abram,
22 years for Joseph, 13 years for David to become king (7 more years before he
was king over the whole nation), 14 years for Paul, and 30 years for Jesus
of Nazareth. King Saul was an example of deployment without preparation. He
ended up committing suicide as stated in 1
Samuel 31:4.
Hence, we can rejoice in the
suffering from those trials and tribulations.
While drawing closer to God, we will become more distant from the world
in that our desires and preferences for things will differ very much from
before. God will shake off things and
people from our lives that are not part of His wonderful plans for us. Many a
times, we do not understand what in Jesus’ name is happening. But according to Jeremiah
29:11, God knows; “For I know the
plans and thoughts that I have for you,’ says the Lord, ‘plans
for peace and well-being and not for disaster, to give you a future
and a hope.” That
is when we truly learn to trust God despite the seemingly
chaotic situations, which make no sense whatsoever to our feeble minds. From that perspective, it is
good riddance not that those things and people are necessarily bad in and of
themselves. It just means that they do not fit into the plan of God for that
individual.
When we read Galatians
3:23-24, we see that God had even prepared the world to receive
salvation by faith through the Law. From Romans
2:14-15, we learn that the Law was given to the Jews
only. However, when non-Jews do
instinctively the things the Law requires, it shows that the essential
requirements of the Law are written in their hearts.
For the longest time, I
imagined God is getting me to live a perfectly sinless life until I realized
that it is an impossibility. This is
because even when I think amiss, it is sin.
For example, anger is as good as murder as stated in Matthew
5:21-22. This is the pristine
standard of a perfectly sinless life. For this reason, I am thankful for 1
John 1:7; “The blood of Jesus His
Son cleanses us from all sin”. However,
the Bible says in Galatians
5:13 and 1
Peter 2:16 that we are not to use this precious freedom as an excuse to
continue sinning as a lifestyle. I used
to want to do right in order to please God.
But now that I am in Christ Jesus, I get to do good because God is
already pleased with me. The definitive difference lies in the sense of
condemnation. In times past, I would
beat myself over my mistakes which led to even more mistakes. Now, I rest easy even when I fail because
there is no pressure to please God. I
only get to do better the next time. There will definitely be people who do not
accept that. No big deal. I remain accepted
in the Beloved (Ephesians
1:6, King James Version Bible).
In the process, I learn to enjoy
the gift of no condemnation (Romans
8:1).
James
1:5 follows by saying that if we need guidance during
those tests, we can ask God for wisdom and He will give it generously. In 1
Peter 4:12-14, we are told to not be surprised at the fiery ordeal
which is taking place to test or refine the quality of our faith as though
something strange or unusual were happening to us. But
insofar as we are sharing Christ’s sufferings, keep on rejoicing, so that when
His glory is revealed, we may rejoice with great joy. If
we are insulted and reviled for bearing the name of Christ, we are
blessed, regardless of the circumstances, because the Spirit of glory and of
God is resting on us.
As
believers, we inevitably move against the norm of this world. For this reason, 1
Peter 4:4 says that “In connection with all this, the unbelievers are resentful and surprised that
you do not think like them, value their values and run hand in hand
with them into the same excesses of dissipation and immoral
freedom, and they criticize and abuse and ridicule
you and make fun of your values.” 2 Peter 3:3 and Jude 18 serve as shock
absorbers in that they warn us beforehand of mockers and scoffers in the last
days that we are living in. There comes a time when a decision has to be made.
It is going to be “All-in” or “Not in”.
There is no “Half-ins”. Jesus said in Revelation 3:15-17 that we
are either hot or cold. Lukewarmth is not acceptable. Once the decision has
been made to be hot, we let God fight the battles (2 Chronicles 20:15).
Jesus
Himself said in John
15:20 that “A servant is not
greater than his master.”
If they persecuted Him, they will persecute us through mocking and
scoffing. Again in Matthew
5:11, Jesus Himself encouraged us when He said, “Blessed are you when people insult you
and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil things against you because
of your association with Me.”
Since
the beloved Son of God as Jesus the Man must be prepared for His mission, what
more believers who shall also need to be prepared for their respective
assignments. Ephesians
2:10 says that “We are God’s
workmanship created in Christ Jesus to be used for good works, which God
prepared for us beforehand taking paths which He set, so that we would walk in
them living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us.” God the loving Father has prepared a good
life for us in the here and now; the land of the living. Nonetheless, before
the good life manifests, there is the preparatory stage. I believe most have given up during this
season of preparation and missed out on the good things that God has prearranged
and made ready. When tempted to give up, we resist it with Romans
15:5 and Colossians
1:11.
David
the Psalmist said in Psalm
27:13 that “He would have fainted
if he had not believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the
living”. We can expect
the goodness of the LORD to manifest in our lives in the here and now and not
just in heaven. Whatever the contrary circumstances, God the loving Father will
never abandon us to perish.
We
see from Philippians
2:13 that it is “God who is
effectively at work in us, both to will and to work in us the longing and the
ability to fulfill our respective assignment for His good pleasure.”
It has been preached that God is not looking
for ability. He is looking for
availability. When we avail ourselves to God, He will provide the abilities.
Jeremiah
29:11 tells us that the assignment God has given to
each of us are meant to gives us a future and a hope, for peace and well-being,
and not for disaster.
From
1
Peter 1:6-9, we
also read of this preparation of believers with the ultimate objective of
presenting us as a church in glorious splendor, without spot or wrinkle as
written in Ephesians
5:27. I believe this glory of
the Church is meant for the benefit of the world that we live in as there are
no needy ones in heaven. We are
strengthened to endure so as to comfort others.
The
preparation of the ultimate sacrificial lamb in the Person of the beloved Son
of God as Jesus of Nazareth as the way of salvation had been prophesized by
prophets in the Old Testament as 1
Peter 1:10-12 revealed to us. The prophets who prophesied about the truth of grace did not
know Who the Messiah would be or when He would come. But their prophecies regarding grace have now
been told to us by those who preached the gospel by the power of the Holy
Spirit Who was sent from heaven. We now
know that grace and truth came in the Person of the beloved Son of God as Jesus
of Nazareth as written in John
1:17.
In
view of all the above, the thrust of Mark 15:42 is:
“Jesus was buried on Preparation
Day”
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