As we approach the time of the Easter season, I have been reading through the gospel of John and the story of Jesus’s death. I still don’t think I can ever fully comprehend the magnitude of the sacrifice our Jesus made for us on the cross, but going deeper into His story has opened my eyes to see the true gift that His death brought for all of us…. that in dying, He has defeated death, and now we may also rise in victory with Him.
“Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus…. With Pilates permission, he came and took the body away. He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. Taking Jesus’s body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with the Jewish burial customs.” -John 19:38-40
At first glance, this seems like a very insignificant passage. Certainly the depiction of the crucifixion itself receives much more attention during this season. However, I was blown away by the magnitude of the message of this passage. From before His birth to long after His death, Jesus’s anthem has been one of exchange- an exchange of death for new life, a promise of restoration from what was once so very fallen. We see that exchange depicted here with the two spices Joseph and Nicodemus used to wrap Jesus’s body in.
Myrrh is an oil that is extracted from a myrrh tree by piercing the heartwood and allowing the gum to trickle out and harden into bitter, aromatic red droplets called “tears”. When the myrrh droplets flows from the tree, they are distilled in bitterness. Most of the time the oil of myrrh was symbolic of death or suffering. Quite fitting for Jesus and the death He had just suffered. In fact, when the wise men brought gifts to Jesus as a baby, one of the gifts they bore was the oil of myrrh. Though the wise men certainly had no idea what they were doing, their gift was a foreshadowing of what was to come in the life of the new tiny King. And as He closed out His life, Jesus’s suffering reached its maximum limit as He chose to take the sin and death of the entire world upon His shoulders- so much so that the Father actually had to turn away from His Son because He could not look at Him. We will never know the weight of such a burden… and yet that is precisely WHY He did what He did. He suffered so that we would not have to. He agonized so that we could be healed.
It’s almost a paradox that out of suffering can come healing. And yet when we look at the other spice, we see that Jesus’s suffering did indeed make a way for such a paradox to become true. Aloe is often spoken of as being an agent of healing and has been used therapeutically for over 5,000 years. A natural immune booster, aloe is said to help with cardiovascular and digestive health. Perhaps the most well-known use of aloe is its healing properties on the skin used to treat burns. Many of us are covered with wounds and scars, though we may not even realize it. We need this healing message. Hurts from our past leave a lasting impact on our hearts, and though we move on, we carry those bruises with us. Friends, Jesus died that our hearts may receive healing from the things in our past that have long left us crippled. When He breathed His last words and said, “It is finished,” He meant it. All the issues that you have been striving to control in your own strength, all the illnesses you have been battling for years, all the addictions that weigh you down, all the guilt that gives way to shame, all the fear that paralyzes you, all of it is finished in your life. When He suffered, He did it once and for all. Now there is nothing that can separate us from His love and nothing that can hinder us any longer from running after His purposes with everything we have. Nothing… and no one… not even the prince of darkness can defeat our Jesus who defeated the very thing that was once the ultimate defeat. Oh death… where is your sting? You have been swallowed up by the victory of our Savior.
“At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.” -John 19:41-42
I think that it is so fitting that Jesus was laid in a new tomb. Why? Because in all of this, He did something that had never been done before. He had gone down to the grave and came back up triumphant, taking back the keys to the gates of Hell once more and opening up a new way that we may come to the Father. He did a new thing …. and continues to do a new thing in all of us that have a relationship with Him.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” -2 Corinthians 5:17
“Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” -Isaiah 43:19
My friends, as we approach this time of remembrance in thankfulness for Jesus’s death and in celebration of His victory over death, may we also share in His victory in our lives. No matter what you are facing right now, there is great victory ahead. The battle has already been won and the enemy is defeated in your life. Let’s go together to the familiar garden, where Jesus went often to pray, where He was eventually arrested, and buried. Let us sit beside quiet streams and allow our Good Shepard to lead us, heal us, and renew our strength once more.
Happy Easter!
Rachel
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