Our traveler sees the soldiers bring down the bodies from the crosses. A man comes whom our traveler does not know, and the man has his servants carry the body of the Messiah away. Our traveler sees the man Nicodemus follow and quietly goes to join him. The man looks at him.
“What is that in your hands?”
Our traveler looks down at the cloth. Something he had once thought was of great worth, “a gift, for Him.”
Nicodemus touches our traveler’s shoulder and they walk together to where the Messiah would be laid.
John 19:38-42 ESV
[38] After these things Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took away his body. [39] Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight. [40] So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. [41] Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. [42] So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.
Nicodemus looks at our traveler once again. “Did you hear what He said? Before the earth shook?”
Our traveler shakes his head.
“He said, ‘Father forgive them.’ He asked for God’s forgiveness for us despite all that pain.”
Our traveler feels his heart tearing apart inside him. “It is kind. We are all to blame.”
“If we believe the prophecies. Then yes.”
“Did you know this would happen?”
“No. But now that it has, the words of the prophets return to my mind, and I feel like I understand a little.”
“Then you are better off than I am. For I understand nothing.”
“Perhaps that is why we met. So when thos day came, I could be here with you. He said something strange.”
Our traveler laughs, “everything He said was strange. Yet, so true.”
“Yes but. Now I recall hearing that he had said if we destroyed the temple He would raise it again.”
“Yes, in three days. It made some of the… I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. It made some of us religious leaders angry. But now I wonder at what He meant?”
“Why now?”
“I’m not sure. It just seems to be important somehow. Now more than ever.”
Sometimes God will bring someone you never expected into your life to help you through the worst times. Sometimes it’s someone you don’t like. Sometimes it’s someone you don’t know. Sometimes it’s a friend or relative. It is always amazing to see how God uses people in our moments of Sometimes. The saddest part of the cross was that Jesus was alone. He died alone. Yes, there were people who loved Him near by, but God turned His face from Him. No matter how surrounded by friend we are, without God we are truly alone. In the same light, it does not matter how alone we are, with God we are never alone.
Jesus was buried for three days. He fought the devil, took the keys and freed those lost to death. For three days He was in a battle and on the third He left the grave victorious. We can also leave the grave in victory, if we choose to die to our old selves and to live with Christ.
Carried in the cross 