LIVING WORD DEVOTIONAL
By Pastor Mensa Otabil
Saturday 19th April 2025
JESUS’ BURIAL
Scripture Reading: Luke 23:50-56
And the women who had come with Him from Galilee followed after, and they observed the tomb and how His body was laid. Then they returned and prepared spices and fragrant oils. And they rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment. Luke 23:55-56
After Jesus died, some of His disciples prepared His body for burial. Jesus’ burial brought some of His disciples who had remained quiet to the fore. Joseph of Arimathea was a Sanhedrin member who was also a follower of Jesus. He disagreed with Jesus’ conviction by the Jewish council. Joseph was a man of considerable influence described as “a good and upright man, waiting for the kingdom of God”. He asked Pilate for permission to give Jesus a decent burial. That took a lot of courage to do.
The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph to see where Jesus was buried. They might not have known that Joseph was a disciple of Jesus in Jerusalem. Though heartbroken and terrified by the events of the day, the women showed courage and devotion to Christ. They did not run into hiding as some of the men who followed Jesus had done.
The disciples heard Jesus speak about His resurrection many times, but they had no idea how the resurrection would occur. The women’s action in preparing spices for the body of Jesus shows that they might not have understood that Christ would resurrect bodily.
The day after the death and burial of Jesus was a day of waiting. His disciples did not know what to do. They had left Galilea with Jesus, and now He had left them alone in Jerusalem. The women were not waiting for Jesus to resurrect. They were waiting for the Sabbath to be over so that they could go to the tomb to honour Jesus’ body with the proper Jewish burial rituals. The women were aware that their region’s weather conditions could set a body quickly into decay if it were not well prepared for burial.
In the story of the women of Galilee, the biblical accounts help us to see the spirit of devotion and unbelief at work at the same time. The women were very devoted to Jesus, yet did not believe that He would rise from the dead on the third day as He had promised. That condition happens to all of us sometimes. We can seem so devoted to the Lord and do so much to serve Him yet fail to believe the promises that He gives us.
Thankfully, Jesus did not have to rely on His disciples’ faith for Him to rise from the dead.
Prayer:
Heavenly Father, teach me to wait on you when I feel alone and helpless. I know you will turn things around for me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
