The Glorious Day
Suppose that in your school there is a teacher who you love and honor very much. However, one day, that person suddenly became very ill or was in a serious car accidence, and that person died suddenly; certainly, you are very sad, aren't you? When Jesus was arrested and nailed on the cross, His disciples were also very sad. In fact, they were surprised, terrified, worry, and sad because their loving master was suddenly arrested and executed. After the day Jesus died, His disciples assembled at a boarding-house. Everyone was quiet and sad; no one thought about eating, nor anyone talked to each other. They didn't expect thing happened so fast and terrible like that. Only a week before, He still taught and ate with them at the same table, but today He lied in the grave. Disciples' hearts were in pieces, they couldn't accept a broken-heart fact like that. Their loving master was suddenly arrested and killed unfairly. The disciples were not only sad, but also worry, since they could be arrested and executed like Him. Jesus was arrested on Thursday night. He was judged during that night until Friday morning. After that people announced to execute Him and brought Him to the Place of the Skull (Golgotha). Jesus was nailed at 9 o'clock in the morning, and at 3 o'clock in the afternoon He died. In that night, it was Friday night, God lied down silently in the grave. Everything happened so fast, that caused His disciples terrified and surprised. And then the next Friday and Saturday, His disciples hided in a house blocked very carefully. The environment in that house was very sad and tension. To the disciples, the world seemed to be destroyed completely. They were sad and worry. They were sad because their master was killed painfully; and they were worry because they didn't know what would happen to themselves. Then the first day of the week had come, it was the Sunday of today. That morning, when the sky was still at dawn, there were several women who wanted to visit God's sepulchre. They brought the nice herbs to put on His body. Those women were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome. Because of their love to God, they had cried for several days, so their eyes were considerably swell. Because they were so sad, couldn't sleep, maybe they stayed awake all nights, and waited until it was morning to visit God's sepulchre. Their master died, they didn't have the honor take care of His food, drink, or clothes. Now, to show their respect to God, the only thing they could do was to make sweet spices to anoint His body. Those women walked together through a road in the village. Passing through the gate of the village, they continued to walk on the road to the cemetery. They didn't smile happily as they did several days before; they only walked silently. Suddenly one of them asked: "Who rolled the stone away from the door of the sepulchre for us? That stone is very heavy, how can we roll it?" No one answered because no one had an answer. Those women kept going. When they had came near God's sepulchre, they were surprised to see the big stone covered the door of the sepulchre was moved aside. They didn't know who could move that stone. Since they couldn't wait to see God's face again, they didn't wonder why it had happened that way. The old Isrealites' sepulchre were different as the sepulchres that you have seen today. A sepulchre usually a big stone cage, people could walk into it. In there, people placed a corpse with sweet spices. Sometimes family relatives came to visit and put more sweet spices on the corpse. Because the disciples were too afraid and sorrowful, they forgot what God said before he died. The women also forgot, they didn't remember anything. But God would never forget them. He sent a special ambassador to come and comfort them and reminded them to remember God's words. When they saw the sepulchre's door opened, those women stepped inside, but they didn't see God's corpse anywhere. However, they saw an angel wearing a white garment like snow and sitting at where God was supposed to lie down. The angel's face was brilliant. The women were very affrighted, trembled, then they bowed down with their faces to the ground. The angel said: "Don't be affrighted, are you looking for Jesus who was at Nazareth and just crucified on the cross? He is not here, He is risen! Look at the place He laid down." Seeing those women still wondered, didn't understand, the angel continued: "Don't you remember that before God was killed, He said that He will be risen on the third day? Go and tell His disciples that He will meet them at Galilee as He said before." When the angel finished saying, those women stood up right away and run out from the sepulchre. They shaken with fright, surprised, terrified, and couldn't understand all the things they just saw and heard. Even so, they obeyed the angel's words, and they run home to tell the disciples. The disciples didn't believe it because they thought those women just told a nonsense story. Except Peter and John run to the sepulchre and stepped inside to see; they saw the strips of linen lying on the ground. Both of them went home, and they didn't understand what they had seen neither. One of the three women went to visit God that morning, was Mary Magdalene who was healed by God from the devil. God expelled seven bad devils away from her; therefore, she was thankful to God and loved Him with all her heart. From the day she was healed, Mary Magdalene and the other women followed God to server Him. She came from Galilee at Jerusalem and stayed there during the last days with God. She went with God to Golgotha. While the disciples were hiding, Mary Magdalene with God's mother stood at the foot of the cross; they had seen the moment Jesus stopped His last breath. When people took down God's body to burry, Mary Magdalene also follow them to know where God's sepulchre was. After that she went home and prepared the sweet spices to anoint God's body. Before God prepared to die, He once taught: "Whoever forgiven more will be loved more." This was the case of Mary Magdalene. She was healed from the devil by God and forgiven all her sins; therefore, she loved God very much. When the angel informed that God was risen, Mary Magdalene probably was very sad so she didn't heard what the angel said. Moreover, that was also an unbelievable news because when she didn't see God's body in the sepulchre, she was convinced that someone had took His body to another place. While other people went back home, Mary still attached herself to God's sepulchre. She stayed there and stood near the sepulchre and cried. Crying and looking into the sepulchre, she saw there were two angels, one sat at the head and one sat at the foot. The angel asked: "Lady, why are you crying?" Mary answered: "Because people have moved my God's body to another place, I don't know where they put Him!" Then she went outside and saw Jesus stood right there, but probably Mary's eyes were filled with tear, so she couldn't recognize Him. Jesus asked: "Why are you crying? Who are you looking for?" Mary thought that was the gardener, so she said: "You, if you are the person who moved Jesus' body to another place, please let me know where you have placed Him, so I can come and bring Him home." Right at that moment, Jesus called: "Mary!" She was shocked because this strange person called her name correctly, Mary turned around and looked; she recognized God right away. Too happy, she kneeled down and said:"Rabuni!", that meant "Master!" After she reached out here arms and held God's leg, but God said: "Don't hold me again, since I haven't come to the Lord yet. However, go and tell my brothers that I am coming to My Father and your Father, with my Lord and your Lord." Listened to God's words, heard Him called her name and had chance to look clearly at His face; Mary knew her loving master has been risen, absolutely no doubt. Therefore, she stopped crying but smiled happily. Obeyed God's words, she run to find His disciples to announce the good news. She told everyone she met that: "God is risen! God is risen! I myself have met Him!" QUESTIONS:
To read and listen to other Bible stories, please click here. Written by Minh Nguyen
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