Real Talk

He Ain't Here - Part 1 (John 20:1-2) It is early Sunday morning and in the cover of darkness heartbroken women are going to the tomb of their recently fallen Rabbi, their former Leader, and the One they believed to be Messiah in order to show genuine if not effective kindness (Mark 16:1; Matthew 28:1). Only a few days earlier these devoted followers had watched their innocent Jesus vilified by His enemies, suffering with the results of a scourging that had taken chunks of flesh away from His back, and then crucified before their eyes. And then they saw and heard His pain as He hung on a cross in shame crying out to His Father about being forsaken (Psalm 22:1; Mark 15:34). Finally they saw His body buried (Luke 23:52-55); they were eyewitness to the place of Jesus burial and thus they know exactly where to find it even in the darkness of dawn (John 19:39-40). Their plan is to anoint His bloodied, broken, and now decaying body with an offsetting aromatic collection of spices. Why are they doing this? Jesus' bod