STONE SOLVER
By Steve Bietz
Burke County
Sundown was staring them in the face. It happens now and then. Trying to race the sun and get what we need to finish before sundown. Try and try to keep up with the sun but it’s sinking. The ladies had been in the funeral procession to the cemetery and now they realize that their task of preparing the body of Jesus for burial was not going to be finished before sundown. The Sabbath was approaching quickly.
Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea had accomplished a great kindness by just getting Jesus off the cross and to the tomb before the sunset. So, we see the ladies discussing options to come back and finish. They decide to rendezvous at sunup on Sunday morning. As the ladies begin to walk away from the tomb, they watch as a heavy large stone is positioned in front of the opening to the tomb. See you Sunday.
True to their word, the ladies keep their Sunday morning appointment and are making their way back to the gravesite. We are not told which lady thought of it first, but Oh No… the Stone! We read about it in Mark 16:1-3…
“Now when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome brought spices, that they might come and anoint Him. Very early in the morning, on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen. And they said among themselves, “Who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us?” Ah yes, a stone problem that needs a stone solver. We can’t get past the stone.
Admittedly, we all have a stone problem. As I sit here and count them, I find that I have 14 keys on my keychain. With those keys, I can open a good many doors. I have keys to my house, my cars, my safety deposit box, and several to my Morganton Seventh-day Adventist Church and our Silver Creek School and gym.
I even have a key on my keychain that I have no idea what door it opens, but I’m afraid to remove it thinking I may find out some day and wish I had that key. One key you and I cannot find on our keychain is the key to the grave. We need a Stone Solver for that particular lock.
The ladies are fretting about the stone that they had witnessed being pushed in front of the tomb opening. Who can solve their stone dilemma? Little did the ladies know that the key to death and the grave is on the keyring of Jesus Christ.
That is what we see as John relates to us what he sees in vision while incarcerated on the Island of Patmos. In that vision, John describes seeing a remarkable Being with feet like brass, hair as white as wool even as white as snow. And the Being had eyes like flames of fire and out of His mouth, John saw a sharp double-edged sword.
I think I would have responded just like John for he tells us that he fell at this Being’s feet as if he were dead. And John would write that this obviously Holy Being was One like the Son of Man. That term, Son of Man, was a name that Jesus had often labeled Himself with while on earth as one of us. And then in Revelation 1:18, we see a marvelous picture of a keychain. “I am He that lives and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys to the grave and death.” Now that’s a keychain!
The ladies come to the grave and must have been astonished, as they see that their stone problem had been solved. He Is Risen! We need a Stone Solver because we do not have the key to the grave on our keychain. But how glorious a thought it is to know that our Lord and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, has such a key.
As we enjoy Easter, we can have such wonderful confidence that there is a Stone Solver. The stone in front of His grave could not hold Him, and on that Day Of Resurrection, Jesus will take His Key and solve our stone problem as well.
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Steve Bietz is the pastor at Morganton Seventh Day Adventist Church. You can read more good Christian news from Pastor Steve Bietz HERE.
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Blue Ridge Christian News covers Burke County, McDowell County, Mitchell County, Yancey County, Madison County, in North Carolina, and Christian news from around the country.
