Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: BURIED (04/01/21)
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TITLE: A Sunday Morning Filled With Wonder | Previous Challenge Entry
By Janice Aylor
04/08/21 -
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I was stunned. Why did Pilate want me? Why did he want the tomb guarded? It was all very strange. I turned around to return to Jerusalem, still wondering what was going on. Most of the way back, all the men were silent. We were all occupied with our own thoughts. I was thinking about my life. I had a wife and family and a good job as far as it went. But what was it all for? Life had no meaning for me any longer. Was my only purpose to do Rome’s bidding?
I heard that the King of the Jews was a miracle worker. He could raise people from the dead, even those who had been dead for four days. He could multiply two small loaves and five fish into enough food to feed five thousand men. He could stop a storm in the middle of a raging sea with just a word. But now he was dead and buried.
Pilate met us and ordered all of us to stay awake the entire night. “Any man caught sleeping will be executed as well as anyone who deserts their post”, Pilate bellowed. Pilate’s orders were to be obeyed quickly and without question.
That night all went well. Everything was quiet and the night passed without incident. Nothing disturbed the serenity of the night or the quietness that overpowered everything.
On Sunday morning I was jolted by an extremely bright light which shown about an hour before dawn. It illuminated the tomb and everything around it. At the same time, there was a great earthquake. One of the men who had been crucified that particular Friday, the one in the center, burst out of his grave. His entire body shone as he ran around, praising his Father.
A few minutes later, two angels appeared. They took up their stations, one at the head and the other at the feet where Jesus had been lying, waiting for the time for him to rise from the dead.
I was rooted to the ground, unable to move, for several minutes. I couldn’t believe what I had just witnessed. All the other men ran away, going back to see the temple priests and Pilate. I thought about what Pilate had said. He said, “The priests want to make sure the disciples of the dead King of the Jews do not have the opportunity to come to the tomb and steal the body. If they get that chance, they could declare later that he has risen from the dead. So I want all of you to guard the tomb until Sunday afternoon.”
I realized something wonderful while I contemplating this. There is no way to explain what happened in the darkness of this Sunday morning. It had to be supernatural. The seal placed over the tomb’s entrance had been forced open by the sheer power of the mighty earthquake. The grave clothes were lying neatly where the body had been. If someone had stolen the body, the grave clothes would have been thrown all over the place, and they would have been far from neat.
The priests from the temple most certainly would have told Pilate and the other Romans in charge that the guards fell asleep and the disciples came and stole the body. However, the Chief Priest and the other priests offered Pilate and the Romans quite a bit of money so that the Romans would not execute the guards for falling asleep on the job.
I feel certain that Jesus really did rise from the dead. This conviction gives me meaning and a reason to go on living. How about you?
**This story is fiction but I used a few passages from the Bible to provide some detail and background.
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