“The RoseBouquet”

Pilate had become very accommodating, hadn’t he? When Joseph asked for the body of Jesus to bury it, he got it. When the Chief Priests and Pharisees came to Pilate to ask for a seal and guard around that tomb so that Jesus would not be able to fulfill His prediction that He would rise the third day, Pilate let them have their way too. “Go make it as secure as you know how,” he said..

The story the religious leadership gave was that the disciples might steal Jesus’ body and then say He had risen from the dead. They must have projected on those poor disciples the kind of actions they would take themselves. I’ve not had the impression the disciples were the sort who would attempt such a deceptive move.

The disciples were devastated that their Lord had in fact died. This was not how they had understood Him, nor was it in their minds to plot anything, never mind to pretend Jesus had risen from the dead.

Maybe it’s just as well it was these Chief Priests and the Pharisees who took all these precautionary measures. They themselves sealed that tomb and posted Pilate’s guard, two to four soldiers, who knew if they fell asleep on this watch, they were dead too! This way, when the resurrection happened, these angry Pharisees had no one to point a finger at. They could not point and say, “You should have sealed that tomb!” Or, “Why wasn’t there a guard posted?” They had seen to every security measure.

When I was a child, if we kids tried to plan tricks or traps for one another, my beloved Gra’ma would say very wisely, quoting a verse in Proverbs I learned later, “He who digs a pit for another will fall into it himself.” - Those religious leaders set a trap for themselves.

PRAYER: Lord, we’ve read the next chapter, so we know what happens and we read these verses with that in mind. If I should start an elaborate plot to deceive others, help me to remember that it will spring on me, and hold me up to public embarrassment. I confess, that does seem to be fair retribution. You are a just and fair God. I want to remember that.

+++++Jesus is my King+++++Jesus is my King+++++

Blessings on you Today!
Ruth Marlene Friesen

P.S. I come to the garden alone, while the dew is still on the roses, and the voice I hear, falling on my ear…. Ruthe’s Secret Roses, my novel, illustrates that dear song!