Matthew 27:57-66
57 As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. 58 Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. 59 Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, 60 and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away. 61 Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb.
62 The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. 63 “Sir,” they said, “we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ 64 So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.”
65 “Take a guard,” Pilate answered. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.” 66 So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.
Preparation Day
Spend a few moments in silence quieting your soul to receive from the Lord. Ask God to help you find your place in the biblical story through a word or phrase that “jumps out at you.”
Prayer:
Lord, how will I prepare for your resurrection?
Believing what I see and laying to rest any possibility of hope
or seeing what I believe; the power of God raising the lifeless in me?
In this day of preparation I recite the prophetic words:
“Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?”
I will recite them until the morning hours reveal
a rolled back stone,
an empty tomb,
the voice speaking, “Do not be afraid,”
hope forever satisfied.
This day I prepare my body to be your sanctuary for glorious resurrection worship.
With confidence I wait for the light of morning in my heart to proclaim, “. . .thanks be to God!
He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
In Jesus’ name,
Amen.
