65"Take a guard," Pilate answered. "Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how." 66So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.
I'm amazed in how the chief priests and the Pharisees feared Jesus Christ, even after they put him through so much humiliation, pain, and suffering, leading up to his death. In reading this passage, I could see all the hatred and jealousy they held against him. They called him "that deceiver" and take every possible measure to undermine Jesus's authority. They try to set up traps to ensue that they can suppress Jesus's influence and authority even after they put him in the grave.
I remember something that Dulla told me recently about how Satan sets up traps in our lives to snag us and make us trip and fall. And its not big dilemma or tragedies but little things that are geared to distract us from our responsibilities to God. Each time Satan does this, it discourages us from getting back up and trying again. We need to guard our hearts and be mindful of our surroundings. Most importantly, we have to persevere and fight against his traps. I know it's easier said than done because something like this happened to me yesterday that kept me from coming to church last night for the prayer meeting. Even though I failed to do this, I can't dwell on it and beat myself up. I now understand how easily I let my guard down, which makes me slip up.
On a happy note, I do believe and am learning that even in the little victories in our day to day life build up, it should encourage us to grow in our walk with Christ and to keep on striving to give Him our best, even though we're doomed to fail. We should keep our eyes opens for Satan's traps and snares. Even doing these daily blog faithfully is a little victory that makes us stronger in the end.
3 comments:
thanks for the post michelle :)
it's funny how Pilate and the Pharisees referred to Jesus as a deceiver, yet they take every precaution to make sure His resurrection never happens. there must have been a part of them that had at least a sliver of a doubt about their own beliefs for them to go through all that trouble. yes, there could have been possibility for someone to steal Jesus' body, but i would have imagined it would have been someone who believed in Jesus therefore instead of stealing His body would trust in faith that He would rise again.
Michelle, you bring up a great point about fighting against these traps that Satan sets up. it's the little traps that trip me up the most rather than the big ones. it's a daily struggle and battle, but there is hope knowing that we can defeat Satan with God on our side.
Michelle! Your post made me stop what I was doing and post this comment. I feel so bad and know I often lose the little battles on a daily basis like commenting on the blog. I read our passages every day but I don't take the step to comment on the site bc it will take too much time to type out on the iPhone, or I'm busy with olivia --really all excuses and that is just precisely what Satan wants. So sorry to all for not being an encouragement when I could have been and will try my best to from now on! :)
thanks for your insightful reflection, michelle. it is amazing that pilate, anticipating the possible "theft" of Jesus's body, takes every conceivable human precaution (armed guards, sealed rock), to make the tomb "as secure as [he knew] how". pilate did everything possible to make sure that no human could break in to steal the body, and no human could have. that's what makes the resurrection of Jesus even more irrefutable. there's no other explanation for the "disappearance" of the body.
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