The Burial of Jesus
Open Your Bible
Mark 15:42-47, Lamentations 3:1-9, Lamentations 3:19-24, Colossians 1:15-23
BY Bailey T. Hurley
Standing off in the distance, the same women who had watched Joseph of Arimathea take Jesus’s body down from the cross also watched as His body was “laid in a tomb cut out of the rock,” with a stone rolled against the entrance (Mark 15:46). Their Savior, Lord, and friend was now dead and buried.
Can you imagine how they felt? If I had been there to witness the stone being rolled over the entrance—sealing His body inside—I wonder if my waning hope for a Savior King would’ve been sealed inside, too. The darkness and overwhelming sadness of the event must have made Jesus’s trusted followers feel utterly hopeless.
Many of us know what it feels like to believe God has left us. We know what it’s like to doubt. We’ve had our own dark seasons—seasons where we’ve felt susceptible to the attacks of the evil one, lacking all peace.
I have walked through seasons of depression and extreme anxiety and have had the same thoughts as the writer of Lamentations: “My future is lost, as well as my hope from the LORD” (3:18). And in those moments, there doesn’t seem to be a light at the end of the tunnel or an end to the suffering.
For followers of Jesus in that day, it was difficult to see the light at the end of their tunnel. We can now rest on this side of the resurrection, but it’s important to sit in the space where those first Christ followers once found themselves. Sometimes, we need to lean into our questions, doubts, and brokenness with open hands, expectantly waiting for God’s next move. Because even when it seems all is lost, dead and buried and grieved, God is still doing something.
While the disciples hid in their homes, God was busy defeating sin and death. While Mary Magdalene looked at the closed tomb, God was reconciling everything to Himself through Jesus’s blood, shed on the cross (Colossians 1:20). While Jesus’s followers sat with doubt, fear, sadness, and loss, God was faithful to keep His promise to save His people.
In our dark seasons, when we feel hopeless, God is still moving and working things out for our good. There is hope in Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection. “Death no longer rules over him. For the death he died, he died to sin once for all time; but the life he lives, he lives to God. So, you too consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Romans 6:9–11). Jesus is still our one, good hope. May we stay expectant of God’s deliverance.
46 thoughts on "The Burial of Jesus"
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The disciples didn’t know for sure that Jesus would rise from the dead that Saturday before his resurrection. They felt hopeless and alone. As we reflect on this devotional today, let us all rest in the hope we have that no matter how dark our days on earth may be, Jesus is coming back for us one day:) happy almost resurrection Sunday! ❤️
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Thank you, Bailey (and everyone), for this reminder that God IS at work behind the scenes – in the sorrow and the silence.
“The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord .” Lamentations 3:25-26 ESV -
What stood out to me this morning, was the same thing that stood out to many of you as I read comments. “While the disciples hid, God defeated sin and death.”
I can’t imagine how scared they must’ve felt. To them Jesus was dead. They lost hope. So thankful that Jesus defeated death giving us the hope that we all have today that someday we will all be with Him forever. I can’t wait! -
We definitely all struggle with moments when we don’t FEEL close to God…we ask for deliverance and peace but we feel the description in Lamentations 3:7 “i can not get out, he hath made my chain very heavy”…
we might be asking God for some way out and yet we sit trapped in Mark 15:46 “the stone is rolled over the door”….we want deliverance NOW but we’re stuck, but feeling the answer that we’re crying out to God for…but it’s in the waiting that we can stand firm in the promises of God Colossians 1:15 “ Who is the image of the invisible God…” when we can’t see Him, we don’t feel Him, we aren’t getting the rock rolled away…we can cling to the promises in Gods word Colossians 1:20 “having made peace through the blood of his cross by him to reconcile all things unto himself”
…He made peace for us…we have to wait sometimes… but we can trust that he made peace and because of that we can choose to have peace even in the waiting!!!!
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“JESUS paid it all. All to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow”. <3
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Two years ago on Good Friday we buried my 38 year old brother in law. Husband , father to three , son and amazing Christian brother who died by suicide. We don’t know why but we rejoice in the hope one day we will all be reunited together. My favorite holiday is Easter as we have hope in what Christ did for us. I always say One Glorious Day and every time we see a rainbow we hold onto the promise God gives us and when we hear I raise as Hallelujah we all think of that day we will be together. We have had so much loss in our family another brother died to cancer shortly after . Our mom died 8 years ago , two grandmas and a aunt. We long for the glorious day to be reunited all together and I love being able to be drawn closer to Gods Word by She Reads Truth. Thank you for posting, daily reads and podcasts and daily social media posts . I have been touched deeply.
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As I have been reading Mark this week, I wanted to rush through the chapters about Jesus’s suffering and crucifixion and get to his resurrection! But this study has shown me that I need to walk through His pain, sorrow, and humiliation. I need to realize what it cost Jesus to take on my guilt and sin. I need time to lament. But Sunday is coming, and then I will rejoice. Praying for you, Dorothy, and your family. Also praying for all my SRT sisters that today would be a day of reflection and hope.
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Amen!
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