If I could see Easter on a
View-Master (remember those plastic binocular-like contraptions into which you
inserted white paper disks rimmed with pictures that sequenced a story or
showed scenes from lovely places like Yosemite or Yellowstone ?), I know which scene
would be my favorite. There would be
fourteen photos in all (because View-Master disks have fourteen films), and
they would go something like this.
A Palm Sunday scene would get it started, setting the stage for
what was to come. A broken alabaster box would illustrate Mary’s crazy love and
devoted sacrifice. The highlight of the Last Supper would be broken bread and a
cup of wine, revealing God’s new covenant with His people. Judas’ betraying kiss—a head shaking reminder
of our deep depravity—would follow Christ’s earnest prayer in Gethsemane. I would include a slide of Jesus,
compassionate even in crisis, healing the sliced-off ear of Malchus, the high
priest’s servant. A picture of Jesus talking
with Pilate, a shot of him beaten and bruised wearing the crown of thorns, and
then the scene of the angry mob screaming, “Crucify!” would roll through
next. We would see Him stumble under the
weight of His own cross and then stare as He hangs suspended between heaven and
earth—lifted up to be seen and to save.
The next film would be black—as the darkness of our sin extinguished the
Light of the World, and the somber scene of Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus
wrapping Jesus’ body for burial would leave us silent with sorrow. But God saved the best till last, and the
final film would be my favorite.
It’s the picture of
an angel sitting on a stone, but not just any stone—the stone! The stone, described by Matthew as big, which
Joseph “rolled in front of the entrance
to the tomb”(Matt 27:60). The stone
which Pilate’s soldiers sealed and guarded as security against anyone getting
in. But no puny strength of earth could
keep Jesus from coming out, so after He burst forth from the grave in might and
majesty, “an angel of the Lord came down
from heaven, rolled back the stone and sat on it”(Matt 28:2). (Jesus didn’t
need the stone removed so He could get out; the stone was rolled away so we could
see in—and see that the tomb was empty!)
So the angel, after clearing the entrance and causing the guards to
faint, simply sat down on the stone, crossed his legs, and smiled smugly.
It’s my favorite, “Oh
yeah, God’s got this!” moment. It’s a fist-pumping, “What you think is a big
deal is no big deal to the Lord of all,” statement. The angel sat on the stone to show that the finality
of death had been defeated, and we have nothing left to fear. Only Someone left
to love.
View-Master or not, the scenes of our redemption are real. Because of Christ’s death and His life, we
are held in love, we stand in grace, we walk in truth, and we can sit in
triumph—and smile.
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