Skip to main content

Conversations on the way to the Cross 8: The Resurrection




The guards recover


"What was that??"

"Owwww... my head hurts."

"I'm not surprised, Dan!  You went down like a felled tree - I saw you!"

"You weren't much better, Matt.  You were shaking like a whole bush full of leaves."

"Well at least I didn't faint, did I?  I could have sworn we'd been struck by lightning - but it was a man..."

"Yes, just as we were about to tell those women to get out of here - and where did they go, anyway?"

"That way, I think, in a hurry.  They must have been as scared as we were."

"No, that's not right, that shining guy talked to them!"

"Oh come on, Saul, you must have imagined that."

"No, he did!  He said something like, you're looking for Jesus, but he's risen from the dead."

"Risen?  You mean..."

"Uh-oh..."

"Oh, we are in for it now."

"We are dead.  We are so dead."

"But where did it go?  Where did the body go?"

"The shining man must have taken it!  It's the only explanation."

"But we saw him!  OK, you didn't, Dan, you were out cold, but me and Matt here did... he didn't have a body, did he Matt?"

"No, and look, it's not like someone just grabbed it and ran.  All the wrappings are still there, just as if..."

"... the body went right through them.  Oh, I don't like this, I don't like this at all..."

"Look!  There's more people coming.  We've got to get out of here, guys."

"We'll have to tell the boss."

"Tell him what?  We were on duty the whole time, but now the tomb's open and the body's gone?"

"We'll have to say about the shining man.  And what he said."

"What, Jesus is risen?"

"That's right, we'll say, Sir, an angel came and now Jesus has risen from the dead!"

"Sir, the dead body you sent us to guard has come to life again!"

"Sir, the power of the Almighty removed him from the tomb!"


"...no, but seriously.  What are we going to say?"

Matthew 28:1-10

Other Conversations from the Cross
1: The Donkey
2: The Commotion
3: The Authority
4: The Anointing
5: The Betrayal
6: The Burial
7: The Precaution

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Mr White Watson of Bakewell

Once upon a time, back in 1795 or so, lived a man who was always asking questions.  The kind of questions like, "Why is glass transparent?" or "Why do fruit trees grow better in that place than in this place?" or "What does the earth look like underneath the surface?"  This last question was one that he was particularly interested in, and he went so far as to work out what the rock layers looked like where he lived, and draw little pictures of them.  Now he was a marble sculptor by trade (as well as fossil hunter, mineral seller, and a few other things) so he thought it would be even better to make his little pictures in stone.  That way he could represent the layers using the actual rocks they were composed of.  Over the course of his lifetime he made almost 100 of these tablets, as he called them. Then he died.  And no one else was quite as interested in all those rocks and minerals as he was.  His collection was sold off, bit by bit, and the table...

The Imitation of Christ: Spiritual Formation Book 2

"This is my hope, my only consolation, to flee unto thee in every tribulation, to trust in thee, to call upon thee from my heart, and to wait patiently for thy consolation." The second of my  four books for spiritual formation  is The Imitation of Christ  by Thomas à Kempis.  The introduction to my copy starts off by saying that 21st century readers may wonder why they are bothering, which hardly seems like a recommendation!  I have to admit I finished it with a certain sense of relief, but there were some hidden gems along the way.  It's rather like reading the book of Proverbs.  There's no story or explanation of a theme, but there are astute observations, honest prayers, the occasional flash of humour, and quite a lot of repetition. Thomas à Kempis was a priest in an Augustinian monastery in the 1400s.  Presumably his life conditions favoured the silence and solitude that he advocates for in  The Imitation of Christ , but also gave him opp...

Erewash Valley Trail: Bennerley Viaduct and Great Northern Basin

Once again, Monday was grey and overcast. So you've got a set of photos of Bennerley Viaduct looking moody and menacing rather than bright and shiny. Last time I went there, it rained. I really will have to see it in the sunshine one day. The viaduct car park is a short distance down the Nottingham Canal. This section was set up for intensive angling; there were wooden fishing platforms every few steps. I don't know what the green bags were for.  Bennerley Viaduct came into view over the hedge. This immense wrought iron structure once carried the Friargate line over the River Erewash, two canals, and another railway. Now it stands forlornly in a ravaged landscape which used to be an opencast coal mine. That it still stands at all is amazing, though; it's one of only two wrought iron viaducts left in the country. Since 2022, Bennerley has been open to walkers and cyclists, and a new access ramp has just been built at the eastern end. The visitor centre is still under constru...