This Very Day

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

THIS VERY DAY

Matt 27:57-61

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.

NIV

Matthew does not give us the fact that Nicodemus helped Joseph of Arimathea take the body of Jesus from the cross, however, John gives us all those details. Joseph had to go to Pilate to get permission for it was unusual for a person to die this quickly on a cross of crucifixion. Normally it was a long-drawn-out, excruciating, process. Still, because it was the time of the Passover, the Jews entreated Pilate to have their legs broken so death would come more quickly so that the Passover would not be defiled. But Jesus was already dead when the Roman soldiers came to break the legs of the three men on the cross, which also fulfilled the prophet's word that not a bone would be broken. Again, Jesus was in charge of the situation, and the Spirit was working through Joseph and Nicodemus to do that which needed to be done and get Jesus in the tomb before sunset and the beginning of Passover so that by Jewish counting, his body would be in the tomb three days. There is still much debate as to where Jesus was during the time this body was in the tomb. It was not until the Nicene Creed was developed some three hundred years later that the idea of Jesus going to hell to rescue those holy men who were held in the bosom of Abraham in hell or hades. What Peter says is the basis of this belief. Some say that it wasn’t until Jesus went to hades and suffered there that our salvation was not complete. However, that cannot be correct as Jesus said when he gave up his spirit, that it was finished, complete, done, and over with. Nothing more had to take place, and then what do we do with the fact that Jesus told the one thief on the cross that recognized Jesus as Lord, that today, this very day, he would be in paradise with Jesus, which Luke records for us. How can the body of Jesus be in the tomb, and the spirit of Jesus be in hades, while at the same time be in paradise with the thief? It is possible that in a flash, in a twinkle of an eye, Jesus rescued those holy men who were in the place of the dead, which was not the place of burning torment, hades, or hell as most people think them to be. We know from the narrative of the death of the beggar Lazarus and the rich men, that the rich man went to a hot place of torment and the beggar was in the bosom of Abraham with a large chasm between them. So then if anything at all, Jesus went to those who were in the bosom of Abraham, which included Abraham, and took them with him to paradise that very same day, leaving those across the great chasm still in that hot tormenting place, we might call hell or hades. Then we would have to believe Jesus never descended into hell itself or experienced any kind of torment or suffering, but merely grab the holy men on the other side of the chasm and took them immediately into paradise along with that thief on this very day. The scholars can argue and try to explain what Peter meant, but we know want we know in our spirit. However, for now, the body of Jesus was covered with spices and linen and laid in a new tomb that had never been used before, and there sitting were women filled with grief because they thought Jesus was dead. Did that question? Were they wondering how someone who declared himself to be the Son of God be dead? Maybe somehow deep within they were sitting there waiting for Jesus to get up and come out from the tomb, but we know that is not the case because of what they did later. Still, here lays the body of Jesus, but he is still not there, he is about doing that which God always does, save souls. It does give us the confidence to know our soul is saved and that when we breathe our last, that very day, we will be in paradise with Jesus, no matter what happens to our body.