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Mark 16: 1-4 When the Sabbath was over, Mary
Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome brought spices so that they
might go anoint Jesus’ body. . . . [O]n their way to the tomb . . . they asked
each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?” But
when they looked up, they saw that the stone . . . had been rolled away. (NIV)
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Difficulties and obstacles are God’s challenges to our faith.* |
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I see a good news/bad news scenario in
this passage. The bad news: the women were worried that the stone blocking the
entrance to Jesus’ tomb would prevent them from accomplishing their task. Worry is always bad news. The good news: in spite of their worries and in spite of
not knowing how it was all going to work out, they proceeded with their
mission. Going forth in faith is
always good news.
Jesus
spoke often about the perils and pitfalls of worry (as did Paul and Peter); he
also mentioned that faith could move mountains. Like the women in these verses,
we worry too much about those big obstacles that we can’t possibly move on our
own. We can’t worry enough to budge those heavy obstructions. If we know we
can’t move them, why can’t we trust God to move them for us?
What
does that kind of trust in God look like? It looks like the women in our story
– minus the worry. We demonstrate our faith by going forth in faith, equipped
for the mission with the physical tools we need and the faith that God will
roll the stone away – or send an angel to do it for us.
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We can either look at the circumstances surrounding us or we can see Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.* |
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