Imagine seeing the headline of a newspaper on that first day of the week, Sunday, bearing, ‘Jesus at Galilee.’ It would, for sure, be a huge joke, appreciating the fact that the Lord Jesus was crucified in public. Many people, including Mary, His mum, witnessed the sad and most cruel event. No one was left in doubt that He died, yet, an overzealous solder pierced His side with his arrow. Everybody there noticed that after praying to God to forgive His murderers, He bowed to death. How then could it be possible to meet our Jesus at Galilee, Who Uncle Joseph of Arimathae, buried in his private tomb?
It was only a dreamer that might dream of meeting Jesus at Galilee. The three women, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome, never imagined meeting Him alive. All that they did was to go to the sepulcre to anoint His dead body. If people, including His disciples, knew that He would be met at Galilee, they would have been there too.
The women made financial sacrifices, buying sweet spices they would use in anointing His dead body. It was only someone, who was committed deeply in Christ that could do that, caring for a corpse! If it was to anoint the nobility, many people could do that, since the man would appreciate them. If it was to the Living Jesus, some people might do that also, knowing that He would appreciate them, but not to a corpse! Would a corpse appreciate them? The three women did not bother about that. Their action was driven by love, love for Jesus and love even for His dead body. Only God could tell when they slept or ate food last. Sleeping and eating, when Jesus was in the grave? Some did but not our three sisters!
The Scripture Union, as a young convert in 1972, taught me how to make sacrifices for people without any form of disclosure. When we visited a family that had a new baby, for an example, we would hide the money we would give them under their pillow when they were away from the room. They would see the money later but would not know who gave what. The Scripture Union taught me also how to give generously without expecting any reward, even from God.
As a guest dpeaker at Abakalili Area of the Scripture Union, one year, I told them how I ran free Easter Camps in Lagos for over 15 years, when I was in various leadership positions. I asked them if they would do the same during the next Easter Camp and they agreed. I urged them to make donations towards it. Their response was beyond my expectation. Three members promised to buy a cow, and a member donated a plot of land for building their TS house!
It is noteworthy that the women went to the tomb early in the morning. The Lord Jesus was known to be waking up early in the morning to pray. May we learn to be doing things early. It is good for planning. May we be going early to our places of work, business, church and fellowship meetings.
Life is full of problems, whether we are believers or not. What defines a man’s worth is his attitude to his problems, whether he overcomes them or is overcome by them. I was mocked at and ridiculed when I started to read the GCE London by a correspondence course, including the sciences, when I did not attend the secondary school. I refused to give up. I entered the University of Nigeria (UNN) by Direct Entry with only 50 pounds in my bank, without any support or promise of it from anyone. Thank God, Who I did not know, that after three months, I won the Federal Government Scholarship. How a man handles his problems, distinguishes him from others.
In the situation of the three women, their problem was who would remove the stone that was used in covering the tomb. The tomb was sealed in a way to prevent our Jesus from resurrecting. That problem could have forced them to a retreat but they did not. At the tomb, they saw that the stone had been rolled away. Matt 28:2 tells us that an angel rolled it away and he sat on it to see if anyone would do chikim! I command all stones that cover your promotion, prosperity, destiny, et cetera, to roll away now, in Jesus’ Mighty name!
The angel of God silenced their fears. “You are looking for Jesus, crucified, He is not here. He is risen,” he informed them. He commissioned them to take the Good News to Peter and the other disciples. He made them thus, apostles to the apostles! “Why to Peter?” One may ask. Jesus told His disciples what would befall Him and Peter told Him that he was ready to lay down his life for Him. The Lord Jesus told him that he would deny Him before dawn the next morning. Peter did not accept it but he did deny Him. Unlike Judas, he repented of it. The Lord wanted to reassure him of his forgiveness.
The angel told them to go to Galilee, where they would meet the risen Lord Jesus Who had gone there before them. That was another Good News. Who could ever imagine it, that He would rise from death and go to Galilee, His usual place for miracles? Could the One they berated, telling Him that if He was the Son of God, He should prove it by coming down from the cross for them to see and believe? Praise God that He ignored them. Today, bestowed in power and glory, He had gone to Galilee, for victory comes after warfare. Galilee was a place of rest for the victor. Will you go there?
God desires obedience from His people. The three women obeyed and rushed to Galilee without disclosing the Good News to anyone they met on the way. Are you obedient?
The Lord Jesus commissioned His disciples to go over the wide world and disclose the Good News to people. It is a command for every child of God. The Scripture Union members are committed to it seriously and this is why their ministry is for children, youths and their parents. When the Lord Jesus revealed Himself to the woman of Samaria, she left her pot, with which she had come to the well to fetch water. She went about publishing the Good News to people, starting from her environment. Evangelism to the people, who know our past, is a true sign that someone is born-again.
Do you obey this commission of sharing the gospel anywhere you are? When did you do it last? Do you do so, only when your church sends out the members or the Scripture Union members go out for it? Do you send yourself out for it from time to time? God will bless England richly for their daughter, Dr. Evelyn Whyte, who came to Enugu with the Good News and through her ministration on April 16, 1972, I gave my life to the Lord Jesus and was healed of stomach ulcer that had taken me to many hospitals.
For further comment, Please contact: Osondu Anyalechi: 0909 041 9057; [email protected]