ALIVE: Chapter 185, The Eighth Day

Being the last person to leave Hades, Jesus was free to pick a mountaintop upon which to enjoy His much needed Sabbath rest. Some angels thought that they hadn’t seen God, the Son, so needful of rest since the first Sabbath after they topped off Creation with all the animals and Adam and Eve.

Thoughts of spending the day and night on Mt. Sinai perked Jesus up. Sinai! Perfect. He always wanted to go there while still human. The Law is life. The Law. How devoted Jesus was to the Law, every single commandment of His Father. How perfectly He obeyed, and yet, it was for their misunderstanding of the Law (what is work?) that He was criticized. Ironic. Yes, Sinai was the perfect healing place. While on the Holy Mountain Sinai, just as on that day three years earlier in Jericho after He was grilled by Satan, Jesus needed the angels and He needed the Sabbath rest.

Dozens of angels and archangels met Him there to minister to Him. They chanted, they chatted, they performed tricks to return laughter to His heart.

As much as He wanted to, Jesus hadn’t ascended to His Father yet. He died as a human and He was still a human. He had one more person to bring back to life from the dead and that was Himself. Jesus grinned as He remembered the jeers, “If you are the Son of God, come down from that cross. Save yourself!” Nah, too easy, too soon. After leaving Hades and annihilating it, He needed to prove that He had conquered death. That He was alive. Flesh and blood alive. Eating and breathing alive.

He had one more feat to perform. He had to free the living from the slavery of sin, one person at a time. That would take a miracle.

More than the pain and humiliation of the crucifixion, and even more grueling than taking upon Himself the sins of humankind as the Lamb of God, Jesus needed to recover from the shock of being in Hades. After all, He didn’t know what to expect, which was why He had to become human and be crucified in the first place. It was so gloomy and horrible. If it wasn’t for seeing John the Baptist, David, and some of the prophets there, the pit of Hades would have been unbearable. The hodgepodge of good and the evil, the friends of God and His enemies captured together in one dark dungeon tormenting each other was even worse than the tumultuousness of good and evil wrestling against each other on earth and within each human soul.

Those souls in Hades who recognized Jesus, greeted Him warmly, although it was impossible for them to be genuinely happy, since they had grown accustomed to the malaise of Hades. Jesus shuddered to think back on what He saw there. The effect of the curse of death on both the holy and the hellish darkened the magnificence of Creation. It was time for sorting.

Gazing at the Sabbath sun setting on the distant horizon from the top of Sinai, Jesus was reminded that He needed to prepare for His  resurrection to prove that death had no hold on Him. “Jesus, we need to be going.” said Archangel Michael.

“What a view!” replied Jesus admiring the blazing red sky. “I’m going to miss being human.  This planet looks so beautiful from here. I only traveled between Galilee and Judea, there is so much more to see. I loved walking.”

“Remember, you went to Egypt.” reminded Michael. “Besides, you have the nebula to admire. These humans don’t have that.”

“Yeah, but I was too young to remember much of Egypt, except our neighbor. I loved her. Thanks for reminding me. I will need to make sure she finds out who I am. She will be so surprised.”

After the sun fell behind the Judaea horizon of that holiest of holy Sabbaths during the fourth watch of night, the Archangels Michael and Gabriel accompanied Jesus from Sinai back to the tomb. After the angels, bright and beautiful, illuminated the dark cave, Jesus reentered His beaten and bruised body. He lifted the cloth from His face, opened His eyes, sat up and looked around. He looked down and saw the dried blood where the soldier pierced Him. Then He closed His eyes again and asked His Father to restore His body.

He felt His beaten body heal while leaving scars for evidence. He  returned to the perfection of Adam at creation, before the curse of death ever haunted humankind. His mission, until He ascends to His Father will be to reveal the essence and capabilities of the original and future human being. He looked forward to relaying His parting lessons outside the synagogue. It was time to introduce all nations to the one true God.

Instead of an ethnicity, the chosen people of God would soon be related by their baptism, by obedience, humility, and faith, and in their bodies too through the Eucharist, holy medicine, the antidote of sin. They would be true children of God. Such a transformation of humankind was certainly worth dying for.

…

As Jerusalem slept, having fully regained His strength, Jesus first  wiped away the myrrh and aloes which had retained their fragrance through the night. Lower angels swept the cave clean.

Jesus jumped off the sepulcher and stretched His arms and legs. He folded the face napkin. Looked up at the angels with a smile who smiled back. He easily walked through the stone that had been placed at the mouth of the sepulcher to prevent anyone from stealing His body. He chuckled at how easy that was, and how pathetic His enemies were.

Outside, He took a deep breath of the fresh morning air. He felt great! He remembered that on the eighth day all baby boys were circumcised to receive the mark of the covenant between God and His chosen people. Well, here it was the first day, but also the eighth day. The sign of the new covenant would be engraved on their hearts, the place of spiritual procreation. Boys and girls alike would receive the invisible mark of the new covenant.

Light accompanied Him as He walked around soaking in the joy of being human on earth. He was sorry that these final days would be numbered, 40 to be exact, just as with Moses on Mt. Sinai when he retrieved the Ten Commandments, or the 40 days of the flood, or the forty days He fasted after His baptism. He looked forward to the surprise on the faces of the ladies who would soon be coming.

More than the imminent surprise, knowing the magnitude of what had transpired after the crucifixion, on Passover Sabbath and today, the eighth day, the seeds He planted for a new world is what brought Jesus the most satisfaction. He foreknew the tortures His martyrs would endure, and He knew that He would be with them to help them get through the mutilation of their bodies, but their souls would grow stronger and stronger as they endured until the end, which would be their arrival in Paradise. As He tricked Satan by allowing Himself to be crucified so He could go to Hades, so would His followers trick evil of all kinds by enduring it to received their own crowns of glory. A moment of pain for an eternity of joy, like childbirth. What brought gladness to His heart was the realization that the holiest of humankind could go to Paradise instead of Hades to wait for the new world, and that they could be there together.

…

Back in Jerusalem, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James who was sleeping next to her woke up while it was still dark. They had felt such anguish during the crucifixion, that the Passover Seder seemed unreal as they went through the motions. Ordinarily after crying so much, they would sleep, but not that night, none of these ladies lady slept well. Magdalene said whispered to her friend so as not to wake up the men, “Do you want to go to the tomb with me now to anoint Him with the spices and oils [we prepared yesterday]?”

“I’m ready.” Mary replied eagerly.

Salome from Galilee heard the ladies and said, “I’m coming too. I’m awake.”

“Me too.” added Joanna groggily.

“Of course.” whispered the other ladies in unison. “Let’s all go.”

Without another word, the ladies dressed and folded their blankets. Joanna picked up the satchel of spices. Magdalene quietly opened the door and they all tiptoed out into the darkness of predawn leaving the snoring men and His mother in a deep refreshing sleep.

Heading up the narrow streets to the sepulcher the ladies walked slowly, somberly, and carefully to avoid tripping on the cobblestones. Joanna was careful not to spill the precious spices. Day slowly broke through the darkness.The closer they got to the tomb, the harder their hearts beat from fear and grief. They still couldn’t believe that their Lord was dead. It all happened so fast. Each lady succumbed to weeping while hiking up the last stretch of well worn trail to Golgotha.

Salome said, “I’m sure there will be a boulder in the mouth of the tomb. How will we move it?”

Joanna replied casually,  “Let’s wait until that is a real problem, before we try to solve it.”

“Here come the ladies.” said the angel to Jesus, “You had better hide!”

Jesus scurried behind a tree to watch for the ladies to arrive.

When they finally reached the tomb where He had been laid, suddenly the earth quaked under them. The ladies lost their balance and fell to the ground.

Mary Magdalene, propping herself up, spotted an angel of the Lord descend from heaven, approach and with a touch roll away the stone, and sat on it. She blinked several times to make sure it wasn’t just an apparition. The angel’s appearance was as lightning, and his robe was as white as snow.

The other ladies stared as they saw the stone roll away presumably from the quake of the earth, but they didn’t see the angel.

All four ladies were dumbfounded and paralyzed with fear as they picked themselves up.

With the stone fully out of the way, one by one each lady composed herself and brushed herself off. They peaked inside the opening of the tomb which which was drenched in light as bright as a summer midday and saw that Jesus was not there.

Joanna said, “Mary, are you sure this is the right tomb?”

“Yes, of course Joanna. I’m positive. Besides, what other tomb of a dead man would be so bright and have the sheets folded so neatly. Don’t you see the angel?”

Joanna shrugged her shoulders and tiptoed inside the tomb followed by the others.

Entering into the tomb, they all saw a young man sitting on the right side, arrayed in a white robe; and they were amazed. 

Suddenly, the frightened ladies heard a voice saying, “Fear not; for I know that you seek Jesus who has been crucified. He is not here. He has risen, even as He said He would. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.”

They tiptoed around for a closer look at the folded death clothes on the empty sepulcher.

After pausing while the ladies looked around, the angel added, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen: remember how He spoke to you when He was in Galilee? He told you that the Son of Man must be delivered up into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again. Today is that day, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday! This is a new day! It is the eighth day. No longer will it be known as the day to return to work.”

“Where is He?” said Salome.

The man replied, “He is risen; He is not here. Go, tell his disciples and Peter that He will meet them in Galilee. You all will see Him there.”

Mary Magdalene was the first to say, “Thank you!  Come ladies, there is nothing more to see here.”

Joanna dropped the satchel of spices and oil there in the tomb, and followed, smiling at the bright man in white as she passed him.

On the way out they passed the other brilliant angel again and feeling more comfortable after the shock, they smiled, nodded, and walked briskly away trembling with astonishment.

The second brilliant angel repeated, “Go and tell His disciples that He is risen as He said, “Go to Galilee!”

“Oh my!” said Mary the mother of James. “This is astonishing.”

Echoes of good byes and ‘thank yous’ trailed the rushing ladies down the mountain. Soon bewilderment swept into their minds. He wasn’t there, but where was He?

Mary Magdalene who was lagging behind the others in deep contemplation because she still wasn’t sure what to believe, and looking down to make sure of her footing, noticed a man standing nearby; she planned to walk by Him. Then she heard Him say, “Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for this early in the morning?”

Mary Magdalene, supposing the man to be the gardener replied, “Sir, if you have taken Jesus away from here, please, I beg of you, tell me where you laid Him, and we will take Him away.”

Jesus said, “Mary.”

Recognizing His voice she said to Him in Hebrew, “Rabboni!” She rushed over to Him and fell at His feet. She touched them and worshipped Him, saying “My Lord, my Lord! You ARE alive! Glory to God! Glory ! Hallelujah.”

Jesus said, “Don’t be afraid, but don’t touch Me! I have not yet ascended to the Father: but go to my brothers, and tell them that I will ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God. Tell them to meet Me in Galilee.”

Jesus then disappeared. Mary looked around for Him and when sure He was gone, she went to catch up with the other ladies heading back to tell them that she saw and spoke to Him!

She squinted her eye to see how far ahead her friends were down the path.

After hearing that Mary Magdalene had actually seen Jesus, the ladies merrily descended Golgotha and entered the city without saying a word to each other because they were all still afraid of the priests, and at the same time overjoyed. They passed men and women preparing for the day, removing their clothes from the line and children playing as if this was a normal day. Instead thought Joanna, this day is like a brand new day! I want to call it the Lord’s day!”

The ladies walked as fast as they could without running.

Magdalene was the first to reach the door and thrust it open. The men were all awake by then, still looking sullen. “Brothers! Our Lord is risen! I have seen Him!”

Thomas said, “Are you crazy?!”

The other Mary added, “We went to the tomb and we saw angels. They told us that Jesus was risen and to meet Him in Galilee. Let’s go!”

“Now I know you are crazy.” added Thomas.

Matthew said, “I don’t believe you.”

Mary Magdalene blurted, “I saw Him with my own eyes! He spoke to me. He told me that He will see you in Galilee.”

A few others echoed, “I don’t believe you either.”

Meanwhile, Peter stood up and rushed out of the house.

Mother Mary was beaming. She didn’t need to see for herself.

John said, “I’m coming too!” and started running, soon passing Peter.

…

When John arrived at the tomb first, he stooped and peaked inside. He saw the linen cloths sitting on the sepulcher. Peter arrived, put his hand on John’s shoulder and pushed him back and said, “I’m going in.” Peter entered the tomb first. It smelled so good in there!

Peter noticed the napkin that covered Jesus’ face rolled up in a place by itself. John then entered the tomb. He looked around but saw nothing else, no angels. All Peter could do was go back confused wondering what happened. They were both so shocked that they didn’t remember that Jesus told them that He would rise on the third day.

John said, “What should we do? Should we go to Galilee?”

Peter replied, “Let’s go back first and tell everyone. His mother will be so surprised.”

John said softly, “No she won’t.”

…

Meanwhile, two soldiers who had been hired to guard the tomb had fallen into a deep sleep. When the sun woke them up, they were afraid to see Peter and John in the empty tomb looking around.  They stealthily left and went into the city and the synagogue and confessed to the chief priests what had happened.

“We are so sorry! Please don’t punish us!” said the bravest more honest one. The other soldier nodded emphatically.”

The shrewd priests conferred among themselves said. “If we punish them the people will think that we are lying and that the culprit performed a miracle after all. We will never hear the end of it.”

“Yes, we will lose the people who agreed with us to crucify Him. Let’s go to the elders and ask them what we should do.”

“We’ll be right back. Don’t go away. You’ve caused enough harm!” said a priest to the lousy guards.

The elders, being older and wiser than the chief priests conferred with each other and came up with a plan.

The chief priests returned immediately with shekels from the elders.

“We won’t punish you. Just take these shekels and spread the word that His disciples took the culprit in the middle of the night, when you were asleep, which is probably what happened.”

The other priest added, “If or when Pilate hears this, we will persuade him that it happened that way, and you won’t be blamed. Now go.”

The guards took the money, and did as they were told. This is the story that was spread abroad among the Jews, who believe it to this day.

The only problem, that they couldn’t hide, was that it wasn’t true, and Jesus would prove it every day for centuries to one person at a time.

…

Later that same day, the first day of the week, when some were  returning from work, two followers were walking to a village named Emmaus, which was threescore furlongs from Jerusalem. They were talking to each other about the crucifixion as they walked. While they were walking and talking Jesus approached to walk with them. Thinking He was a normal stranger they greeted Him politely.

Jesus said, “What are you fellows talking about?”

Looking sad, one of them, named Cleopas, answered, “Are you the only one in Jerusalem who doesn’t know what happened and what is happening these days?”

Jesus replied, “What things?”

The other man replied, “The things concerning Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him up to be condemned to death, and crucified Him.”

Cleopas broke in adding, “We hoped that it was He who would redeem Israel. And besides, today is the third day since He was hung on the cross.”

The third man added, “We heard that certain women of our company went to the tomb early this morning and said that they didn’t find His Body! They said, that they had seen a vision of angels, who told them that He was alive.”

The other man, Simon, chimed in, “Other people went and they came back saying they didn’t see His body there either.”

Jesus listened to these men while grinning in His heart. When they finished, He said, “O foolish men, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Didn’t you know that the Messiah had to suffer these things, to enter into His glory?”

Cleopas gazed at the stranger quizzically.

While they continued to walk, Jesus, being the great teacher that He was, expounded on the prophets, starting with Moses and Daniel, Isaiah and the others interpreting scriptures concerning the Messiah until they came near their destination.

Jesus stopped and said He needed to go another way.

Cleopas grabbed His forearm and said, “No please don’t go. Stay with us, it’s almost evening and the day is over.”

Jesus replied, “Okay.” The men all went into a boarding house together and sat down for a meal and rest. Jesus took the bread from the basket and blessed it and then broke the loaf in pieces and handed a chunk to each of His traveling companions.

No sooner did He do that then all of a sudden it hit them at once! ‘No one knows the scripture as well as this man, except Jesus. The report that He is alive is probably true! This man must be Jesus! And Jesus is therefore the Messiah that He had been describing through the prophets!!!’ That same thought ran through the men’s minds like thunder, loud, frightening, and real.

No sooner did they have this revelation than Jesus vanished.

Stunned and silent, the men sat there, glaring wide eyed at each other. Heads spinning while looking around for Him. It was too much to absorb, but it was reality and they had to process what had just happened. They were walking and talking with, not just Jesus, the rabbi, alive who had been crucified, but with the Messiah of God! Weaker constitutions would have fainted. But they were Jewish men.

After a while, processing the shock of that, when they were ready to speak, Simon said, “I knew it!!!  Wasn’t our hearts burning while He was talking to us about the scripture while we were walking?”

“Yes, yes, yes.”

“Let’s go back to Jerusalem right now. I don’t care that it’s getting dark. We have to tell His disciples! They will be at His mother’s house still holding shiva, but not!! I think we will find them there.”

Indeed they did.

“Let’s go.” said Cleopas. The men stood up right then and went back on the road that connected Emmaus with Jerusalem and retraced their steps.

Hours later, in the dark beginning of the second day, they reached the familiar home and knocked on the door. They heard Thomas ask who it was, since they were afraid that the chief priests would be coming after them too.

“We are friends: Cleopas, Simon, and Saul, we bring good news.”

Thomas open the door ajar, looked at the men and then opened wider to let them in. Without a greeting, Cleopas blurted out, “The Lord is risen indeed! He appeared to Simon!” Simon nodded his head enthusiastically.

Thomas said, “Come in gentlemen, come in! Tell us what you saw.” The men took turns recounting the events on the road to Emmaus and at supper, especially during the breaking of the bread.

While they were talking to the disciples and Mother Mary, Jesus appeared!

Eleven pair of bulging eye focused on the living breathing Jesus, Son of Mary, Son of Man, Son of God, the Messiah who just appeared in their midst. They were flabbergasted.

As if this was a normal visit, Jesus calmly scanned the group, then He spoke, “Peace be to you.” In other words, don’t be afraid.

But they were. They were terrified. They all figured it must be a ghost, an apparition.

Jesus tried to convince His disciples that while He had overcome death, He was still as human as ever. “Why are you so troubled? Calm down. See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: touch Me, and see. A ghost doesn’t have flesh and bones. I do! See!” Jesus held out His hands. Then He grabbed Peter’s hand and shook it. The He stomped His feet loudly. “Did you hear that?”

Everyone was so glad to see Him. But they were still trying to figure out how He returned from the dead, except that a few of them had seen Lazarus revived after 4 days! That was different, Lazarus had been sick. Jesus was scourged and nailed to a cross.

Jesus broke the awkward silence by saying, “Mom, I’m hungry.”

Mary smiled, she was the least surprised. Her Son had prepared her for this moment. “Yes my love, coming up.” She went into the kitchen and brought out smoked fish, figs, and bread.

“Thank you.” Then He looked around, smiled and said, “Now watch this.” And He ate to prove He was alive and human, relishing the food and the opportunity to demonstrate His annihilation of death.

After swallowing, Jesus looked at them and said again, Peace be unto you: as the Father has sent Me, even so send I you.”

Then He took a deep breathe and blew His breath on them, and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whosoever sins you forgive, they are forgiven of them; whosoever sins you retain, they are retained.”

The first day ended, the day when Jesus went back to work after His Sabbath rest. There was much to accomplish during His last 40 days on earth, but not as much as during the following millennia when He in His Father and with their Holy Spirit would transform the world—when the first day (Light BE!) and the eighth day (circumcision-covenant, resurrection-covenant) unite  and are called The Lord’s Day, a second Sabbath day of rest. Never again to be the day to return to work.

John 1:10-13

He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But to those who receive Him, to those who believe in His name, He gave the right (the essence, the power) to become children of God —children born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but they are born of God.    

And live happily ever after. True. And live happily ever after. True.

ALIVE: Chapter 184, it’s Sabbath

Genesis 2:1-3. Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their multitude. And on the seventh day God finished the work that He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all the work that He had done. So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that he had done in creation.

Exodus 19:20-21. When the Lord descended upon Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain, the Lord summoned Moses to the top of the mountain and Moses went up. Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go down and warn the people not to break through to look; otherwise many of them will perish.”

Exodus 20:1-3 Then God spoke all these words: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, you shall have no other gods before Me.”

Exodus 20:8-11. “Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work - you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the seventh day and consecrated it.”

…

Jesus’s work was finished on the sixth day when Hades was emptied, as was God’s work finished on the sixth day when Adam and Eve were made. God the Father rested, and God the Son rested. God rested. He rested after He delivered the prisoners of Hades, a feat equal to releasing His chosen people from Egypt. Egypt, where they went to find freedom from famine and ended up in slavery for over 400 years. Fleeing to Egypt turned out to be a terrible disappointment. As when God created mankind. Like corruption. Like illness. Like failure. Like war. However, in the long run, God is far sighted. He uses evil like a dark color on an artist’s palette, to teach, to test, to mold, using it for the formation of His ultimate great design. There is a place and time for Paradise, a perfect holy beautiful pure world and this earth is not it. It’s the first phase.

All the followers of Jesus rested. All the haters of Jesus rested. The Pharisees rested as did the chief priests. Levi rested and Judah rested. It was a sacred day. An invisible chasm between the old covenant and the new, deeper than the Grand Canyon was temporarily filled with rest on this unique day among the billions of years since the first day. In God’s mind this Sabbath was a replica of the very first unique holy hallowed Sabbath, when He sat back pleased with His Creation, calling it good and especially mankind calling it very good. That first Sabbath like this one began at sunset, as did the last two days of creation  (after the sun was created on the 4th day). It wasn’t sleep. It was rest. Wakeful, alert, conscious rest. Holy rest.

Jesus rested somewhere.

On the first day of Creation, God said, “Light be.” And a bright light appeared out of what had been only darkness and void. His only begotten Son is called Light of Light, true God of True God, begotten, not made. And on this particular 6th day, the day that marked the completion of creation, the Son of God was hung to die on the Cross and darkness covered the earth. The entire earth, an eclipse of the sun sat in darkness. This overlay reveals something very important to see.

The old covenants had been fulfilled. The first with Noah that he would be fruitful and multiply to repopulate the earth. An addendum of this covenant being that there would never again be a flood that would destroy the whole earth. The sign of the rainbow is a sign of that covenant between the earth and God and Noah.

The second covenant was with Abraham and his offspring, that they would inherent the land, and become a numerous nation. The sign of this covenant is circumcision of the males. This covenant was confirmed with Abraham’s sons, Isaac and Jacob and is repeated to this day. Isaac who was nearly sacrificed by his father, ended up living for 180 years, and Jacob’s 12 sons kicked off the making of that promised nation.

The newest covenant of God invited all nations and peoples of the earth into the fold of God’s chosen people, each living person is called to be as faithful as Noah and Abraham. Humans, the crown of His creation, are free to drawn near to Him to be considered for entry in the Book of Life. Israel went to sleep after the Passover Seder that followed the most intense day, the Crucifixion of the Son of God.

The Lord God was pleased. It was truly finished. Seeds for populating a new earth and a new heaven were planted in rich fertile soil.

The moon washed over them like a halo in the dark starry sky. This would be the very last night of the dying old world from the moment of the curse, through millennia of destructive conflicts, wars, pain, tortures without a path out. Death was met at the end of every road. But from the sixth day, eve of Passover, there was no Hades to fall into, there was only judgment.

Israel, Jacob’s tribes of sons who birthed the nation, woke up with the sunrise to continue to enjoy their Sabbath of Passover rest. This day of rest was packed full of contemplation of the crucifixion for some, of the first Passover for others, of frenetic worldly thoughts for others. The fast of matzoh wouldn’t allow the people of God to forget the rushed flight out of there. The first born in their homes fasted from everything on the first day. The people poured into their synagogues all over Jerusalem and all over Israel from Galilee to Judea to pray. For the next 7 days the chosen people of God are steeped into a timeless space. An inner vacation from the world around them. Even Pontus Pilate and his soldiers respected the holy days.

The chosen people of God prayed, and tried their best to please, but weakness usually overwhelmed their own wills. In foreign lands it was worse, they knew not of God, the Creator. Humans created gods out of clay, or wood, or metal. They worshipped them. The Greeks and Romans, and more advanced civilizations  created them out of their imaginations, Zeus, Hercules, Aphrodite, Athena. No matter what they did, how they thought, no matter how rich or poor they became, death was the end. A pile of carcasses buried or burned after fewer than an hundred years of being human with all its emotions and intelligence.

It had been a hallowed night, followed by familiar sunshine and more rest. The Sabbath, a day set aside to worship God who created this magnificent world, for those few who recognized Him and knew about it.

On this bright day of Passover rest, although thousands had flocked to see and hear the teacher, healer, and miraculous Son of Man, very few on planet earth knew that Jesus even existed, and they wouldn’t know for centuries. The rising sun shines on a slice of the rotating earth at a time. A night, the beginning of a day, evolved into centuries. Like an oak tree seed buried deep within rich soil grows into a mighty oak that sees generations of men come and go, and never dies, enduring fierce weather, but it is stronger than the weather, and granted to withstand everything as a testimony to design and providence.

No one could know the power hidden in the rest on that one and only Passover Sabbath day when crucified Jesus rested somewhere.

By the end of the Sabbath, at sunset which began the first day of the week, the Jews were ready to sleep again, enveloped in peace and rest, that night was without feast and without famine. Their souls were full.

ALIVE: Chapter 183, Passover

While Joseph and Nicodemus were burying the sacred body of Jesus, the Son of God, Light of Light, True God of True God, the crowd dispersed to commemorate the highest holy day of the year, Passover. God’s timing is perfect, linking the new covenant with the old within a twenty-four hour period. The miraculous Passover of death for Israel is forever bonded to the death of God’s own Son, Whom death did not pass over.

Pharaoh’s son died, releasing the slaves from their forced labor and political control. God’s Son died and released mankind from the power of sin and death. He parted the Red Sea, even as He opened the gates of Hades. Freedom.

When the Lord saw the lamb’s blood on the lintels and the doorposts He did not allow the destroyer to enter that house. Instead, death passed over that house. Never forget. Never ever forget. Never ever ever forget. Thousands of years will go by, in every single one of them remind yourselves of what God did for you. Don’t let one year go by. Commemorate it with your families. Teach your children; when they grow older, they will teach their children.The release of God’s chosen was triggered by the death of Pharaoh’s son. Moonlight.

The new Passover. Pascha, the death of the only born Son of God miraculously released all of humankind, not just Israel, from the bondage of death in Hades where everyone went because of Adam and Eve’s sin of distrust, distancing themselves from God. On the sixth day, Adam and Eve were created and on the sixth day humankind crucified it’s Creator. That heinous, that utterly odious sin, that wicked sin of distrust repeated in every person reaped the same effect - death, and bondage in Hades. Man separates himself from God in distrust over and over and over again. Jesus trusted His Father even unto death, taking the faith and trust of Abraham with his son, Isaac to the last step. Abraham was spared killing his precious son because he proved his overriding trust of God. God did not spare Himself of witnessing the killing of His son.

Distrust is the one sin that appears in thousands of forms. Distrust of God is the common denominator of all sins. By carrying that one sin, Jesus “carried all of our sins” as the sacrificial lamb of God. When Jesus was brought so very low that He cried out, ‘My God, My God why have You foresaken Me?’ It was the moment that He had received the one sin; it was finished, and He was able to die.

Once we died with Him, in Him, (in baptism) we can also overcome death as He did. Release from the bondage of sin IS release from the bondage of death. FREEDOM. Release from Hades. Sunlight.

Does sin still occur? Does death still occur? Did the slaves on the other side of the Red Sea suddenly obey and worship God in humility and gratitude? Then was it all for naught? What is unseen, what is not known and appreciated is infinitely more real, more powerful and more meaningful than the outer layer reveals. The heart of man is not worn on the sleeve but is nestled deep within and directs the mind and gives life to the entire body. God is all knowing, patient and wise. He knows the end from the beginning. These two deaths, of the first born Son of Pharaoh and of the Son of God changed the course of history. It was impossible for those present, either at the first Passover who were passed over by death, or those who witnessed the crucifixion, to know the magnitude of what happened on the day that each event occurred.

Passover + Pascha = Freedom restored.

…

Before nighttime rose with the falling sun, into the darkness of a new day, the day of preparation having passed, and the Passover day dawning everyone at Golgotha went to their homes full of sadness and gratitude. Sadness over witnessing the crucifixion of their loved ones gone wrong, and of the rabbi Jesus, and gratitude over the sudden freedom of their slave ancestors in Egypt.

The cost for the miracle of freedom after 430 years of slavery was perpetual commemoration. Teach your children, every year of your life; ask yourselves the four questions .

1. Why is it that on all other nights of the year we eat either leavened bread or matzah, but on this night we eat only matzah?

2. Why is it that on all other nights we eat all kinds of vegetables, but on this night we eat bitter herbs?

3. Why is it that on all other nights we do not dip our food even once, but on this night we dip them twice?

4. Why is it that on all other nights we dine either sitting upright or reclining, but on this night we all recline?

Then praise the Lord God and say, “Blessed are You, Adonai our God, Ruler of the world, Creator of the fruit of the vine.

Blessed are You, Our God, Sovereign of the universe, who has chosen us from among the peoples, exalting us by hallowing us with mitzvot. In Your love, Adonai our God, You have given us feasts of gladness, and seasons of joy; this Festival of Pesach, season of our freedom, a sacred occasion, a remembrance of the Exodus from Egypt. For You have chosen us from all peoples and consecrated us to Your service, and given us the Festivals, a time of gladness and joy. Blessed are You, Adonai, who sanctifies Israel and the Festivals.”

…

Echoes of that prayer could be heard throughout Jerusalem on this auspicious evening of the crucifixion of Jesus. Mother Mary and John walked back to her home from Golgotha. A pilgrimage in silent prayer.

They arrived to find Peter, Andrew, James, and the others ready for the Seder. The floor had been prepared with the low table as in the upper room. They had to lean very close to each other to fit everyone in.

John looked around and wondered, “Could it have just been last night when we were sharing the last supper, and tonight we are mourning His crucifixion?” He was in a daze.

The rushed exodus, only enough time to make matzoh, was followed by the rushed crucifixion that tried and killed the flagrant rabbi before the Shabbat of Passover. Running away, and running toward.

Arguing with himself John thought, “But how could we not commemorate the Passover? The Lord God required it; how could we skip it, even this year? Aren’t we still children of Abraham?”

With hearts filled with grief and fear, the disciples and ladies reclined to be asked the questions, recount the story, drink the wine, and eat the bitter herbs which tasted more bitter than ever, and eat the sacrificial lamb.

It was too much of a coincidence that the innocent Passover lambs that carried the sins of the people, the lambs whose very blood repelled death, were slain on the same day of preparation as was the innocent Lamb of God. It was a message. There was not a dry eye in the room. Was it for this day, and this coincidence that the Lord God told us to never forget that night?

Matthew said aloud to the other disciples, “Remember how He washed our feet, and passed the cup of wine, saying it was His blood, and that the bread was His body? That was so strange? Until I remember that it is the blood of the lamb carrying our sins that repelled death tonight. Jesus offered us His own blood. Does It too repel death? Here we are about to eat the lamb’s body as a reminder of the wages of sin, and for nourishment. In offering us His blood and His body was He telling us that He was carrying our sins? Being innocent, being the Son of God as He claimed, He must be the Lamb of God! Why else would He ask us to drink His blood and eat His body? What happened on Passover night is the prelude of the crucifixion that happened today!”

Thomas said, “Yes! I thought that it was strange to offer us His Blood and Body, but I didn’t question Him. Oh my, now it makes sense!”

Bartholomew said, “This comparison is too intense. How can we receive it?  Brothers, Jesus is dead. As dead as the lamb. Where is our freedom? We have sacrificed many lambs in our lifetime, as a symbol. But we never drink the lamb’s blood. It is forbidden.”

Finally, Phillip spoke up saying, “It was the lamb’s blood that repelled death. Maybe, just maybe by receiving Jesus’s blood as He offered it to us….maybe He was painting the lintels and doorways of our hearts, that we may never die. It’a not a symbol. Just as on Passover night the blood was not a symbol, but it was real and powerful.”

Andrew diverted the conversation by going back to their recollection of the supper of the evening before, “Remember when He dipped the bread in the sop to indicate who was to betray Him, yes it was Judas! That scoundrel! On this Passover night that room must be stone cold empty. But didn’t Jesus tell us to prepare the Passover for us there? Why are we here tonight instead of in that room?”

Peter answered Matthew, “He told me to reserve the room to prepare for the Passover, and all we did was to prepare for the Passover? The Passover is tonight. Maybe He thought we would be celebrating together tonight in that room, after the day of Preparation.”

James lowered his wrinkled brow and said softly, “But maybe it was the Passover, maybe it was the first day of a new kind of Passover Seder that He wants us to commemorate.”

Thomas reclining next to James heard him and said, “What do you mean by a new Passover James?”

James replied louder, “There was no lamb at the supper last night and yet Jesus was the sacrificial lamb. That’s why He gave us His body and Blood. Wasn’t today the day the lambs were slaughtered for this meal? Wasn’t He too killed on the day of preparation when the lambs are slaughtered ? Maybe instead of  families at this Seder, we are a new kind of family. Didn’t Jesus once say to us, if you love brother or sister, mother or father more than Me, you aren’t worthy of Me? We are a new family. Maybe death did pass over Jesus? Maybe, because we drank His blood, it will pass over us too?”

“What are you saying James?!” said Mary Magdalene. “I saw His dead body! I saw Joseph and Nicodemus lay Him in the tomb!” Then she sobbed.

James retorted heatedly, “Didn’t He tell us that after three days the temple would be rebuilt? Didn’t we see ghosts wandering around Jerusalem?! Maybe those ghosts had been freed from Hades just like we were freed in Egypt. If He raised Lazarus after being in the tomb for four days, couldn’t He open the gates of Hades? Is there anything God can’t do?”

As if in a daze too, Salome said, “This morning we were preparing this home for this Passover Seder, there is no leaven here anymore. I left my parents years ago to follow Jesus. You are my family.”

Mary Magdalene quoted a line from the psalm that her mother taught her, ‘They parted my garments among them, and cast lots for my vesture.’ “I saw them do that! What happened today was prophesied. God knew it. Jesus knew it.”

The family responded with small gasps of surprise and groans of confusion.

John looked over at his new mother Mary to see what she was thinking and how much she knew ahead of time. Mary simply looked serene and somber.

Matthew shouted, “Come, this is our Seder! Let’s get on with it.” He glanced over at Mary who nodded in agreement.

James wondered how he could deliver the Seder talk about the death passing over their homes, when today death had come to Mary’s only Son? But at least Jesus gave her John, as a son to protect and care for her. She would not be alone, He made sure of that. Joseph’s sons were married with families of their own, except for James. But James wanted to go his own way. John was young enough and loving enough to be a perfect new son for Mary. He needed her too.

Salome said, “The Seder! Jesus would want us to. He must be resting in the bosom of Abraham right now. James, please continue.”

James led the prayer. Followed by Andrew who recited the story, ““Passover, the day that the Lord God told us to never forget what He had done for us. And so these centuries later, our people, the Chosen  people of God, from the toddler to the frail old man ceremoniously remember the way God miraculously freed us from slavery. Every year, we try harder to imagine how it must have been for the Angel of Death to pass over our doorways, painted with the blood of the sacrificial lamb. Death passed us by and took the first born of our neighbors. That destroyer even killed Pharaoh‘s son!”

Simon added, “Of course they had to leave; of course Pharaoh would finally want to expel them. He was overcome with grief. None of the marvels, the bloody river, the frogs, the flies, the gnats, the hail, the darkness, nothing convinced Pharaoh to let them go, even for a few days, nothing but the death of his first born son was strong enough to weaken Pharaoh’s hold.  He had everything to lose when we left.”

When Andrew finished asking the questions, Matthew spoke up, “Remember the darkness? It was frightening. It was so dark.”

John said, “I wonder if that was Father God expressing His own grief. It was as if the world was going to come to an end right then and there.”

After the Seder everyone stood up, there was to be no cleaning. They went back to the divans, chairs and beds to sleep. They all looked forward to the extended Sabbath day of unleavened bread, thoughts of Egypt and the 40 years of travel and why it took so long to reach the promise land. It was the Sabbath. The day God rested from Creation Week, and commanded His people to rest too. And so they did with full hearts and busy minds.

A few of the ladies were planning to visit the tomb at sunrise to bring Him more myrrh and flowers.

All the followers of Jesus in Jerusalem that night, and there were thousands of them, were grieving, straddling two worlds. They knew it and they didn’t.

Why the last supper was not a Seder

1. The trial could not have occurred during Passover.

2. There was no mention of lamb at that meal.

3. The bread was called άρτος in Greek, which refers only to leavened bread, not άζυμη which refers to unleavened bread. (The Roman Catholic Church, which was one Church originally used leaven bread for the Eucharist, but changed to unleavened bread in Spain when there were so many people to offer the Eucharist to, that it was more efficient to pass out the wafers rather than the leavened bread (body) in the wine (blood). The practice continues to this day.)

4. The Seder is commemorated with the family; there were no families there, save for two sets of brothers.

5. There was no recitation of the four questions. Instead there was washing of feet and conversation .

6. There was no retelling of the Passover Story.

ALIVE: Chapter 182, Buried Light

Seeing that the crucifixion accomplished its unholy mission to murder the three men on the preparation day for the Sabbath, the crowd gradually dispersed to go prepare. There was no more to see. The drama was done. The audience returned to their own lives of struggles and pleasures. Not one person realized that innocent Jesus who had healed them, fed them, and taught them had just also mysteriously received his and her sins on the cross. The Event was beyond comprehension on the day it occurred.

…

This was the plan from the beginning. Freedom. Let Eve disobey. Let Adam agree and distrust God too. Let Satan win. The curse. Abel died. Eve died. Adam died. Watch all humans die surrounded by grief. Death by distrust and disobedience reoccurs. Separation from God is sin. God is life. The separation of sin yields death. Both sin and death are anathema to God. The simple cure. Turn around. Instead of separating more and more, drawn near. Humility. Awareness. Trust. Through one man death came to humankind who was made in the image and likeness of supernatural God. Through one Man, the image and likeness was fully demonstrated. His final lesson, His last healing. His power over nature, His power over death was made evident and offered to all who follow closely in His footsteps. Full circle.

The phased plan. Phase 2. Remember the flood when God was so disgusted with humankind that He destroyed everyone to start over? After He saw the carnage God regretted that decision. So this time, seeing how dark with evil the world was again, He sent a great light - Himself as Jesus. Light of light, true God of true God. Unlike the flood the outcome of the power of the crucifixion would not necessarily devolve into the same human condition. However, just as with the curse on Adam and Eve, the power of the crucifixion would be universal and lasting. The curse of death was upended by the crucifixion. God = Life. Distrust + disobedience = Death. Perfect Trust + Obedience = Humility. Humility transforms sin and death into life.

God said to Himself, “Don’t kill them en masse, lead them out of their debauchery. Offer My Son, a powerful, supernatural man as Adam and Eve were. Have Him teach them, heal them, and ultimately die. But when He goes to Hades, He will trick Satan, the serpent who won. My Son in whom I dwell, and Who dwells in Me with the overwhelming power of Love and Life will lift the curse. My Son will go through the twirling flames of crucifixion to reach the Tree of Life. My Son, Jesus, will be uniquely able to unlock the gate and release every soul, from Abel to John the Baptist. I will judge their souls, and all souls that come after them fairly, knowing their hearts and minds, one by one. I will sort all of humanity that way. Each dead person will be pre-sentenced to one of two holding places, Paradise or Hell.

I will allow dying humanity to climb to refuge in the Ark (the Church). The Church will be a mother to feed them the life giving, restorative, body and blood of My Son, Jesus. When they fall, She will offer them the ability to stand up again. Her wisdom, My Wisdom will guide them through the perils of physical life in the world.

In this way I will save those who want to climb into the Ark. I will give them plenty of time to become aware - to wake up amidst the blinding chaotic world. When this phase is complete, when the time comes when those powerful dying have wreaked enough havoc on the earth I will permit them to destroy the earth, because I will create a new earth under a new heaven for My immortal children and I to live together in My holy kingdom. They will bring their knowledge and talents and personalities there and we will live happily every after as their fairy tales imagined.”

Jesus and aspects of the new covenant with God were revealed to prophets over the centuries, Daniel, Isaiah, David, Zechariah and others. Jesus pointed out the many times He was prophesied in Scripture to affirm His credibility as if the healings and teachings and even raising some from the dead weren’t enough. The prophesies were as His deep roots.

Yet, on this black day no-one knew the magnitude of what had happened.

Through the crucifixion God offered a powerful aid to repentance, which is a change of mind, for the married men looking with lust at the pretty women in the crowd, or caving to it in adultery, pornographers, pedophiles, rapists, cheaters, the gluttons, the gossipers, the greedy, the faithless, fearful worry warts, the paranoid, hostile haters, liars, even murderers and thieves, the arrogant and greedy. God took their punishment, death, upon Himself and offered Adam and Eve and all their children the road to reconciliation. No one is forced to take that road. Freedom.

All one must do though, is to be baptized. The sooner, the better. God, wasn’t ready to dismiss the purpose of flood, just its broad brush. Sin does deserve death. Death by water in baptism mimics the devastating flood. Baptism is rising from the deadly depths to the surface and mystically being able to climb into the ark (i.e., the Church) to be healed and reborn, it is dying with Jesus on the cross, and rising with Him too. Humility. Restoration of the supernatural (spiritual) image and likeness of God. Phase 3.

Only in baptism and crucifixion are death followed by resurrection, new birth. All other death is final separation from God. A human soul is not able to rise from the dead UNLESS it had risen in the flood in baptism and died with Christ, thus resurrected (reborn) and then nurtured by the Mother, Church. Phase 4. Noah’s flood resulted in the end of life on earth, but it was also a beginning.

The first birth is purely physical and limited, the second is spiritual and unlimited. Real. It is a simple prerequisite. What the baptized person does after being reborn, whether (s)he is a baby or an adult, with or without the age of reason, is the same: freedom to conform to the image of Jesus or not. The ability to transcend death (caused either by sin, or physical expiration) or to be consumed by death, is ultimately and always determined by the person’s own will. Freedom. St John wrote: “But to those who received Him (in baptism) He gave the right TO BECOME children of God.” It is not automatic. Becoming involves the person’s own human will and effort. Everyday decisions. Back to the day of the crucifixion.

…

The darkness dissipated so gradually that few people even noticed. The crowd went home to prepare for their Passover Supper and Sabbath rest. The Roman soldiers went back to delicious food and the aromas of Roman trees and flowers. Artichokes and honey.

Jesus, having cleared out Hades, as quickly as possible was reunited by His Father and Holy Spirit to rest as One. God hadn't felt so relaxed since the Sabbath following the intense Creation week.

…

Two Jewish men having heard the news of the rushed trial and sentence on Friday morning when they met accidentally in Jerusalem and who knew of the injustice and flaming jealousy of the shrewd hierarchy, but were unable to stop it, discussed what they could do in response.

They were Joseph of Arimathea, a wealthy man and a member of the council, and his friend, the Pharisee Nicodemus who had been sympathetic to Jesus and met with Him clandestinely several times. They came up with a plan to take the body, and bury it properly.

Fortunately, Joseph recently had a tomb hewn out of a boulder for himself, but he could make another one. He wasn’t planning to die too soon. Nicodemus would go out and get a hundred pounds of myrrh and aloes, and the linen to wrap the body in. While Jesus was being crucified, Nicodemus took his myrrh and aloes to Joseph’s tomb, then he went to Golgotha, found Joseph in the crowd and watched until it was over.

Unafraid of the chief priests Joseph boldly approached Pilate to ask him for the body of Jesus.

Pilate said, “What! Has He died already? Centurion, go find out for me!”

The centurion didn’t have to go anywhere, he knew that Jesus was dead. He saw the sword pierce Him.

“He is dead sire, I assure you of that.”

“Alright then, take Him with my blessing.” said Pilate and then ordered his carriage to take him back to his palace for a much needed nap.

When Joseph and Nicodemus returned to the site of the crosses, the gorilla men were already lifting the first heavy man’s cross out of the ground. They watched as the men carelessly drop the cross, which didn’t matter because the man was dead and didn’t feel a thing.

Before they came to Jesus’s cross Joseph approached the gorilla men and said, “Please, be more careful with this One. I will take Him, I have Pilates’s permission. The centurion next to him nodded to confirmed that. Joseph’s carriage was waiting to receive the Body.

"Okay, whatever you say.” So the gorilla men carefully lifted and brought the cross with the Body of Jesus to the ground, untied His hands and feet and yanked the nails out.

“Thank you. We will take it from here. Nicodemus laid his linen cloth on the ground and two centurions lifted the Body off the cross and carefully laid Him onto the cloth, wrapping Him in it. They then lifted Him onto the carriage.

Women followed the carriage on foot, far enough behind so as not to be seen. They were besides themselves with grief as they walked and cried, walked and cried.

When the carriage arrived, the drivers with the help of Joseph and Nicodemus, carefully lifted Jesus off the carriage and onto a marble stone inside the tomb where together they prepared the Body. The tomb wasn’t big enough for anyone else. When the body was finished being prepared, Nicodemus carefully laid a large linen napkin on His bruised face. The men prayed.

The ladies, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses and a few women who had been following Jesus from Galilee and wherever He went stood a far off tries to watch from the distance; they were grateful to know where He was laid.

When the men were finished and there was nothing more they could do, Joseph solemnly said, “Come Nico, I will give you a lift home.”

“Thank you.” He climbed on the carriage beside his friend and they drove back into Jerusalem.

With the men out of sight, the ladies approached and chanted. The angels and God looked on in sympathy at the grief of these women who watched their beloved suffer and die. He knew how bereft they felt.

Dusk forced them to leave.

“Come,” said Mary Magdalene,”Let’s go to His mother’s home and sit shiva with her.”

The ladies hated to leave but they knew they had to.

…

Meanwhile, some chief priests and Pharisees had a sleepless night. In the morning, the Sabbath of the Passover, they found each other milling around the City.

“You know, I had the strangest thought. What if that Jesus is stolen by His followers, and they all claim He rose from the dead! That would make Him more powerful than ever!” complained an old disheveled chief priest.

His friend replied, “Let’s go to Pilate and ask him to guard and seal the tomb.

“Good idea.”

To Pilate’s palace they marched in lockstep.

“Now what do they want?!” shouted perturbed Pilate to his servant. “Isn't this their day of rest? Isn’t this their high holy day?”

“What should I tell them sire?”

“Send them in.”

After they marched into the room, the bravest, youngest chief priest, boldly and unapologetically requested, “Sir, we remember that that deceiver said while he was still alive, “After three days I will rise again.” Command that the sepulcher be sealed tight until the third day, lest his disciples come and steal him away, and say to the people, He is risen from the dead: and the last error will be worse than the first.”

The priests and Pharisees looked at Pilate eager for his permission.

Pilate replied, “You have a guard! Go make it as tightly sealed as you possibly can.”

On the high holy Sabbath Passover day of rest, the priests went directly to the tomb and looked around for a bolder big enough and round enough to seal the entrance, while others went to find guards. These men found Sabbath rest in their hearts when they could be sure that no one would be duped by the deceiver.

God was resting peacefully, comfortably, happily. After all, it was was the Sabbath of Passover.