On the Third Day

Good Thursday morning! Cloudy today and bit more seasonal than we saw in March. We could use those April showers this month. Please don't forget that in your prayers. This morning, I began counting the days until Easter. Did Jesus actually die on a Thursday to have three nights in the grave? Did Jesus even say that He would be three days and three nights in the grave? In Matthew 16:21, Jesus tells his disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, suffer many things, and be killed. He also told them that He would be raised on the third day. Like most of us, the disciples protested what they heard and ignored what their minds couldn't grasp. We can attempt to make Jesus' death and resurrection fit some count we think must be fulfilled, or we can accept that Jesus did exactly as He said. Just how long must Jesus remain in the grave on the third day to satisfy the legalist anyway? Right, no amount is enough when legalism is the preferred belief.

If you decide that keeping the Law is your way to Heaven, Jesus spoke to that as well. In Matthew 5:48, our Lord states, "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." Shoo! Go off and be perfect. Have a good time thinking every moment how you might perfect and glorify yourself before God. Oh, wait. Jesus had another command: Love one another. If you spend every moment perfecting yourself, how are you going to find the time to love your imperfect and bumbling neighbors? Legalism is a harsh judge demanding perfection that you and I cannot deliver. Should one of us stand up and march forward from here on in perfection, we would already be too late. Perfection must start from before our birth for us to be perfect enough - enough? - of course there is no sliding scale up to perfection.

Jesus came down from heaven in His perfection and accomplished what we could not. There is no need for us to argue over 2.5 24-hour days, or 3 full days or how long from our point of view He spent in the tomb, we have only to believe that Jesus came, died at the hands of those who should have known Him, and rose on the third day. How long on the third day does the victor over Death and the Grave need to stay in the tomb? Right again; not one minute more than He wants to! Praise the Lord Jesus Christ for His redeeming death and victorious resurrection!

Bucky