Day 1: I can’t sleep. I don’t understand. What’s going on? How could this have happened? All my beliefs. All he did. For nothing.
Day 2: I’ve spent the past 24 hours reviewing the past day’s events and wondering what actually happened. I’ll start with two nights ago. After I talked to Andrew about Judas’ betrayal, we al went to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. Jesus left us to pray by himself, and we all fell asleep. It was late and it had been a long couple of days. Nevertheless, when he found us asleep, he wasn’t too happy. A little while later, we saw a group of lanterns heading towards us. As they go closer, we saw that is was Judas leading a crowd of people with swords and clubs! Judas reached Jesus and greeted him with a kiss on the cheek, as usual. All of a sudden, all the men in the crowd rushed forward and grabbed Jesus! Peter immediately reached for his sword and cut off one of the men’s ears. Jesus rebuked him and healed his ear. The chief priests and officers of the temple who were there led him away, as we sat and could do nothing. Peter followed the group who had Jesus, but the rest of us quickly went back to our lodging to pray. We prayed all night and waited for any sort of news. The next morning we received word that Jesus was going to appear before the assembly of the chief priests and Scribes. That group took him to Pilate. However, because he was Galilean he belonged to Herod’s jurisdiction and therefore was sent to Herod. Herod got nothing out of Jesus so he sent him back. We received all these pieces of news throughout the day, but the worst one came mid-afternoon. Pilate could find nothing Jesus did that was wrong and was going to release him, but the crowd demanded otherwise! They wanted Barabbas, that disgusting killer to be set free instead of my beautiful, humble Lord! How could this be? Oh Lord, my God…They yelled to Pilate to crucify him. To nail him to that mangled piece of wood like a filthy criminal. My tears will forever flow at the loss of this man. No, this God who was right in front of us, and yet rejected completely.
They crucified him last night, before the Sabbath at Golgotha. We sat and watched as our King breathed his last, and did it humbly and without hatred towards his enemies. They had bruised and beaten, whipped and spit on him before they humiliated him to the fullest. I tried to intervene; yelled at the Roman soldiers to cease their beatings, but they wouldn’t listen. The devil had blinded them, shut their ears and darkened their hearts to the only good in the world. I watched with forlorn eyes and with a loss for words as these men, these dogs cursed him and taunted him. If only they knew; if only they believed. Jesus’ mother lay on the ground weeping, bringing tears to the eyes of all those who believed.
There is nothing more we can do now. The followers of the Way, we are confused. He said he would reign. But he is no longer here. Maybe it wasn’t real. I just cannot believe he is gone forever. My mind will not wrap around that truth.
Day 3: Something is happening. There is a commotion outside my door. I hear footsteps. I’m going to go see what’s going on.
Someone just told me Jesus’ tomb was empty. I don’t believe it. Someone is playing a mean joke; trying to make all of his disciples look even dumber than we already do.
Peter just ran up and said it was true! He saw it with his own eyes! I know he is telling the truth! He also said Mary saw Jesus with her own eyes! Alive and well! Could it be true? We saw him raise Lazarus from the dead in Bethany. Could he have also resurrected himself?
It is true! Jesus, my Lord and God is alive! I have seen him with my own two eyes, and touched him with my own two hands! All of us were meeting in a room to talk about what we thought was going on with the empty tomb, and all of a sudden he appeared! From nowhere!
While I can’t believe it, I know it is true. I know that Jesus Christ is alive and that he is my Lord and God! Praise be to him for his indescribable gift!
-Marcus Valerius
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