027. Jesus’ Sabbath Day of Burial Divides all Human History

Joseph

Governor Pilate, may I take the Galilean’s body from the cross?
I will embalm it, wrap it in linen, and lay it in my new tomb
that I hewed out of rock.

Pilate

Yes, Joseph of Arimathea, as soon as I make sure he’s dead.
Centurion, see if the Nazarene has died;
I hope you can find your way in this weird darkness;
it covered the whole land when they crucified that man.

Centurion

Yes, Governor. It is more than the absence of light.
I think God is casting complete shade over a terrible crime!

Prompter & Echoes

God is hiding his face!

Pilate

Joseph, the Centurion has affirmed that the Galilean has died.
You may take the body.

Joseph

Thank you, sir. This is the saddest day of my life.

Pilate

Centurion, secure that grave.
The priests claim that the Nazarene said he’d rise again
after three days, They fear his disciples will steal him away,
and say he rose from the dead.
Take soldiers and guard the grave for three days.

Centurion

Very well, Governor Pilate. Nobody will meddle with that grave.

Joseph

Soldiers roll a huge stone against the tomb’s entrance, and guard it.
Mary Magdalene is watching, and other women come to mourn;
they are sitting by the tomb, weeping.

Prompter & Echoes

Beloved Jesus is dead.

Joseph

Nighttime comes and passes. It is the seventh day, the Sabbath.
Jesus’ body lies, lifeless, in the devil's hands,
deep in Satan’s dark realm of death.
The Old Dragon gleefully imprisons
his captives in death’s gloomy darkness!

Prompter & Echoes

Satan clings to his captives!

Joseph

This seventh day of Sabbath rest divides all history.
Jesus’ body lies in perfect rest and repose in death.
God has ruled his people with the law of condemnation
that he gave through Moses,
but after this day of Sabbath rest,
God will write His law in our hearts,
as Jeremiah foretold hundreds of years ago.

Prompter & Echoes

Even Jerusalem lies in silence!

Pilate

We Romans don’t pay that much attention to Sabbath days.
Now the first day of the week has come.
I am relieved that the whole issue of that Galilean is finally over!
Ah! It is the last we will hear of that man Jesus.

Joseph

But on this third day the sun rises, and Jesus’ Sabbath rest is over.
Satan’s chains cannot hold his captive.
His power has been in his accusations,
but they cannot touch this sinless man.
Jesus rises from the dead, and frees death’s captives
along with himself.

Prompter & echoes

A totally new beginning!

Joseph

This first day of the week marks the beginning of the New Covenant
foretold by Jeremiah: God would write His law in our hearts.

Prompter & Echoes

The Covenant of Grace!

Joseph

The seventh day looked back to the old creation and God’s rest.
This first day looks forward to the new creation of our risen Lord! During the intervening day of rest,
Jesus kept the Sabbath to perfection!

Prompter & Echoes

The old has ended; the new is here!

Centurion

As Centurion, I was to see that no one stole the Galilean’s body.
My soldiers told me they slept, and His disciples took the body.

Prompter & Echoes

Not true!

Centurion

I was told not to punish those soldiers, and some money changed hands. I know that he rose from the dead. When I saw how he died,
I knew that he was the Son of God.

Prompter & Echoes

Risen Son of God!