In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulcher. And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow: and for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men. And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly, and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead; and, behold, He goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see Him: lo, I have told you. And they departed quickly from the sepulcher with fear and great joy; and did run to bring His disciples word.
And as they went to tell His disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held Him by the feet, and worshipped Him. Then said Jesus unto them. Be not afraid: go tell My brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see Me.
Now if Christ be preached that He rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: and if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain and your faith is also vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ: whom He raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
But now is Christ risen from the dead.
These passages have been precious to me all of my life. My mother insisted that we memorize them. She sang them to us as well. Easter is my very favorite time of the year.
Over the years I have played Mary, the mother of Jesus, in several dramatic presentations, including in a pantomime behind a sheer curtain in The Redemption, an oratorio by Gounod. In this last I felt the grief of the march to Calvary, the crucifixion. I placed myself at the cross and felt an intensity of grief I had not felt before.
In 2015 I went with Tom Kilpatrick and Bill Summers to Israel. We were at Gordon’s Calvary and the Garden Tomb on Good Friday. I begged Bill to allow me to quote these Scriptures. It was a very moving experience.
In 1977 or 78 I was in Israel with the Sandbergs and Martins. Tom was also in Israel, but I did not expect to see him. But as we were going into a little Arab restaurant in the Old City, there was Tom. We had a free afternoon so Tom invited me to join him and Mike Bentley, a Temple grad who was a missionary in Israel, for the rest of the day. It was an unforgettable afternoon.
First we went to a little gift shop that had a special connection with the Dead Sea Scrolls. The owner had bought the first scrolls from little Arab boys. He had one of the jars that the scrolls had been hidden in and a small fragment of a scroll. I got to feel those two and wonder who had valued the Scriptures so much that they had hidden them only to have them discovered centuries later. In that shop I bought a widow’s mite from about 70 A.D. That was the year that Jerusalem was destroyed. There would have been no widow’s mites after that tragic year.
Our next stop was Gordon’s Calvary and the Garden Tomb. This time no one else was around. There were no tour groups crowding the small garden. I sat and read Scriptures and prayed under a huge mustard tree. I believe that is probably the exact place where Jesus was buried. It fulfills many of the descriptions in Scripture. But my faith is not based on whether that is the place. I know my Savior lives.
The last place we visited was Bethany, now a small Arab village. Earlier the whole group had visited Bethany. We had stopped outside the village at a cave which our guide assured us was the exact place Lazarus had been buried. That had been a stretch for me. But now at twilight with no tour buses belching their fumes and noise, I saw the village much as it might have been when Jesus walked there. The dusty narrow streets were deserted. We could hear an occasional donkey’s bray and other animals settling for the night. We went through a gate into a courtyard, then up a flight of stairs to the home of a Greek Orthodox priest. The room was dark. (The priest went into another room to move what was evidently his only lightbulb to the cord hanging down in the room we were in.) He read from the Old Testament in Hebrew for us.We had come to a walled house with a flat roof and no lights. It was easy to imagine Lazarus’ lying in a home such as this, not too far from where I sat, his sisters moaning and saying, “Where is Jesus?” And when Jesus came, death had already come. His sisters then said, “If you had been here, our brother would not have died.” And Jesus wept. He loved Lazarus, just as He loves us. But then He spoke to Martha.“I am the resurrection and the life. He that believes in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe Me?”
As we grow older, deaths seem to be piling one after another. This year I have lost three dear friends and gone to funerals for others. I miss Jessie, Doris, and Steve. But because of the resurrection, I will see them again. Last year they celebrated Easter in Heaven. In that little house in Bethany I heard Jesus say “Whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.” Because He lives, we too shall live.
Do you believe? I do!
Hallelujah! He is risen!
Faith Himes Lamb
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