As the women take that long, sad walk to the tomb of Jesus, they have a very practical question in mind. And their question is yet another marker of the authenticity of Mark’s account of the resurrection.

Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb 3 and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?” – Mark 16:2

At a reasonable, human level, what these women are planning to do is unthinkable. It doesn’t make sense at all. The body of Jesus has already been buried by Joseph of Arimathea, wrapped with a vast quantity of spices. No more spices were needed. Then, the women face the impossible challenge of the stone that blocks the tomb. Apart from being exceedingly heavy, it is sealed with a Roman seal. The penalty for breaking that seal was death! It’s almost as if the women only thought of this on the way to the tomb. Who would move the stone indeed? They couldn’t, the Roman guard wouldn’t, the disciples were too scared to, and no-one else in the whole empire would have dared to.

In the first rays of the morning light, as these women walk sadly towards the tomb of the one they loved, their hearts are heavy with questions that they dare not ask, let alone answer. First and foremost among these questions is, “Why?” But what they don’t know as they walk slowly along, with all hope apparently gone, is that they are walking towards a miracle. I don’t know what dark times you are walking through in your life right now, but I do know this… If your affections are focused on Jesus, then whatever valley you are walking through, you are walking towards a miracle. Hold on to it. Believe it. Because resurrection power has come!

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