Women at the Tomb
143
Christ rested in the tomb on the Sabbath day, and when holy beings
of both Heaven and earth were astir on the morning of the first day
of the week, he rose from the grave to renew his work of teaching
his disciples. But this fact does not consecrate the first day of the
week, and make it a Sabbath. Jesus, prior to his death, established a
memorial of the breaking of his body and the spilling of his blood for
the sins of the world, in the ordinance of the Lord’s supper, saying
“For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the
Lord’s death till he come.” And the repentant believer, who takes the
steps required in conversion, commemorates in his baptism the death,
burial, and resurrection of Christ. He goes down into the water in the
likeness of Christ’s death and burial, and he is raised out of the water
in the likeness of his resurrection—not to take up the old life of sin,
but to live a new life in Christ Jesus.
[205]
The other women who had seen and been addressed by the angels,
left the sepulcher with mingled feelings of fear and great joy. They
hastened to the disciples, as the angels had directed, and related to
them the things which they had seen and heard. Peter was expressly
mentioned by the angel as one to whom the women were to com-
municate their news. This disciple had been the most despondent of
all the little company of Christ’s followers, because of his shameful
denial of the Lord. Peter’s remorse for his crime was well understood
by the holy angels, and their tender compassion for the wayward and
sorrowing is revealed in the solicitude they manifested for the unhappy
disciple, and which evidenced to him that his repentance was accepted,
and his sin forgiven.
When the disciples heard the account which the women brought,
they were astonished. They began to recall the words of their Lord
which foretold his resurrection. Still, this event, which should have
filled their hearts with joy, was a great perplexity to them. After their
great disappointment in the death of Christ, their faith was not strong
enough to accept the fact of the resurrection. Their hopes had been so
blighted that they could not believe the statement of the women, but
thought that they were the subjects of an illusion. Even when Mary
Magdalene testified that she had seen and spoken with her Lord, they
still refused to believe that he had risen.
They were terribly depressed by the events that had crowded upon
them. On the sixth day they had seen their Master die; upon the