Linda Buckbee- 2019

April brings thoughts of Spring, showers and flowers, and taxes! As I was working on our Income Tax forms, the familiar quote of Benjamin Franklin-- ”But in this world nothing can be said to be certain except death and taxes”- kept running through my mind. Thankfully, my thoughts moved on to how Jesus conquered death on Easter morning.

All four Gospels (Matthew 28:6-7, Mark 16:6-7, Luke 24:6-7, and John 20:1-9) tell of an empty tomb and of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. Romans 8:37 says “In all these things (trouble, hardship, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger or sword), we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. And verse 38 continues with the assurance that “nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Praise God that Jesus has conquered death (and taxes)! And that’s for certain!

John 20:1–9 (NIV) “Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” 3 So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)