Golel: The Tomb Stone

Warmth began its creeping rise above the horizon.
The quiet, still air rested heavy.
The great stone,
stood immovable,
a memory of violent death
only a few days past.

The wails and sobbing,
the tense stricken faces,
the withdrawn holding,
the anger filled confusion,
the aching of unanswered questions,
were all gone to various homes for rest,
leaving behind this quiet, tension filled air.

The banishment of dark night
was almost complete.
About the great stone,
shadow haze moved with the breeze,
giving odd appearance of dance,
as though sentience from somewhere dark
celebrated the setting of this great stone in place.

Bird song awoke
oblivious to
the stone,
the shadow dance,
the strong, leather clad guards,
standing, watching, wary,
glancing back and forth.

In the quiet,
two women approached.
As they neared the stone
the ground lurched,
moving in waves.
Wings pulsed into the skies.
The powerful heaving of earth
growled a deepening rumble,
a groaning.

Electrifying the air,
a man in brilliant white
descended out of the heavens
and stood before the great stone.

Bodies shaking,
eyes wide,
the guards
fell to the ground
as though dead.

Without effort,
the brilliant figure
rolled the great stone away
and sat upon it.

He saw the women,
clinging to each other,
and spoke to them.
“Don’t be afraid.
I know who you are looking for,
Jesus was crucified,
but He is no longer here,
He has risen."

The women moved
tenatively
towards the tomb,
looking in.

Burial clothes were in perfect place
as though the body had whisped away,
disappearing from within.

The sweet,
other world smell
of burial spices
still filled the air,
nothing was disturbed,
the great stone was rolled away,
and the body was gone.

They turned and ran,
running for home
with compelling need
to tell what they had seen.

Only moments down the path
a man wallking towards them
brought them to a stop.
He smiled.

They knew Him,
they knew His face,
He was immensely dear to them.
They could not deny it was Him.
The One who was no longer dead,
no longer a prisoner of Golel,
the One no longer bound
by life's irreversible conclusion.
Conclusion?

The One who defied death
was with them again,
the Son of God, Jesus,
was among men again.

Jesus appeared to over five hundred people
over the next forty days.
He spoke of the cross
and the reconcilliation of man to God.
He spoke of what was to come,
of His departure to prepare a place
for all who believe in Him,
of His, God's, immeasurable love for man,
of His patient waiting, delaying His return,
that man would have opportunity to choose life with Him.
He spoke of His return for those who believe in Him,
and the coming of the Comforter, the Holy Spirit,
who would reside with believers until His return.

Then, it was time,
after earnest address to the disciples,
and tender encouragements,
before them,
He rose into the heavens
and was lost from sight behind the clouds.

Listen now,
please listen,
the day is coming,
and we will all see...

“…the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.

No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”
Matthew 24

"For God so loved the world, He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

For God did not send His son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.......” John 3:16-17

This poem was based on the NIV New Testament Gospels of Matthew Chapter 24 & 28, Luke 24 and John 20.
Copyright Joy Chastagner April 2009