I watched a number of Christmas-themed movies this past Christmas season, old and new. And one thing stood out as a repeating pattern, something I had never noticed much before—the idea that belief is power.
In so many of these Christmas movies the people were asked to believe in someone in order to give that someone renewed power… be it Santa Claus, the North Pole, or fairies…
Having bought burial spices and ointments, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary set out to go to the tomb on Sunday morning. As they walked into the garden they wondered who would roll back the stone for them from the doorway of the tomb, for they didn’t know a guard had been posted earlier, since the guards had already fled. Upon reaching the tomb, the two Marys were surprised to find the stone already rolled back. And when they looked inside they saw …
While Jesus’ disciples were hiding in Jerusalem, afraid for their lives, the women had followed and seen where Jesus was laid to rest on Friday. The women rested on Saturday, the Sabbath day, according to the Mosaic Law. But the chief priests and Pharisees went to Pilate the morning of the Sabbath day and asked for a guard to be placed at the tomb for three days, remembering that Jesus had said …
