Who shall roll the stone away?

This morning, Matt mentioned to me something from the story of the Resurrection that I had not thought about before. He said that he was reading in Mark 16:2-3 and it says, "And when the sabbath was past Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him. And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun, And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?" I haven't stopped thinking about it since.

There are so many lessons that come from these three verses. Lessons about being prepared and lessons of the importance of rising early. Lessons of not doing God's work on our own but bringing others with us and lessons about moving forward with what needs to be done even though we're not sure how it will happen.

I want to focus for just a moment on the "very great" stone (vs 4) that stood in their path. It stood between them and the Savior. These faithful women wanted to do what was needed. They went forward, waking so early that the sun was just barely beginning to rise, prepared with all the things they needed to accomplish what was required of them. They recognized one obstacle that might become a problem but they went forward anyway, not knowing how they would overcome.

What is the great stone that stands between you and the Savior? What is keeping you from being able to serve Him? How can that stone be moved? I imagine many us of can step comfortably into the shoes of these women. We want to do what is asked of us. We prepare the needed things to accomplish our tasks. We start out on the journey even though we don't know how it will be completed.

I think that perhaps on the journey to the Garden they uttered prayers of assistance. Perhaps they hoped a gardener would be available to move the stone. One thing is very clear, they had HOPE. Hope that they would be able to accomplish what they needed to. Hope that moved their feet swiftly forward.

When they arrived, it appeared their desire to enter was accomplished. The stone was rolled out of the way, but immediately they feared that Christ's body had been moved. Do we sometimes not recognize God's helping hand because of fear? This appeared to be obstacle number two. And yet a miracle had occurred.

This season we celebrate that miracle. These sisters got so much more then they bargained for. The stone was miraculously removed from it's place and their Savior, our Savior, broke the bands of death. Isn't that how He works? Always giving us more then we even hoped for.

I testify that the stones that are between us and Him can be miraculously removed and WILL BE as we move forward with hope and preparation, focusing on Christ.

 "I believe that God will always make a way 

where there is no way." 

Pres. Gordon B. Hinckley, July 1995