57As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. 58Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. 59Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, 60and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away. 61Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb.
62The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. 63″Sir,” they said, “we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ 64So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.”
65″Take a guard,” Pilate answered. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.” 66So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.
[Psalm 2]
1 Why do the nations conspire [a]
and the peoples plot in vain?
2 The kings of the earth take their stand
and the rulers gather together
against the LORD
and against his Anointed One. [b]
3 “Let us break their chains,” they say,
“and throw off their fetters.”
4 The One enthroned in heaven laughs;
the Lord scoffs at them.
5 Then he rebukes them in his anger
and terrifies them in his wrath, saying,
6 “I have installed my King [c]
on Zion, my holy hill.”
7 I will proclaim the decree of the LORD :
He said to me, “You are my Son [d] ;
today I have become your Father. [e]
8 Ask of me,
and I will make the nations your inheritance,
the ends of the earth your possession.
9 You will rule them with an iron scepter [f] ;
you will dash them to pieces like pottery.”
10 Therefore, you kings, be wise;
be warned, you rulers of the earth.
11 Serve the LORD with fear
and rejoice with trembling.
12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry
and you be destroyed in your way,
for his wrath can flare up in a moment.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him.
1. Trying to keep the disciples from stealing Jesus’ out of his tomb, the soldiers and chief priests decide roll a huge rock in the entryway. But, as we know, this didn’t do a thing. God had set a plan in motion long before this that he was going to rescue fallen humanity through Jesus’ death and resurrection, and nothing was going to stop that. The enemy can try to defeat God’s perfect plan, but it will never happen. In what situations do you need to remember that God is victorious and that the enemy has been defeated? Thank God that he is undefeatable!
*******
STOP THE TRAFFIK GREAT EASTER EGG HUNT
“Much of the chocolate that finds its way into our shops and homes is made with cocoa from Ivory Coast plantations that used trafficked children.
This is an Easter egg hunt with a difference.
The best way to know that your Easter egg is traffik free is by buying fair trade chocolate eggs. Hunt out fair-trade Easter eggs in your town. In a traditional egg hunt the eggs are hard to find. Sadly it may be the same with fair-trade eggs. This may be frustrating but we must tell this story so people realize what is going on.
Go to every shop & supermarket where you live to hunt out a fair-trade egg. Take a photo of yourself outside the shops where you find a fairly traded Easter Egg. Print off and give the shop manager one of the STOP THE TRAFFIK coupons.
And then make your find the talk of the town …
1. Upload a photo, put your first name, where you are from & one line saying what it was like onto the www.stopthetraffik.org/easterHunt.
2. Fill in this letter and give it to the manager of every shop you visited that didn’t sell a fairly traded Easter Egg.
3. To make this story the talk of the town send your story and photos of your Easter Egg Hunt to your local newspaper/local radio/school newsletter or other community newsletters.
You can tell everyone what you found even when Easter has passed.”