Mark 16:1-3 (ESV Strong's)
When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?”
Subject: Worship
What love is found in these verses!! These verses are, by all accounts, the first Sunday morning worship service after Christ's resurrection. These three women were present at the crucifixion. They had a chance to see the pain and suffering of the Lord (on their behalf). They were first hand witnesses of the crowd, mocking Him. They would have heard the thrives on the cross taunting Him and the soldiers on the ground casting lots for His clothing. The smell and the stench of the crucifixion site would have still, perhaps, clung to their clothes. These sights, sounds and scenes would have played in the minds all Friday night, all day Saturday and into Saturday night. The pain of these events compelled them to rise early Sunday morning. They could not bear the thought that Jesus was not prepared well after His death. They could not think that the Lord they loved was laying in a cold, dark tomb, not having even the simplest of care and preparations for His dead body. The compulsion is what we should have on any given Sunday. We ought to approach our worship services with the same care, love and constraint for Christ. They were not focused on their own needs on Sunday morning. They were focused on the person and body and work of Christ. They brought expensive sacrifices in the form of spices for the soul purpose to present them to Christ. They knew very little theology at this point. Substitutionary an ointment would not be discussed and identified as a key component of Christianity until much later. Yet, here are these women wanting to worship their Lord by their presence, presents and purpose. This is true Sunday morning worship. It was not about them, it was about Him.
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