The Stone Was Rolled For Us

Here is an interesting thought that was brought up in my small group last night. We just finished reading through the Gospel of Mark and we were pondering the last chapter about the resurrection of Jesus. Someone brought up the point that "the Marys" (Magdalene and Mother) prepared all the spices for Jesus' body and on the way to the tomb they thought "Who is going to move the stone in front of the tomb for us?" It is interesting that they didn't think of this before leaving for the tomb and bring along some of the big strong disciples to help. However, when they got to the tomb we all know what they found - the stone had been rolled away! Now, in this situation one of two things happened, either these women were bad planners and a bit dull or they had great faith. A great faith that God would roll the stone away for them. Honestly, I think they were just under prepared. But, God wasn't...

I think it is neat that the writers of all the gospels included the fact that the stone had been rolled away and in Mark it even notes the conversation between the women of "Who will roll the stone?" Why didn't they just say that the women got to the tomb and it was empty, why is that small part about the stone moving so important. Obviously, God did not remove the stone for his own good. The resurrected Jesus could walk through walls and didn't need the stone moved for him to bust outta the grave. God rolled the stone away for us. He rolled the stone away to clear the obstacle for the Marys. He rolled the stone that we could easily know the the Son of God was raised from the dead. He rolled the stone away so that we could see. He rolled the stone away because he loved us.