Leaving

Having been a student of the Bible for forty years or more stories become familiar.  I know what comes next and I’m ready for it.  There are times where one or two words in a paragraph catch my attention. They are usually little words that the eye slips over while reading the big words.

“Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a long sheet of clean linen cloth. He placed it in his own new tomb, which had been carved out of the rock. Then he rolled a great stone across the entrance and left. Both Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting across from the tomb and watching.” Matthew 27:59-61 (NLT)

Which words? So many to choose from.

The word is “left”. After taking the body, wrapping it in the linen cloth and placing it in the new tomb the story ends with Joseph rolling the stone over the entrance and then leaving.  Other people sit across from the tomb and watch, but Joseph left. He walked away.

And then he left

He had washed the tent wrapping

Soiled by blood and

Carefully folded the frame with

Not a bone broken

And wrapped it in a cloth

He didn’t sit somewhere

To admire the craftsmanship

Of the tomb –

His tomb, newly hewed

Or run a finger along the dry stone

He held no vigil

No candle to burn

The body was

Not there to be watched.

He closed the door

The story might not have ended

There might have been another scene

An encore, perhaps

His part in the drama was done

Trusting that what will happen

Will happen

Without his need to be there

He left

I think we find leaving very hard to do. Some leavings should be hard to do – leaving a child on his or her first day at nursery. It should be hard. There should be tears and a sense of loss. Leaving has to happen. There’s no way a parent follows a child through the school system sitting next them simply because it’s too hard to leave. Leaving is necessary for both parent and child. Leaving allows the teacher to get on with their job.

Joseph couldn’t make the resurrection happen by sitting in the tomb and watching the body. He had done his part. What happened next he had no control over – so he left.

In leaving he wasn’t neglecting his job. There was nothing else for him to do.

It is an act of trust when we leave. We give God the time and the space for His next action without breathing down His neck. There will be a next action and it doesn’t depend on my being there to egg God on.

We put things into His hands…and then we leave. It’s all about trust.