The Spice Girls

When Jesus was crucified as punishment for our sins, after he died his body was removed from the cross and hastily prepared for burial in the tomb by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus.

In ancient Jerusalem there would be a seven-day period of grieving called shivah (after the Hebrew word שבע meaning seven). The shivah began with burial of the deceased. During this period, immediate family would refrain from work: they would sit at home on low couches, heads covered, receiving condolences of relatives and friends. This tradition is believed to have originated from Job 2:13 and Genesis 50:10 where those who mourned did so for seven days.  *

When Jesus was born, the Wise Men had worshipped him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh ( a spice). Gold represented Jesus’ royalty, frankincense represented His divinity and myrrh foretold His death and humanity.

In the first century A.D., there was no embalming. Bodies were wrapped in linens that had been scented with spices to prevent odor and decay. Usually bodies of criminals who had been crucified were left to rot, as a warning to the populace. But the son of God would know no such disgrace.

“Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs.  At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.” John 19:38-42

The Day of Preparation (Friday) was the day before the Sabbath. Jewish people set aside Saturday as the Sabbath. The Sabbath is a day of rest from your labors, so you would prepare everything ( like meals) the day before as needed.

In the case of Jesus, his burial would have been rushed, as Joseph and Nicodemus were running down the clock. In the Jewish tradition, the Sabbath begins at sundown on Friday. So, all labors are to cease then.

The agonizing hours of lost hope began slowly ticking by all Friday evening, all of Saturday day. Sunday morning promises another day of sorrow….

Until the Spice Girls arrive. Everything is about to change. Nope, not the British girl band. These Spice Girls are a million times more important to all of humanity, as they will announce the end of despair and the glorious hope of salvation for us all.

Just like the British Spice Girls, we know that our Jerusalem Spice Girls arrived in at least a group of five ladies – brave women who had gone to the tomb in the hope that they could fix the job done in haste on Friday. Just because Joseph and Nicodemus had honored Jesus in their actions didn’t stop these women from wanting to give Jesus their own honor – because He is worthy, altogether worthy.

Matthew states that “Mary Magdalene and the other Mary” came to the tomb as it “began to dawn” (Matthew 28:1). Mark adds Salome to the group and claims that they came “very early in the morning” (Mark 16:1–2). Luke agrees that it was “very early in the morning” and names “Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women” as those who came to the tomb (Luke 24:1, 24:10). John wrote that “Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still dark” (John 20:1). **

Our Spice Girls knew exactly where to go because they had been carefully watching.  

“Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and 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.  Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb.” Matthew 27:59-60, (emphasis mine.)

The Spice Girls were up before dawn, walking to get to the tomb by first light when they could see inside it. There were no flashlights back then. Reading these scriptures hit me harder then they ever have in years before. When I used to read those verses before the death of my husband, the early wakeup of the Spice Girls didn’t seem like anything important to me – other than the reason we have those pesky ‘Sunrise Services’ at local churches on Easter Sunday. However, in those raw first weeks after my husband’s death – I literally could not sleep. I was lucky if I had four hours of sleep a night before waking, because my heart and my brain were at war. Calibrating to the new reality that the person I held so dear was no longer there. Now I understand, on a visceral level, the reason why the Spice Girls were up before the sun. They literally could not sleep from grief. No alarm clock needed.

Along the way to the tomb, our loyal Spice Girls are asking one another the practical question of, “Who will roll away the stone to the tomb?” Their combined strength was not going to be enough to roll away the enormous stone in front of the tomb that Roman soldiers had been ordered to guard.

“When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body. Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?” Mark 16: 1-3

I love how the Spice Girls have already acted before thinking. They bought the spices first before realizing they weren’t strong enough to roll the stone away. So often love trumps logic during intense grief.

This piece of commentary from Matthew Henry melts my heart – “But their gracious love to Christ carried them to the sepulchre; and see how by the time they came thither, both these difficulties were removed, both the stone which they knew of, and the guard which they knew not of. They saw that the stone was rolled away, which was the first thing that amazed them. Note, They who are carried by a holy zeal, to seek Christ diligently, will find the difficulties that lie in their way strangely to vanish, and themselves helped over them beyond their expectation.”

Matthew 16:4-7 explains the Spice Girls receive more than they ever could have hoped for. An angel has rolled away the stone, and Jesus is ALIVE.

“But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away.  As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.

Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him.  But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’” ( emphasis mine.)

Can you imagine? The Spice Girls arrived to the tomb simply hoping to anoint the body of Jesus and instead are told by an angel – HE HAS RISEN, GO, TELL!

Death has no hold upon Jesus – he conquered the grave. His atoning death upon the cross makes a way for your salvation, dear reader. Jesus loves you – yes, you. Call upon His name and be saved.

As the Spice Girls say….

HE HAS RISEN! GO! TELL!

~ Happy Easter ~

*L. Y. Rahmani, “Ancient Jerusalem’s Funerary Customs and Tombs: Part One,” The Biblical Archaeologist 44, no. 3 (July 1981):

** Chaffey, Dr. T. (2015, April 15). Christ’s resurrection-four accounts, one reality. Answers in Genesis. https://answersingenesis.org/jesus/resurrection/christs-resurrection-four-accounts-one-reality/