By Howard Coop
After an eventful week of sorrow and disappointment, the Sabbath ended, and the first day of the week dawned. While it was still dark, two women, Mary Magdalene and a woman known as the other Mary, made preparation for an unpleasant, but necessary, task. Custom dictated that the body of their friend, crucified on Friday, be anointed with certain spices for final burial.
Just before the sun began to rise, the two women, with the necessary spices that custom required, made their way through the dark and narrow streets of Jerusalem to the borrowed tomb outside the city walls in which the body of Jesus had been placed. Knowing that the tomb had been sealed with a heavy stone and a guard posted, the question uppermost in their minds as they made that trip was: "Who will roll the stone away from the entrance to the tomb?" Yet, knowing there was little prospect for help and fully aware that the stone was too big for them to move, they continued steadfastly on their way to face what appeared to be an extremely difficult and unpleasant task.
