They Came Alone

This is a great poem from Don Carson reflecting on the Easter story as told by four different authors in the Bible. See if you can spot which section goes with which account...

They came alone,
Some women who remembered Him
Bowed down with spices to anoint his corpse
Through darkened streets
They wept their way to honour Him
The one whose death had shattered all their hopes

"Why do you look for life, among these tombs of stone?
He is not here! He's risen as he said!
Remember how he spoke to you in Galilee?
'The Son of Man must die, and must rise up from the dead' ".

The two walked home
A portrait of defeat and loss
Explaining to a stranger why the gloom:
How Jesus seemed to be the King before his cross
Now all their hopes lay buried in His tomb

"How slow you are to see! Didn't this have to be?
Don't you believe the words the prophets said?
'Christ had to suffer first, then enter glory'"
Then He unveiled their eyes, in the breaking of the bread.

He heard their words, but not for him that easy faith
That trades the truth for sentimental sigh
Unless he saw the nail marks in His hands himself
And touched His side, did not believe the lie

Then Jesus came to them, all of the doors were locked:
“Cast away doubt and Reach in to my side;
Trace out the wounds the nails left in my broken hands!
And understand: I am the Resurrection and the Life."

Long years have passed
And still we fear the face of death
It steals our loved ones, leaving us undone
It mocks our dreams,
And calls to us with icy breath
The final terror when life's course is run

But this I know: my Lord travelled this way before
His body clothed in immortality
The sepulchre's sting is drawn
The power of sin destroyed
Death has been swallowed up
In His mighty victory!