The Life of Jesus Advent Calendar - Day 22: The Resurrection

Introduction

Imagine you're Mary Magdalene, walking to the tomb of her closest friend on the first day of the week. You're accompanied by Mary the mother of James, who also saw this place where Jesus's body was lain, and Salome, who witnessed Jesus dying on the cross. You've brought spices with you, to anoint his body, because there was no time to do so when his body was placed in the tomb.

As the three of you walk towards the grave, you ask each other how you're going to manage to remove the heavy stone placed over the mouth of the cave. You don't really have an answer, yet you proceed regardless, because you want to honour your friend by anointing his body.

As you draw near to the tomb, you gasp, seeing that the stone has already been rolled away. Who could have moved it, and why? Questions run through your mind as you walk up to the entrance. Stepping inside, expecting to see Jesus's body laid out, you jump as you see a young man clothed all in white, who doesn't look anything like Jesus. He tells the three of you you not to be alarmed, that Jesus is not here, he has risen! He tells you to tell Peter and the other disciples, but that thought is far from your mind as you flee the tomb with Mary and Salome, trembling. How could you not be alarmed at such a sight?

The women flee the tomb in fear and silence - but as we read on in the Gospel accounts, we see that the risen Christ does not leave his followers in their grief, confusion and silence. What impact does Jesus's resurrection have on your own life?

Assembling your Stocking

You will recognise the cave templates from stocking no. 15. I've made sure to use different coloured felt, to help distinguish between the two scenes. I chose to make the inside of the cave black, to represent the death that Jesus has conquered. You can visit the blog post for stocking no. 15 if you need a reminder on how to assemble the cave.

The angel is a slightly smaller version of the the angels you have already used. I had initially intended to "tuck" the angel into the right hand side of the cave so he was kind of peeking out, but I forgot and had already stitched the cave down completely. I think either is fine, and you don't have to include the angel if you would prefer to emphasise the empty tomb.

Keep your colours for Mary, Mary and Salome consistent with the previous stocking. I haven't given them faces, as I picture them looking up at the tomb with the stone rolled away - but you could give them faces to represent the moment they flee the tomb instead.

You can watch a brief video of this stocking being assembled on my Facebook or Instagram.

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