Monday, April 21

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, ‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.’ Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went towards the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples returned to their homes.

 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet.They said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping?’ She said to them, ‘They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.’ When she had said this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? For whom are you looking?’ Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’ She turned and said to him in Hebrew, ‘Rabbouni!’ (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, ‘Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” ’Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord’; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

John 20: l-18

 

A child asked her father, "Daddy, what does Easter mean? Is it kind of like Christmas?"

"In a way. Christmas is when we celebrate Jesus' birth Easter is when we celebrate his resurrection."

"Resur-what, Daddy?"

"Resurrection. That means when he was raised from the dead after being crucified and buried."

"You mean they killed him and put him in a grave and then took him out again?"

"Not exactly. It was the evil of people that killed Jesus. But it was the goodness of God that raised him from the grave ... that gave him new 1ife.”

"Daddy, you mean that Jesus was really dead and buried and then God made him alive again?" A note of wondering in her small voice.

"That's right, and on Easter we celebrate this. Because the Church is alive, and we are alive, only because Jesus lives -- in the world and in our hearts.”

A long pause. And now a note of puzzlement in her voice.

"Gee Daddy, why don't we have Easter every day?"

Well, why don't we?

 

Louise Westfall (1991)

Easter Sunday, April 20

So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

Mark 16:8

New dresses. Pretty bows. Eggs hidden and hunted. Marvelous music. Wonderful worship. A Great family dinner.

These are the images of Easter that many of us associate with the church’s most significant holy day. It is a wonderful uplifting day that reminds us that there are new beginnings and that the winter is almost over. What we forget though is that this was not the response of those who first encountered the message of the resurrection.

In Mark’s telling of the tale three women, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome all went to the tomb in order to anoint Jesus’ body with oil. Jesus had died and been entombed so quickly that the normal and customary burial rituals had not been undertaken. As they approached, things seemed wrong…out of place. The stone had been rolled away. There was a young man sitting where Jesus ought to have been. His message was disturbing. He told them that Jesus was resurrected and that he would be waiting for the women and the disciples in Galilee.

Their response is not what we might expect. Instead of jumping for joy and shouting, “Praise the Lord”, they fled in terror and told no one. How could that be, we ask. How in the face of this raising of Jesus could anyone be afraid? The answers are numerous.

They were terrified because this event caught them by surprise. They were terrified because Jesus’ rising from the dead meant that the fundamental principles of life and death had been changed. It meant that God’s Kingdom was breaking in around them. It meant that life as they had known it would never be the same. It might in fact mean a religious and political upheaval that would imperil them and their families.

This Easter, I hope we will try and see the day through the eyes of these women; not meaning that we should be terrified but that we would allow ourselves to stand in awe of this event that changed not only the course of humanity but of creation itself. So this Easter amid the dresses, flowers, songs and meals, let’s stand in awe of God’s amazing, world-changing, life-affirming act of raising Jesus from the dead.

 

Prayer: Dear God, we are grateful on this Easter day that your love for the world could not be defeated by death. Help us to stand in awe of your amazing grace. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

 

John Judson (2014)