Scripture:

John 20:1-18

Reflection:

Easterners consider a corpse unclean. The climate causes early decay and there are no undertakers or means of preserving a body. So, they bury their dead right away. If a person dies in the morning, they are buried by noon. If one dies late in the afternoon, they are buried in the evening. The only time a body is buried the next day is if one dies at night.

 

“Jesus died late on Friday. It was against Jewish law to bury Him on the Sabbath day which begins on Friday evening. The body was therefore temporarily laid in a nearby tomb, hewn in a rock, to be removed on Sunday and buried permanently.” These types of tombs are used particularly for robbers and criminals who are not given a decent burial. (Source: Gospel Light, Geoge M. Lamsa, pgs. 399-400)

 

On Sunday morning when Mary came to the tomb it was still dark. When she saw that the stone to the tomb had been removed, she ran to get Jesus’ disciples. At this time, she had no idea where Christ’s body was, only that it was missing. Because they did not yet understand the scriptures, no one expected to see their Lord…alive.

 

When the disciples arrived at the tomb, all they saw were the strips of linen and cloth that Jesus was buried in. His body was gone. So, they went back to their homes.

 

Mary, on the other hand, stayed at the tomb. When she finally decided to look inside herself, she saw two angels.

 

He Has Risen

The story of the resurrection is recounted in all four Gospels. In Matthew’s account of the story, the angels told Mary, “He is not here; He has risen, just as He said. Come and see the place where He lay. Then go quickly and tell His disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead’. (Matthew 28:6)

 

In Luke’s version of events, the angels say, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while He was still with you in Galilee: “The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day, rise again.”

 

“Easter commemorates the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the tomb, occurring three days after His crucifixion. It fulfills the prophecy of the Messiah’s persecution, death for our sins, and resurrection, as foretold in Isaiah 53.” (Source: biblestudytools.com)

 

The Suffering and Glory of Christ:

• He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
• He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
• He took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted.
• The punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.
• He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.
• By oppression and judgment he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished.
• He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.
• After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many.

“See, my servant will act wisely, he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.” (Isaiah 52:13)

• He poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

“Kings will shut their mouths because of him.” (Isaiah 52:15)

(Isaiah 53)

The Resurrection

Meanwhile, back at the tomb, Mary was still in disbelief when she heard a person behind her ask, “Woman, why are you crying?” Naturally she thought it was the gardener. Distraught because her Lord’s body was gone, and without a proper burial, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”

 

“Mary!” Jesus called her by name causing her to turn and look at Him.

 

Imagine her surprise and joy when she realized the person calling her name was Jesus…and He was alive.

 

This, my friends, is what Easter is all about: the joy of resurrection. It is the hope of salvation and re-birth that will sustain us─ even through our own deaths. The resurrection story of Jesus enables us humans to believe what was once unthinkable. That there is life after death. For like Christ, we will not be in our tombs, but risen.

 

According to Richard Rohr’s book, Dancing Standing Still, “at the hearth of every mature religion is the same message: you must die before you die.” The movement from external authority to internal authority, from the parent/child relationship to adulthood, is experienced as a major dying. It is a letting go of what was in order to accept what is. Yet people “prefer to talk about being born again, forgetting that something cannot be born again unless it first dies.”

 

Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.” – John 11:25 & 26 

 

So don’t bother to go looking for the living amongst the dead. For “Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?” (Isaiah 53:1)

 

Re-birth

Easter is my favorite holiday. It is a time of re-birth, not only spiritually, but physically as well. Especially here in Vermont where the early blooms of spring are all around us. They serve as a reminder that this is a season of new beginnings and new life. “You can smell the wet ground reawakening to life after newly fallen rain. You can see the early, colorful blooms punctuating the dull landscape that winter left behind. With so much observable promise, the coming of Easter is timely. Easter signifies Jesus’ victory over sin and death following his crucifixion”. (Source: biblestudytools.com)

 

It serves as a reminder that we will live again, long after winter is gone and these bodies have been laid to rest.

 

In case you are not familiar with the law of inertia (Newton’s first law of motion), it states that a body in motion stays in motion. For those who are spiritual, it pertains to our spirits. Our souls will go on living, just as Jesus’s has. For here we are, over two thousand years after that first early Easter morning when Mary discovered our Savior─ alive, still celebrating His life and the resurrection.

 

Hope

“Easter brings hope, new beginnings, and Eternal Life, made possible by the One who loved us enough to die in our place, Jesus Christ.

 

For much of the world, Easter is only a tradition celebrated by colored Easter Eggs and the Easter Bunny. To the Followers of Christ, the true message of Easter proclaims the greatest act of love known to man.

 

God’s infinite love for mankind is the True Message of Easter, a love that will continue into Eternity.”

-Samuel L Mills

 

Though my uncle had no biological children, it is clear from his well kept headstone that he was loved anyway. This is what gives me hope because I too have no biological offspring, but with God all things are possible. (Matthew 19:26) Even being remembered beyond the grave.

 

This is what gives me hope.

 

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. (1 Peter 1:3) For thine is the Hope, the Joy and the Salvation of Easter forever. Amen.