the good news is… alive in the world
READ
The Resurrection of Jesus
After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And suddenly there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning and his clothing white as snow. For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.’ This is my message for you.” So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers and sisters to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”
REFLECTION
On that first Easter morning, the women stumble upon something totally outside their experience. They encounter a brush with what Hamlet calls “the undiscovered country.” Hamlet fears the unknown of what lies beyond death for no one has ever returned from that undiscovered country. No one, that is, but Jesus. He is risen! He brings the power of resurrected life into the world they have known. All their weary weeks of drawing water, weaving at the loom, running a household, and raising children take on new meaning. They realize how little they understand of their own world. On that first day of the week, life becomes more than an exhausting journey to the grave. Life becomes a journey of experiencing how the resurrection challenges and changes the world in which they live.
So here we are on the first day of the week. We take back to the places we live and the people we know the Easter truth, “He is risen! He is risen indeed!” On this first day of the week, we return in the power of the resurrection to the world we thought we knew so well. We see that things are not the way we thought they were. There is so much to be discovered all around us. There is so much hope where we thought there was only despair; there are so many possibilities when we thought there was nothing but dead-end streets; there is so much life bursting forth when we thought there was only death.
When the resurrection of Jesus takes hold of us and shakes us to the core, it is the first day of a new life. On this first day of the week, how will you live the life that God has spread out before you?
Written by Rev. Lewis Galloway