John 20:15
On that first Easter morning, it was the women who were doing the work of the Gospel. Even when all was lost, somebody had to take care of the body, so they went. Can you imagine a more hopeless walk than that one to that cemetery on that morning? We might want to overhear their conversation, but I fear there were no words spoken. Only the weary walk to the guarded tomb. How would they ever get that large stone out of the way? But faith and duty demanded the body be prepared, and there had been no time on Friday. The sun set as the Son was taken down. And now it was Sunday, the Sabbath had passed and it was time to get on with life, whatever life there might be without Jesus. They didn't know what to do, so they did the only thing they knew to do: get the spices, go to the cemetery, tend the body. Somebody had to do it.
What they did not know, what they could not know, was that as the sun rose, the Son rose. What they did not know, what they could not know, was that their slow journey to the tomb in silence would be followed by a sprint to the other disciples in shouts and song. Death has given way to life. Despair has been shattered by hope. Night has given way to the dawn of an entirely new day. The stone was no match for resurrection. The soldiers had better sense than to take on angels.
And yet, all these centuries later, we still make that silent journey to the cemetery. Some of us go to work convinced that nothing will ever change. Some of us come home to families broken by sin, marred by pain, and we believe this is all there is. Sometimes we watch the news and believe the world is careening out of control. To live believing our lives, our families, our world will not change is to take the weary walk to the guarded tomb. And the question remains: "Why are you crying? For whom are you looking?!"
What is it in your life that you need to trust to the power of Easter? If God raised His Son from the dead and sent Him back for you, what on earth is beyond the power of His love? And what can separate us from the love of God that is ours in Christ Jesus' Everything changes when we encounter the empty tomb. Life will never be the same when we live it in the light of the risen Son.
