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 toward 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.
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Some news stories are so compelling
they force us to pay attention. The
recent election of the pope was one of those stories—the whole world watched as
cardinals gathered in Rome to decide the leader of the Roman Catholic church
for the near-term future. Eyes were
glued to screens as others stood vigil in St. Peter’s Square. Many apps were designed and downloaded for
the sole purpose of alerting the individual to when white smoke billowed forth
from the Vatican. We were all glued to
the process.
The entire life of Jesus Christ
seems to have been one of those stories.
People were compelled to pay attention to him. Those that loved him and followed him couldn’t
tear an eye away, afraid they might miss something. Crowds seemed to follow him everywhere, and
when they couldn’t find him they went looking for him. Even his enemies couldn’t put him out of
their minds—they were constantly following him, badgering him, hoping to trick
him into betraying his mission.
Finally, when it seemed as though
Jesus’ enemies had gotten the better of him, even his death was
compelling. Crowds came to watch him be
crucified, waiting for a miracle that never seemed to arrive. While many of the disciples abandoned him,
the women were compelled to continue to tend to him, to remain devoted to him,
to pour out their love upon him even beyond death. On that first Easter morning, they were
compelled to go to the tomb to anoint his body.
Once there, though, they received a
shock—the stone had been rolled away, and they rushed to tell Peter and John
such news. A death disturbed could not
be received idly, and the two of them were compelled to rush to the tomb,
compelled to see with their own eyes.
Such a thing had to be seen.
With many compelling events, once
you have seen, that is enough. You have
satisfied your curiosity. Not so with resurrection.
When the disciples realized Jesus
had been raised from the dead, they did not linger in the tomb. They did not remain there. Christianity was not meant to stay in the
tomb. No, resurrection draws us in,
Easter compels us to come and see, but then Christianity sends us out to tell
the story. We don’t remain in the tomb—we
go forth to tell the story. We are drawn
in and then sent out.
When Jesus Christ was raised from
the dead, he demonstrated that death was defeated. Death no longer had power over us. In his resurrection, he paved the way for us
to follow, to live a life filled with joy and wonder and hope and, when we have
reached the end of our time here, we pass through death into still more life to
come.
Death is not a place we stay. The disciples did not remain in the tomb,
content to have seen. No, just as they
were compelled to come and see, they were compelled to go and tell, and we are
a part of their spiritual legacy.
In the resurrection of Jesus
Christ, death was vanquished as a destination.
Death is now just a door, an event that we witness but not a place we
remain. Jesus has defeated death, and
now we can come and see, go and tell, and live the story of faith in God who
has power over death and is victorious over sin. In Christ, we have hope and we have life.
Let us pray
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