Happy Easter!

A meditation on easter from another perspective... 

Written by Eroni. 

   “The women went to the tomb in the very early morning of the first day of the week, carrying the spices they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, and when they went in they didn't find the body of the Lord Jesus.

As they were at a loss what to make of it all, suddenly two men in shining clothes stood beside them. The women were terrified, and bowed their faces towards the ground. But the men said to them, 'Why look for the living with the dead? He isn't here - he's been raised! Don't you remember? While you were still in Galilee he told you that the son of man must be handed over into the hands of sinners, and be crucified, and rise again on the third day.' And they remembered his words. They went back, away from the tomb, and told all this to the eleven and all the others. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the wife of James, and the others with them. They said this to the apostles; and this message seemed to them just stupid, useless talk, and they didn't believe them. Peter, though, got up and ran to the tomb. He stooped down and saw only the grave-clothes. He went back home, perplexed at what had happened.”    Lk 24: 1-12 

  How does the word 'Easter' make you feel? Excited? Glad? Joyful? Relieved? According to this story, the first answer was in fact: puzzled, terrified, unbelieving and perplexed.

I think that's good news, actually. So many people in and around church life know that they're supposed to feel happy and joyful at Eastertide but and in their hearts a little niggle - or perhaps more than a little niggle - saying, 'Are you really sure? Isn't that all very odd? And how on earth will that help pay the mortgage, save the marriage, feed the hungry, save the whales, or even make you a better Christian?' Well, if you've got one of those little niggles today, you're in good company. Three terrified women, a bunch of frightened and grumpy disciples, and a perplexed Peter. It all makes the point: what happened on the first Easter was something nobody expected.

The challenge to pray through the Easter story is the challenge of holding your mind, and your whole life, open to the God who does unexpected things. Life-transforming things, things you'd never have imagined in your wildest dreams. Paul talks of God being able to do 'exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ask or think' (Ephesians 3.20). The power by which God can do that is precisely the power that raised Jesus from the dead (Ephesians 1.19-20).