He is Risen! Each Easter of my life, I can remember these being the first words that I would hear from my family. It was a greeting, and a statement of rejoicing, all in one. It is these words that give each of us any hope in their being something more to this life than the struggles that we deal with each day, and the misfortunes and pain that come with life on earth. I think that Saint Paul addressed this the most directly and appropriately when he told the people in Corinth, that if it were not for the resurrection of our Lord, there would be no basis for our faith, and we would in fact be the most pitiable of people. Yet this is where we have great cause to rejoice, because we do KNOW that our Lord has risen from the dead, and in doing so broke the bonds of death that held all the people captive for so long.
On that morning of the first day of the week, when Mary first came to the tomb of our Lord, all the events that had transpired in the days preceding had to be in her mind, and the weight of those events must have been crushing. To see our Lord crucified after enduring so much humiliation, pain, and suffering had to seem almost too much to bear. Now as she approached our Lords tomb to do what she could, in what she must have thought were some final acts of love for the one who had died. All that sorrow, disappointment, and pain must have weighed down every step – until she reached that empty tomb!
Can you imagine the glimmer of elation that must have come from first seeing that tomb empty? The initial thoughts that must have begun to course through her mind wondering if in fact there might just be hope after all, and yet still not completely knowing if this really meant that He was risen. She still had not seen Him, but the glimmer of hope was now there. As she continued to see what had taken place and heard the words of the angel that Jesus had risen, and eventually when she, and Peter and John saw the empty burial cloths, can you imagine the mounting joy that must have come from all that.
After witnessing all that mounting evidence, they may still not have had the full picture or sensed the complete impact of what was coming, yet they were no longer devoid of hope either. All this would be completely overshadowed by what would come later that evening when our Lord appeared to them and showed them His hands, feet, and side, and even ate a piece of fish in front of them to show them it was really Him. Those moments must have been indescribable, and their echo is here with us to this day. We who call ourselves followers of Christ have the joyful hope in Him specifically because of his resurrection, and as part of that we have the promise and anticipation of eternal life with Him. Today our joy in the Risen Christ should brim over and bring us peace and confidence that can only come to people who have a reason to not be afraid. We are no longer under subjection, and we can look forward to what is to come both in this life, and in the next. He is Risen!
The Deacons Bench 