Sunday, April 17, 2022: Easter
Luke 24:1-12
On the first day of the week, at early dawn, the women who had come with Jesus from Galilee came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body. While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.” Then they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.
This Easter season we are invited to lay our burdens down at the feet of Jesus, knowing that not only our lives, but we ourselves are transformed by the grace of the resurrected Spirit of Jesus. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light (Mt. 11: 28-30).
Scripture’s recounting of the empty tomb tells us that suffering and death are overcome, in the end, by Jesus’ rising from the dead. This means that whatever is painful in our lives – the unresolved hurts and unreconciled relationships, the disappointments we’ve experienced, the ways we’ve let ourselves and others down, are not the final answer. New life and new beginnings are always possible; hope that God will take our brokenness and make something new and different out of the puzzle pieces of our lives is ever present.
The beauty of Easter is that we do not have to rely on our own human weakness to muddle through this world; God’s triumphant grace provides all the strength we need to withstand whatever life brings us, knowing that in the end, we too, will be united with the One who loved us from the beginning of time.