The event that changed everything
Daily Scripture
Mark 16:1-8, Matthew 28:5-8
Mark 16
1 When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they could go and anoint Jesus’ dead body. 2 Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they came to the tomb. 3 They were saying to each other, “Who’s going to roll the stone away from the entrance for us?” 4 When they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away. (And it was a very large stone!) 5 Going into the tomb, they saw a young man in a white robe seated on the right side; and they were startled. 6 But he said to them, “Don’t be alarmed! You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised. He isn’t here. Look, here’s the place where they laid him. 7 Go, tell his disciples, especially Peter, that he is going ahead of you into Galilee. You will see him there, just as he told you.” 8 Overcome with terror and dread, they fled from the tomb.
Matthew 28
5 But the angel said to the women, “Don’t be afraid. I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. 6 He isn’t here, because he’s been raised from the dead, just as he said (cf. Matthew 16:21, Luke 9:22). Come, see the place where they laid him. 7 Now hurry, go and tell his disciples, ‘He’s been raised from the dead. He’s going on ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there.’ I’ve given the message to you.” 8 With great fear and excitement, they hurried away from the tomb and ran to tell his disciples.
Daily Reflection & Prayer
Today is the day after Easter. Put the eggs, bonnets, and flowers away for another year. But on the first “day after Easter,” Jesus’ followers were mostly stunned. Had it really happened? Today’s Scripture passages were a few decades away. Even then, “Accounts of the discovery of the empty tomb sound breathless and fragmentary. The women felt ‘great fear and excitement,’ says Matthew; ‘overcome with terror and dread,’ says Mark…. the early reports seem wispy, mysterious, confused.” *
- Yes, the early reports differ in detail. But they were all about a real event. “When we ask why such stories, so different in many ways and yet so interestingly consistent… could have come into existence so early, all the early Christians give the obvious answer: something like this is what happened, even though it was hard to describe at the time and remains mind-boggling thereafter.” ** The core story was true: Jesus died and now was alive again. It happened. How did that change everything?
- As Matthew reported, “he’s been raised from the dead, just as he said.” Jesus (as we saw in this series) expected the cross and told the disciples it would happen. But Jesus, against all so-called “common sense,” also anticipated his resurrection: “I give up my life so that I can take it up again” (John 10:17). Many people died on Roman crosses. Only one was alive three days later, and he predicted it. How does the singular nature of Jesus’ resurrection reinforce its significance?
Prayer
Lord God, people who knew and loved you said that, against all their expectations, you were fully alive again. Save me from being too smart to believe their eyewitness testimony. Amen.
GPS Insights
Emily Stirewalt
Emily Stirewalt serves as Resurrection's Silverlink Pastor specializing in pastoral care of elderly adults. She is an ordained Elder in the Missouri Annual Conference and has served since 2007. She is married to Randall, a special education teacher. They have two daughters, Elliott and Marlowe. Emily enjoys binge watching "Friends" or "Golden Girls."
During the season of Lent 2020 someone posted online that “This is the Lentiest Lent that ever Lented.” Many of us agreed that line captured what it meant to be in the season of Lent during a pandemic. It is hard to believe that the year the season of Lent coincided with COVID-19 was already five years ago. We agreed that it was quite poignant for the season of confession and penitence to fall during a time we were all sheltering in place, meeting on Zoom and questioning this time in our collective history. Basically, Lent got very real that year. And ever since then, I have paid more attention to the loneliness and isolation that the season can offer us. Heaven knows this Lent that we just observed also had some of those same realities. Anyone been stuck at home because of the weather lately? Wondering when Spring may ever come again? It was a long winter–a Lent like winter, indeed.
Personally, this Lenten season has been difficult for my family. We have been dealing with some changes in routine and some unfair circumstances and untruths. Things have settled in a bit more just in the last week and as they did, I realized our home had not been decorated for Easter yet. I almost kept the decorations in their boxes for 2026. But I am a liturgical nerd, and I live for the reality that Easter is a FIFTY DAY SEASON!!! It is still Easter, friends. We are called to remain joyful during hard times. We are called to remember that sin and death and all the things we might do to separate ourselves from the grace of God are not the end of the story. We are given the task to celebrate the risen Savior each and every day, not just one Sunday in March or April as the calendar may be.
So, our Easter Peeps wreath is hung on the door. Our Easter welcome mat is out, and my girls are not putting away their Easter baskets anytime soon. After this Lent, we need to remember that every day is a resurrection… thanks be to God!
© 2024 Resurrection: A United Methodist Church. All Rights Reserved.
Scripture quotations are taken from The Common English Bible ©2011. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
References
* Yancey, Philip, The Jesus I Never Knew (pp. 212-213). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
** Wright, N. T., Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church (p. 57). HarperOne. Kindle Edition.
