Easter Sunday
Reflecting on Matthew 28: 1-10
If you attended the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday you heard Matthew’s detailed and fascinating resurrection account. It’s only here that we learn there was a “great earthquake” when an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and, like swatting a fly, rolled the stone away that had tried to keep Jesus chained in death.
And Mary Magdalene and “the other Mary” actually saw this! This is the only account in the four gospels where eyewitnesses actually saw the stone rolled away! The big scary Roman guards posted at the tomb were so terrified by that angel that they fell dead asleep. But not those women! They stood their ground and watched―not fainting, but full of a faith that only comes from Love. They loved Jesus. No angel was keeping them from him.
And because of their Love they witnessed the greatest event of all history.
On this day, Easter Sunday 2023, I offer you this invitation: Fall in love with him. Soften your heart. Enter the tomb and see that it is empty. Enter into a life in Christ and see that is full to overflowing with grace and love for you. I promise.
The guards could have been eyewitnesses too. Instead, they helped start the rumor that Jesus’ disciples stole the body so that there would be an explanation for that empty tomb when people came to see for themselves.
The world is like that these days. There are lots of explanations for that empty tomb. Except for this: the earliest Christians gladly accepted martyrdom because they had seen, and utterly believed, that their BELOVED was waiting for them just on the other side of the grave.
What might be keeping you from accepting the WITNESS of the earliest Christians?
Kathy McGovern ©2023