Written by Lily Shadle
Well everyone, we made it to Sunday. The tomb is empty, and HE IS RISEN! Up to this point the world has been grieving the loss of Jesus, even though we were told this was not even remotely close to the end by the prophets of the Old Testament (Isaiah 53), and by Jesus Himself on at least three separate occasions (Matt 16: 21, 17:22-23, 20:18-19). But, we are human. We are fickle, forgetful beings that have a tendency to forget the sun exists during the night. In the same way we can forget God’s promises to us when we are going through tough times.
Last time we spoke, I asked you to walk in the light, even in the midst of darkness. That is what Mary and the other women was doing on Sunday morning even before the sun had come up as John points out in 20:1. They were being obedient by carrying on in spite of their grief. When they arrived at the tomb, their world was turned upside-down when they found it empty. Then they were met by an angel who told them the good news of what happened and a new instruction to share this news with the disciples. They responded by just carrying on with life as usual… no, they answered the call and RAN with joy (Matthew 28: 7-8, Mark 16:7-8), because they knew that Jesus had been victorious over death, just as He promised.
When they reached the disciples and told them the news there were varying responses from the disciples. Luke 24:11 says that most did not believe the women. They did not yet realize the victory that was in their possession. The next verse however, says that Peter (and John, John 20:3,4) responded to this news by running to where Jesus was, marveling at the empty tomb. But they were not living in victory either, since they did not truly understand and simply went back home, and that was the end of it.
So now we are faced with the same three options. We can hear the news and not believe it. We can believe but continue on as if nothing has changed. Or, we can answer the call and choose
