Happy Easter! He is risen!
How are you? Are you full of joy, now that it is Easter? Maybe you are, or maybe you are trying to stay above water, trying not the let the COVID fear of the day consume you. You are probably reading a lot of articles and thought pieces, trying to stay up-to-date on the latest CDC recommendations and the unemployment rate. Plain and simple, for many, it doesn’t feel like Easter.
Easter Vigil, or “Easter Eve” as my kids call it, is my anniversary of joining the church. Baptized as an adult, I can remember my baptism and I am grateful for this memory. The church was dark, packed with people, and the service was the longest I had experienced to date. The music was beautiful, describing the longing in my heart in a seemingly endless song.
The prayers were long, it was after midnight, and just when I thought I may fall asleep, it happened. All of the lights in the church are flipped on to represent the Light beating the darkness! How symbolic, I thought, as I was transitioning from a life in the dark to a life in the light of Jesus (Ephesians 5:8)!
When Mary Magdalene went to the tomb where Jesus was laid after his crucifixion, she was met with an angel, a message, and an empty tomb. She wanted to see Jesus and talk to him. But he was gone.
And because he was not there, she could trust in the angel’s message: He had risen. Jesus had really conquered death! Mary ran, as fast as her legs could take her, to tell everyone the Good News.
How exciting is it that we know, because of the empty tomb, we get to be with God every day and forever in Paradise! Our hope, this everlasting and beautiful hope, is reinforced by His actions: His death and resurrection.
“Never before in the history of humanity has emptiness held everything. Jesus is gone–because He is here” – Blessed is She. Take a minute and reflect on this statement and consider what the empty tomb means to you.
There is much despair and fear, especially now. The world we once knew as relatively consistent is now absolutely unknown. It is times like these that show us where our faith lies. Honestly, we constantly put our faith in this world, in the materials, appointments and to-dos that seem so important. But the things of this world fail us. Constantly.
In a time where we are desperately searching for hope, are we aware of the hope that is right in front of us? The war is already won. We can proclaim hope over despair. All because of the empty tomb.
Jesus’ resurrection is the central event of our faith. This tells us, however hard it is to believe, that whatever happens in the end is not the end. That is the ultimate hope, the true hope, the final reassurance.
This may resonate with you, but maybe you still feel like it’s Easter Eve and you’re waiting for the light to triumph over the darkness. May you, and I, remember in times such as these to “believe in the light, that {we} may become sons of the light” (John 12:36).
Now that it has been a week since Easter Sunday, how can you take what you experienced during the rather “Lenty Lent” to grow that much closer to Him? He promises fullness of life, and although life may not feel “full” to you at this moment, His promise remains. Let us become sons and daughters of the light, embracing strength in the sorrow and striving to know and understand the face of Jesus.
