Seasons of Life

Easter Sunday, a time of great joy, for Jesus has risen.

We know that story, and how it ends, but not everyone understands or knows. Those who didn’t follow Jesus during his earthly ministry, and those who thought sending Jesus to the cross would end his teaching. It didn’t work that way. Even his followers can be a fickle lot.

Mary and the disciples grieved though. They’d come to know him so well, but we know they didn’t always understand his ways or his teachings. Especially his death and the way it happened. Some of them likely worried that they’d be the next ones to be put on trial.

Mary’s reaction came with a great mix of emotions for me. I suppose being in grief will help us identify with others in that same state.

As she stood near the tomb weeping, I understood, perhaps more than any other time, the depth of her grief. She wanted to do what was necessary for her Lord for his burial. She would have prepared spices to lay at the tomb, just as we prepare and lay flowers at the burial place of a loved one.

The stone was rolled away. Who knows what happened to the guards. Maybe they’d run away in fear at the appearance of angels. Not everyone saw angels.

Jesus wasn’t in the tomb when she came, but the cloths were there that had wrapped him. Two angels sat in the tomb, one at the head and one at the foot of where he would have been laid. She turned, very likely in tears, to someone standing outside, who she assumed to be the gardener, for this was a garden after all.

But it wasn’t a gardener, it was Jesus. She didn’t recognize him. When he spoke, he said, “Mary.”

She knew that voice. She replied, “Rabboni.” Her heart must have welcomed the sight of him and seeing him alive.

Jesus cautioned her not to touch him since he must ascend to his Father. He must have known the depth of her grief. I can only imagine a soft expression on his face as he responded.

Mary ran to tell the disciples that she had seen him. She was the first to see him alive.

As one member shared with me at church after the Easter service “Aren’t we blessed to have that to look forward to?”

She’s right, even if we’re not all feeling that way at the moment. I trust that the joy will come.

After a long winter, spring also offers a reprieve from the cold.