After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. (Matthew 28:1-4 NIV)
An earthquake and an angel of the Lord (entering the scene like a bright flash of lightning), a giant boulder moved away from the entrance of the tomb leaving the guards trembling, then passing out—all elements of amazing first moments of a movie, yes? The action, the sound, the drama, the suspense. God the most amazing director of that most miraculous moment in time. Perhaps picture yourself chosen by God, thousands of years ago, cast as one of the women approaching the tomb to anoint a deceased beloved’s body with spices, only to find an angel sitting on the stone in front of an empty tomb. Your natural reaction? Surprise? Relief? Surprise that even though you believed that God could do anything and everything, you still had doubts on how it might transpire? Relief that God did what God had promised: to conquer death. Jesus had already risen, the earthquake moved the stone so that you could witness its emptiness? Picture your facial expression: would your mouth gape open, would you weep with tears? Would you fall down on the ground to your knees, from the sheer awesomeness of the prophesy fulfilled? Would you dance for joy? Would you sing Alleluia?
Now jump ahead to today’s scene: Easter Sunday, 2023. We are asked by God, the ultimate director, to again approach the tomb, bring our spices and reverence, to be in the moment and react. There isn’t an earthquake this time, or a flash of lightening; no angel in white perched on a stone. There aren’t large guards who faint to the ground, and there is no visual tomb in the side of a hill to enter and hear the echo of emptiness, or find no body within. But God, our director tells us to react as if we were there, in the original moment—really there. Feel the earthquake, hear the lightning, see the stone roll, and tomb empty. No, we aren’t to use method acting techniques or any special improvisation. We are asked to really be there in that moment the stone was first rolled away.
Listen to the lyrics of the hymn as the background to the scene: Were you there when they crucified our Lord…when they laid him in the tomb…when the sun refused to shine…when Jesus rose up from the grave? Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble…were you there?
Were you there when the tomb was found empty? Were you really there? Can you feel it, can you see it…choose to be there.
So, how will you react this Easter Sunday, April 9th, 2023? Will your mouth gape open, will you weep with tears? Will you fall down to the ground, to your knees, will you dance for joy, or sing? Or will you act like it happened to someone else, oh so long ago. You see, we did not live in the time Jesus walked the earth, was crucified, died and was buried. No, we were not alive when Christ was resurrected and returned. Yet, God wants us to experience it as if we were. To see the tomb, empty. Empty for us; for our sins, for the conquering of death; for the fulfillment of God’s promise of eternal life in Jesus. Really see it in our mind’s eye. Marvel, weep, fall to our knees, dance and sing. Shout Alleluia! Because such a miracle deserves to be remembered as if you were there the very first time.
Amen.
