Scripture Reading: Mark 16: 1 – 8 ( Please click ( several times ?) on the link below.)
Scripture Emphasis: Mark 16:2-3
Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?”
Just after sunrise on the first day after the Sabbath, they were on their way to the tomb, when they suddenly remembered ” The Stone;” “The Stone ” standing in the way of their Mission; the stone, preventing their final expression of tenderness and love. They asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?”
The following meditation requires imagination to place yourself amid the activities of the early morning, before the discovery of the empty tomb. This exercise will fathom the deeps of human experience, and provide the unspeakable joy of having victory triumph over tragedy.
The houses throughout the back lanes in Jerusalem were for, the most part, in darkness. The faithful, having completed their Sabbath duties, and having offered the evening Jewish prayer, “Father, into Thy hands do I commend my spirit,” have gone to rest. One house stands out as an exception. The house belonging to John, the beloved disciple of Jesus, is the chosen place of rendezvous for the mourners, following Jesus’ internment, in the Garden of Joseph of Arimathea.
Sleep refuses to take refuge where spirits feel abandoned and empty. It is easier to follow the mind and heart, down paths to millions of memories of things that have been, but can never be again. The first essential tonight, however, is for everyone to attempt putting into words, the excruciating feelings, that come like molten lead dripping on a naked brain, of their experience of “The Hill.”
The hours creep well past midnight before John can persuade them to move from” The Hill.” After all, it was three crosses, standing stark on that Hill, that shackled their hearts to it. John begins their reverie.
” Remember the time that the horrible pandemic called, ‘leprosy’ threatened us all. How terrifying it was. Everyone was so afraid and helpless! Remember how some of those who contracted its horror, came to live in tombs.
I can see it now, that look of inexpressible joy on the faces of ten of them when Jesus set them free from their imprisoning tomb! Nine of them, so overcome with absolute delight, danced their way into a renewed hope. But there was one who danced in the opposite direction until he found Jesus, and kneeling before Him, said: “Thank You.”
Thomas interjected,” that was then; it won’t ever happen again; Because …because …now He is in the tomb.”
Quickly, John seeks to resuscitate the conversation.
” I have felt, over time, a profound sorrow for Nicodemus. You all recall how he came to Jesus by night. It was at a time when faith seemed to be on the wane. There was little that seemed to be real; something that made one feel anchored.
I was with Jesus the night that Nicodemus just appeared from the shadows. He looked like one pushing a huge stone up a mountain. Jesus then explains to Nicodemus, the power of God’s Spirit to let a man begin again, as though he was born again. I tell you, that night I saw Nicodemus’ stone roll back down the Hill and disappear in an open tomb.”
“But it can never happen again.” came the words, punctuated with heart-wrenching sobs. It was Mary Magdalene who now spoke. ( Luke 8:2)
“He took away from me the curse of ” seven demons,” as some chose to call my misadventures. The heart inside me seemed like a stone, weighing me down to my grave. People’s leering eyes burnt their way through every hope I held for a new beginning. Jesus rolled the stony heart away and replaced it with a heart of flesh.
But, alas! it can never happen today or ever again; because they crucified Him and placed Him in a tomb! ”
A moment, pregnant with questioning silence follows. The silence is interrupted by a knock upon a door. John rushes towards the sound. Opening the door, he comes face to face with Mary, the mother of Jesus. ” My son, I know that for the mission you and your friends are about to undertake, this will be needed,” Mary says, as she thrust a package into John’s hands, before continuing; “It is the myrrh given to Jesus by a Wiseman, at His birth. They will need it now for the anointing of His body in death”.
The rising sun was already beginning to roll away the cold gray stone of darkness lingering in the eastern sky.
It was Mary Magdalene who orchestrates the complete immobility, that freezes the entire group motionlessly in place.”What about the Stone, at the entrance of the tomb? Who will roll it away for us?” Mary asks. And then! HALLELUJAH! The Greatest Discovery in the entire history of the world beams forth with majestic strains, “He Is Not Here, For He Is Risen”!
You go and tell all those, like the helpless lepers, the Nicodemuses and the Mary Magdalenes of this world, and all who feel themselves to be broken and lost, that the stones separating them from Him have been removed forever. He Is RISEN!
A PRAYER TO FOLLOW THIS MEDITATION
Eternal Father,
I ask that You create the music for this spectacular Easter morning, using only the sound of human voices, from all over the world exuberantly expressing this renewed burst of Hope: He Is Risen! Jesus Christ is risen indeed!
Keep reminding us Father, what ‘Risen’ means. It is not from the annals of antiquity that Jesus emerges for a day, only to return promptly thereto when Easter Hosannahs fade. Show us, Father, It is not like some Homeric legend about feats clouded in impenetrable fog, that the shout of Victory comes,” Jesus Christ is Risen From the dead”.
Father, please quicken our understanding to realize, “He Is Risen” which means, that this very day we see Him on the front lines with all those, risking their lives to battle the COVID 19 pandemic, the world over.
- He is beside the beds of pain, sharing His ineffable Peace; His hands placed on fevered brows, along with those of doctors and nurses.
- He is there beside every loved one, who because of isolation, fears that their beloved one in hospital, may pass through ‘the valley of shadows’ alone; His reassuring voice echoes with compassion: ” I will never leave you comfortless”.
We will find Him with the hospital staff who seek to bring the reassurance of love and pity that never die. - With arms of comfort, He encircles the ones who mourn the departure of their beloved; and He pulls back the curtain of death, that all may have a glimpse of the Beyond,” In My Father’s House, there are mansions.”
- He is where a young woman’s anticipation of the birth of her baby, is now overshadowed by this crisis. The Powerful Word,” Now is Christ Risen From the dead,” is our certainty that He always prays for each one of us, ” Father, Into Your hands, I commit you and your family.”
Thank You, Father, for bringing New Life from the womb of the earth in The Risen Christ. May that New Life find nurturing and support in each of Your children. May the gray clouds that overshadow the world because of us, be dispursed by the glorious sunrise of a new day dawning now. In Jesus Name, we pray, Amen.
HYMN: Jesus Christ Is Risen Today ( Please click on the link below)
EDITORIAL NOTES
The Scripture references throughout are from the NIV translation.
The photo is taken in Arches Nationa Park, Utah, U.S.A.