I love Easter! but I had hardly ever seen the sun rise on Easter Sunday because I am such a night owl who can not get up early in the morning. As usual I stayed up till past midnight waiting for easter vigil to pass and Easter morning to arrive. I did it. I was singing "Jesus Christ is risen today, Alleluia" along with a nice choir on CD. I went to bed at about 1 A.M. By 5 A.M.
I was woken up again by my allergies that have gotten worse in my sleep. I came out of our bedroom sitting on the sofa blowing my nose trying to get back to sleep. Then it dawned on me that, it is Easter morning. So I opened all the blinds and looked out the glass wall. Slowly and surely the day break arrived, the sun came out and again I sang "Jesus Christ is risen today... Alleluiah" and then other Easter hymns. I prayed quietly by my self giving thanks to God for giving me His only begotten Son who defeated death and is now risen to redeem me from all my sins. I literally felt reconciled with God. What a marvelous feeling!
In John's account of the Easter morning story, God choose Mary, the most unlikely among of all to be the first to be a witness the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And Jesus also told Mary, "Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” This has always been my favorite speech of Jesus. We are to go and tell. Jesus charged us long ago at his empty tomb as he did to Mary to go and tell. Many of us understand that we are called to discipleship and charged to tell the good news of the Gospel. But often we neither go nor tell. But Mary in this account did just what Jesus charged her to do. "Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord’; and she told them that he had said these things to her."
Have you seen the Lord lately? I hope so.
Today is Easter Sunday on which we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
He is Risen!
He is risen in deed!
Alleluia!, Amen.
John 20:1-18
The Resurrection of Jesus
20Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. 2So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, ‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.’ 3Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went towards the tomb. 4The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. 6Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, 7and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. 8Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; 9for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. 10Then the disciples returned to their homes.
Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene
11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to lookinto the tomb; 12and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. 13They said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping?’ She said to them, ‘They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.’ 14When she had said this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? For whom are you looking?’ Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.’ 16Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’ She turned and said to him in Hebrew, ‘Rabbouni!’ (which means Teacher). 17Jesus said to her, ‘Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” ’ 18Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord’; and she told them that he had said these things to her.
Also: Acts 10:34-43 or Jeremiah 31:1-6
Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24 Colossians 3:1-14
or Acts 10:34-43 John 20:1-18
or Matthew 28:1-10
No comments:
Post a Comment