Easter. Spring lilies. Bunnies. Eggs. Chocolate eggs. Lamb chops. All these are mixed as if in a tossed salad to be used instead of a wedding cake.Yeah. That’s how ridiculous and unrelated these ‘fun’ things are to Easter. Sadly, the majority of people stop at this list and don’t upgrade to the meaningful one.
Easter. My sin. My shame. My guilt. My cross. My Savior. His Death. His Resurrection. His forgiveness. My gratitude.
This past fall, we had the privilege to visit the two possible sites in Jerusalem of the crucifixion mount “the Skull” and the tomb. My favorite one was the one I nicknamed The Joyful Tomb.
It was a nice garden with windy paths. At one point it was quiet. My husband asked me to go and sit down, close my eyes and just picture that Sunday morning about to bring the best news ever.
I sat on a wooden bench. I closed my eyes. The birds were chirping. The leaves were gently swishing. I could only imagine Mary and Mary hustling to the tomb still sad over the scary events that had just happened. Only to go and wonder at the empty grave.
As I was taking the time to picture it all in the heat of the day (I could understand why they came in the cool of the morning 🙂 ), tourists from many nations burst into songs of praise while taking communion. What a goosebump moment. I was one angel away from getting a front seat to what happened on that Resurrection Sunday.
We went inside the EMPTY grave, and we started singing “The ground began to shake, the stone was rolled away… He is alive.” (Amen to that!) My heart was overwhelmed.
Yonder, in a little corner was lost a tourist who’s heart was clearly still at the Painful Tomb, as he was chiselling from the stone, trying to take a piece of it with him to India. How sad and truly painful. But, only if he were the only one so stuck on getting hope in his suitcase.
That evening, we visited the second possible site of the tomb. Today it is a church site. We entered. I couldn’t sit quietly and picture anything, over the silent, yet loud desperation of people gently wailing without hope. A piece of the tomb stone was placed in the middle of the church. Men and women, young and old, rubbing scarves, jewelry, crying over it as if still at Jesus’ wakening. Between the very strong fragrances, low-lit structure, wailing, desperate crowds… I felt a heaviness, a painful-desperate sadness that took me awhile to recover from.
Only a heart that rejoices over lamb chops alone at the end of a long rigorous lent is found at the Painful Tomb, or lost at the Joyful one completely missing the point and trying to take a piece of hope with him in his suitcase.
At which Tomb are you finding yourself? Desperate, guilty, hopeless, joyless, acting as if the stone was never rolled away? Or, are you prancing with excitement at the Joyful Tomb over the load of sin that was forgiven? The more aware of how much sin was forgiven, the greater the joy!
Mary and Mary went to the tomb in pain, but left it with a spring in their walk and radiant joy on their face. It was empty! The grave is still empty. I checked!!
JESUS IS RISEN! If that won’t put a wide-toothy smile on our face, then nothing else will…
Easter. My sin. My shame. My guilt. My cross. My Savior. His Death. His Resurrection. His forgiveness. My gratitude. My Joyful Empty Tomb. My hope in my heart. My genuine smile on my face.
Read and Meditate: John 19:41, Matthew 28:1-10
“At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid… ” John 19:41
“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.
The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”
So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”