In an article for Ministry Matters, Alex Joyner writes: “It’s easy to get distracted. We can come to the Easter garden like the women, preoccupied with grief and worries, with a sense of guilt or loss, utterly unmoored from anything stable. The Resurrection comes to tell us that grief and loss and lost-ness are not the sum total of our lives. There is something more.
“Perhaps we are also attuned to the anxieties of the powerful. The authorities who posted the guards may look like they are in control, but their authority is built on a foundation of their own fear. They would like to maintain the illusion of power, but the Resurrection comes to say that real power is now unleashed in the world. Systems that are corrupt and broken are ripe for transformation. They may try to crucify hope, but they will fail and fall.
“We can also be distracted by the earthquakes. Natural disasters. Human disasters. We’ve seen them. Mudslides. Drought. Fires. They’re in the news every day. We think the terrors we face are a sign that God has abandoned us. But the Resurrection comes to tell us that the earthquakes don’t have the last say.
“The angel can even draw our attention away. He only rolled away the stone so that we could see what had already happened. He is only there to say, “He is not here.”
“But the most important encounter in the story happens when Jesus meets the women in the garden. Without any accompanying drama, he greets them. They grab hold of his feet and know that he is not floating above the world, but really walking within it. He provides the focus we need in a world of distractions.” (Click to read the full article.)
Blessings!
Michael Duduit
mailtmduduit@salempublishing.com
www.michaelduduit.com