“Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’”

Luke 24:4-7

The contemplations of Easter week tug at my heartstrings each and every year. From the joy and Hosannas of Palm Sunday, to the cleansing of the temple courts, to the ire of the religious leaders, to the betrayal and arrest and trial and beating and the awful agony of the crucifixion—the horror of that Friday hurts my soul.

But after Friday comes Sunday. My entire being reverberates early Easter morning with the sounds of grace. Christ has paid the price.

Eight days ago our family gathered at the Cathedral in the Pines before sunrise Easter morning, as we have for the last forty years, to celebrate the empty tomb with joy in our hearts. We are well aware of the truth in the traditional paschal greeting: “He is risen! He is risen indeed!” Not so the women that Easter morning, as they arrived at dawn only to find the stone rolled away and Jesus’ body missing (Luke 24:1-2).

When the angels confronted them they took off running to tell the apostles, who didn’t believe them—their words seemed to them like nonsense (Luke 24:11). Peter and John were the only ones curious enough to check it out, and then they went home. It took Mary to raise the question on all their minds: “They have taken my Lord away…and I don’t know where they have put him” (John 20:13).  

Jesus’ friends clearly missed His words that He would rise again. The religious leaders had not: “we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again’” (Matthew 27:63). The coverup began immediately: “’His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we (the guards) were asleep’” (Matthew 28:13).

And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day (Matthew 28:15). But they are wrong, as Jesus would soon prove in His many appearances. Ah, the joy of seeing; for us the joy of faith: “He is risen! He is risen indeed!”

Nancy P

*Matthew 17:22-23, Mark 9:30-32, Luke 9:44-45

All Scripture quotations are from the NIV 1973, 1978, 1984, unless otherwise noted.