Our drained, sinful world has by no means seen a shock so momentous because the one which unfold from the tomb on Easter Sunday. “The useless stayed useless within the first century with the identical monotonous regularity as they do [today],” Donald Macleod writes (The Individual of Christ, 111). Nobody, in any age, has been accustomed to resurrection.
To the disciples, it mattered little that their Lord had already given away the ending (Mark 8:31; 9:31; 10:34). The resurrection of Jesus Christ — coronary heart beating, lungs pumping, mind firing, legs strolling — may very well be nothing lower than a shock. The best shock our world has ever seen.
Take note of the resurrection narratives, nonetheless, and you could end up shocked at how Jesus surprises his individuals. He doesn’t run from the tomb shouting, “I’m risen!” (as we might have anticipated). In three separate tales, the truth is — with Mary, with Peter, and with the 2 disciples on the Emmaus street — he doesn’t reveal himself instantly. He waits. He lingers. He hides, even. After which, in profoundly private methods, he surprises.
A few of us awoke this Easter in determined want of this identical Jesus to supply an analogous shock. We declare at this time that he’s risen, that he’s risen certainly. However for one purpose or one other, we might discover ourselves caught within the shadows of Saturday. Maybe some sorrow runs deep. Or some outdated guilt gnaws. Or some confusion has invaded the soul. Maybe our Lord, although risen, appears hidden.
Sit for a second in these three tales, and take into account how the Lord of the empty tomb nonetheless likes to shock his individuals. As on the primary Easter, he nonetheless delights to commerce our sorrow for pleasure, our guilt for forgiveness, our confusion for readability.
Sorrow Stunned by Pleasure
Possibly, this Sunday, some lengthy disappointment appears unmoved by the empty tomb. Possibly the Easter solar appears to have stopped just under the horizon of some darkened a part of life — some love misplaced, some lengthy and aching wait. Possibly you keep in mind Jesus’s phrases, “Your sorrow will flip into pleasure” (John 16:20), however you continue to really feel the sorrow, nonetheless search for the enjoyment.
Stand on the tomb with Mary Magdalene. Others have come and gone, however she waits, weeping (John 20:11). She has seen the stone rolled away, the absent grave, and the angelic entourage of her risen Lord — and now, Jesus himself stands close to her. However although she sees him, she doesn’t see him. “She didn’t know that it was Jesus” (John 20:14). She mourns earlier than the Lord of holy pleasure, not figuring out how quickly her sorrow will flee. And for a number of moments extra, Jesus waits.
He attracts her out with a query: “Girl, why are you weeping? Whom are you in search of?” (John 20:15). She presents her reply, supposing she speaks to a gardener. After which, in a second, with a phrase, the masks comes off. Shadows break, solar rises, sorrow makes its sudden comfortable flip. How? “Jesus stated to her, ‘Mary’” (John 20:16). One phrase, one identify, and this Gardener blooms flowers from her fallen tears. “Rabboni!” she cries — and cries no extra (John 20:16).
Not like Mary, you realize your Lord is risen. Even nonetheless, for now, you could really feel bent and damaged. Seeing Jesus, however not seeing him. Understanding he lives, however not figuring out the place he’s. Possibly even listening to his voice, however supposing you hear one other’s. Pricey saint, the risen Christ doesn’t stand idly by whereas his family members grieve. He might linger for the second, however he lingers close to sufficient to see your tears and listen to your cries — close to sufficient to talk your identify and shock your sorrow with pleasure.
Preserve ready, and he’ll converse — ultimately, right here or in heaven. And till then, he’s not far. Even when hidden, he’s risen, and the deepest sorrow waits to listen to his phrase.
Guilt Stunned by Forgiveness
Or possibly, for you, sorrow is barely a be aware in a distinct, darker tune. You will have sinned — and never in a small approach. The phrases of your mouth have shocked you; the work of your arms has undone you. You’re feeling as should you had carried the troopers’ nails. And now evidently not even Easter can heal you.
Sit within the boat with Peter. He is aware of his Lord is risen — and certainly, he has even heard hope from Jesus himself. “Peace be with you,” the Grasp had informed his disciples (John 20:19). However that “you” was plural. Peter wanted one thing extra, one thing private, to scrub away Good Friday’s stains.
“Jesus nonetheless delights to commerce our sorrow for pleasure, our guilt for forgiveness, our confusion for readability.”
And so Jesus stands on the shore — risen, hidden, and once more with a query: “Youngsters, do you’ve any fish?” (John 21:5). These are phrases to awaken reminiscence (Luke 5:1–4), “but the disciples didn’t know that it was Jesus” (John 21:4). No, not but. He’ll permit Peter to really feel the evening’s empty nets a number of moments longer, after which the shock will come. And so he reveals himself, this time not with a reputation however with fish — many fish, really (John 21:6). Then, after feeding his males, he leads Peter in private repentance and, as if all is forgotten, calls him afresh: “Observe me” (John 21:19).
That Jesus ought to flip our sorrow into pleasure is one among Easter’s biggest wonders. However maybe higher nonetheless is that he ought to flip our guilt into innocence — that he ought to handle our most sinful, shameful moments so personally, that he ought to wash our souls as humbly and tenderly as he washed his disciples’ ft. But so he does.
The method can take a while, nonetheless. We might not really feel his forgiveness instantly, and he doesn’t all the time imply us to. He typically hides for some moments or some days. But as he does, he prepares the scene for a shock so good we too might really feel like leaping into the ocean (John 21:7). Our Lord is right here, bringing grace and mercy; we should go to him.
Confusion Stunned by Readability
Or possibly you discover neither sorrow nor sin afflicting you this Easter, however relatively one other type of thorn, a ache that may pierce deep sufficient to drive you mad: confusion. Life doesn’t make sense. Logic fails. God’s methods appear not simply mysterious however labyrinth-like. Who can untangle these knots or discover a approach via this maze?
Stroll with the 2 disciples towards Emmaus. “We had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel,” you hear them say (Luke 24:21). Sure, had hoped. No extra. Three nails and a spear stole the breath from that dream. Now all that’s left is confusion, a physique and blood and a burial of all that appeared good and proper and true. If not Jesus, then who? Then how? We had thought he was the one.
However then “the one” himself “drew close to and went with them” (Luke 24:15). Once more he asks a query: “What is that this dialog that you’re holding?” (Luke 24:17). And once more he conceals himself: “Their eyes had been saved from recognizing him” (Luke 24:16). In order that they stroll; so that they speak; so that they spill their confusion all alongside the street from Jerusalem to Emmaus. Sure, they’ve heard his physique was gone, have heard even a report of his rising (Luke 24:23–24). However nonetheless, they only can’t make sense of all of it.
However oh, how Jesus can. So, with a swift and tender rebuke, a lesson within the Scriptures, and a face revealed over damaged bread, he picks up their shattered ideas and arranges them in a imaginative and prescient of startling, gorgeous readability. Then “he vanished” (Luke 24:31), taking all their confusion with him. “Didn’t our hearts burn inside us?” they ask one another (Luke 24:32). Christ had risen, and the readability they might not think about had walked with them, talked with them, and liked them into the sunshine.
Our hearts at this time might brim with questions, some that appear unanswerable. However the resurrected Jesus is aware of no unanswerable questions. He can clear up each riddle in each nook of each human coronary heart — even when, for the second, he walks beside us incognito.
Our Remaining Shock
We reside at this time in an in-between land. Jesus is risen, however we don’t but see him. Jesus lives, however we haven’t but touched the mark of the nails in his arms. If we’re his, nonetheless, then sooner or later we’ll. And these tales give us purpose to count on on that day a remaining, climactic shock.
If listening to Jesus’s phrase by religion can raise the heaviest coronary heart, what sorrow can face up to his audible voice and the brand new identify he’ll give to us (Revelation 2:17)? If even now we style the reduction of sins forgiven and condemnation gone, what’s going to occur when he places a white gown round our shoulders and renders sin not possible? And if now we have moments right here of shiny readability, then what’s going to come when the mists raise altogether, when Fact himself stands earlier than us, and when all deception disappears like a nasty dream?
Then we’ll see what a risen Christ can do. His dealings with Mary, with Peter, with the Emmaus disciples — these are however the fringes of his energy, the outskirts of his methods. So hold ready, pricey Christian. On the proper time, he’ll converse your identify. He’ll seem on the shoreline of your long-repeated prayers. He’ll stroll with you on the street of confusion and loss till you attain a greater desk, and within the breaking of the bread you will note his face.