Luke 24
On the first day of the
week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared
and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb…
While they were wondering about this, suddenly two
men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their
faces to the ground, but the men said to them, ‘Why do you look for the living
among the dead?
“They found the stone rolled away”
What
a shock or surprise!
You
see the women had gone expecting death.
They were surprised by life.
I
wonder if too often we expect death.
Death
of a way of life.
Death
of the church or maybe at least the ones we know.
Death
of a faith.
It
is possible to hang about the places of death.
To
expect the things of death.
To
speak the language of death.
To
even be dead ourselves – oh yes there are a lot of dead men (and women) walking
– and I don’t mean zombies.
No
I mean those who have never discovered life.
The
women went to the tomb, prepared for death, ready to deal with death, ready to
mourn death.
And
they were surprised by life.
That
is the message for us today. That people can be surprised by life. Those who
feel life is hopeless and a dead loss – Jesus can surprise with life.
Those
who feel that the things they hold dearest are dying – Jesus can bring
transformation and a new perspective – a perspective of life.
Those
who picked up a cross at this site where we stand and thought they had
destroyed what Christ and Christians stand for because they had taken or thrown
it over the cliff– they can be surprised by life.
Those
who feel that faith is hard or non-existent – they can find the life that Jesus
brings.
Those
who feel there is no hope for the church –can find the life that Jesus brings.
Those
who think death - they can discover life.
Those
who think the Christian faith outdated, old fashioned, all in the past, a dead
religion with a dead leader can find He is Risen and that life is there.
Today
we acknowledge that we are not people of the tomb, those who deal in death, but
rather those who proclaim the risen Lord, victor over sin and death and the one
who brings life. The Life Giver – who sends
us into the world to be life givers also.
L:
Alleluia, Christ is risen
R: He is risen
indeed, Alleluia
