The Three Marys At the Sepulcher by Giovanni Francesco Romanelli. The National Gallery of Victoria
The sunrise on an Easter morning is not like any other morning sunrise. There is an air of anticipation, of excitement and exhilaration during an Easter sunrise. We declare, "Christ is risen" and all others will respond "He is risen indeed."
Not so the first Easter morning in Jerusalem when Mary Magdalene went with some women, with some trepidation, to anoint some spices over what she expected to be a dead body.
'On the first day of the week, very early in the morning the women* took the spices and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightening 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? He is not here; He has risen!" Luke 24:1-6a
Thus was declared the Easter message that has resonated for centuries, "He has risen."
Perhaps the three women may not have recognised it but that morning was not like any other morning. The resurrection of Jesus Christ did not happen furtively; there were several extraordinary events surrounding the resurrection according to Matthew 28:1-4
There was a violent earthquake.
An angel whose appearance dazzled like lightning, came down from heaven.
The stone covering the entrance to the tomb rolled away.
The guards were paralysed.
The tomb was empty.
Jesus Christ rose from the grave!
This song 'Was It A Morning Like This' presents Heaven and Nature declaring the Easter morning news 'He Is Risen!'
Was it a morning like this
When the Son still hid from Jerusalem?
And Mary rose from her bed
To tend the Lord she thought was dead
Was it a morning like this
When Mary walked down from Jerusalem?
And two angels stood at the tomb
Bearers of news she would hear soon
Did the grass sing?
Did the earth rejoice to feel You again?
Over and over like a trumpet underground
Did the earth seem to pound "He is risen!"
Over and over in a never-ending round
"He is risen! Alleluia! Alleluia!"
Was it a morning like this
When Peter and John ran from Jerusalem?
And as they raced toward the tomb
Beneath their feet was there a tune?
Did the grass sing?
Did the earth rejoice to feel You again?
Over and over like a trumpet underground
Did the earth seem to pound "He is risen!"
Over and over in a never-ending round
"He is risen! Alleluia! Alleluia!"
Over and over like a trumpet underground
Did the earth seem to pound "He is risen!"
Over and over in a never-ending round
"He is risen! Alleluia! Alleluia!"
When my Lord looked out on Jerusalem?
He is risen!
Alleluia!
Alleluia!
Alleluia!
What is the central message of Easter? It is certainly not about Easter eggs or Easter bunnies.
Tim Keller tried to put the message across when he wrote, "If you believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and you put your hope in that, then death is now a gardener, meaning it plants us. It puts us into the ground like a tulip bulb, which becomes a lovely flower, or an acorn, which becomes a beautiful oak tree. All it can do now is make us better."
St Paul was even more emphatic and succinct when he wrote,
'Where, O death, is your victory? Where O death, is your sting?' 1 Corinthians 15:55
That is what Easter means to me; a message to be declared for all generations since that first Easter morning.
Lionel
* According to Mark 16:1 Three women visited the tomb that morning, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of Jesus and Salome or Mary Salome the mother of James and John
