Just some early morning thoughts from me to you…
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, 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 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? 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 over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’
Luke 24: 1-7 (NIV)
The women came that first Easter morning over 2,000 years ago, to simply fulfill a Jewish tradition of anointing a dead body with spices.
The body they believed to be that of Jesus.
Despite the fact that Jesus told them that He would be delivered into the hands of men who would kill him, but that after three days, He would rise.
You wonder if they believed Him.
Because despite telling them that, and watching Him perform miracle-after-miracle—what did they come looking for?
A resurrection miracle? An Angel sitting there telling them that their Lord had risen, and was alive just as He said would happen?
No. The only reason they were at the tomb that morning was to meet the Jewish tradition by anointing the dead body of Jesus with spices.
And if they didn’t feel obligated to that tradition, they just may have missed the miracle of that Easter moment.
That’s us, way too often. Missing important, sacred moments which God sets before us.
Things happen which beat us down. Failures. Disappointments. Uncertainty looms around every corner.
Distracted by the pulls of the world to the unimportant things that will never satisfy. Wandering through life unfulfilled, empty, without direction, purpose or hope.
Ready to throw in the towel and call it quits.
Don’t do it.
My friends, God is at His very best when our life is at its very worst. Look what He did at the cross, and then three days later.
For a life darkened with failure, we find forgiveness in what Christ did for us.
For a heart scarred with despair, heart-wrenching loss, disappointment, and pain from the past, we find renewal for today and hope for tomorrow.
And for a path through the unimportant stuff and junk we face, we find direction, deliverance and eternal life.
The promise of Easter and the risen Christ.
Do yourself a favor.
Don’t listen to the sounds of a world spinning out of control, with its priorities all pointing in the wrong direction.
Instead, listen to the sound rising from the empty tomb.
The sound of the risen Christ—Hallelujah, our living hope.
In His Name–Scott
Enjoy this beautiful anthem “An Easter Hallelujah” by sisters, Cassandra and Callahan Star.
