Why Seek The Living Among The Dead?
2024년 3월 31일Why Seek The Living Among The Dead?
< Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord >
In the end, Jesus died almost alone. His mother was there, his beloved disciple was there. Mary Magdalene and a few of his women supporters were there. Everybody else ran away. Where were the lepers he cured? Where were the thousands he fed? When he needed them most, his followers fled. Nicodemas, a secret follower, was brave enough to go to Pilate and ask him for the body of an executed criminal and enemy of the state. Pilate gave it to him. But the sun was starting to set and the next day was especially holy as it was a Sabbath and Passover. So Nicodemas took the corpse and put it into the tomb he had made for himself, probably thinking it was only temporary. He could move the corpse on Sunday. Little did he know how temporary it would be!
So very early in the morning after the Sabbath, the women came to the tomb bearing myrrh to anoint the body of Jesus. They wondered who could help them move the stone that blocked the entrance to the tomb. As they worried, the first rays of the sun broke through the fog and they could clearly see the stone had already been moved away. Their hearts sank. This was terrible! Did the Romans take the body? Did the grave robbers steal it? Were they at the wrong tomb? Then a young man clothed in bright white robes asked, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? See the place where they laid him. He is not here. He is risen. Go tell his disciples he preceded them to Galilee.” So between the empty tomb and the Upper Room, these women were the church! Of course the male disciples dismissed them as crazy or having hallucinations. But that message has resounded down through the millennia and comes to us today. Let the power of this holy day transform our lives and may our lives transform the world!