As we continue to recall and to rejoice in Sunday's Easter celebration, my devotional guide takes me back to the verses of scripture which tell the story and speak of its' significance.
I am reading the latter chapters of I Corinthians. Paul continues to speak of the meaning of baptism. Today's section (15:29-41) points out that there is no reason to be baptized on behalf of one who is dead. "Why would we baptize in the name of Jesus if Jesus were not alive?" he asks. We are baptized into Jesus death, so that we might share in Jesus' eternal life. Our baptism is a death to our old self, as surely as it is a resurrection to a new life, a life of living among God's people and doing God's will.
Matthew's retelling of the Easter morning events differs from Mark. Mark was the text we read this year, on Easter morning. In Matthew, as the women are approaching the tomb there is a great earthquake. The verses leave open the possibility that Mary Magdalene and the other Mary may have watched as "an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone, and sat on it." The guards go and report this to the Chief Priests who bribe them to say that it was Jesus' followers who came and took Jesus' body.
The stories and the teachings attempt to clear up the confusion which arises from all of this. And it is very confusing. To think of a person who is dead living again; to understand the transcending of heavenly beings with earthly places - these are confusing. Scripture attempts to help us understand. Understanding may come, with regard to the events. But the understanding which matters most is with regard to meaning. What do these events mean to us? What do they mean to you?
The prayer in my devotional guide speaks of God's spirit which "quicken us also." The events of Easter have the potential to bring us to life in a way which we previously had not experienced. The next line in the prayer is the one that remains with me. It expresses the hope of Easter, "That we may rise to newness of life and have a part in the working out of they purpose of good for the world."
Easter serves to "quicken" us; to bring us to life in a way which previously we had not experienced. And this awakening makes it possible for us to go and tell, to go and share, to go and live a life which attracts others to the Good News of God's grace and God's salvation.
Christ is Risen! Christ is Risen indeed!
Let us live this and let us share this.
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