Vision of Resurrection
Summary: The beauty and power of Easter is that we are not just wishing for a better tomorrow, but anchoring our hope to God conquering death in history and tipping the dominoes of time that will eventually lead to all of creation being consumed by God’s love and set right. Here is a vision of resurrection.
Our desire to see ordinary life repaired resonates. When Mary first sees Jesus after the resurrection, she mistakes him for a gardener. This is good news because it tells us that the resurrected life is ordinary life repaired. There’s a lot of beautiful ordinary things in life: sunset on a beach, the way that your dog greets you, that first sip of coffee in the morning, or holding someone you love. We desire to see ordinary life repaired because ordinary life is often quite extraordinary. What ordinary thing lights you up? What do you long to see repaired?
Our longing for relational wholeness is just right. Mary is grieving the loss of her friend and then Jesus says her name and she’s reunited with a person that she loves. We are made to be in relationship with God and others. We can’t be who we are without the other people in our lives and when we lose those relationships, we feel loss and pain. The resurrection gives us a vision to see that restored relationships are an essential part of a restored life. What step would help you live toward relational repair right now?
The Resurrection gives us a reliable vision for living. Our world is filled with beauty and joy, as well as death and pain. The resurrection offers us a reliable way to live by offering us hope in the midst of the challenges and pointing us towards a life in which we enjoy the ordinary and love God and others. This is something that we can do in our homes, neighborhoods, and workplace. How are you living the resurrection?
Passage for Reflection: Romans 12:9-21
Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples returned to their homes. But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ” Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her.
