Day 270 Easter Leap

When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back.—Mark 16:4

The story of the resurrection in Mark begins with Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome trekking to the tomb to anoint the body of their dead friend as proscribed in Jewish law. While they went, they were talking about how they would get to Jesus' body: "Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” (Mark 16:3) It's a reasonable question.

Then we get a hint that something extraordinary is going on--the stone has already been moved—a disconcerting moment for sure.

It makes you wonder—what in our own lives is beyond our ability to move or to roll away? What is beyond our strength, despite our desire and hope? Sometimes resurrection begins with a stunning, unexpected change--a change that we did not anticipate and certainly did not create.

When the women enter the tomb, they find no corpse. Instead there is a young man dressed in a white robe--and the women are scared. The man tells them, “Don't be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here.” After adding instructions for the disciples to meet Jesus in Galilee, he tells them, “You will see him, just as he told you.” The women went away, terrified and amazed.
What does resurrection look like? It's possible that we haven’t the slightest idea, despite 2,000 years of reflecting on New Testament verses about it. Resurrection is life, the very Life of God, springing from death. Resurrection is beyond our imagining, beyond our theories.

The life of the infinite God makes an unpredictable quantum leap, and the stone in our life is rolled away. It may be that we know it when we are amazed, when we cannot bring our experience to speech, when we find the tomb is empty when we least expected it.

Risen Christ, give me the courage to go to my own empty tombs, hoping for the stone to be rolled away. And grant me the grace to await your resurrecting life in me and in the world. Amen.