Imagine yourself at the tomb in early dawn just as the sun peeks over the horizon. There’s a coolness in the air and you’ve come with spices, as tradition demands, to cover the smell of death and honour the dead at the same time. But you stop, seeing that the enormous rock has been rolled away from the mouth of the tomb. This is not what you expected to see while you’re numb with grief.
Graveclothes are folded neatly inside. There are two men standing nearby in dazzling clothes who ask, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen!” (Luke 24:5)
And then do you remember what Jesus had said earlier? That he would rise again.
Your first instinct might be to run back and tell your friends. What do you say?
This pivotal moment marks a new beginning. Jesus is freed from the grave and bears the marks of his crucifixion. Jesus appears to his disciples at various times and to the women who have carried spices to his grave. He says more than once, “Peace be with you.” And he tells them “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” (John 20: 21)
Empty Tomb
In the gray dawn
I say goodbye to one
whose hands brought life from death
whose words confounded kings and priests
The cave is shadowed and dark
a boulder rests unneeded, but not unheeded
rising light exposes
folded cloth in an empty cave
confounding
compounding yesterday’s drama
footsteps
i turn
in a voice as soft as morning
He calls my name
Carolyn Wilker --Published 2007 Esprit
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