The air remains cool. The moon still hangs overhead. There are shadows, there is silence. Early in the morning, three women journey out from the city to the burial place where they intend to care for the dead body of Jesus. They still cannot believe that the Anointed One has been crucified.
But when they arrive at the end of the road, at the tomb, these three most loyal friends and followers are the first to hear the words that have changed human history and our lives – ‘You seek Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here; see the place where they laid him’ (Mark 16:6).
The painting above is the only one by the renown German painter Caspar David Friedrich with an explicit biblical theme. Devoutly Christian in the Lutheran tradition, Friedrich reminds me that journeys through shadows and sadness to places where we expect only endings can also bring us to places of wondrous new beginnings … by the grace and work of the Holy One … and it all begins here with the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.
This Easter morning we take up the gospel declared to the women, and the celebration of the generations. This Easter, not gathered together in one place at the centre of the city but in our homes and apartments spread throughout the city, we will shout out ‘Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!’. Let us join together in prayer, in hymn, in reflection … and in joy!
Youtube video (available Sunday morning from 6 a.m.) https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzEy41z3sqfRm8X_lLfKGUA
It is the Lord,
in the dawning
in the renewal,
in the arrival,
in the new day.
It is the Lord,
in the crowd,
in the home,
in the conversation,
in the crisis.
It is the Lord,
in our joys,
in our sorrows,
in our sickness,
in our health …
It is the Lord,
risen and returned,
alive for evermore,
giving me new life,
saving me in strife.
It is the Lord. (David Adam, England)