The Upload
Posted on Apr 03, 2015 by
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:
I pray you have had a blessed week!
Last week, I spoke about how our lives can change in an instant, but as I wrote that letter, I had no idea how true that would be for us here at Salem this Holy Week. Last Saturday morning, as I was working around the house, I received a call from Alan Uhl that his son, Victor, had died suddenly. Then, on Monday morning, we received the sad news that another one of our family, Jay Holmes, had died in a work accident. It has been an unbelievable Holy Week.
But as I write this letter, it is Maundy Thursday, and I am reminded that death is not the end. I am reminded today, as I prepare the sanctuary for worship (where we will experience foot-washing and remember that “first” Last Supper) that Christ, through his love, gave us freedom from sin and death. Oh, the Roman leaders and the Jewish leaders thought that death was the end and they thought that, by crucifying Jesus, things would go back to the old ways, but they were wrong.
This Sunday, Easter Sunday, our Gospel text will be Mark 16:1-8. In Mark’s version of the first Easter morning, the two Marys and Salome went to the tomb expecting to find a dead Jesus. As far as they were concerned, their lives had been shattered, for when Jesus was killed all their hopes and dreams died with him. For them, the evil in the world had won. But when they arrived at the tomb, instead of having to find someone to roll back the stone, they found it already moved.
My guess is that, after arriving and seeing the tomb already opened, they entered cautiously, fearing what they might find, and instead of a dead body, they found a young man dressed in white casually sitting there, apparently waiting for them. And Mark says that the three women “were alarmed.” My guess is those women were actually scared to death. In their fear, though, that young man offered them unbelievable news: "Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here” (16:6). How incredible! How wonderful!
But wait, the women don’t seem excited. The young man told them to go tell the other disciples and Peter the good news, but Mark says they ran, they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid (16:8). Now, obviously. They eventually told people, because we know the story, but initially they were scared and they didn’t know what to do, much like you and I when life gets really ugly for us.
Life gets really heavy sometimes, doesn’t it? The burdens of life weigh us down. Issues like health concerns, death, grief, financial concerns, loss of jobs all cause us to live in fear, but the message of Easter is, “Do not be afraid, for Jesus has risen! Jesus goes ahead of you and will be with you in your joys and in your fears.” The Easter message is that God never gives up and God will never forsake you.
I pray you have a blessed and joyous Easter and that you know that you are never alone, for Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
Have a happy and blessed Easter!
Shalom,