“Behold, the dwelling of G_d is with men. He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and G_d himself will be with them; he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away.”

“Rejoice and sing now,
all the round earth, bright with a glorious splendor,
for darkness has been vanquished by our eternal King.”

Two days earlier Jesus was dead, and now his body was gone. The teacher and friend had suffered death by crucifixion. The Romans did not invent this form of punishment, but had perfected it into the most terrible condemnation yet devised by humanity. The account of the past week had unfolded from Jerusalem triumph to Golgotha tragedy, and now the borrowed tomb held no deceased to anoint and to honor in the traditional manner. The story of the week had revealed much. This friend, now mourned, had portrayed a life and truth beyond all human knowing. The evil, which had taken away this life, would not cease with his last breath, but appeared to continue the insults by denying his final rest.

Mary Magdalene initially could not relate to the words of Isaiah “he swallowed up death forever.” She could not then know that the pall of death over all people had been lifted. She could not then know that death could not contain the Living. In her grief the person, to whom she asked the location of the body of Jesus, appeared as simply a common man, perhaps the gardener. She could not know that she was the first to witness the resurrected G_d, who had endured the worst which man could do, only to begin the best that G_d can do.

Mary Magdalene could not then know, until Jesus intimately speaks her name. And then he says Peter’s name, and then the twelve, and the five hundred, and all whom he wished to be his witnesses. Jesus continues to speak the names of all who seek him. All those chosen to carry on His announcement of hope and life. He chooses me to be a witness. He chooses you. Chosen as witnesses of the Good News of his resurrection. Chosen to stand firm in hope until his lordship is the peace of the world. Chosen and called, look not towards an empty tomb, rather look closely to your heart, and listen for Jesus intimately calling your name; “for he is risen, as he said.”

Pax,
jbt