After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning,
Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb.
And behold, there was a great earthquake;
for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and, going to the tomb,
rolled back the stone, and sat on it. His appearance was like lightening.
Then the angel said to the women in reply,
“Do not be afraid! I know that you are seeking Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified.
He is not here, for he has been raised, just as he said.
Come and see the place where he lay.
Then go and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead.”
Matthew 28.1-7
for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and, going to the tomb,
rolled back the stone, and sat on it. His appearance was like lightening.
Then the angel said to the women in reply,
“Do not be afraid! I know that you are seeking Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified.
He is not here, for he has been raised, just as he said.
Come and see the place where he lay.
Then go and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead.”
Matthew 28.1-7
The first Easter Sunday began with the remarkable experience of two women, who were disciples of Jesus. Unlike his apostles and male disciples, they had stayed with him through his passion, perhaps for this reason they are given the privilege of this encounter.
Anyway, it was not the experience they expected. They had come to Jesus’ tomb to honor his death. They thought death had won and the hope they had for their lives, the hope they had placed in this man was dead. Instead they receive a remarkable message given in an extraordinary manner. A dazzling messenger tells them the tomb is empty and death does not have the final say. Jesus is the death of death…life wins.
That’s the basic message of Easter, life wins.
Christians believe that no matter what, life wins, life always wins.
Here at Nativity we have had a really exciting Lenten season filled with all kinds of signs of new life as people have stepped forward to take their next steps into membership, ministry and small group life. Our Lenten reflection in our weekend messages and weekly small group discussions, “Catholic Atheism”, challenged all of us to look at ways we are not really living like believers and many people have told me they have taken that challenge very seriously. Other signs of life have been obvious throughout an amazing Holy Week: staggering attendance on Palm Sunday, an awesome worship service conducted by our high school students on Thursday, 12 hours worth of lines for confessions on Good Friday, a dozen new Catholic Christians baptized and confirmed at the Easter Vigil. God is blessing our church community in many and mighty ways and it is exciting to be a part of it.
The instruction of the angel to the women that first Easter was two-fold…”come and see” then “go and tell.” “Come and see” is all about changing your mind, most basically and fundamentally changing your mind about life and how you’re living. Catching a glimpse of the life God has in mind for you. “Go and tell” is about changing your plans, going with his plan instead of your own. That’s what happened that first Easter: those women changed their minds about death and then they changed their plans about their lives. They went with God’s plan instead.
That’s what our whole celebration of Lent and Easter is all about, changing our minds, changing our plans and going with God’s plan instead…because in God’s plan life wins.
Happy Easter, and blessing to all my wonderful blog readers and visitors.
Michael White
Anyway, it was not the experience they expected. They had come to Jesus’ tomb to honor his death. They thought death had won and the hope they had for their lives, the hope they had placed in this man was dead. Instead they receive a remarkable message given in an extraordinary manner. A dazzling messenger tells them the tomb is empty and death does not have the final say. Jesus is the death of death…life wins.
That’s the basic message of Easter, life wins.
Christians believe that no matter what, life wins, life always wins.
Here at Nativity we have had a really exciting Lenten season filled with all kinds of signs of new life as people have stepped forward to take their next steps into membership, ministry and small group life. Our Lenten reflection in our weekend messages and weekly small group discussions, “Catholic Atheism”, challenged all of us to look at ways we are not really living like believers and many people have told me they have taken that challenge very seriously. Other signs of life have been obvious throughout an amazing Holy Week: staggering attendance on Palm Sunday, an awesome worship service conducted by our high school students on Thursday, 12 hours worth of lines for confessions on Good Friday, a dozen new Catholic Christians baptized and confirmed at the Easter Vigil. God is blessing our church community in many and mighty ways and it is exciting to be a part of it.
The instruction of the angel to the women that first Easter was two-fold…”come and see” then “go and tell.” “Come and see” is all about changing your mind, most basically and fundamentally changing your mind about life and how you’re living. Catching a glimpse of the life God has in mind for you. “Go and tell” is about changing your plans, going with his plan instead of your own. That’s what happened that first Easter: those women changed their minds about death and then they changed their plans about their lives. They went with God’s plan instead.
That’s what our whole celebration of Lent and Easter is all about, changing our minds, changing our plans and going with God’s plan instead…because in God’s plan life wins.
Happy Easter, and blessing to all my wonderful blog readers and visitors.
Michael White
The Easter Sunday homily was so good. There has been a lt of great feedback about it. I have never heard the “come and see” and “go and tell” connection before. It is so powerful when scripture is shown to be relevent and it comes alive and we can see ourselves in the story. No matter how wonderful all of the other service is at our church it would not be the same without the God inspired message that you provide.
Teresa