Alleluia! Christ is Risen!
Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher) . . . Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her.
John 20:1-18
At first she thought he was the gardener.
So it was on that first Easter morning: The ugliness of death had been swept away and Mary Magdalene was the first to understand.
Jesus had gone to the Cross not to satisfy a bloodthirsty God, but to descend with us into the worst moments of pain a human could suffer and take that pain upon himself. And he did so to show us how to live without fear and bring us to hope and wholeness.
Beginning with Mary Magdalene, those who first experienced the Risen Christ began to understand the real meaning of Jesus’ life -- and the real meaning of their own lives. They continued to write the story of the Risen Christ in the way they lived afterwards.
This story is also our story. We continue to write the story of the Risen Christ by how we live our lives.
This way of life is not just about the afterlife that we cannot yet see. This is also about how we live right now, here, today and tomorrow. Salvation does not wait until the next life. Salvation comes right now.
May this Easter bring you many blessings; may you live in the hope of the salvation that is yours forever.
Alleluia! Christ is Risen!
The Rev. James Richardson
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