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Rembrandt van Rijn.  Christ and St Mary Magdalen at the Tomb (detail), Oil on panel, 1638 Royal Collection of the United Kingdom

By Bishop Todd Townshend

IT HAD BEEN a long day. An inconceivable day. Saturday before the first Easter Day was the weekly day of rest—but how could she rest?

The one who had found her, and had given life back to her, was dead. She couldn’t escape what she had seen. The heaviness of it all hung over that day and that night like a pall.

Drawn by his love, still in the partial light of pre-dawn, Mary went to the tomb. She could see immediately that something was not quite right. The stone that had sealed the tomb had been rolled away.

Intense fear rose up within her and she immediately ran away and went to tell the others. She found some help and came back to the tomb to see that Jesus was not there. It was not the chaotic scene of a grave robbery—everything was neat and orderly. It was something else. Something had happened while they were deep in the heaviness, the chaos, the fear, the silence of life the night before. It was something they would soon come to know but it had not yet settled in as reality.

We know now, thanks to their witness, that Jesus had been raised from the dead never to die again. We know that Jesus is risen, even now, and that all things are already reconciled in him. It’s just that when we look around and feel the heaviness, the chaos, the fear, the silence of life, it can be difficult to settle into this as The Reality.

I pray that the gatherings of the faithful over Holy Week and Easter, the proclamation of the Word, the celebration of the sacraments, and the presence of that Risen One will be deeply felt and experienced by you as The Reality.

Come expecting. Come knowing that this good thing has already happened. Already. It is true and it is infinitely greater than all the unholy threats and the violent noise that sets us on edge.

Raise your eyes to the hills and see God reaching out to you, and to all. The saving hand of mercy. The powerful hand of the Creator. The wounded hand of the Son. The guiding hand of the wind of God, the Holy Spirit. This is the God from whom our help will always come.

Happy Easter!

+ Todd