Early in the morning, when it’s the kind of quiet that invites reflection, the women arrived at the tomb. They carried questions about how they would move the stone and do the work that they needed to do. They were prepared. However, when they arrived at the tomb the task had changed. Isn’t it often like that for us—we prepare for the work we intend to do but then Jesus has a different plan?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/emeryjl/520114756
What do we do when our preparation seems useless in the face of the new challenge set before us?
I like to know what to expect and how things will work. But as I consider the women who come upon the tomb—open to the world and filled with an astonishing message, I can appreciate their hesitancy to speak of it to anyone. I mean, who would believe that one who was dead is alive again? And do we?
What if Jesus has a new plan for the Church? What if we have come to the tomb ready and willing to do what we know how to do and Jesus has some other idea? How does our celebration and remembrance of this Holy Week and Easter Morning prepare us for this unexpected news?
I believe that it prepares us by showing us that others have gone before us. They have also experienced the upheaval and astonishing realities of new life in Christ. Preparation is overrated—we only need to be ready to follow and the rest of what we need to know or to do or to say will come to us along the way with Jesus as our guide. We are invited to an empty tomb to remember and go into the world to look for life and find Jesus there.
Edmonton Moravian Church 