He is not here; he has risen, just as he said.
Matthew 28:6a
My Daffodils have finally broken through the soil. It seems late this year—is it? Is it just because life has seemed so gray for a while now?
I love to use gray in my home. I love that it’s one of those chameleon colors: gray says, “You want fancy, here is this” or, “Oh you want casual, “What do you think about this?” It can dress up, dress down, recede into the background and pull things together. But, do you know what is hard for gray to do? Make a big punch of an impact.
We can be blinded by bright white, we can be knocked down by sharp black, but gray is just there—lingering…. Where I live this time of year is gray. The snow has come and for the most part gone; the brightness of spring is just beginning, but gray, gray has been here the whole time, in the background, shading everything. After the Christmas festivities life calms down, the white of winter recedes, leaving gray where the light of white of snow had been. And we wait—until it is finally time for spring in all her glory to start bursting forth.
I wonder how the women would have described their mood as they went to the tomb that day, ready to prepare the dead body of Jesus properly. I can’t imagine walking into a tomb where the one that they had placed such faith in, lies. In Him there was supposed to be joy. He was supposed to change everything! Blinding white—that’s what Jesus was. Pure, kind, humble, wise. Everything good was who Jesus was and more!
He was supposed to be the Savior—they had hopes of him freeing them from Roman oppression. Now he was gone, they had watched with their own eyes, as he had hung until dead, suspended by nails in his flesh, on that cross.
Did they feel black; lost in a grief so dark that they felt as though they could barely put one foot in front of each other? Did they feel red with rage at the one who had done this to Him—red as their red rimmed eyes which hadn’t been dry since before Friday morning.
Did they feel gray— lost, hopeless, unable to make sense of all the promises He had made? Unable to make sense of all the hope they had placed in Him; what did it mean now that he was gone?
And what did they feel when greeted by angels at the tomb! What was it like to be told that the one they mourned had been raised again to life! We know at first they were confused, disbelieving; desperately wanting it to be true but unable to believe it- it sounded too good to be true! Then hallelujah! It was true! I imagine lightness exploding in their souls like the sun bursting through the clouds at the dawn of a new day! As glorious as the sun streaming through the clouds after a heavy rain, as colorful as the daffodils bursting forth from the gray earth, more joyous than anything they had ever known: Jesus had risen! Jesus IS risen! His words came true, His promises fulfilled, and their worlds filled with color once more! What a glorious day!
We are told by scripture to remember His death and resurrection. We make a big deal of his birth, but this holiday, Easter, is the day that is supposed to be a big deal! It is a big deal! Our gray lives, the darkness that invades our world when trouble strikes; it is all redeemed by Him!
I don’t know about you but this year I am so ready to revel in the joy of this season! I am ready to be rejuvenated by the new life popping up all around me, and I am ready to live vibrantly, in the fullness of the new life that Jesus gave us when He died upon that tree for you and for me! Happy Easter!
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