Believe

John 20:1-9  NIV

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance.  

So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have put him!"

So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb.   Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.   He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in.   

Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there,   as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus' head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen.   

Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed.   (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)

Sometimes we fail to read the foundational scriptures of our faith except around Easter.  

But it's really important to remember what the heart of the message is.  

When things were at their very worst...and Jesus' followers must have given up...their greatest hopes were realized.  

The tomb was empty.  

They could have reacted in all kinds of ways.  And in fact, that's exactly what they did.  

They ran, screamed, told their friends, believed, disbelieved, and were just generally bowled over.  

But inthe end, those moments at the empty tomb set off a movement that would change the world forever.  

I'll always remember the first day of my New Testament class in seminary.  The professor said, "whatever people have written or believe...no one can deny that something happened when they went to that tomb."  

Indeed.  Something happened.  Life defeats death.  Good defeats evil.  God's love does not fail.

The disciples didn't understand all that the empty tomb meant when they first beheld it.  

Sometimes, we forget all that it can mean in our lives as well.   

But they learned.  They experienced, and they shared.  So can we.  

God's gift is new life...and that changes everything.  

Prayer:  We imagine ourselves as witnesses at the empty tomb.  Where there had been only death and brokenness, there was now life and hope.  May we die to our old ways of life and rise with Christ into redemption and transformation.  

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.  As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be.  World without end.  Amen.  

Tomorrow's Scripture:  Revelation 21:1-5