Rev. Kristin Johnston Largen, Ph.D.
“They found the stone rolled away from the tomb.”
This is the image that I have continued to return to in my walk with Christ this Holy Week, as I have been preparing for Easter; an empty tomb, with the stone rolled away. I imagine the women, waking up in the pre-dawn darkness with trepidation and fear, but making their preparations anyway, determined to go to the tomb, to anoint Jesus’ body, not at all sure what they will find when they get there. One wonders what the women expected to do when they got to the tomb; did they think they were going to be able to roll the stone away themselves? Did they think that maybe there would be someone to help them? Or, were they hoping for a miracle?
These women, faithful disciples of Jesus, came to the tomb expecting to find death, expecting to find a lifeless body, expecting to perform rites for the dead. And instead, they found life, and they experienced a wonder. The stone was gone, and Christ was risen.
I have been thinking about our own tombs and stones, the places of death in our own lives, the obstacles that stand between us and new life, the places where we are sealed off and confined. The brute materiality, the concrete reality of this obstacle that is miraculously and definitively removed is a sign to us that the very real barriers that prevent us from experiencing new life in Jesus Christ have been eliminated in the resurrection; our own tombs have been opened, and Christ calls us to come out.
The miracle of this rolled away stone is not something that remains in the past, but something that occurs in our lives today, each time we experience the power of the resurrection breaking in and overcoming the barriers that prevent us from fully embracing the life and life abundant God grants us freely and richly in Jesus Christ.
May this season of Easter be for you a season of open doors, empty graves, wonder, and great joy at all that awaits us in our new life with our risen Lord, Jesus Christ.
And now, let me thank you for walking with the Wartburg community on our Lenten journey this season. We hope you have enjoyed each day’s devotion. We wish you every blessing this Easter season and hope that we can continue to connect with you in the months to come.
