Before their terrified eyes, a glorious, brilliant being, with no regard for the official seals, rolled the stone away and sat upon it.
It was Saturday night; the Saturday between Good Friday and Easter. I was restless and wakened several times during the night. In my thoughts, each time I woke, I was with the women hurrying to the tomb. It seemed so real. I wondered why they went, why they had bothered to prepare the spices, when it seemed such an impossible Mission. I shivered in the chill and darkness of the early morning as I listened to their conversation. Did the love which compelled them to go, breathe a whisper of unreasonable hope in their aching hearts? I wondered why they didn't say, "Nobody can roll the stone away;" but they asked, "Who will roll stone away?"
Abruptly I found myself no longer with the women but I was near the tomb and I was watching the guards. Their bravado talk sickened me. Suddenly the whole area was bathed in blinding light and it wasn't the sunrise.
Before their terrified eyes, a glorious, brilliant being, with no regard for the official seals, rolled the stone away and sat upon it. When he moved the stone, he revealed that THE TOMB WAS EMPTY!
The guards were so convulsed with fear that I could see them shaking and I could hear their teeth rattling. Then they fell to the ground like so many corpses.
Some time elapsed before they could sit up and then they began to frantically discuss what they should do. Finally, having no other option, a few of them went in trembling reluctance to report the awesome events to the chief priests.
So I followed them. At first the religious leaders were irritated for being disturbed and then violently angry because the guards had left their post. I strained my ears to hear the guards testify to the amazing facts and to their new-found, personal faith in the risen Saviour. But no, instead the murmur of voices included negotiations and was interspersed with the jingling of coins followed by a promise of protection.
Do my ears deceive me? Traitors to truth after what they had seen, the guards are bargaining for as much as they can get to lie about what happened. How much is enough to betray Truth?
For Judas it was 30 pieces of silver. What amount is forever seared into them to reveal how cheaply they sold their souls?
As I turned away from those guards in disgust, despising them, another wonder came to mind. Every time I allow pride or self-indulgence or self-pity or any of the self-sins to dictate my actions, am I not betraying truth?
Also I wondered about the glory that pulses through all our days to remind us that when it seems like all hope is gone, there is a Resurrection to prove otherwise.
As Easter Morning dawned, I wondered about one more thing. Where was Jesus between the time He rose from the dead and the time He spoke to Mary, before He ascended to the Father?
We are not told but I wonder. Was He, even then, praying for all those, including me, who would believe on His Name; for all those chosen IN HIM before the foundation of the world?
There is so much to wonder about, and wonder leads me to worship.
With love and prayers,