Early in the Morning on the First Day

“It was early in the morning, on the first day of the week when Mary of Magdala came to the tomb. She saw the stone removed from the tomb.”  Early in the morning, the heavens radiate bright colors, the orange warmth of God’s presence peeking into view. The burning red of God’s redeeming love stretches out before us.

It is the daybreak of our eternal life. The sun’s power pierced through the midnight pitch. The still cold gives way to the rays of life. It is a moment of tranquility and promise. It is a new day. The power of God’s Son slices through our pain and death. The chill of death gives way to the rays of eternal life. Early in the morning, God reveals his power to destroy what has always haunted humanity. Jesus has Risen, and death has been conquered forever.

The hope of the future becomes the reality of the present. Our wandering past is now being rerouted by the light of this new day. It is early in the morning, a new beginning, much like the story of creation itself. Once hampered by sin and death, life and love can flow without limit. “Where, O death, is your victory? Where O death is your sting?”

The first day of the week is when the stone so often blocking our path has been rolled away for good. The great door of death has been burst open. The mammoth boulder of intimidation has been pushed aside, once filling us with fright.  There is nothing now that keeps us from God. Whatever has separated us from the one who is Love is gone. What has locked us into the tomb of lifelessness is destroyed. The crippling effect of sin paralyzing us from within with deathly fear of extinction is abolished. The stone of our self-deprecation questioning our loveliness, always doubting our dignity, has been rolled away.        

Even now, the Resurrection of Jesus breathes into us a new life by the Holy Spirit. The days which follow the first day are meant to be active. Quite true, it is the first day of salvation – but it is not the only day where salvation is manifested. Every day the Resurrection of Christ is made anew: days to confirm, bear witness, testify, and heal all under the power of Jesus’ risen Spirit.         

We are now free, free forever. On the first day of the week, the stone has been rolled away, and the tomb has been filled with the light of a new day.