Happy Easter! The Good News is proclaimed again, “Hallelujah! Christ is risen, Christ has risen indeed!” From the moment Mary arrived to anoint Jesus’ dead body but found her job had been rendered null and void, everything changed. Life has won over death. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?
If you go back a few verses in the gospel of John in the story of that first Easter, you discover something interesting:
“Now there was a garden in the place where he was crucified, and in the garden there was a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid. And so, because it was the Jewish day of Preparation, and the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.”
The tomb was nearby. There was very little distance between the place of Jesus’ death and the tomb used for his burial, which would become the place of his resurrection. They were almost side by side.
There is something powerful in that idea. Even in death, resurrection was close. Even in the darkest moments, you don’t have to go far to find hope, promise and new life. It’s an idea that resonates with us even today.
While we celebrate Easter 2022, we are also achingly aware of the atrocities of war in Ukraine. Yet, international humanitarian efforts give comfort and relief to the millions of refugees seeking shelter. As close as within their own borders.
This is the third Easter celebrated during a global pandemic. Variants of variants remind us we are not in the ‘all clear’. But through the heroic efforts of health care workers, scientists, and neighbors caring for neighbors, we are as ‘close’ as we have been in a long time.
And on a personal level, anyone that has lost a loved one, even been at the bedside, knows it is more of a process than a singular moment. Those moments of life and death and life again are in very, very close proximity.
That’s what we celebrate at Easter; our faith in the resurrection changes everything. When you feel stuck or trapped in the worries and stresses of life, trials and torments of mind, body and spirit seem to be so overwhelming, know that new possibilities are near. When suffering has a grip, hope says there is relief just steps away. United to Christ we hope and trust that trials will not destroy us, but new life will soon be ours again with him. Sharing in his resurrection means that the worst thing is never the last thing. Something new is right around the corner.
Hallelujah! Christ is risen! May this Good News be with you again this Easter season.
— Reflections appears regularly on the religion page. The column features a variety of local writers, coordinated through the Monroe Area Clergy Group. Todd Hackman is senior pastor at St. John’s United Church of Christ in Monroe.
