Light Dawns
Easter Sunday is often celebrated with an exciting gathering, joyful music, and a hopeful message, but on that day when Jesus rose, it was more perplexing than anything. John 20:1-2 ESV says, “Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, ‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.’”
Mary Magdalene’s first impression was that Jesus’ body was taken. Resurrection was not on her mind. Similarly, Peter and most likely John rushed to the tomb after her and caught the scene. John 20:8-10 ESV says, “Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples went back to their homes.”
I find it interesting that the response was to return to their homes. The power and weight of what had happened hit them, but they did not yet understand what it meant. In the face of history’s greatest wonder, Jesus’ followers and friends had no grid for responding to this grace.
Without knowing the whole story, a church-goer today might take in our celebrations and assume that these disciples, too, immediately threw a party to celebrate the resurrection. We forget too quickly that for those early believers, Jesus had just been traumatically tortured and killed a few days ago. Their movement dispersed, their hope broken, and they still felt the weariness of the events.
A miracle like this was almost too good to be true—too deep to comprehend.
It makes me think of Psalm 112:4 ESV, which says, “Light dawns in the darkness for the upright; he is gracious, merciful, and righteous.”
Please don’t hear me wrong; the resurrection of Jesus is something worth celebrating! His victory over death and the grave is the only thing that gives me hope and life. But I wonder if there is a way to respond to Easter that is filled with awe and wonder. I wonder if Easter would deepen our fear of the Lord today.
I think about Peter standing in the opening of the tomb with John. At that moment, they believed. At that moment, light dawned in the darkness. Maybe they just stood there, unable to put into words what this meant.
Perhaps responding to Easter today will be a humble recognition that light is dawning in the face of all the chaos and destruction around us. Easter does not call us to eliminate every thought of suffering. It does not call us to suppress our negative or difficult feelings to honor a high holiday.
Instead, I believe it calls us to recognize that the light has come. Those who stood at the empty tomb responded in awe, contemplation, and even confusion. We have the rest of the story, so we know we can celebrate, but I am curious what God would show you on this day when you consider his resurrection from the place of wonder?
The gospel truly invades our darkest moments. After a sleepless weekend facing the violent forces of the government, this moment at the tomb was an unexpected, unanticipated ray of light breaking into the darkness.
Maybe that is why the beloved disciple says with such confidence in John 1:5 ESV, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
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