Whenever something like a death happened in our community, I never knew what to say. My dad always said we didn’t need to know what to say. We were just going to go and practice our ministry of presence. My mom was never going to go and do that empty handed, so I grew up in a home that when someone passed away, you hit the kitchen to fix something and then you go to the visitation. Here in the sunny south, that’s just what we do.

So it makes complete sense to me that the women had hit their kitchen. They had been quietly preparing to go to Jesus’ body. They had their spices and headed to the tomb together. And, then everything that heaven had been waiting for began to unfold.

When they got there– there’s a violent earthquake, and angels comes down from heaven, and sits down on the stone that had once blocked the tomb. And, the body of Christ was gone! At first, they stood there in full wonderment.

The angels questioned why the women would look for the alive in a space meant for dead people. Essentially saying, “This is going exactly like Jesus told you it would.” And then the proverbial lightning bolt goes off and they remember what Jesus told them would be the case. ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ (Luke 24:7)

I like to think that this is when someone takes off running with this kind of news. Maybe they did and maybe they didn’t. Either way, they left with some joy and some fear and headed to tell the eleven disciples and others, exactly what happened. While it was the truth that Jesus wasn’t in the tomb and was absolutely alive– it kinda sounds like nonsense that someone would be alive that just days ago they had all seen dead. Here’s where we get someone to run. Peter took off running to the tomb. I knew he was my favorite disciple! Peter finds that the tomb is empty of Jesus and finds that the cloth used to wrap his body was folded up. Peter moves on, trying to figure it out. Jesus spends time appearing to different people after His resurrection. Mary Magdalene is one of them. The disciples saw him too. With each appearing, in His own way, Jesus says “didn’t you believe me? It’s all going exactly like I said it would.”

I continue to be reminded that while Jesus isn’t always safe and that the things we walk through with Him don’t always feel good— He is still good. His heart is good, He can be trusted no matter what.

Today, all over the world, Christians have gathered to celebrate the good news of the risen Savior! I just wonder, after today, who will we tell? May we never tire of telling someone about how we have seen Jesus in our own lives today.