Today is a day for feasting!

A day for celebrating, of rejoicing, of performing your happy dance. Today is Easter Sunday, the day the stone was rolled away from the tomb, the day the women discovered that Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified, was no longer in the grave where he had been left.

Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not there.

Mark 16:6

It is the day that the prophet Isaiah had predicted, the day that faithful Jewish people had held on to for so long, the day that the shroud cast over all peoples had been destroyed. The women though are not glad, they are not rejoicing, according to Mark they were alarmed, they were seized by terror and amazement. They were afraid.

This is where Mark leaves his gospel. We have the revelation that Jesus is not in the tomb, and the comment that the women were afraid.

So where are we today?

Have we feasted on chocolate eggs for breakfast, left-over hot cross buns from Friday, simnel cake and chocolate nests? Are we looking forward to a full Sunday Roast with all the trimmings, and a glass of bubbly to celebrate? Are we enjoying the long weekend, the sun that finally broke through the rain on Holy Saturday, time with family? Are we overjoyed with the Good News, or, like Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bewildered and fearful?

Perhaps we hadn’t come across this prophecy from Isaiah before, perhaps we are coming to the Easter Story afresh, perhaps it is all old news to us: Jesus is alive, yay!

On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples
   a feast of rich food, a feast of well-matured wines,
   of rich food filled with marrow, of well-matured wines strained clear.
And he will destroy on this mountain
   the shroud that is cast over all peoples,
   the sheet that is spread over all nations;
he will swallow up death for ever.
Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces,
   and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth,
   for the Lord has spoken.
It will be said on that day,
   Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us.
   This is the Lord for whom we have waited;
   let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.

Isaiah 25:6-9

Perhaps we feel perplexed as Christians, because we know the Lord has saved us, we know that Jesus has ‘swallowed up death’, and the shroud that is cast over all nations has been destroyed. The women who loved Jesus, saw at first hand, and heard straight from the angel’s mouth, the Good News, and although everything was different from what they had expected, nothing had changed. Death has been swallowed up, tears have been wiped away, but still their land was occupied, still the religious rules were harsh, still there was disparity between the way men and women were treated, still sickness and poverty, and still they were afraid.

Sound familiar? We celebrate today, and it is right that we do, there is much to be celebrated, but we cannot help but mourn what is still happening around the world. It is hard to balance the joy of Easter and the promise of Eternal Life when we are living in the ‘not yet’. Death has been conquered and in Jesus’ name many wonderful things have happened over the centuries: people have been healed and raised from the dead, fearful women have become strong evangelists. Today is a good day, but it is not the best. That is yet to come. A bit like waiting for payday.

In other gospel accounts, Jesus’ shroud is mentioned; the linen wrappings that had covered his body lying empty, and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head neatly rolled and placed to one side. This was significant, because in the etiquette of the day, when a meal was ended the serviette would be scrunched up and thrown onto the table, ‘I’m done’. If, however, the diner was intending to return to the table the serviette would be neatly folded, ‘I’m coming back for more.’

A day will come more bewildering than the day that the women walked out to the tomb to anoint the lifeless body of the one they loved. A day will come when Jesus will return and this whole creation will be renewed, and on that day we will indeed see the shroud lifted, we will indeed have every tear wiped away, we will indeed rejoice.

Today, it may not feel as if the shroud has been lifted, and yet, because of that day over 2,000 years ago, and because of the day that is yet to come, even in the midst of all that is painful and broken in this world, we can rejoice.

Read the women’s story here.