Easter
And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. Mark 16:2 (ESV)
The rising of the sun is a titanic event which happens at a speed of just over 1000mph. Yet we’re so accustomed to it every morning that we don’t usually notice it. Don’t feel bad if you take it for granted, the women of that first Easter morning likely didn’t think twice about it either.
But consider this: had Jesus not risen from the dead that morning, the sun might as well not have either. For “if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.” (1 Corinthians 15:57) Like the deep dark of a moonless night, human existence has been drowning in sin ever since Adam and Eve ate from the forbidden fruit. Our sin is the cause of all hatred, violence, and evil in the world. Our sin breaks promises, ruins relationships, hurts friends and loved ones, and often leaves us feeling alone and desperate for deliverance. For our sin, God demanded payment. For our salvation, God supplied it.
He sent His own Son to deliver us once and for all from our sin and its wages of eternal death. On Good Friday, Jesus Christ the Innocent was slayed and buried in a garden grave. And then, exactly as it was planned, very early on the first day of the week, the Son rose.
What a delightful little thing that if you replace the letter U in our verse with the letter O, it still reads true. Dear friends, did any of us doubt that the sun would rise this morning? Not a chance! Then let us have no doubt that the Son rose that morning. Take it as Gospel truth; because it is.
Find Easter joy in the little things: the rising sun reminds us of the rising Son of God.
Scatter the darkness, break the gloom; sun, reveal an empty tomb
Shining with joy for all our sorrows, hope and peace for all tomorrows,
Life uneclipsed by doubt and dread: Christ has risen from the dead!
Lutheran Service Book 481:1