Non est hic

“Why do you seek the living among the dead?”

How many times have we done that?  Gone in search of something to try to regain what we had?  Gone back to something or someone in the hope of finding that what we had isn’t lost, only to realise that it’s empty.  Some people never leave the tomb and spend much of their lives in mourning, keeping their minds fixed on the past.  It requires a leap in faith to turn away from the empty tomb and see what awaits us.

The Easter story brings us that message very strongly.  Jesus’ friends went to the tomb to seek him out, and found the tomb to be empty.  They went away, weeping and afraid.  The gospels say “they did not yet understand” what had happened.  Huddled together in fear and sorrow, they mourned their loss.  Don’t we do the same?  When we have broken with the past, we need some time to mourn the loss. There is a time when we relive what we had, go back to what was, all to make sense of this devastation.

Later that same day, Jesus appeared to his friends. They were first, understandably, terrified.  Is this is a ghost?  When they realise that it is Jesus, not dead, they are overjoyed.  Isn’t that a lovely word?  Over-joyed.  So full of joy that it cannot be contained.  The same thing happens to us when we turn away from the dead past and accept the future.  We have been through the end of the world, and come out into a new world.  Don’t laugh – the world has ended many times for each of us.  Every loss has ended the world, and we have emerged brighter and more alive than before.

This Easter, turn away from the tomb.  Stop looking for your validation in the things that have past.  What we need is not there.  We have a hope that things will improve, that we will accomplish great things, but only when we leave the empty tomb and head out into the crowds can it happen.  Examine your life, understand the things that have brought you to this point, then go out and fulfil your mission.  Be filled with joy that what you most need is with you at all times.

Happy Easter!