A Carton of Eggs - The Stone

 

“Run, faithful women, to the graveside.

Marvel, the stone is rolled away.”

Hymn 375, ELW.

 

A large stone covers the entrance to Jesus’ tomb. The women arrive to anoint his body and find the stone rolled away.  This is the first sign that something beyond understanding, beyond explanation, has happened.  It is something to marvel at.

 

I imagine the pain and grief of those who loved Jesus being comforted in a small way by knowing his body was safe within the tomb.  The stone covering the entrance to the tomb was large.   

And now the women who had kept watch at the cross were preparing to offer the final burial rites to their beloved friend and teacher. 

They wondered who would roll the stone away for them.

 

I imagine their shock and fear when they see the stone has been rolled away.  What has happened?  How could it have happened? 

 

We know what happens next, but the women wouldn’t.  What they are seeing, without being aware of it, is the first manifestation of God’s loving action and power in Jesus’ resurrection.

 

And then they see that the tomb is empty.  Jesus’s body is not there.  

 

The stone is the prelude to the rest of the resurrection story.  We see God’s love acting in the physical world, the world of earth and flesh.

One author, writing about the stone, suggested that it needed to be rolled away so that we could look into the tomb and see that it was forever empty.  Jesus has risen!

 

 

A prayer:  God of compassion and mercy, we marvel at your love for us. Help us to roll away the stones from our hearts so that we may be emptied and restored, that we may experience your loving power in the world, and show and share that love in all our thoughts, words and deeds.  Amen.                                 

                                                                     -----Carolyn Humphreys