milk & honey mamas

Alive

Written by Kristen

Theological Background

“Don’t be alarmed,” [the angel] said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. 

Mark 16:6

Mark 16, John 20. On Sunday, the sun rises again, but all things are new. The tomb is empty. The Lord is risen.

In Mark’s original account, the three women who are heralded by an unnamed angel run away in fear and tell no one of Jesus’ return, even though the angel instructs them to broadcast the news.

In the other accounts, the male disciples come running to see. In John, only Mary visits the tomb and originally mistakes Jesus for a gardener.

The story, in short, is in memory. We imagine that day through their eyes, and through our own, and through our children’s. We imagine the surprise, the fear, the hope, the longing. We imagine the empty tomb, the spring day, the smiling angel. We imagine Jesus, alive again.

What that means is no universal thing. It is particular. It is your story, and my story, and yes, it is always and already and still yet to be our story.

Story

Contributed by Kristen

The next day was Sunday. Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome went to the tomb where Jesus was laid so they could anoint his body with spices. They walked up the hill, talking softly to each other.

The morning was clear and crisp, the sun bright in the sky. Birds sang, and flowers bloomed in the garden around them. Mary picked a lily, remembering the day Jesus had said “consider the lilies of the field.” She smiled, and held it gently in her hand.

But when they came to the tomb, they all stopped in their tracks. The stone was rolled away. They came closer. The tomb was empty. Then, they saw something. A figure all in white came toward them. They stepped back in fear, but the figure held out a hand. “Don’t be afraid,” she said. It was an angel. “He is not here, for he is risen.” 

Risen? What did that mean? The women looked at each other, and at the angel, who was walking back to the empty tomb. “We must tell the others,” they said. Mary the mother of James and Salome turned around and began to run.

Mary Magdalene stayed back. She knelt by the entrance of the tomb and quietly prayed. “Great God, help me to understand.” Then she heard a voice behind her.

“Mary,” said the voice. Mary had heard this voice before. She had heard this voice a thousand times. She had heard this voice raising the dead, and healing the sick, and feeding the hungry. Was it really him, was it really Jesus? She turned, the sun streaming into her face, and saw him. Jesus. Alive. Jesus.

Mary lifted her hands to heaven, and felt the lily still in her hand. She held it out to Jesus. “Master,” she said. 

God had answered Jesus’ prayer. Jesus came back to his friends and he will always come back for you. He comes back to help us when we are sad and afraid. He comes back to look at us with kind eyes and to heal us with his gentle hands and to comfort us with his loving voice. So, precious one, when you are sad and afraid, remember Jesus’ prayer. Remember that Jesus comes back.

Activity

• Watch this video created by Emma

• The tradition of decorating eggs or holding Easter-egg hunts comes from the linking of the holiday with Pagan celebrations of Spring. Eggs are a symbol of new life. Discuss how Jesus brings new life and decorate Easter eggs!
  

Poem

“i thank You God for most this amazing”

by e.e. Cummings

i thank You God for most this amazing
day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky;and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun’s birthday;this is the birth
day of life and of love and wings:and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any—lifted from the no
of all nothing—human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

Art