a totally unexpected morning

"Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid." (Mark 16:8)

The resurrection of Christ, before it is a source of joy, is a source of astonishment and terror. We may not think of it simply as a story of a man brought back from the dead. Nor is it that a great tragedy has somehow been erased, and things reset to "the way they were." No. The resurrection of Christ is a new act of creation. It bristles with the mighty power of God who made heaven and earth. It is the firstfruits of a completely new kind of life, a manifestation not of "the way things were" but of "the way things will be". It is our clearest glimpse into that new world of freedom and peace that is waiting to be born when the curtain falls on the heart-rending drama of our present world.