Easter Sunday
Mark 16: 1-18
And when the
Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought
spices, so that they might go and anoint Him. And very early on the first day
of the week, they went to the tomb just as the sun was rising. And they said to
one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the door of the tomb?”
And looking up, they saw that the stone was rolled back—and it was very
large. And they went into the tomb. There they saw a young man sitting on the
right side, clad in a white robe; and they were beside themselves with
amazement. And he said to them, “Do not be startled; you seek Jesus of Nazareth
the Crucified One. He is risen; He is not here; see, there is the place where
they laid Him [his body]. But go, and say to his disciples and Peter “He will
lead you to Galilee. There you will see Him as He promised you.”
And they went out and fled from
the tomb in great haste, for trembling and astonishment had come upon them; and
being awestruck, they were unable to say anything to anyone about what they had
experienced.
When He had risen early on the first day of the week, He appeared first
to Mary Magdalene from whom He had driven out seven demons. And she went and
told those who had walked with Him, as they mourned and wept. But when they
heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, their hearts could not grasp
it.
After this He appeared in another form to two of them on the way as they
were walking over the fields. And they went back and told the rest, but they
could not open their hearts to their words either.
Afterwards He appeared to the eleven themselves as they were celebrating
the meal. He reproached them for their lack of openness and for their hardness
of heart, because they had not wanted to believe those who had seen Him, the
Risen One.
And He said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the new message
from the realm of the angels to the whole of creation. Whoever unites his heart
with it [believes] and is immersed in me [baptized] will attain the salvation. But whoever
closes himself against it does not let the power of selflessness into his heart
[does not let
the power of My Self into his heart] will meet his downfall. And spiritual powers [these signs] will stand by those who unite themselves
with it [believe] and will attend their path : Through the power of my being [in my name] they will drive out demons; they will speak a new language; serpents
they will make upright, and poisons they are given to drink will not harm them.
They will lay their hands on the sick, and give healing forces to them.
Easter Sunday
April 5, 2015
Mark 16: 1-18
In the week before His death, Christ said “unless a kernel of wheat
falls into the earth and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies,
it produces many seeds.” John 12:24
 |
| The Risen One, Gruenewald, Wikipedia |
The living power of Christ’s blood entered the earth at His crucifixion.
And His body was placed into a cave in the earth. He, the great Light-Seed,
died into the earth. On Holy Saturday, he rooted himself firmly into the earth,
descending to the dead. On Easter morning, the first new shoots of His new Life
broke forth from underground. New Life, capable of reproducing itself
infinitely, began to grow.
At Ascension. He will open himself wide to
the cosmos, while still remaining connected to the earth. And so this new Life
will blossom into the whole world. At Pentecost His manifold light-seeds will
fall into the hearts of those who love him.
And now, today, we rejoice because new Life is flashing forth from
death. It is emerging from its apparent demise; it flares up from the ground of
our hearts. The Light-Seed is quickening in the earth, in us. For today, as the
poet says,
Every man, plant and creature in
Existence,
Every woman, child, vein and note
Is a servant of our Beloved -
A harbinger of joy,
The harbinger of
Light.[1]
