Easter Sunday
Mark 16: 1-18
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| Mileseva Monastery |
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.”
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| Rembrandt |
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.
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| Daniel Bonnell |
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 and will attend their path [believe]: 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.
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| He Qi |
Easter Sunday
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| Bartolomeo Schedoni |
March 27, 2016
Mark 16: 1-18
On Good
Friday, all of Christ Jesus’ friends experienced the ultimate sunset; the death
of the Light of the World, the extinguishing of all their hopes. The world had
been plunged into a silent darkness. And yet they had to go on.
The women go
to the tomb to finish the task of honoring His body, which had been done in
haste before sunset two days before. Immersed in their grief they approach the
tomb. The first obstacle, the heavy stone covering the mouth of the cave, was strangely
already rolled back. And in the predawn darkness, they see a shining man who
tells them: Christ’s body is no longer in the grave; He, the Spirit-Sun in
human form, has risen, shining into the realm of life. Tell everyone!
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| Collot d' Herbois |
No one knows
quite what to make of their unbelievable news; it flies in the face of
everything they know. When his friends gradually finally experience Him
themselves, there is shame over their unbelief.
Yet He makes
the world even stranger by telling them, telling us, that through His power, there will arise new capacities. We
will able to drive out demonic forces, speak a new kind of language, create a
new kind of upright knowledge. We will be able to protect ourselves from harm
and be able to heal others. This we will be able to do through the power of the
One who shines within all worlds, both light and dark, He who continues to live
in the realm of Death, enlivening it forevermore.
