Easter Sunday
Mark 16:1-18 (adapted from Madsen)
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| St. Albans |
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.
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| Way to Emmaus, Albert Bloch |
Afterward, He appeared to the eleven themselves as they were celebrating the meal.
He reproached them for their lack of openness and 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 salvation. But whoever closes himself
against it [does not let the
power of selflessness into his heart, or, 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 [believe] unite themselves with it 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 12, 2020
Mark 16: 1-18
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| Grunewald |
At His crucifixion, the living power of Christ’s blood entered the earth
to keep it alive. And His body was placed into a cave in the earth, the earth’s
communion. He, the great Light-Seed, died into the earth.
On Holy Saturday, like a seed, 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.
This happens again every year.
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| Ninetta Sombart |
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.*
*Hafiz, “Guardians of His Beauty”, in The
Subject Tonight is Love -- versions by Daniel Ladinsky
