As I continue to feel the joy of Christ’s miraculous resurrection, I’m thinking a lot about the disciples. I look at all that they went through and the emotional whiplash they must have experienced over the course of a week.
It began with enthusiasm and excitement on the Sunday before Passover as Jesus entered the city of Jerusalem to shouts of “Hosanna, Hosanna!” People waved palm branches and draped their cloaks on the road as He rode by, not in a grand chariot, but on a simple donkey. Just a few days later, there must have been uncertainty or anxiety as Jesus ate dinner with the disciples and suddenly said that He would be betrayed and would be leaving the disciples. They must have thought: Leaving? Where was He going? And why can’t we come along? He washed their feet (a servant’s job), and made some odd remarks about bread and wine and remembering.
Then, as Jesus and the group walked through a garden after that dinner, there was great fear as Jesus was arrested. This was coupled with confusion: why is Judas leading these guys to Jesus? Once Jesus was on the cross, and His broken and bloodied body was on display, there were feelings of shame for how the disciples had let Him down. And then grief. Deep grief because their friend was dead. At least the authorities let Jesus’ lifeless body be taken down from the cross so that it could be placed in a tomb.
Just as the disciples were reconciling their emotions to the reality of what they witnessed…just as they were starting to heal over the death of their teacher and friend…there was a knock at the door. Is that Mary Magdalene? Why is she talking so fast? What in the world has caused her to be so agitated all of a sudden? Wait…did she just say that the tomb that Jesus was placed in was empty?!? Stunned, startled, and surprised two disciples, Peter and John, ran as fast as they could to the tomb. Surely Mary is confused. There is no way someone, even a group of someones, could have rolled that stone away. As they ran, more emotions must have swirled in their minds: fear, doubt, panic. When they arrived at the tomb, the two disciples saw that Mary was right. The stone was moved, and the tomb was empty. Another wave of emotions must surely have flooded their hearts, but for the first time since this horrible nightmare began three days ago, they experienced hope.
Hope. This is an emotion that is complex, yet reassuring. The complexity of hope is that it exists solely in the future. We don’t hope for things that happened yesterday or last week because those days have already come and gone. We don’t hope for things to happen in the present because they are unfolding as we speak. Hope exists in the future, and the challenge is that we have no idea what the future holds. At the same time, hope is reassuring. While we don’t know what tomorrow brings, hope provides a bright spark today in the midst of a cloudy tomorrow. The disciples were living through a series of dark tomorrows, but with this revelation, they suddenly see a light at the end of the tunnel. The light of the risen Christ.
As modern day disciples, we can also feel a sense of emotional whiplash within short periods of time. We swing from fear to enthusiasm, anxiety to certainty, and grief to joy depending on what the world throws at us. Like Mary and the disciples, we might wonder what happened to Jesus. Where did He go? Have I been left alone? However, we can also experience the hope of His resurrection and return. As we bask in the glow of Easter’s joy, may we remember that the tomb is empty and Jesus is alive! Alive to walk with us, support us, and love us through all of the emotions we feel. Christ is Risen! Alleluia!
Word in Faith is a collaboration of Wayne Association of Congregations and Ministers (WACAM), an organization partially funded by the Wayne Community Chest.
