John 20:1-9
Wouldn’t it be great if we could reverse embarrassing incidents and events. That foolish comment, the day you put your foot in it, fights with bullies, broken arms, something stupid said or done in school, that first car crash and all the other minor jolts of growing up. All those daft, silly acts of ours that defy our real nature, and cast a long shadow of shame and guilt over us. You yearn for some way to erase it, to reverse it. But you can’t, each one is underscored with the dreadful word irreversible.
As children we probably learnt this lesson, that certain things in life are irreversible – death in particular. The loss of a family pet, more shakingly of a grandparent. Easter tells us a different story. In the Eastern tradition, during the all night vigil, with incense perfuming the candle-lit church, the priest cries out "Christos Anesti!" he said—"Christ is risen!" The response thunders back "He is risen indeed!"
If childhood teaches us certain things are irreversible, Easter actually offers an awesome promise of reversibility. Nothing—no act of childhood cruelty, no experience of shame or remorse, and not even death—was final. Even that could be reversed.
Easter hits a new note, a note of hope and faith that what God did once in a graveyard in Jerusalem, he can and will repeat on a grand scale, for the world. For us. Against all odds, the irreversible can be reversed.
(Comments to Tom at tomascox@eircom.net )