Many churches in the American South still hold traditional sunrise services in cemeteries as a sign of recognition that Jesus no longer lay in the tomb on Easter morning. The service starts early in the morning and is timed so that the attendants can see the sun rise when the service is going. — Wikipeda, “Sunrise Service”
——–
Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them. And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre. And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus. And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments: And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again. And they remembered his words, And returned from the sepulchre, and told all these things unto the eleven, and to all the rest.
——–
There are bad weeks, and there are bad weeks. For a certain carpenter from Nazareth, the events leading up to Good Friday (April 3, 33 AD) could be considered the latter. Having entered Jerusalem to great fanfare the Sunday before (Palm Sunday), Jesus ended the week crucified by the desires of the corrupt officials He had preached against.
One of the Good Friday passages that ties in with Easter morning is John 19. In the fifth verse, Jesus is brought before Pilate and the court, and Pilate presents Jesus with the introduction “Behold the man!” The Latin for this is “ecce homo,” which is the title Ciseri used for this painting:
One of the messages of Easter morning is that each of us must personally “behold this man.” We can do as Pilate did, and judge without preconception, or we can do what the members of the crowd did, and allow our personal biases and actions to determine our position. Either way, we must choose.
But the most powerful message of Easter morning is the message of hope. Hope in the form of communion with God, since the veil has now been torn down, and hope of life beyond, since He who was dead is now alive– for evermore. For those who now seek the Master, remember that “He is not here, but is risen.” Amen.
