Greetings!

In the same fashion after Jesus came back to life Easter Sunday years and years ago…

                     hello. 

When you check out Matthew’s account of His resurrection, I can’t help but read it and chuckle. 

After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it.

Sat on it.

    The rock. 

   The stone that was “physically” keeping Jesus in the tomb. 

This is so chock full of power, but this angel…

                                                                            SAT ON IT.

I just picture this angel, shining bright as lightning, sitting on this boulder, casual and confident, like the horror of the past few days is just a mere shimmer of a memory. 

Like what did this look like??

I would love to have been a fly on the wall when the Mary squad walked up on this sight. They had seen Jesus perform all kinds of miracles in front of these women, but Im sure an angel sitting on a boulder that WAS in front of the tomb of Jesus was something they weren’t completely ready for. 

I want the confidence of this angel in life. He knew Jesus had conquered LIFE and DEATH, and he was present for the most precious moment in history.

And just happened to be chilling out on top of this boulder.

But how many of us have boulders in our lives that we need Jesus to roll away? 

I know for me personally, I grew up being taught that Easter Sunday is one of the most joyous days for a Christian, and it is! But what about those of us battling everything else? Depression, anxiety, stress..life. 

Jesus has still conquered all of those things, and he wants us to have the confidence in HIM to sit on those boulders. Even when we don’t necessarily feel like it. 

Confession: I have been so emotional for a few weeks now. I’m a big bundle of excitement, frustrations, happiness, sadness, grief, anxiety, stress, laughter…you name it I’ve been feeling it. We are preparing to move from West Tennessee back to Chattanooga before we launch. I’m about to leave my job at the news station I’ve had for two years now. And the thought of leaving my contacts, my friends, my colleagues, our church, small group….it’s overwhelming. 

It’s all apart of the process. It’s a beautiful process. But I’m struggling. And this passage out of the Easter story just comforted me so much today.

Because he sat on it. 

And even more than angels we have the power of the HOLY SPIRIT living in us, the same power that actually conquered death and life! Even though as I write this I’m still on the verge of happy and sad tears, I feel a little better knowing that I can sit on it. 

                                    Stomp on it.

                                                                        Dance on it.

 

So then the angel tells the Mary squad to GO IMMEDIATELY and tell the disciples that JESUS WAS ALIVE!!

HELLO!            

But then this actually made the small group I attended this morning laugh out loud. 

Verse 9: Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. 

So the BLT version (Bethany Literal Version) is this:

Jesus is hanging out and sees the Mary Squad heading to tell the disciples that Jesus is BACK and Jesus is like, “Hey, watchis” and meets the Mary Squad in the middle of their run and was like, “Hey y’all, what’s up? I’m back!” 

Like, Jesus is funny y’all.

I love thinking about Jesus as a human. He is totally 100% God, but He is 100% human too. And I like to think the funny humans in the world reflect the funny side of God. 

So on this beautiful Easter Sunday, when you feel like everything is too much…

SIT ON IT