“Let us rejoice and be glad!” Profound joy, a sense of relief beyond words, an unsinkable buoyancy of the heart… These are the emotions that we’re encouraged to experience by the author of Psalm 118 as he anticipates many centuries later the resurrection of the Lord. For the stone rejected by the builders has become the cornerstone, and it is wonderful in our eyes.

Mosaic from the Resurrection Chapel of the Washington National Cathedral 

But rejoicing and gladness may feel like distant or even unreachable feelings for many of us at this moment. Affected to the core as we are by our witnessing of tragedies unfolding around the world at this moment, or beset by the ordinary griefs and pains of ordinary life, we might find it easier to name feelings like confusion, dismay, outrage, and deep sadness. It is hard not to see the realities unfolding around us and wonder what difference this Easter event makes when violence, poverty, and cruel indifference persist today, as they always have.

On the third day, the Roman Empire still held Palestine under its rough and oppressive rule. The religious authorities who rejected Jesus as a blasphemer and called for his execution remained in position. There was still a terrible gap between the very rich minority and the masses of poor people. And life went on as it did before, at least for most.

But for the friends of the Lord, something beyond belief took place. It has such an effect on them that their lives were forever changed, so much so that even severe trials and persecutions could not deter them from talking openly about what they experienced. Easter gladness is not contingent on things going our way. It is something else.

In Acts 10, Peter says to his distressed community, “you know what happened all over Judea… how God appointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went about doing good… and God was with him. This Jesus, God raised from the dead, and we saw him, and ate and drank with him” This too was true. Peter is not so much telling them something new, but reminding them of what they already knew. He brings the early community of believers back to their senses, helping them see through the confusion and panic of their current situation.

Peter continues, reminding them of their own mission, as friends in the Lord, to preach what God has done through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, that they too have assurance of God’s grace and lasting faithfulness, no matter the circumstances.

I imagine that Peter speaks to them just as Mary Magdalene, the apostle to the apostles, spoke to him once many years before, when he was lost in confusion, grief, and guilt ridden despair. She was the only one among the friends of the Lord who did not let the events of those last days deter her from staying close to Jesus, no matter the terrible circumstances.

We know that it was Magdalene who, in faithful anticipation, went to the tomb while it was still so early in the morning, in order to see for herself that Jesus’ promise would be fulfilled. While it has not yet occurred in the passage of John’s gospel which we read on Easter Sunday morning, we also know that it was to Mary Magdalene that Jesus first appears. It was to her that he gave the command to tell others what she had seen, and to gather the rest of the disciples so that they too might witness and come to testify.

What a model of devotion, steadfastness, and courage Mary Magdalene is for us, this Easter morning. What a model of witness, who brings others to see past the finality and opacity of the dark tomb, to behold again the Light of Life. Just as Jesus consoles her and confirms her faith, so Magdalene goes and does this for her friends.

This is our commission too, friends. We live in dark and uncertain times, yes. And yet the Light of Life pierces this darkness and restores to us all that we need. We may not have answers to suffering, death, or the trials we and others encounter in the world. But we believe that Jesus is Lord, and risen from the dead. We believe the testimony of our ancestors in faith, to whom the Lord was made visible, with whom they ate and drank at table in fellowship. We too have been commissioned to share this good news in a world that is as beset as it ever was by every other kind of news. We too, are called like Mary and Peter to console, confirm, and encourage each other, for this is the labor and the love of those who are called friends in the Lord. Alleluia, Alleluia!

In Easter gladness,