The traditional Easter greeting is ‘Christ is risen!’ to which the traditional response is ‘He is risen indeed!’. It is also traditional at Easter to sing joyful songs with many alleluias, some of which we will be singing this Sunday. Yet the Gospel accounts of the resurrection paint a very different picture. None of the disciples were singing, none were joyful. Instead they were trying to keep a low profile and had locked the doors.
It was the women who dared to go to the tomb to anoint Jesus’ body with spices, a traditional Jewish custom for the dead. We are told that the stone sealing the tomb had been rolled back and that the women saw a vision of angels. They do not rejoice at the news but rather are terrified and flee. The male disciples struggle to understand their message that Jesus has risen.
Perhaps we are so used to hearing this story that it no longer surprises us or excites us. But the message of Easter is nothing if not astounding. It is God’s ‘yes’ to the world’s ‘no’. May this story of hope and transformation continue to disturb and surprise us.