Come and See

“The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.” - Matthew 28: 5-6

Easter will look a little different this year. We’ll trade new khakis and nice dresses for PJ’s on a couch-turned-pew. We’ll gather with roommates and family and all too familiar faces :). Around the globe, city streets and sanctuaries will remain quiet.
 
Easter will look different, but the invitation is the same. Come and see. Come and see an empty tomb that changed everything. The empty tomb that turned everything on its head. Come and see and know – our reality. Victory and infinite hope replaced death and defeat.

“So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.” - Matthew 28:8-10

In a time when everything is certainly uncertain when many mornings feel as if we’re waking up to a strange dream, when at times, fear grips us afresh with new and unexpected strength  – we don’t get to grip back. We get to cling to our reality in Christ. A reality first discovered by three women at a borrowed tomb.
 
“Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus… ‘He is not here; he has risen, just as he said.’” 

From the gravest of all valleys
Come the pastures we call grace
A mighty river flowing upwards
From a deep but empty grave
Hillsong | Highlands, Song of Ascent
 
A mighty river of love and forgiveness flows from that tomb, and we have yet to taste its fullness. God works wonders in deep and different places. Our disappointments and discouragements are often the fertile soil for HIm to prove yet again – He turns graves into gardens. I expect we will see that in a new way this Easter. Come and see.

Author | Claire Jordan