Hope can be hard to hold on to. After a diagnosis, a death, a lost job, or years of praying for something that has not changed, it can feel foolish to keep hoping. Many of us have stopped expecting anything good.
The first people to hear about Easter were not expecting anything good either.
Going to the tomb
Jesus had died on a Friday. His body was laid in a tomb cut into rock, and a big stone was rolled across the door. Then the Sabbath came, the weekly day of rest, and nobody could do anything.
Very early on Sunday morning, a group of women who had followed Jesus walked to the tomb. Luke names some of them, including Mary Magdalene, a woman Jesus had healed. They carried spices to put on his body. They were going to take care of the dead.
When they got there, the stone was rolled away. The body was gone.
The question
While they stood there confused, two men in shining clothes appeared beside them. The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground.
The Gospel of Luke, one of the four accounts of Jesus's life, records what the men said.
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?
Luke 24:5 · King James VersionThe original Greek
ἐμφόβων δὲ γενομένων αὐτῶν καὶ κλινουσῶν τὰ πρόσωπα εἰς τὴν γῆν εἶπαν πρὸς αὐτάς· Τί ζητεῖτε τὸν ζῶντα μετὰ τῶν νεκρῶν;
Found in Papyrus 75 (about AD 200), Codex Vaticanus (about AD 325), Codex Sinaiticus (about AD 350).
Then they said, "He is not here, but is risen." They reminded the women that Jesus had told them this would happen.
The women ran back and told the others. Most did not believe them at first. It sounded like nonsense. But it was true.
What it means for you
The women went to the tomb with spices for grief. They left with news.
Christian hope is not pretending things are fine. Jesus really died. The women's sorrow was real. Hope is believing that death, and every smaller loss, does not get the last word.
If you are in a hard place right now, you do not have to feel hopeful to have hope. You can just keep walking toward the tomb, the way those women did, with your spices and your sorrow. Something you did not expect may be waiting.