HE HAS RISEN! Unfortunately, we don’t receive that news from a glowing angel as Mary Magdalene did when she arrived at Jesus’ tomb on the first Easter Sunday (Matthew 28:1-7). I suppose it’s a good thing because I’m sure I’d wet my pants if an angel appeared to me regardless of how many Do Not Be Afraids he uttered. Testimony from an angel about the resurrection would have been more than enough for me, but the angel went a step further to roll back the stone so Mary (and others) could see for herself. Jesus was already gone, so clearly rolling the stone back wasn’t to let Him out, but to let her (and others) in to witness and experience the empty tomb.
Jesus didn’t need Divine assistance to move the stone, but we do. There have been many stones moved for me over the years. Self-imposed stones that isolated me from others, stones of health challenges, addictions, and stones that come simply from living in a broken world. More often than not, it is the stone of my own pride/ego that seals off my Divine connection. That kind of stone is particularly difficult to remove because it’s not one we relinquish easily or totally.
Every time I think I’ve completely surrendered to Christ, He reveals something else I need to release. Dying to self is an ongoing process because my selfishness and self-centeredness keeps rearing its ugly head – one step forward, two steps back. Richard Rohr encourages us when he says, “Death and life are two sides of the same coin; you cannot have one without the other. Each time you surrender, each time you trust the dying, your faith is led to a deeper level and you discover a larger self underneath.”
As I mentioned earlier, fear would be my first instinct meeting an angel. I would never even consider entering a tomb. I’m still recovering from being locked in a cemetery by my brothers when I was little. It’s no wonder the first thing the angel said was, “Do Not Be Afraid.” It’s dark and dank and who knows what critters were lurking in there. The same can be said when Christ asks us to go into the deepest recesses of our soul to address issues we’d prefer to keep hidden. Alcoholics Anonymous has a famous adage: You’re only as sick as your secrets. It’s scary. There’s no getting around that truth, but God can’t heal what we aren’t willing to surrender. We can trust His Do Not Be Afraid because if He asks us to go deep, you can be certain He will accompany you.
Christ chose to put aside His divinity to fulfill God’s salvation plan. We, too, have to choose to die to self before we can truly experience the resurrected life Christ has planned for us. It’s only when we are stripped of our own power, plans, egos and agendas that we fully grasp how much we need God and how helpless we are left to our own devices. When it seems that all is lost and darkness will prevail, our only choice is whether or not to surrender it all to God.
What stone is weighing heavy on your heart that needs Divine intervention? Will you choose to surrender it to Christ today?
Choose wisely!
