Thoughts from the Well

An Easter Story!

As the two Mary's approached the tomb where Jesus had been laid following His agonizing death on Calvary's cross..

..they expected to find what any person would have expected to find: a dead body buried in a tomb. That was the order of things. There could have been no other expectation within the hearts of those women at the sunrise of that morning except to find Jesus dead and buried. Death had won. Life had lost. The devil had succeeded. Jesus had failed. What other meaning could there be on that morning?

Yet as the women slowly made their way to perform one last act of love for their Lord, the earth trembled and the soldiers shook and became like dead men as an angel of God rolled the stone away. Jesus was no longer dead but alive! Death had been conquered by life! Darkness had been overcome by light! The might of Rome lay quaking on the ground in fear driven to its knees by the power of God! The hatred of the Pharisees lay in broken pieces crushed by the love of God! The devil raged in frustration defeated by the Son of God! "He is not here; He has risen, just as He said. Come and see the place where He lay." The stone had been rolled away!

Easter day stands at the heart of the Christian gospel because God not only rolled Jesus' stone away. He can roll ours away! Easter is not simply about Jesus' resurrection. It is about ours. It is not only about Jesus' defeat of death and the devil. It is about the promise of ours. He rolled the stone away then. He still rolls the stones away now!

Because Easter's story is about real life, real suffering, real death and real resurrection we must be about the business of touching and liberating real people from real tombs. For some their tomb is constructed of grief from the death of a loved one, for others a thought life filled with fear, anxiety, doubt and despair. For still others it is constructed of physical suffering. For still more it is made of self-destructive habits or addictions. Some find themselves buried in loneliness and without love. Others are covered by an impenetrable sense of defeat as cherished relationships have fallen apart or a life-long dream has evaporated. For many others their tomb is being locked inside a continuing emptiness about why they are alive, what their purpose might be and where their happiness might be found.

I do not come to you with an intricate system of psychological counseling aimed to help you get in touch with your inner child. I do not come with a 12-step program designed to free you from the darkness of your present life. I do not even come with a complex theological treatise created to explain the mysteries of God. I come bearing the same Gospel message the angel gave to those women. "He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay." And I come to tell you that the fact of Jesus' resurrection has become the liberating power of millions of lives for over 2,000 years. There isn't a habit, addiction or emotion Jesus hasn't healed and can't heal now. He still rolls the stones away!

I give you the same invitation the angel extended to the women. "Come and see the place where He lay... He has risen from the dead." Then I invite you to join Him. Let His victory be your victory. Let His power become your power. He is risen and so can you. He rolled the stone away then and He still rolls the stones away now! (Taken from iExalt Insider!)

In Him,
Bill Fritz
March 21, 2002

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