But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” And they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles, but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marvelling at what had happened. (Luke 24:1-12)Ēostre was an Anglo-Saxon dawn goddess. This does not particularly distress nor concern me. Still, in the interests of "calling a spade a spade", I would prefer to observe Resurrection Celebration Day instead.
To my regret, this year I've found myself so busy and flustered that I have not done very much intentional 'observing' at all. I feel a bit like Peter in the Garden of Gethsemene, who could not even "watch with [Jesus] for one hour" (see Matthew 26:36-46). Fortunately, the Resurrection is for Life, not just for, ahem, 'Easter'. So there is nothing to stop me contemplatively reflecting on the last week of Jesus' pre-Resurrection life at any point in the year. In fact, that sounds like a pretty good idea.
I also, you'll be relieved to hear, have no time to 'blog'. Here is Tom Wright saying many things about the powerful significance of the Resurrection, with far more eloquence, learning, wit, graciousness, and clarity than my ramblings. For those planning some Bank Holiday spring cleaning/DIY, why not stick it on in the background -- flex your faculties whilst fixing your furniture?
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