Photo by Ilja Tulit on Unsplash
Karen Hollis | April 5, 2026 Easter
Matthew 28:1-10 (Open English Bible) After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary of Magdala and the other Mary had gone to look at the grave, when suddenly a great earthquake occurred. For an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled away the stone, and seated himself on it. His appearance was as dazzling as lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow; and, in their terror of him, the men on guard trembled violently and became like dead men. But the angel, addressing the women, said, “You need not be afraid. I know that it is Jesus, who was crucified, for whom you are looking. He is not here; for he has risen, as he said he would. Come, and see the place where he was lying; and then go quickly and say to his disciples ‘He has risen from the dead and is going before you into Galilee; there you will see him.’ Remember, I have told you.” They left the tomb quickly, in awe and great joy, and ran to tell the news to the disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. “Welcome!” he said. The women went up to him, and clasped his feet, bowing to the ground before him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers and sisters to set out for Galilee, and they will see me there.”
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be reflections of your word to us today, in Christ’s name we pray. Amen
Whenever I hear Matthew’s resurrection account, I always get a bit of a chuckle when the angel rolls away the stone and then sits upon it. I think of the kitchen in my childhood home, which on occasion was a hangout spot where someone might sit upon the counter, while laughing or bantering. The kitchen is where a lot of life happens . . . if you’re invited into the kitchen, you see behind the curtain to experience people in their humanity.
So, I imagine the angel sitting upon the stone, swinging his legs, leaning forward a bit with hands lightly gripping the edge to show his engagement, gentle eyes, and a smile stretching across his face, as he gives them the inside information about what has taken place. And this is extraordinary news. It’s the kind of news that simply makes your brain stop. It takes some time for the mind to actually consider the possibility of a different reality than the one that was painfully real a moment ago. It takes even more time for the mind to wonder, so what does this mean for us? What does this mean for us?
I imagine “do not be afraid,” is a welcome greeting, because they do have sensible reasons to fear. Seriously, a mystical encounter with an angel is enough to send us running for the hills. But the presence of the guards – though currently unconscious, we get to see them in their humanity, too – is a reminder of the real danger that surrounds them, the danger that just killed Jesus for leading a resistance movement. Especially when we read John’s version of the resurrection, I imagine it all happening in a beautiful garden, insulated from danger, but Matthew reminds us that news comes in all kinds of places . . . where the threat of violence is all too real, where we show up in our humanness, even where angels sit upon high places, swinging their legs and leaning in.
The resurrection comes everywhere . . . because the resurrection is an affirmation of life, here and now.
After his death, God could have carried Jesus straight back to the oneness to live and serve creation . . . but apparently God didn’t do that. God raised Jesus here, in the midst of a dangerous and violent world, an aching world, an everyday world, a beautiful and renewing world . . . and that action by God affirms this world . . . not the powers of destruction that try to undermine it or systems of domination that seek to control - those are not of God – but God affirms this world and identifies with it.
Even in the places that are not of God, the Holy is still present. This is expressed most clearly, in writing at least, in the ancient text, The Thunder: Perfect Mind, where God identifies with a wide range of profoundly human circumstances. God says: “I am she who is honored and she who is mocked; I am the midwife and she who hasn’t given birth; I am humiliation and pride; I am without shame, I am ashamed; I am security and I am fear; I am war and peace; I am compassionate and I am cruel; I am witless and I am wise; I am without God, and I am she whose God is magnificent.”
If, according to Thunder, God self-identifies with all these things, God is also available in all these things . . . not in the systems of domination, themselves, but in the people who are part of this creation . . . no one is left out. No one is too troubled or too wounded or too awful for God. No circumstances are too far gone for God’s love. God meets the whole world where we are, identifies with us, calls us holy, calls us beloved over and over again until we can claim it for ourselves.
God raised Jesus here, in the midst of this world. This is what God does . . . God baked this process into the very foundations of the universe. Old stars explode into massive clouds of gas and dust that then condense down into new star systems. The earth is tilted on its axis, giving us seasons, so after the decay of autumn and resting of winter, spring comes with new growth, even in cracks in the pavement, new life comes forth. Cuts and scrapes heal on our bodies, bruises fade. Families mourn loved ones and welcome new and growing life. Relationships repair, miraculous circumstances offer healing we never imagined possible, we practice truth, engage reconciliation, and nations put down their guns.
This cycle of renewal is happening everywhere in the world today in different ways and on different timelines. Jesus’ resurrection is an affirmation that all of the cycles of healing, reconciliation, and new possibilities happening in our lives today are real and true. There is reason to hope, there is reason to keep at it, to keep healing, to mend relationships, to support others in their ability to thrive, to stay in difficult conversations, to breathe and remain present with the stuff of this world . . . because Jesus’ resurrection tells us our own healing and transformation are real. This stuff of our lives is our partnership with God at work, because God needs us.
St. Augustine said long ago: “we without God cannot, and God without us will not.” But together, we bring all the love, wisdom, possibilities, care, and hands and feet and bodies. Only us with God and God with us, can we grow the kindom of God. Beginning in our kitchens, in our cars, community centres, and grocery stores. With every act of humanity, we impact the whole, that this good work would also be present also in board rooms, in seats of government and command rooms.
The angel sits upon the stone, inviting the women to see differently, to believe there is more to the world than what they see before them. The resurrection comes everywhere as an affirmation of the ordinary and extraordinary stuff of life, death, and new life in us and everywhere in the world. Thanks be to God.