‘Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. …’
Matthew 28:1
Morning breaks.
Most mornings, this means bleary eyes, fumbling for the snooze button, struggling to locate slippers, and the brain’s honing system blinking into action to locate the nearest caffeine source.
But not this morning.
Most mornings mean we get up and pick up where we left off yesterday. Yesterday’s tasks, yesterday’s thoughts, yesterday’s trajectory, yesterday’s story.
But not this morning.
Most mornings, the pain and the grief and the fractures of our own lives seem to wake up with us, unwelcome travelling companions that the night failed to shake off.
But not this morning.
This is the morning. The morning of mornings. The morning where the victory of Golgotha is proved and explodes into New Reality in scintillating colours and magnificent joy.
This is the morning, where those poor guards, appointed to keep a few conspiratorial peasant disciples out, find that no tomb stone, grave clothes, nor mighty army of earth can keep the conquering King of Heaven in.
This is the morning that moves beyond the end of all earthly stories, to mark the beginning of all heavenly ones. It is Day One of the New Creation. It is the First Day of the inbreaking eternal age. It is a New Order of reality that will from this moment on render every scenario of brokenness as painful and yet utterly and permanently impermanent.
This is the Morning.
And it begins in beautiful simplicity.
It begins with grass and dew and birds and quietness. It begins in a garden.
I’d love to get a glimpse into that dark tomb, as Jesus first opened His eyes.
The first intake of New Creation breath.
The first thump of New Creation heart.
The deep smile that only the deepest joy can bring.
The look of song and fire and hope and glory all mixed in His shining eyes.
I’d love to get a glimpse of the first sunbeams hitting His face, as the first man of the New Creation stepped into the resurrection garden.
And I love that it wasn’t a crowd that met Him. Crowds are impressive, but they are also nameless. Crowds suggest significance in the foolish metrics of the world, yet they are always impersonal.
No chance. For Jesus, it was a small group of women. We know their names.
Not the successful, the holy, the important. Not a nameless mob.
But Mary and Mary.
This means so much.
It means that Jesus didn’t walk out of that tomb with a new way for a nameless multitude in which individual stories get lost.
But rather, that Jesus walked out of that tomb for Mary. And Mary. And John. And Peter.
And me. And you.
Resurrection reality is not a nebulous concept for others; it is a personal reality for you. It is the personal reality for you.
The disciples gather. Jesus meets them. Their mission? To take the message and reality of this New Age into all the earth, inviting every broken life to come and join in.
The sun has risen. The birds sing. The tomb is behind. And life eternal lies before.
Because, my friends, after the night,
After pain and sadness and sickness and depression and anxiety and division and fear,
Comes,
Inescapably, unmistakably, unbreakably,
Morning.
Reflect:
What places of pain are you holding right now? Bring these to the tomb.
Ask the Spirit to show you what resurrection reality looks like in this situation.
Pray:
Jesus,
May your Morning
Define my every morning.
May my places of hopelessness and grief
Be illuminated with the warm beams of living hope.
Would you melt my hard heart,
Bruised and shrunken through disappointment and fear,
And enlarge it to the surety
That with you
There is no pain, no sickness, no injustice, no isolation, no crisis, no grief,
That can or will ever last.
For the night cannot endure
Because, my Lord
Your morning came
And awoke the inbreaking age,
Where every night ceases,
And the radiance of life wins.
Awaken me today with resurrection eyes
In your name,
Jesus,
My Lord and my God,
Amen
Old Testament:
For those also reading the Old Testament this year, your additional readings are here:
Leviticus 14:33 | Proverbs 8:1-11