Looking for Hope

“Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter.”   —Mark 16:6-7

In spite of the lateness of the hour and the darkness of the woods in our 27-acre pasture, my dad sent me out on a search for a missing calf. I may have been irresponsible or simply a ten or twelve year old boy who didn’t remember to check on the latest new born calf like I was told. I timidly walked down the road into our pasture field with flashlight in hand.

The sumac trees overhanging my path that night looked exactly like a cemetery I saw on the latest horror movie. My brother and I frequently watched Chiller Theatre, a sci-fi and monster movie show on Channel 11 out of Pittsburgh. As I proceeded into the black woods with my dimly lit flashlight, I was scared out of my wits. A noise erupted to my right as one of our horses came crashing through the bushes. I guess he was curious about who was wondering around in the dark. This moment remains one of my most frightful ever. For the longest time, I was too unnerved to go near a cemetery at night.

If I went out on a quest looking for hope, a cemetery is probably the last place I would go. I have lost many loved ones in my lifetime, but I am not a frequent cemetery visitor. I believe I am over any childhood fears, but I find little or no solace at the graveyard.

The women went to the cemetery early on Easter morning. They intended to anoint the body of Jesus for burial, one last devotional act of love they could do for Him. They were grieving and looking for closure, trying to make sense out of everything that had happened. Grief looks back. Grief tries to remember some good part of the past. Grief tries to relive a past joy and find strength from past comfort or victory to carry on. Focusing too long in the grief of the past may hinder us from finding hope for the future.

Hope looks forward. The angel speaks the message at the empty tomb, “You seek Jesus who was crucified, He is not here.” The woman would not find the answer to their pain and brokenness here. Jesus has risen! The angel told Mary and the others, “But, go.” The message of Easter is that we can not stay in our pain, loss, and sin. We must go forward into hope and life.

I think it was shear grace on Jesus’ part to meet Mary in the cemetery as she tarried. The angel had told her she wouldn’t find Jesus here, go. But in her grief and confusion as she remained at the empty tomb, Jesus met her at her place of need and called her name.

Believer, church, we can’t stay where we are. If we are going to find hope for our lives and offer hope to our world, we must go. We won’t find Jesus in the past: not in past failures, not in past sin, and not even in past successes and revivals. Easter is a message of new life and hope. Jesus is risen and goes before us. Our hope rests in the power of God that raised Jesus from the dead and gives inspiration and direction to us today. We can’t stay where we are; we must go forward. In the power of the Risen Christ, take the Lord’s hand and make a faltering and maybe fearful step of faith. You may just step into the ray of hope you are looking for. Happy Easter!