Another Easter Day Butterfly/Moth

Easter Day Butterfly/Moth

Easter Lilies taken 3/26/05

EASTER

MARCH 27, 2005 Luke 24: 13-35
On the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter
and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them, "They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don't know where they put him." So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb. They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and arrived at the tomb first; he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in. When Simon Peter arrived after him, he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there, and the cloth that had covered his head, not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place. Then the other disciple also went in, the one who had arrived at the tomb first, and he saw and believed. For they did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead.

They saw and believed even though they did not yet understand the Scripture that foretold the resurrection. Mary of Magdala is called the apostle to the apostles. She was the first to see that the Lord was no longer in the tomb. In many traditional early representations of her, Mary of Magdala's robe is usually predominantly red. I take the meaning of the red to be the suffering that she endured as an outcast, as a saved follower of Jesus and as a mourner who shared in the suffering of the crucifixion.

Jesus was willing to lay down his life in this world to fulfill the will of the Father and send the Holy Spirit to a people who had become lost and needed to be shown the way to salvation from sin, evil and wrong paths to the way of love, the way of God that endures through all ages.

What am I to do when someone strikes me on the cheek? Offer the other cheek. It is the way of God, the way of love that requires keeping the teaching and life of Jesus always in the forefront of my mind and heart. They saw and believed although they did not yet understand.

I do not yet understand much of the Scriptures and the ways of faith, but I have seen the saving power of God and believe. For this gift, I rejoice in the Lord today and give thanks that I have been given the grace of belief that Jesus Christ is the Lord and Savior, the Messiah sent to save us and lead us to eternal life.
"This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it."