Easter Day: In the Garden

I feel the sun on my face and the breeze that brushes my hair. I see the green of the leaves and the smell the scent of the flowers. I hear bird song and know that if I were to pluck a blade of grass from the ground and place it in my mouth, I would taste its sweetness on my tongue. The numbness, darkness and emptiness that replaced the pain and despair has gone. I know that I was dead and now I am alive again.

I have met Mary and spoken with her. She was so distressed that she did not recognise me. In her pain and anguish she had forgotten what she knew. She depended on only what she felt, believing that she had lost me forever. That meeting transformed her hurt to joy, her loss to triumph and she ran to tell Peter as I had asked her.

He came and I watched as he was transformed by simply finding the empty tomb. He was distraught over what he had done a few evenings ago but needed nothing more than some folded grave clothes to restore his faith in everything we had shared. I watched as he left the garden, rushing to carry the news to the rest of them. No need to meet me face to face – although the time would come for that. He knew from the simple things he had seen for himself.

That left me time to simply stand and savour the feeling of being alive again. I was in touch with the world and everything in it. I could feel my Father’s presence and know his loving approval for all that was coming to pass. There’s still some work to be done. There are those who still will want to see and feel for themselves. But many more will simply believe and know in faith what has come to pass because of their simple testimony.

It won’t be long now. My journey on this world is almost over. From stable to carpenter’s shop, from wilderness to a garden by an empty tomb, I have simply walked the path that had been prepared for me. Journey’s end is in sight and soon I will be able to truly say ‘It is finished’.

But I must still be about my Father’s business. Now, where do I go from here?

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