It has been a bind not being able to stray beyond the bounds of the garden. Another letter was received yesterday from the Scottish Government reminding me of my vulnerability during these days of Covid-19. And yet it was good to be out in the garden early this morning to breathe the freshness of the air, to see the brightness of the daffodils and to hear the comforting birdsong. A confined space and yet so much evidence of life.
I was reminded that first evidence of the Resurrection was in a garden. Mary Magdalene still carrying the grief of Jesus’ death and the confusion of finding His tomb empty has her name spoken by a man she thinks is the gardener. In that moment she recognises the voice of Jesus. In the place where she expected only to acknowledge His death she finds Him alive.
When Easter comes round preachers want to be at their best. In all the words I may have spoken on all the Easters I have lived through I find myself praying today that something of the Risen Lord has been experienced and that His voice has spoken to hearts in need. In the garden I prayed in this way for all those who are confined, that their inner life will be expanded by the reality of Christ risen from the dead. As a believer I know about the Resurrection. This morning my greatest need along with so many others is to experience the Resurrection.
In the evening of the first Easter Jesus appeared to His disciples who were in lockdown in a room in Jerusalem. They had heard reports of the empty tomb. They were soon to experience the reality. Despite the doors being locked Jesus ‘stood among them’. His message to them was ‘Peace be with you.’ (John 20: 21)
There is nothing more I hope for this Easter morning than a sense of His peace. The peace of knowing sins forgiven; the peace of knowing the strength of His presence; the peace of being assured that all things work to the good of those who love Him; the peace of being assured that He has gone through death to the eternal world to prepare a place for His people.
The prayer uppermost in my soul on this Easter morning is for all those in lockdown that the same voice heard 2,000 years ago in a room of anxious and baffled men will be heard by them and that they experience His peace.
