The First Day of the Week

John tells us  that Jesus' last words were "It is finished." Not all that unlike the words in Genesis 1 and 2 when God "finishes" the work of creation and decides to rest on the Sabbath.

The resurrection story in John happens on "the first day of the week."  It is a day of new creation and a day where the potential for humans to finally achieve the God-intended purpose of creation in the here and now - with huge implications for the "then and there" of eternity.

The first Easter sermon - preached by women! - was preached in a world where "Jerusalem was rotten to the core." Politics had reached into the depths of absurdity. Sound familiar? Culture was confused and searching. Sound familiar? Jesus would describe it as "helpless and harassed, like sheep without a Shepherd." Sounds so familiar.

Yet,despite what many viewed as decades of silence from God - He thundered the words that changed human history -  "He is risen!"

It is nearly midnight - the beginning of the first day of the week.  In some Christian  traditions a fire is about to be lit signifying that something has happened that changes everything.

"My world is rotten - to the core." Politics have left me wondering if there is  any hope. The news tells me of evil raising its ugly head in places like Paris,  San  Bernardino, and Brussels. "Let's just kill people for the sake  of killing people" seems to be the mantra of the day. But erupting from an empty tomb in ancient Judea are words of life - "He is not here. He  is risen."

New creation. Renewal. Restoration. A  conversation with God - not in the cool of the evening, but at the breaking of dawn. Resurrection. In Bonhoeffer's words, "The night is not yet over, but already the dawn is breaking."

Who would have thought.

No one. No eyes. No ears. No mind imagined.

But that is the message of the first day of the week.

Thanks be to God. His gift is indescribable. His  message, life changing. His invitation - well, it is for us all.

I think I will go light a fire!