†     Living This Week’s Gospel

“Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb.” – John 20:1

Sometimes it’s easier to leave things as they are. Sometimes it’s easier to admit defeat, to mourn a loss, and to move on. Sometimes it’s easier to leave the stone in its place and walk away.

Sometimes God has other plans.

Imagine what it was like for Mary of Magdala on that first Easter morning. Heartbroken, downcast, mourning the loss of a friend, Mary assumed all was lost, that she was at the end of things rather than standing at the edge of a glorious new beginning. She had only to see that the stone had been rolled away.

What does that mean for us? What stones in our lives do we need to allow God to roll away? Do we have the courage to let the glory of God shine forth on those shadowy places in our lives, those wounds that we’d rather leave alone?

Perhaps this Easter season is a time to roll away our own stones, to roll away those stones that prevent God’s glory from shining upon our broken world. And then we, like Mary, can run and tell others that something new is afoot, that God is at work, even in ways we don’t understand.