"And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many."

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From an Easter sermon by Adam Greenwood

http://www.jrganymede.com/2014/04/21/easter-in-pictures-and-in-words/comment-page-1/#comment-392817

Then Pilate has Jesus whipped.

They make fun of him. They dress him up like a fake king with a crown made from a thorn bush. They blindfold him and punch him and tell him to prophesy who it was.

They march him out to an empty lot by a busy intersection where they like to perform executions in public. They execute him and two criminals.

He is dead.

*

You had still been hoping just a little. But now he’s meat. You feel horrified and betrayed. You also feel afraid. What if they come after the people who cheered him next?

You flee home to hide. All the next day you hide there. It all came to nothing. Gloom. Hopelessness. Misery.

*

The day after is Easter.

You hear a knock on your door. You are scared. You peek out. Remember your mother that died? You hallucinate that its her.

The hallucination speaks in your mother’s voice. “It’s me. I’m alive. Touch me” She is shining and beautiful. She comes in and it really is her.

She hugs you. She hugs your children. She tells you that she loves you. She says that Jesus has come back to life because he is stronger than death. She says he brought back many of his followers with him. She is radiating happiness. She tells you that death is not the end for anybody. She tells you that you will all be together again.

When she leaves, you are crying. You feel like your heart will break with joy.

*

You rush out to share the news. You aren’t the only one. Other people have seen their loved ones. My husband, one says. My wife. My child. My father. My mother. It is so wonderful.

Jesus’ closest friends and associates even say they saw him. There is amazement and awe. There is a feeling of something sacred.

*

And his friends tell you something else. He made the dead alive again, they say, but he will also make the sinner pure. He will make the broke man whole and the weak man strong. It is certain.

You see those friends change. You weren’t impressed with them before. They were just like you. Now you see them rebuke kings and leaders.

You receive your own witness.

You also believe.

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