Faith

“Remember how he told you.” (Luke 24:6)

Here we are with Easter 2025 now in the history book.  Once again, we ate too much glazed ham, scalloped potatoes, and green bean casserole.  And let’s not forget the “Peeps” we stuffed our face with.  Who would have ever thought a marshmallow that grew ears would become so popular!

But there is one thing about that Resurrection morning we just celebrated that I want to address.  I never noticed it before until I was preparing to teach the Resurrection this past week.  It is found in the conversation the angels had with the women at the tomb.  We find four women at Christ’s tomb that early morning.  They were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, Salome, and Joanna.  As well, we find celestial beings interacting with the women.  Yet, the thing that spoke to me was the angels surprise at the lack of faith the women first had in believing that Christ had risen from the dead.  Jesus had taught that he would be resurrected.  He even made it clear that it would happen on the third day.  Yet the women found it hard to believe when they received the news that it had truly happened.  It was that lack of faith that surprised the angels.  Perhaps you could even say it disturbed them.

Angels know the truth about who our God is.  They live with him.  They have no doubt that what he says is absolute truth.  So, when Christ said that he would die and be raised on the third day, they instinctively knew that was true.  But when the angels met the women at the empty tomb, they were stunned that these humans down here would not believe his resurrection had happened.  They said to the women, “He is not here; he is risen!  Remember how he told you, while he was still with you?”

Our lack of faith in what God does on this earth seems to be a problem that even surprises the heavenly realm.  This leads us to ask ourselves the question, “why won’t I believe?”  A question each of us must answer.  A question even the angels ask us. 

Sadly, we don’t always believe all that God tells us.  Perhaps it is time for us to search our hearts and ask ourselves what we really do believe about God and his promises. 

                                                                  Darlene