Keys to the Kingdom By Carolyn Tucker

Famous Rolling Stone

I have cherished photos of my immediate family when I was 14 months old. The year was 1959 in Covina, California. Mom was wearing a hat, dress with a thin belt, a corsage,  white gloves, and black patent-leather heels. Dad wore a white dress shirt, necktie, white suit jacket with a handkerchief in the breast pocket, black slacks, and black leather dress shoes. My 11-year-old brother was outfitted in a white shirt, bow tie, suit jacket, and dark slacks. I was wearing a ruffled bonnet with a matching dress, and white walking shoes. I wouldn’t part with these sentimental photos for love nor money. We were on our way to church to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world!

Matthew’s account tells us how the extremely-massive stone at the door of the tomb was  rolled away. “For an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled aside the stone, and sat on it“ (Matthew 28:2 NLT). On this first Resurrection Sunday, the rolling-stone angel scared the living daylights out of the four Roman soldiers assigned to guard Jesus’  tomb. “His face shone like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow. The guards shook with fear when they saw him, and they fell into a dead faint“ (Matthew 28:3-4 NLT). The soldiers were so terrified at the immense size, power, and brilliance of this angel that they fell to the ground, violently trembling and so paralyzed with fear that they couldn’t move! When they somewhat revived, they got up and ran away like little girls. The Bible doesn’t say that they screamed…but I wonder.

“After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to view the tomb“ (Matthew 28:1 CSB). According to Luke 24:10, there were also other women with the two Mary’s. When the women came to the tomb (which had been officially sealed shut by Roman soldiers), they found that the enormous stone had been rolled away! A massive earthquake had occurred simultaneously at the moment of Jesus’ resurrection sometime before the women arrived at the garden. Just as the earth shook when the Son of God died on the cross, now the earth had exploded with jubilation at the resurrection of Jesus!

“The angel told the women, ‘Don’t be afraid, because I know you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here. For He has risen, just as He said. Come and see the place where He lay. Then go quickly and tell His disciples, ‘He has risen from the dead and indeed He is going ahead of you to Galilee; you will see Him there.’” (Matthew 28:5-7 CSB).  These brave ladies were instructed to “go and see” and then “go and tell.”

When it comes to telling a story, it’s been said that women describe all the details and men just basically tell the headlines. Maybe that’s why the angel told women, and not men, to look inside the tomb and then “go and tell” what they saw. Even though they were perplexed and astonished, they obeyed the angel’s instructions.

I guess we can say that Jesus was the inventor of “show and tell.” A few days after  Resurrection Sunday, Jesus appeared to His disciples a second time. (The first time,  Thomas was absent so he didn’t believe that Jesus was alive.) The risen Savior spoke directly to Thomas and said, “Put your finger here, and look at My hands. Put your hand into the wound in My side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!“ (John 20:27 NLT). Christ followers cannot be faithless and do the Kingdom of God any real good.

The Key: The most-famous rolling stone is the one that couldn’t keep Jesus entombed.

Hope.

What we cling to when we stand before a fresh grave, when we are challenged to be a caregiver for a loved one, when our bipolar, adult child refuses to take her meds, when the judge hopefully will give a second chance, when the downsizing causes us our job.  From where do we find our Hope?

From the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, the reason for the Easter season.  I hope your Hope, like mine, comes from the knowledge that in the future (many believe sooner than later), we will find ourselves meeting Jesus, the Lamb of God, either in the air or in Heaven.

And yes, in times of despair, it’s easy to cry out, “Come, Jesus, come,” but Scripture lets us know that God is patient, waiting for more to meet His son.  The best news is that Hope has a way of reshaping despair, turning it into anticipation rather than defeat because the time will come when God makes things right, all the bad will be replaced with good, and, best of all, we will be like Jesus.  Hallelujah!

Because of Hope, we can put all our eggs in one basket: a day of restoration and renewal is ahead, a day that speaks to our deep longing for something better.  Jesus will be the one who meets his people as they cross from death to life. The crippled will run marathons, the blind will see color and form, the hungry will feast on all-you-can-eat buffets, the paralyzed will dance and the mentally deficient will sit around the Heavenly campfire, conversing with the Creator of the universe.

I love Easter, not for the egg hunts but because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, a truth that, according to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, is echoed by well over five hundred witnesses —beginning with Mary at Jesus’ tomb and ending with the apostle Paul—who saw the risen Christ at various times and places.  It’s no wonder the Christian Church exploded during that first century.  They had seen Truth, and from that, their Hope was alive.

Our religion hinges on that one event.  If the Resurrection never happened, then our faith is useless. If Christ is not risen, then Christianity is just a myth. We can live any way we want, act any way we want, do anything we want, say anything we want, and it doesn’t matter at all. But because Jesus has been raised, it matters…if we too want to rise!

Jesus’ best friend, John, wrote of our Savior’s promise: “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies” (John 11:25 NIV).  That was true in Jesus’ day, and it’s true today.

Put all your eggs in that basket.  It’s the only one that matters.