Pastor Rich's Page: Easter Morning

"Early in the morning, while it was still dark, Mary saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb."

John seems to be trying to make it very clear to his readers that the first witness of the resurrection came at that time of the morning "while it was still dark."

For some reason this little line in the beginning of the Easter story never really caught my attention...until now.

The more I thought about this line, the more important it's message became to me.

Resurrection doesn't begin when we are in the light, it begins while we are still in the dark!

Like a seed that is placed in the darkness of the ground. The first awareness of new life that comes to the seed isn't the sprout that we can see plainly. It's the first crack in the seed's shell while the seed is still under ground in the dark.

So it was for Mary. She was the first to witness the resurrection and it was while she was still in the dark.

In the darkness of fear...doubt...pain...death...sin.

Resurrection comes to our darkness with new life, and cracks us open like a seed...like a tomb.

There's a story that I want to share with you. It's a bit long, but take the time to watch this video. It's the story of Louis Zamperini. It's a story that is so amazing that it's hard to believe it isn't fiction. His story has been made into a NY Times best seller entitled, Unbroken, and is set to be made into movie in 2014.