tomb in the darkness before the dawn, when hope seemed gone. All of these
are mirrors in which we see . . . ourselves.
The Lord’s story is our story writ large. As He took up His cross, so we
must take up ours. His Resurrection is our resurrection.
“On the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early,
while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away . . . “ She
ran and told Simon Peter and John, and they came and looked, then returned
home. “But Mary stood outside by the tomb weeping . . . “ (John 20:11)
The Lord whom she loved had been killed, she had come to care for His
body and now even that was gone. And His disciples were gone, and there was
nothing she could do but stand there, alone, weeping by the empty tomb.
Only it was not empty, and she was not alone. “She stooped down and
looked into the tomb, and she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the
head and the other at the foot, where the body of Jesus had lain.” And then
as the light of morning filled the sky above her, the Light of Life dispelled the
darkness within her, and she turned and He spoke her name. “Weeping may
endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” (Psalm 30:5)
“Morning,” we are told in the Heavenly Doctrine, stands for the coming
of the Lord and His kingdom, and the rise of a new church, and on a personal
level, when a person is being regenerated and spiritually renewed. It is
“morning” spiritually for us whenever love and faith flow into our minds and
bring the warmth and light of heaven into our lives. This is the Resurrection
of the Lord in us. “He rises daily, indeed every single moment, in the minds of
regenerate persons.” (Arcana Coelestia 2405)
Then, far from being a dark, cold, inert historical fact, or a dry and dusty
doctrine carved out of the letter of the Word, the Lord’s Resurrection becomes
a present reality and a living truth: warm, moving, beautiful, full of reassurance
and hope. It is the dawn of a new day.
“I am the resurrection, and the life,” He said.
“Because I live, you shall live also,” He said.
“I am with you always,” He said.
The more we take these words to heart and are moved by the eternal love
behind them, the more clearly we will not just believe but know that they are
true. And the glory of the Lord will arise upon us, and our soul will rise with it.
His Resurrection is our resurrection.
(WEO)
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