April 06th, 2024

Dear St. John’s,
 
I suspect none of us expected this morning’s earthquake. When such an unusual event occurs, we often look first to more ordinary explanations. I initially thought a tree fell on my house. Other friends at first attributed the rumbling to a passing truck, a car hitting the foundation of their building, an airplane crashing near Newark Airport and even to their washing machine.
 
It’s like the Resurrection. No one expected Jesus to rise from the dead. So those who first saw the empty tomb assumed someone had stolen his body. Those who first encountered him didn’t recognize him at first. They thought he was a gardener or a fellow traveler on the road to Emmaus.
 
And even though the miraculous event was the same, each person experienced and understood and interpreted it from their own location and perspective. So the Bible contains different accounts of the Resurrection. And we, too, experience the Risen Christ in different ways – often when we’re least expecting it. We, too, share our stories of when we have seen the Lord in our lives.
 
Each story may be as unique as our fingerprints, because Jesus meets each of us where we are. But they all share the amazing, eternal truth on which our faith is based: Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!
 
Rev. Sharon