I have to admit that occasionally when I have been out late celebrating, the next day feels like an anticlimax. If we have been entertaining at home, the next morning often greets me with dirty dishes, and leftover food to clear away.
The day after Easter Sunday greets the disciples feeling, “hungover” – Sunday had been a day they had never expected. It had brought together all that Jesus had been telling them, yet they struggled to comprehend what had happened. Had Mary really seen Jesus, alive? Had they really been able to touch him, flesh and bone once again? Did he really appear on that road to Emmaus? Did they actually share food with him and were their eyes opened to really see him?
Easter Sunday is the day we celebrate Jesus coming to life, bringing together all that had been prophesied. Three days previously we have remembered the pain, the humiliation, the suffering and the price that Jesus paid so that our sins could be forgiven, once and for all. Jesus died and came back to life, so that we could “die to sin”, so that we could start a new life, the slate wiped clean, the debt paid, forgiven and forgotten.
So as we wake on Easter Monday, we may be like the disciples, still wondering, “did it really happen?” Easter is not one day of the year, rather it can be the beginning of a new chapter, a new life. The dishes have been cleaned and put away, the remains of the party dealt with once and for all, and we can travel through the day renewed and restored.
Prayer: Thank you Jesus that you were prepared to pay all our debts, you were prepared to take on our punishment, and you were prepared to suffer and die on our place. Thank you that you came back to life to show us new life in you. Forgive us our doubts, forgive us our hesitancy, and help us to live with the joy that new life in you brings, not just at Easter but for ever. AMEN