But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared...
- Luke 24:1
Jesus is dead. They saw him die. They saw him buried. There is nothing they can do about it.
They have accepted this New Normal; one with a sky a little less bright, smiles a little less broad, hope a little less real. Jesus is dead.
All they can do now is memorialize the past. Go to it's grave and place flowers. Go to Jesus' body and honor who and what he was with burial spices and oils.
This is their New Normal.
Something to think about with New Normals however...
Though moments can feel like eons, often New Normals are only transitions.
I don't know what happened inside that cave tomb. (I hope to watch the video someday.) What I do know is it was not Normal. Death does not give up his prey. Grave doesn't loosen his grip.
Normal is: dead saviors stay dead.
Normal is: isolation in windowless rooms.
Normal is: fear so real it tastes of metal.
Normal is: the silence of Saturday carries on, drowning out the melodies of hope and joy.
Resurrection is not normal. But Jesus was not into normal. (Jesus is not into normal.)
Saturday's silence was shattered in the way a black night fails in the presence of continual lightning; finally giving way to a cloudless sunrise. A stone was ejected to reveal a grave unoccupied. On a slab, neatly folded burial clothes: "I won't be needing these."
Jesus begins showing up in strange places. Near his former tomb he meets two women who planned to honor his dead body. And joy is resurrected. He suddenly pops up in a stagnant room filled with fearful former followers. And hope is resurrected. He prepares breakfast on the shore for fishless fishermen, who at his direction came to the sudden realization that they might need bigger boats and stronger nets. Wonder and awe are resurrected.
In each case, their normal is no longer. It has been renewed. Resurrection Renews Normal. And normal can never be normal again. This resurrected Renewed Normal pervades everything. Every New Normal we face finds its context within the power and perspective of resurrection.
The storm will pass.
The pain will end.
The isolation will be broken.
Now matter how normal each may seem.
Because Jesus changes everything.
And even normal can never be normal again.
Jesus has Renewed Normal.
He is Risen...
(And all the angels shouted...) He is Risen Indeed!
For now...
D
