The way John begins his account of that first Easter is like this –  “Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb.”

Easter begins in the darkness. On that Sunday, when Mary woke up, for her it was still Good Friday,  but Easter had already started.  It was still dark, as far as she was concerned, but God had already broken the darkness.   And maybe that should be what we take with us today.  That no matter the darkness, no matter how big the stone in front of the tomb, God is at work.  That dark morning Mary couldn’t imagine the new world that lay in front of her.  It was too dark for her to see past heartbreak – too dark to live beyond the world and the life, she had always known.  But God was at work – the truth of Easter had already begun. 

John’s message for us today, told through the story of Mary Magdalen, is that even if we are in the dark – even if it’s feeling like Friday for us – the good news is that Easter has already begun.  God is already at work taking what is wrong in the world, and our lives, and making it new – and renewing it – and giving it the new life that we need. 

Even if we are walking in the dark this day – or any day –Easter has already taken root – and the tombs we find ourselves in will be opened – the darkness is being lifted.   Because that is what God does – that is who God is – that is the gift we are given on Easter. 

John’s gospel account also ends with Mary Magdelene.   After seeing that stone rolled away, after seeing Jesus and hearing him call her by name – she says  to the disciples still in hiding, still living as if it were Friday “I have seen the Lord!” 

This is the truth of Easter.  Jesus is alive and he is alive for us.   When we, like Mary, are in the darkness – are still living in Friday, God is already at work.   God is taking the stones too big for us to move and shoving them aside.  He is taking the dying places in our lives and breathing new life into them. That is the good news of Easter.

Hope is alive –  the power of resurrection is loose in our world.  Resurrection is at work in our time – in our lives- right now and forever.  We have seen the lord, he is risen.  Thanks be to God.  Amen