BE A BLESSING, WHO WILL ROLL THE STONE? A RESURRECTION MESSAGE

SUBMITTED BY: REVEREND LEONA WELCH

It was early that Sunday morning, just after sunrise, after The Lord had been crucified, that three women approached the tomb of Jesus with spices, hoping to anoint His body. On the way, the women had a conversation that included this crucial and worrisome question:

The women’s concern was justified, for the stone that was set to enclose Jesus in His tomb was large, huge, gigantic; that is downright monumental. You could call it a boulder. Ah, my Dear Sisters and Brothers, what about those large, huge, gigantic, downright monumental boulders in our lives that we cannot move, and so often can not find anyone else to help move? These stones often make us feel entombed, lifeless- dead. But remember, Dear Friends, the women at Jesus’ tomb found that their worry was actually for nothing, that when they arrived, the stone was already rolled back, and Jesus was alive.

So it is with us. How often we forget that same Jesus who got up with all power in His hands, who defied death, and pushed back His own stone, to show an empty tomb, is the same Jesus who defies the death-like situations in our lives, and pushes back the stones of pain, worry, disappointment, anger, fear, and any other stone that leaves us feeling hopeless and helpless. Who will roll back the stone, you ask? Nobody- nobody but Jesus, that is. When He does, you and I will come back to life. When we do, it is on us to reach out to others who are struggling to remove the rocks from their lives, and use the same strength and power of the resurrected Christ in us, that pushed back our stones, to help remove theirs.