Pastor's Blog: Where Two or Three Are Gathered, Easter Happens
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This year’s Easter celebration will be, without a shadow of a doubt, a most unique one. Normally, we celebrate Easter with one of the largest worship gatherings of the year. Everyone is dressed in his finest. The church is brimming with lilies. The choir is at its best, proclaiming the Easter message in all of its glory.
Sadly, that will not be the case this year. A month ago, when the COVID-19 virus began hitting too close to home, we had hoped that our social distancing would be over by Easter Sunday. But now we are being told to gear up in order to sustain our resolve through the end of the month, and probably longer. So, how do you celebrate Easter in isolation? How do you mark the moment when death became swallowed up in victory when there’s no one present to join you in Easter’s triumph? Maybe the expression “shadow of a doubt” is more than just a figure of speech this Easter season.
As I’ve asked myself these same questions, I’ve been moved to revisit the Easter story with new eyes. Part of what has always weighed heavily on me about the Easter story is everyone’s familiarity with it. Who doesn’t know the basic outline of resurrection? On the third day, up from the grave he arose! However, the fact that we know the story so well may actually keep us from appreciating its import. If Jesus has in fact been raised from the dead, then nothing can ever again be the same. Let that thought sink in for a moment. While most of us want Easter’s glory, we don’t really care to have our everyday world rocked by resurrection. But our everyday world has already been rocked; wouldn’t you say? As a result, now is the time for us to hold fast to Easter hope as we’ve never done before.
This week as I was reading the Resurrection accounts, I was reminded of the amount of social distancing that took place that first Easter morning. The women, no more than three, left their homes early in the morning to go to the tomb before anyone could see them or stop them. Meanwhile, the disciples of Jesus were sheltered in place, where they had been since Jesus’ arrest, out of their fear of the Jewish religious leaders. Two more, Cleopas and another unnamed disciple, were on the road to Emmaus, discussing with one another about all that had happened concerning Jesus. The point of all these Easter accounts is that there weren’t multitudes of people who had come together on the day that Jesus was raised from the dead. It was a handful here, a single person there, a couple on a Sunday outing. But in every instance Jesus appeared to them and made their joy complete.
Don’t despair if this Easter finds you feeling detached from the crowd. The truth of the matter is that for all we know no one was present the actual moment Jesus arose from the grave. But he did, and it didn’t take long for him to make his presence known to others, one small group at a time, just as he promises he will do for you. So, be prepared for the Risen Christ to show up this Easter where and when you need him the most, even in the shadow of your greatest doubt. The fact that he will do so for you in the most intimate of settings may well make this Easter the most memorable one you’ve ever known.
“For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them” (Matthew 18:20).