Well, in a nutshell, that's the story. The question is so what? What's so special about this celebration we call Easter? The story of Easter little more than that – a story – until you experience the miracle of the resurrection for yourself.
How has your life been radically changed by that Good News that Jesus is risen, that his dead body no longer lies behind a large heavy stone? Or is the heavy stone still in place for you, separating you from the Risen Lord? Are you still afraid, like the three women, to proclaim the Good News that Jesus is risen?
The Reverend Marcia A. Tremmel serves as deacon at St. Mary Magdalene Episcopal Church in Bradenton, Florida. She is a part-time hospital chaplain, works with elementary school children to develop their reading, knowledge of Scripture, and worship skills, and creates visual support for contemporary worship services using multimedia.
The Very Rev. Sam Candler tells the story of an out-of-control man who heard that the Bible had all the answers. He decided to open the Bible to a random page and do whatever it said. The first verse he saw was, “Judas went out and hanged himself.”
Jesus is in the temple and things are starting to heat up. In parable after parable, he is trying to slap the religious leaders awake. They are the problem not the solution.
You can hear the sarcasm dripping as the legal lion addresses Jesus as "Master." He wants to draw this carpenter into an elevated discussion of law so he can expose Jesus as a presumptuous hick who’s way out of his depth daring to banter with the big boys.
"Give it to me in a nutshell"—an old saying — means, Tell me what I need to know, but keep it short. Don't bother me with unnecessary detail. Just get to the bottom line.
In the midst of the War of 1812, Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry said, “We have met the enemy and they are ours.” Some 150 years later, Walt Kelly's possum, Pogo turned it into, “We have met the enemy and he is us.”
I love the last line of the text. “When the Pharisees realized that Jesus was speaking of them, they wanted to arrest him and made plans to kill him. ‘He was speaking of us’ they said.” Well, duh!
A church member signed up for a religion class at the local college. He was hoping to borrow some of the books in his syllabus. With that, he handed me a four-page bibliography. I kid you not – four pages!