I saw these two photos this week on Facebook, and thought I would include them in this post. If you can use a bit of imagination and think back to 33 AD coupled with the 24/7 coverage of the media today, these might be the newspaper headlines of the day. First the obituary of Jesus, circa 33 AD.
Then 3 days later, the shocking, but prophetic Great News!
And a favorite Easter painting my parents had displayed in their house for years, showing the sorrow, yet soon to be surprise of Mary at the town, with Jesus standing behind her whom she thinks is a Gardner at first.
Pretty thought provoking isn’t it, as much as what happens next? Like today, would there be some type of cover-up; in this case the Roman government? How could this happen? What about the soldiers assigned to guard the tomb – why were they sleeping instead of working? What about the disciples, Jesus Mother, Mary Madeline, Salome and the other women who might have been at the tomb? (Mark 16: 1-20). It would have be a terrifying time for all wondering what happened, and in the cover-up that follows who is next? (Indeed all but one of the disciples eventually died a martyr’s death, and John was attempted murdered and then exiled to the island of Patmos (link from Christianity today website).
I’m not a Bible scholar by any means (but my Dad was a Baptist minister) and as I get older I can’t help but reflect on things such as this I overlooked in my younger party-filled rebellious days. Pretty thought provoking to say the least. Here’s a photo of my Dad, DOS, and me from April 2019, the year before he passed.
I’ll close this post with a few of my favorite Easter photos from a few years back in 2018 from my hometown of Roanoke, VA. My Dad had long retired by then, and ironically these were taken at the Episcopal Church where my brother Andy plays the organ. My parents both passed away two years later in 2020, but they left behind a seed of love and passion for Christ that took me years to totally understand, even while being brought up with Faith since childhood.
May you and your family have a blessed and meaningful Easter. God bless!
