He is risen

 Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb.  And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it.  His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow.  And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men.  But the angel answered and said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.  He is not here; for He is risen, as He said.  Come, see the place where the Lord lay.  And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him.  Behold, I have told you."  So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring His disciples word.  And as they went to tell His disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, "Rejoice!"  So they came and held Him by the feet and worshiped Him.  Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid.  Go and tell my brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see Me."

- Matthew 28:1-10

In yesterday's reading, we were told that at the crucifixion, many women who followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to Him, were there looking on from afar, among whom were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee's sons.  Now, when evening had come, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus.  This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.  Then Pilate commanded the body to be given to him.  When Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his new tomb which he had hewn out of the rock; and he rolled a large stone against the door of the tomb, and departed.  And Mary Magdalene was there, and the other Mary, sitting opposite the tomb.  On the next day, which followed the Day of Preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees gathered together to Pilate, saying, "Sir, we remember while He was still alive, how that deceiver said, 'After three days I will rise.'  Therefore command that the tomb be made secure until the third day, lest His disciples come by night and steal Him away, and say to the people, 'He has risen from the dead.'  So the last deception will be worse than the first."  Pilate said to them, "You have a guard; go your way, make it as secure as you know how."  So they went and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone and setting the guard.

 Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb.  And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it.  My study bible says, "The earthquake is a sign of our Lord's great victory over death, foreshadowing the general resurrection of all humanity.  Note that the angel does not roll back the stone to let the Lord out, for in His glory, Christ could pass through solid rock (see John 20:19).  Rather, this allows the witnesses in to see that He has already risen."

His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow.  And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men.  But the angel answered and said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.  He is not here; for He is risen, as He said.  Come, see the place where the Lord lay.  And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him.  Behold, I have told you."  So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring His disciples word.  And as they went to tell His disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, "Rejoice!"  So they came and held Him by the feet and worshiped Him.  Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid.  Go and tell my brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see Me."  My study bible points out that "these women are the first witness of the supreme event in all history:  the Resurrection of Christ and the destruction of death.  The angel refers to Christ as the one who was crucified, teaching us not to shy away from His death, but to glory in the Cross (1 Corinthians 2:2; Galatians 6:14), which is the weapon Christ used to destroy death and the trophy of His victory.  At the liturgical services of Pascha (Easter),  Orthodox Christians sing the following hymn hundreds of times:  'Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life.'  As St. Paul says, 'If Christ is not risen, your faith is futile'  (1 Corinthians 15:17)."

So, the great good news is here, in this place carved out of rock to make room for the body of Jesus.  But, it's really carved to make room for all of us, for each of us.  As noted in yesterday's reading (especially by St. Hillary of Poitiers and other commentators), this is the stone of our hearts, pristine and carved out to make room for Christ.  It's for everyone, the whole world, the world of the Gentiles, in I suspect the only way this could have happened.  And that's really the power of the Cross.  It's the power to transform sacrifice into Resurrection, suffering to joy. This is the thing that Christ does for us. It's what has been predicted of Him all along in Scripture.  It's in His mother's song at Gabriel's announcement to her:  "He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name.  And His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation.   He has shown strength with His arm; He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.  He has put down the mighty from their thrones,  and exalted the lowly.  He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty"  (Luke 1:49-53).  Jesus' greeting to these women, "Rejoice!" is the same (in the Greek) as Gabriel's to Mary at the Annunciation.   The stone is rolled away for us to come in; Christ has no need of such help. The stone also symbolizes our need to guard our hearts so that false Christs do not enter.  Let us remember the words of Gabriel.  It's an angel who gave us the good news of His birth, a leader of the angels who gives us the power of the good news of His Resurrection:  "He is risen."  It's the  news that turns the world into a place where we can truly see what is what, the grace of all graces, that helps us find the joy and purpose in our lives.  It turns all endings into new beginnings.