Easter Stories After he died, the loneliness was dreadful. It was a shock. Even the guards were amazed. He is gone. He lives. Do not be afraid. Tell the others. They hurried from the cave. On the road they met him and embraced him. The man they loved. You didn’t leave them alone for long. How would they figure it out without your help? You always were their teacher. Once again you showed them who they were. They are the ones who witness to the resurrection. You didn’t return as ghost or a soul. You stood in their midst, shared meals, and took away their fear one more time. There are many Easter stories. For the chief priest and elders, Easter was a headache. Another crisis to manage. Rehearse the story about the stolen corpse. Pay the guards. For the Greeks, the cross was a scandal. And our Easter story? For many of us, death is the ultimate certainty. This life will end. Dying is the inescapable finale, whether defeat or release. We are followers who struggle to learn. Greater than the loss of death is the power of life. In the resurrection, souls don’t split off from bodies; death isn’t divided from life; presence isn’t swallowed up by absence. We are not abandoned. We were ready to take memories, stories, achievements, children, or DNA for our immortality. But you would not stay buried. In the resurrection, you live in our midst. You show us that the paths of life stretch farther than death. |