Resurrection

One morning, about two weeks ago, I woke to the sound of my four-year-old son screaming at the top of his lungs. In a response that has become more instinct than will, I jumped out of bed and ran to find him. He was in the bathroom, standing in front of the toilet, wailing with all the angst and fury a preschooler can muster against the injustice of life. His stuffed rabbit—the one that has been with him since birth, the one that we search for every night before bed, the one that has accompanied us on every road trip, vacation, and doctor’s visit—was floating in the bowl. And in that moment, I remembered what day it was.

It was Monday.

In our culture, Monday holds a certain psychological mystique. It’s the bully of the week. The day that knocks you down and laughs. The day that steals your lunch money. The day that many of us just hope to survive. In the words of Alexander, Monday is a “terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.”

A lot of this is because Monday is the first day back to normal after the weekend. It’s the first day back to business—the first day back to school lunches and briefcases and time cards. The coming week looms large before us, and instead of being invigorated, we feel helpless. Instead of charging forward, carpe diem, we drag and slide and haul ourselves forward, bleary-eyed and overwhelmed.

It is fascinating to see the part women had in the life of God’s Son during His third of a century on this planet. We all know of His arrival in the body of a young virgin and of the encouragement that Elizabeth and Anna gave to her at that time (cf. Luke 1:36-45, 2:36-38).

Then, for 30 years, Joseph and His mother had authority over Jesus (cf. Luke 2:51, Matt. 13:55). Mary suffered much shame in that notorious town of Nazareth for having a son by an unknown father (cf. John 1:46, 8:41, 8:48).

During the three years of His public ministry in Israel, the Savior cured women who were ailing (cf. Matt. 8:14-15, 9:20-22), raised one from the dead (cf. Matt. 9:18-26) and highly praised one for her sacrificial giving (cf. Luke. 21:1-4). He also reached out to “a woman of Samaria” (John 4:7ff.) and to “a woman of Canaan” (Matt. 15:22) in the land of Tyre and Sidon, concerning whom He said: “Great is your faith!” (Matt. 15:28).

Much if not most of the finances that our Lord and His apostles needed came from women who were thankful for his ministry in their own lives (cf. Luke 8:1-3). Also, Mary and Martha, sisters of Lazarus, provided rare hospitality and devotion to Him at Bethany, near Jerusalem (cf. Luke 10:38-42; John 11:1-45,12:1-8).

Finally, when the Lord Jesus was betrayed by Judas and abandoned by the other disciples (cf. Matt. 26:47-56), it was women who stayed by our Savior as He was crucified (cf. Matt. 27:55-56, Mark 15:40-41). The one named last, Salome, was a sister of Jesus’ mother and the mother of the apostles James and John. Then the apostle John returned to Jesus with these four women (cf. Jn. 19:25-27). Amazing! Of all His disciples, only one man showed such devotion to the end—and four women!

Even more amazing, if possible, is the record of what women did when Jesus died and rose again. When Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus buried the body of Jesus in a special tomb (cf. John 19:38-42), “the women who had come with Him from Galilee followed after, and they observed the tomb and how His body was laid” (Luke 23:55).

Many children raised in Christian homes do not understand the meaning of Resurrection Sunday. They might choose the correct answer on a multiple-choice test, but most would flunk an open-ended question (“Why do we celebrate Easter?”). Open-ended questions provide the best measurement of understanding.