Bach gives to Mary the mother of James the aria below from his Easter Oratorio. She’s running to the tomb with the other women in the cold light of morning, clutching spices for anointing Jesus’ body (Mark 16.1). She’s really singing to herself, to her anxious soul, wishing with all her heart that she was carrying laurel leaves to twist into a triumphant crown for Jesus, instead of myrrh for his burial.
In Julia Stankova’s striking painting, the women have reached the tomb and are looking inside in open-mouthed wonder. A seated angel is telling them not to be afraid and pointing to the place where Jesus’ body had been (Mark 16.6). The redundant grave clothes lie in a heap at his feet. A vigorous little tree with a single rosy apple grows nearby - Eden is restored! As James’ mother had wished in her aria, a garland of laurel would indeed have been more fitting than the women’s spice bottles, for “He has been raised; he is not here!”
Today’s prayer is from Corymeela, Northern Ireland’s oldest community of reconciliation which takes a prophetic stand, living out its message in myriad ways. The prayer challenges us, as the angel challenged the women, to ‘go and tell’. What are we going to do with today’s message of ‘unbridled joy’? How might we welcome resurrection more boldly into our own lives? How might we reveal to others the ‘undying love’ that is God?