Easter Sunday 2024

News of a death, especially when unexpected, can certainly come as a shock. It is always disturbing. But mostly it brings grief and sorrow. The three women we encounter in our Gospel Reading were in a state of mourning as they went to the tomb early on the first day of the week. They wished to do the task the onset of the Sabbath two days earlier had prevented them from doing. They brought burial spices so that they might anoint Jesus’ body. And they were startled and filled with fear by what they found when they arrived at the tomb. Trembling, not joy, was their first experience that first Easter Morn. They were startled by the unexpected.