We Can Sleep On Easter Eve

Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me

 (John 14:1)

I hadn’t slept all night which wasn’t unusual for an insomniac like me.  I intended to go to bed but as the evening wore on and my energy increased, I decided to work until I got sleepy.  The next day was Easter, and following morning worship we were having guests for dinner; there were still preparations I could make that night.  Hours passed but sleep didn’t come so I kept going.  It was satisfying to see my to do list shrink as the hours ticked by.

About 5:00 the next morning, as I checked off the last item, it came to me that, all across the land, people were getting ready for sunrise services.  Our church wasn’t having one so I decided to have my own in our sun room, praying, meditating, and watching for the sun to rise.

Easter that year fell on the first day of daylight savings time so there was very little light in the sky as I entered the darkened room. I arranged a chair so I could see out an east window, down the street to where a line of trees broke the horizon.  It was too dark to read my Bible and I didn’t want to break the awesome hush I felt by turning on a light, so I sat down and began recalling from memory the events of that first Easter morning.

‘It was probably about now,’ I mused, ‘that the women were going to the tomb to anoint Jesus’ body.’  They, too, had probably been awake all night because their hearts were broken and filled with disbelief.  Their Lord and Teacher Whom they had come to know as the Chosen One God  sent to free His people, had been arrested, beaten, spit on, ridiculed, given an illegal trial, and then executed as if He were a common criminal.

Questions must have filled their minds, and sorrow possessed them during the three days that followed.  They waited, uncertain what would happen next.  At last, the final hours of Sabbath having slipped away, the small group of women with burial spices in hand, made their way to the tomb where His broken body had been interred. They realized the care they planned to bestow wouldn’t change the situation but it was customary and all they knew to do for Him now.

Sitting in the darkness, looking into the ever-lightening scene outside my window, it seemed I could almost see them as they made their way to Joseph’s tomb.  My heart grew heavy and tears filled my eyes as I realized how they must have felt that morning so long ago.

Then it came to me.  The difference between the night I had just spent and theirs.  Mine had been filled with peace and anticipation as I prepared for the following day.  Theirs must have been just the opposite.  I was looking forward to a celebration with family and friends but they and their fellow believers knew no reason to celebrate.  I had eternal assurance.  They felt none.

What a difference Christ’s resurrection makes in a life.  But all around us are those who, like  believers back then, do not know that Jesus Christ died for them; rose from death; ascended to Heaven to make preparations, and is coming back to take believers to live with Him in eternity.  Their hearts are burdened with unconfessed sin and their lives are being destroyed by its influence.  Many do not even know the promise that the Bible offers:

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.  For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.  He who believes in Him is not condemned; but He who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God

 (John 3:16-18)

How Jesus’ heart must ache as He sees them alone in their misery and emptiness.  May our hearts weep with His, and may we fall to our knees in humility, gratitude, and intercession.  Because, thanks to His resurrection, we can now sleep on Easter Eve.

Lord, I’m so very grateful for all that You have done;
for absolving me of all my sin; for the victory You won.
Help me grow more like You in all I say and do.
Use me as You wish, Lord, to bring someone to You.

Glenda Collins Inman