good morning

As I write, I'm standing alone on a beach preparing to give a sunrise service. Of course, it's not really sunrise. It's nearly 7 o'clock. The sun has risen, but it's hard to get people to come earlier. Sunrise comes too early. We like to sleep.

I was considering sunrise as I read the text for today. The account reads that the women came to the tomb early on Sunday morning, while it was still dark, and found that He was already gone. This was no sunrise service either, but Jesus didn't wait for the sun. Sabbath ended at sundown, and He got up well before the morning.

The thought that Jesus got up with little fanfare, somehow makes it more meaningful to me. I can picture His father entering the tomb to wake His son. I've got boys of my own, i can relate to His excitement. It was just father and son for hours. The angel, so the story goes, didn't come until daybreak, so they had some time. Soon people would be coming, and the world would connect the sunrise with the resurrection, but God isn't about to waste any time getting His son.

Sabbath had ended at sundown.

It was time to get up.

Jesus doesn't waste any time. He's awake.

Ready.

He is risen indeed.