Sometimes in the Gospel, there is a single detail that tells the whole story. There is such a detail in this Gospel reading that goes to the very heart of Easter. They came to the tomb and the stone was rolled away. The stone was rolled away!
The Resurrection means that the huge stone that separated the human race from God, the stone that stood like a wall between humanity and God was rolled away and now in Jesus Christ , the way to the Father is once more wide-open. It is as though a room was shrouded in darkness and Jesus rises to pull aside the curtain and flood the room with God’s light. Through the Resurrection of Jesus, God’s own life floods back into the world. Now, eternal life and eternal happiness are possible for all of us.
But, there is a doubt that darkens Easter. It is not a doubt that Christ rose from the dead. There is a mountain of evidence in the life of the disciples and of the Church that Jesus indeed rose. In fact, the burden of proof is on those who would claim the opposite. We see the disciples changed, walking in newness of life as a new creation, filled with the Holy Spirit. The evidence that they were changed by the Risen Christ is huge and convincing.
The doubt that casts its shadow over Easter is the doubt that you and I can really walk in newness of life, that we can become a new creation, that we can be changed and filled with the Holy Spirit. We might feel that the stone in our life is too massive, too big. That Jesus rose to new life is easy to believe. We doubt that we rise to new life in Him. Because of the Resurrection of Jesus, we can experience the power of Genesis in our life. We can experience an Exodus from the bondage of sin in our life. The stone in our life can be rolled away.