What She Said

Jesus doesn’t have an emoji.

I noticed this when I texted “Happy Easter.” You can choose an Easter bunny or a fuzzy yellow chick coming out of his shell but no Jesus breaking forth from the tomb and ascending into the sky.

I wish I could go back in time to that first Easter Sunday morning, when the angel appeared to the women at Jesus’ empty tomb and said, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’” (Matthew 28:5-7)

A wooden plaque bearing the words “He has risen, just like he said” decorates my table. A grapevine wreath symbolizing Jesus’ crown of thorns surrounds it. Usually I get out the Easter bunnies too, but this year, I didn’t.

Matthew says in 28:1 the women were Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, presumably the mother of James and Joseph (as she was identified earlier in Matthew). Lk 24:1. Mark adds Salome (16:1) and Luke adds Joanna (24:10). John’s account MM only??

The words “Just as he said” pinged my heart. Susan, he said he would rise from the grave. That’s exactly what he did. Why don’t you live as though you believe it?

(where did he say this?)

Not quite as stunning as Jesus accomplishing what he said he would is that he gave this message to women, whose testimony was not considered reliable and couldn’t be used in a court of law in the first century.

And yet the news of the resurrection would always be based on “What She Said.”