Roll Down Like Waters: EASTER! April 5, 2026

Imagine this. You’re sitting in a packed room in a house in the Mediterranean. You’re there, listening to a story from a new scroll and the reader says, “Overcome with terror and dread, they fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.”The new story, from Mark’s Gospel, is about Jesus’s resurrection. Three of the women in the room with you remember the day well—they were there. Forty years have past since Salome, Mary the mother of James, and Mary Magdalene took spices to the tomb where Jesus was placed after the Crucifixion and discovered he was gone.Before this story was written in Mark’s Gospel, you heard Mary Magdalene tell it herself. After describing her initial terror, Mary would continue, “But it didn’t take long, and the fear melted away.” She would describe seeing Jesus alive again, taking to him, and touching his arm. She could’t hold in the good news any longer, so he went out and told people, “Let me tell you about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Let me tell you the good news.”Imagine after hearing Mary tell this story so many times, you now see her listening as it’s being read aloud from writing. She’s beaming!Today, we know the resurrection story because Salome, Mary the mother of James, and Mary Magdalene told the disciples, and because Peter, James, and John believed them. The resurrection changed them all, and they couldn’t contain their excitement. They told and retold about the resurrection, and after a few decades they wrote it down. On this Easter, Mark’s resurrection story is read in churches throughout the world, and we all celebrate the gift of Jesus who sets us free.