Daily Gospel Reflection for April 17, 2017

Today's Gospel: Matthew 28:8-15

The women in today’s Gospel are leaving the empty tomb, “fearful yet overjoyed.” Those two emotions infrequently appear together: a freshly revealed pregnancy, an impending move, a new job. They are all the cusp of great change, when the future is largely unknown but full of hope. The women recognize the grand threshold they are stepping over, between How Things Used To Be and What The Future Holds, and along with the understandable fear they feel amidst uncertainty, they are also overjoyed. They trust that a future in which their Lord lives is better than anything they may be leaving behind.

Contrast this with the guards’ reaction. They also sense a monumental change, but unlike the women, the guards feel only fear. The guards see something happening TO them, a problem to be solved. They seek out the authority they trust, and are sent forth to spread lies. The women see something happening FOR them, seek out the authority they trust, and are sent forth to spread life.

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Ponder:

Does the counsel I seek in times of uncertainty lend itself to deception or to life?

Pray:

Risen Lord, help me trust that any future with You is better than anything I could leave behind.

Copyright 2017 Marybeth Bishop

Marybeth is a wife and mother of five living in Annapolis, Maryland.