There was once a village that sat through a long, bitter winter. The fields were hard as stone, the trees bare, and the people had grown used to saying, “Nothing grows here anymore.”

At the edge of the village lived an old gardener. Every day, even in the cold, he went out and tended a small patch of earth. The villagers would laugh and say, “Why bother? It’s dead.”

But the old man would only smile and reply, “The ground remembers what it was made to do.”

One morning, after the snows had begun to melt, a child passing by noticed a tiny green shoot breaking through the soil in the old man’s garden. Just one—fragile, almost invisible.

The child ran to tell the others. Soon the whole village gathered. Day by day, more shoots appeared. Then buds. Then flowers.

And the people began to say, “We thought the earth had forgotten us.”

But the old gardener shook his head gently and said, “No—the earth was waiting for mercy. It needed time… and someone who would not give up on it.”

A couple of Sundays ago, Jesus stood at the tomb of his friend Lazarus.  The tomb was closed.  The earth was hard.  There was no hope, no life.  Jesus commanded the stone to be rolled back.  He spoke into the tomb and he called forth his friend to life again.  But it did not stop there.  Jesus, who knew the deep desire of the Father to have none of his children lost and separated from him and in his love for the Father, was not content to just remain at the entrance to the tomb.  Jesus, himself, went into the tomb and, in the most profound love and mercy, broke the tomb and destroyed the power of sin and death from within. 

Easter is the triumph of God’s mercy!  I recently read that our Christian faith is not a “powerful” faith as the world determines power, rather the Christian faith is a “risen faith”.  A faith where God continually reaches down “into the dirt of humanity and continually raises us from the graves that we dig for ourselves through violence, lies, selfishness, arrogance.”  God’s mercy triumphs.  God’s mercy raises. 

There is no gospel account of the resurrection.  We do not know exactly how it occurred, what it looked like.  Was there a flash of light?  Was there a sudden gasp and deep breath for air in the stillness of the tomb?  We do not know.  All that we are given is the empty tomb.  “Where is the proof of the resurrection?” Christians are often asked.  WE are the proof of the resurrection.  Lives wounded yet healed.  Broken, yet made whole.  Hurt, yet willing to give mercy.  The Church willing to live the truth of our faith and to proclaim God’s mercy throughout history is the surest witness of the resurrection.    

“The earth was waiting for mercy,” said the old gardener.  “It needed time … and someone who would not give up on it.”

In love, Jesus entered the tomb.  Through mercy, Jesus conquered death. 

Jesus is risen!