Before there is the joy, before we sing our “alleluias,” would that the news of the empty tomb might leave us a bit freshly disconcerted, perhaps even speechless for a moment…. How is it going to end for you?

The prophet Zechariah foretold The incarnation and crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Hundreds of years before the advent of the Messiah, God spoke hope into a people returning from exile of a priestly king who would give his life as a great Shepherd. We are of people returning from the exile of the pandemic. Zechariah's words of hope bring encouragement to us as we regather in the Lord.

When we are honest with ourselves, that somewhere deep down we know we were made for more than this, we confess that we cannot get to it on our own. Then we may turn again to this broken and bloody body hanging by a beam and nailed to a tree. Here we can lay our lives down where Jesus laid down his for ours.