Very Early on the First Day
I am marveling in the first week of Easter. What an amazing time it must have been for the Apostles and for all followers of Christ in his day. My favorite reflection during the time of Easter is back to the beginning in Genesis, when God spoke creation from nothing. The parallels of the resurrection of Jesus to the creation story are uncanny. In the Gospel of John, the first paragraph states:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (JN 1:1–5)
There was only emptiness and light. Jesus was with the Father and through Him all things came to be. He was the only light and without Him, there was nothing. Genesis poetically tells more about God’s creation:
In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth and the earth was without form or shape, with darkness over the abyss and a mighty wind sweeping over the waters. Then God said: Let there be light, and there was light. God saw that the light was good. God then separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” Evening came, and morning followed — the first day. (GEN 1: 1–5)
God creates something from nothing and with his word, speaks Christ into divine creation. I love the last line in verse five, evening came, and morning followed — the first day.
We don’t even have a sun yet. We just have light and time. God has defined time and space and calls the Son into the creation. The first day.
We look forward to the holy week of Jesus’s crucifixion and resurrection. What an amazing connection to Genesis. We have Jesus entering Jerusalem to the cries of “Hosanna in the highest!”. Jesus is recognized as a King and the Messiah. Enter our Lord and savior who hasn’t stepped into sin yet to save us. Jesus implements the breaking of bread at the last supper as a fulfillment to the feast of unleavened bread and Passover. He completes the old covenant in the Passover lamb. The lamb is consumed and Jesus goes to the cross. He is dead and buried. Jesus has taken on the sin of the world. He hangs on a tree, lifted up for the world to see. The tree of life.
Adam and Eve bring sin into the world. The fall of man. The broken communion bond between the Creator and His creation. This is done on the seventh day as God is resting. We see this in Genesis 2: 1–2
“Thus the heavens and the earth and all their array were completed. 2 On the seventh day God completed the work he had been doing; he rested on the seventh day from all the work he had undertaken. 3God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work he had done in creation.” (Saturday)
Jesus comes to deliver us from sin, and to bring redemption from the fall. God repairs the severed bond. Jesus becomes the 8th day (Sunday). God completed His work on the 6th day. The first man and woman undo the work that was completed. God made man to be in relationship with Him. To know him intimately. To know someone is to trust them. We failed to trust our Creator and we severed away from the purpose of our creation. We were created in God’s image and creation was created for us. We brought darkness into the world.
Darkness has never overcome the light.
Mark 16: 1–2
When the sabbath (Saturday) was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary, the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go and anoint him.
Very early when the sun had risen, on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb.
Very early on the first day. God says, “Let there be light, and there was light.” Christ enters the world. He has conquered sin and death and has reconnected us back to the Father, the severed bond from creation. There has never been a bigger event. This is the fulfillment of the creation story and is majestic and perfect in time.
Glory be to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. Thank you for for our redemption, because we were not worthy to receive it, yet to show us your love, you gave it all that we would know this love and what it means to love.
