No, this isn't going to be a posting about the occupation of a Post Office in Dublin 90 years ago, but about the real Easter Rising, the one that matters!
'Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee. there you will see him, just as he told you.' (Mark 16:6-7).
The women had went to the tomb to do the respectable thing, to honour the dead body of Jesus, and to anoint it with spices. The last thing they expected was that Jesus wouldn't be there for his own wake. And then they come to the tomb, and the stone they worried about was moved, the tomb was opened. And Jesus wasn't inside. Why not? Because he wasn't dead... as we find in Luke, the angel asks, 'Why do you seek the living among the dead?' He is alive, he is risen, death could not hold him.
The forgiveness of sins and the reconciliation won for us by the cross was only possible by the vindication of Jesus, through his resurrection from the dead, to new life. He now offers that new life to us, if we will but trust in him.
Notice also the special tenderness for Peter - singled out among the 'go and tell' command, so that the one who had let his Master down was assured that he still had a part to play in God's plans, and that he hadn't completely blown it.
The rebels in Dublin 90 years ago thought they could win freedom by their Rising - Jesus has assured us freedom from our enemies (sin, death, hell), through his rising from the dead.
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