Sitting on His Rock

I love the fact that when the angel comes and busts Jesus out of the tomb on Easter Sunday, he rolls the stone away from the door of the tomb and sits on it (Mt. 28:2).

He’s just sitting on the stone, all white, all bright like lightening, and the guards are shaking with fear and fainting.

I love that the angel is just sitting on that stone. I think he was probably smiling while he was sitting on that stone, smiling at those trembling guards. He knew it was the beginning of a new world, and he was the lucky angel, the one chosen by God from all eternity to roll the stone away and then to sit on it and watch the Roman guards squirm in their terror.

I wonder if the angel had been practicing his earthquake-stone-moving moves for some time or if he just did it on the fly.

And then the angel tells the women not to be afraid. He knows they came looking for Jesus who was crucified, but he’s not here, the angel explains. Again, I can’t help hearing a smile in those words. He’s not here. But, the angel wants them to see where the Lord lay. The angel is beaming with joy.

Go tell his disciples that He is risen from dead, and He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him.

And the angel adds one more line: See, I have told you. There he is sitting on that gigantic rock that formally hid the Prince of Life. There he is sitting, all beaming, all white, and he points out that he has told them.

See, I’ve told you. He is risen from the dead. And I’m just sitting here on my rock all bright and shiny. All things are new.