The Rolled Away Stone

God desires all men to encounter Him, yet He only wills to be known by those who persistently seek and yearn for Him. To those who look for and welcome Him in their hearts, He reveals Himself; to those who live indifferently or are aggressively against Him, He remains hidden. It is as if He provides sufficient evidence to be discovered to minds that seek Him, but just that lack of evidence to remain unknown to minds that are hardened to Him. A revealed God to those who seek, a hidden God to those who rebuke.

The resurrection story is a good example of this. In it, the same evidence of the rolled away stone either confirmed the disciples in their trust or frightened the guards in their distrust. This paschal situation prompted two drastically different responses.

For, it was the guard who, in fear of the event, ran away and, after distancing himself from the empty tomb, distracted himself by seeking the companionship of those who disregarded the Lord during His earthly ministry. With them he found composure, calm, and, in the end, the command to lie. On the other hand, it was the disciple who, upon hearing the news of the rolled away stone, anxiously ran towards it. Yearning to find the Lord, he entered into the darkness- entered into the tomb’s desolation- and there encountered the messenger from Heaven and, eventually, Heaven Itself.

For one, the rolled away stone represented the dark death of the sepulcher invading the light of day; for the other it represented the lively light of day invading the dead darkness of the sepulcher. But the latter's perception requires a challenge to be encountered that the former will always flee from: an entrance into the darkness to embrace the light hidden within- an entrance into death to embrace the resurrection.

Thus, the finding of God by the searching heart will always be preceded by a desire for Him- a yearning that can be halted by nothing, not darkness, nor even death itself. Dux vitae mortuus, regnat vivus![1]

[1] “The Leader of life, having died, reigns alive!” From the Paschal Sequence for the Easter Sunday Liturgy.