How do you wake up?

How you view this marvelous Easter morning kind of tells us something.
Let me ask you this: How do you wake up in the morning? When you woke, did you roll over, put your head under your pillow or blankets and moan, “Good God, it’s morning!” dreading the prospect of facing the world with all its trials, tribulations and problems.
Or do you inwardly (or even outwardly) shout with joy, “Good God, it’s morning!” thrilled by the potential a new day in God’s creation offer and filled with hope at the possibilities of what you might encounter, good or bad, that you might bring honor and glory to the name of God.
Think about it and be honest with yourself. I know that there are some us who, as we were jangled out of our sleep this morning and knew it might be a bit nippy, might have found yourselves tempted toward turning over and going back to sleep.
Well, my friends, you’re in good company. Because that’s exactly how the disciples initially felt that first Resurrection morning.
We’re talking about a group of men who were borderline catatonic in fear and grief.
The women disciples had gone to the tomb and boy, were they in for a surprise. You see, they didn’t go the tomb to experience the resurrection.
They didn’t know what you and I know. They didn’t have the playbook. They went to the tomb in sadness, to anoint Jesus’ body. When they arrived at the tomb, they found the stone rolled away and the body gone. This probably horrified them, and it definitely confused them. Luke says they were “perplexed.” I can imagine them with open mouths, items slipping from their grasp, as they wondered, “What’s going on here.”
They weren’t excited and delighted by what had occurred. The possibility of resurrection was the farthest from their minds. The events of Friday, the crucifixion, made them ache. Jesus was dead …they’d come to embalm his body … and they discovered something that would change their world. The body was missing, and that wasn’t exactly a recipe for being happy campers. That didn’t even deserve a dismal “Good God, it’s morning.” That’s more like, “What else can go wrong.”
Well, how about “two men in dazzling clothes” who come, stand beside them and scare the Bejeebers out of them. I’m not talking “I’m late coming home from my date, I hope Mom and Dad are in bed” scared or, “I hope that police car following me with its lights and siren on isn’t coming after me” scared.
I’m talking hair rising on your neck terrified! I’m talking about wetting, well, you get the idea, I hope.
They didn’t have clue one what was going on until the “men in dazzling clothes” began to speak: “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.”
Finally it had sunk in and the women are overjoyed. “Good God, it’s morning! Christ has risen!
And they ran off to tell the other disciples, who just so happened to be stuck in the same funk the women were just a few moments ago. They’re stuck on the events of Good Friday, “Good God, it’s just another morning” and they don’t believe them.
Their words “seemed to them an idle tale” scripture says. It was nonsense. In other words, they were either hallucinating or lying.
Even so, Peter responded. Maybe it was something in the back of Peter’s mind that spurred him to action. Whatever it was, he ran to the tomb to see for himself. What he saw was an empty tomb with “the linen cloths by themselves” and “he went home, amazed.” “Good God, it’s morning! Christ has risen!”
Don’t you wish that every day, but especially Easter, could still offer that kind wonderment to us?
Wouldn’t it be great to awaken with a mighty shout: “Good God, it’s morning! Christ has risen!”
Perhaps we’ve become too jaded.
Perhaps because of all the planning and gift buying and preparation for out of town guests, Easter has become just another day and it no longer surprises us.
Perhaps we’ve heard the message so much that we don’t incorporate into our lives and we take it for granted. That would be sad, indeed.
Maybe this morning, before the coffee is made even, before you pick your Easter outfit that you bought to stand out in your unusual visit to church, maybe, just maybe you can find Him once again.
I can only promise that when you do, you will smile, dance, shout, “Good God, it’s morning!” It’s just another day to “Good God, it’s morning!” Christ has risen!”
Don’t you want to?
Billy Turner is a pastor of the United Methodist denomination and a retired journalist.