As the sun rises, the message of Christ's resurrection makes its way around the world. Our brothers and sisters in Japan will be the first to proclaim the good news of the resurrection on Easter morning and then the Easter cry of joy will continue westwards throughout the worldwide EMS Fellowship, through Korea, Indonesia, India, the Middle East, Europe and South Africa to Ghana. Jesus is alive! God’s love is mightier than death.

“Christ is risen!” is a global message and yet it is a very personal message. At the centre of this year's Easter services is Mary Magdalene's encounter with the Risen Christ. She was particularly close to Jesus and now she is the first to kneel in front of Jesus' tomb in the early morning and weep for him. Then suddenly, Jesus himself is standing behind her and asks her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?” But Mary Magdalene thinks it is the gardener who is speaking to her. Only when she turns around does she recognise him and answers his questions in her mother tongue, “Rabbouni! (which means Teacher)”. Mary Magdalene is the first to encounter the risen Jesus. What an incredible experience that the one she thought was dead is now standing before her alive. (John 20:11-18)

In Lübeck, a small town in northern Germany, I discovered these two statues. One figure shows Jesus with a spade in his hand. The other figure must be Mary Magdalene. When we look at her face, we can still sense her grief today.

There are only two stories in the Bible where God encounters people as a gardener. The first encounter takes place in the Garden of Eden. There, we are told that Adam and Eve hear God walking through his garden in the evening when the day had turned cool. (Gen. 3:8) What a wonderful image of God, walking in his garden in the evening breeze. The other story is Mary Magdalene's encounter with the Risen Lord on Easter morning. Here, it is Jesus who meets her early in the morning and whom she believes to be the gardener.

This concludes the story that began with the expulsion of mankind from paradise. For it is in the encounter with the Risen One that paradise, the Garden of Eden, opens up again for Mary Magdalene - and not just for her, but for us all. Christ is risen. He has broken through the power of death and gives us a new life.

We greet all of you around the world who will be celebrating the resurrection of Christ on Easter morning, from Japan to Ghana: 

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!

I wish you a blessed Easter.

Rev. Dr Dieter Heidtmann
EMS General Secretary