Hardware stores provide lots of fun. The wide variety stuff there looks so interesting. Usually, when I go, I have in mind a particular item. However, since I don’t know what it is called, I hope that no one in the store will ask what I am looking for since I do not want to display publicly my ignorance. Either I know what I am looking for, or I’ll know it when I see it.

Well, reading the gospels is like going to the hardware store. There is just so much there. We read the scriptures because we are looking for something without knowing exactly what we are looking for just like wandering the aisles of the hardware store. Since they have existed for centuries, we hope that wisdom fills those pages or that solutions to our problems might be there or that those printed words might fill the emptiness in life.

Look at gospel narratives about the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. They never tell us why people went to the tomb or what they were seeking. Instead of finding a stone in front of the tomb, instead of finding a body wrapped in burial cloths, instead of finding just a tomb, they found something way beyond their wildest expectations: Jesus had risen from the dead.

In other words, those early disciples were totally surprised by what they found. They were surprised. Jesus was not there. Others claimed that he had risen; they saw evidence that he had risen. Above all, they were totally surprised when he appeared to them after the resurrection.

Back to the hardware store, sometimes I find something much better than what I was originally looking for. So, too, what those early disciples found something way beyond what they had expected. They were surprised beyond their wildest dreams.

So, today we find ourselves in church, Easter Sunday. We may have come here with certain expectations and hopes. We may have come with doubts because we are not sure what to expect. We may be angry with God or in love with God or not sure what to think about God much less about His Son Jesus Christ.

Nevertheless, like those disciples who came to the tomb, we come at least curious in some way. We have unfulfilled dreams. We have been touched in some way by God even if we cannot identify that touch. All of us have been given a tremendous gift from God. That gift is the treasure that we call life.

But, as in the gospels, Jesus never forces, pushes, or makes us do anything. Rather, he always invites, always is there, always waiting for us. When we truly respond to this invitation, there will be a surprise - a life better than we could ever imagine, a fullness that does not go away, and a hope that will lead us to eternal life.

Even though I can get lost and confused in the hardware store, here in church there is no confusion. As we worship together, as we share faith, and as we receive the body and blood of Christ, there can be no confusion because Christ clearly told us that he is the way, the truth, and the life.

Respond to Jesus’ invitation. Join with him on the journey of life, and above all, truly believe that Jesus is risen, and we shall rise with him. Alleluia.