The greatest event ever occurred without an audience.  Those who follow Jesus Christ would argue that His resurrection is the watershed moment in history because it is nothing less than the defeat of death.  Every Sunday we celebrate this resurrection in our  worship.  No one witnessed what happened, and the story of the first Easter begins with three heart-broken women carrying spices to finish what had not been possible on "Good Friday" - the proper anointing of a crucified body that had been hastily buried before the beginning of the Sabbath.  Their discovery that the tomb was empty initially caused only greater grief and confusion, as they supposed the body had been moved or stolen.

The nearly incomprehensible discovery by these women and Jesus' disciples that the one whom they had seen crucified and buried was alive was so much more than a personal resolution of grief or reunion with one thought dead.  What had happened was a moment of new creation that would forever change the human situation.

Too often, we forget that hope comes when humanly it seems all is lost, perhaps in the midst of sorrow or pain, despair or futility.