I’ve been there. And when I was there, when I took out my phone to take a picture, my iPhone’s automatic location simply said: Calvary. My phone does it all the time. I am in Rise and Grind Coffee Shop. I am at the Byrd Theater. I am at May Memorial Baptist Church. My phone can tell me where I am. But on that particular day, it told me that I was at Calvary. And then, about two hundred yards away from Calvary, it again told me where I was. It said “The Tomb of Jesus.”

My phone had no emotion when it told me my location that day, and it had no theological or religious beliefs behind the information it gave me. It was no different than telling me I was at St. Francis hospital or the Powhatan Public Library. It was simply another place among the millions it could inform me of. But for me, having walked up those stairs to Calvary, to lower my head and walk into the Tomb of Jesus, and to fall on my knees at both, it moved me to the depths of my being.

But I must tell you, even though my phone didn’t list the location as Calvary or the Empty Tomb of Jesus, I’ve been there other times, and you probably have too.

Moments of despair and pain, tragedy and grief. Uncertainty and hopelessness, hurt and trauma. We all, if we have lived long enough, have been there. And in God’s hands those places, that we could call Calvary, eventually lead us to the Tomb of Jesus. Joy, relief, restored hope, new life. Sometimes it happens quickly, that walk from Calvary to the empty Tomb of Jesus, and sometimes very slowly. Sometimes it happens in the course of three days.

This weekend we celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus. This Palestinian Jew who lived a perfect and sinless life, who was killed by the imperial powers of Rome, who died in despair but three days later was Resurrected. But we celebrate something more than even that (and that is quite worth celebrating!).

This weekend (Saturday’s Easter Vigil and Sunday’s Easter Morning) we, myself included, will be filled with joy. We will celebrate. We will celebrate that “Christ the Lord is Risen Today.” But underneath that anthem which proclaims Christ’s resurrection, we will all also be celebrating the way God has brought resurrection in each of our lives. Our salvation stories. Thanks be to God.