“He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead, just as he said would happen. Come, see where his body was lying.”

Anyone who has ever managed someone else has probably told the people who report to them, “I don’t like surprises so keep me informed.” Or am I alone in that? I suspect not because in business, no one likes surprises. Even good surprises can come back to bite us. When we have a blow away quarter then the CFO wants to know why we didn’t forecast better as she has to answer the questions from analysts who want to know why there wasn’t any guidance to the growth? They want to know because shareholders may miss a big stock upturn that comes when they weren’t expecting it to happen. On the flip side, bad news that is a surprise is even worse. We all know what happens when that happens. So, in business, we do the best we can to ensure that surprises don’t occur. In most cases there is plenty of information and analysis available so that surprises don’t happen and we can be ahead of the game. We just have to work hard enough at it to understand and be ahead of the information flow. This also means knowing our people well enough to ensure they don’t drop a surprise on us. I have had many a manager or executive over the years be surprised by a resignation and I always had to question why that is? Again, if close enough to a person and enough time spent with them talking, and this won’t come as a surprise either.

Thousands of years ago, yesterday morning, a whole bunch of people were surprised when they found the tomb of Jesus empty. This surprise turned out to be the greatest gift to mankind and had the Disciples and others listened carefully enough or known the scriptures well enough they would have not been surprised at all that Jesus rose from the grave after death. While we don’t have accounts that go into depth about those who did know the scriptures in the full way, I suspect that there were more than one who when they heard of the resurrection of Jesus that they did realize Him as the Messiah risen and prophecies were fulfilled. They would not have been surprised that it all happened because they would have been waiting for it to have occurred. It’s interesting that even today we find ourselves surprised when God works in our lives and heals, fulfills, answers prayers, sends someone into our lives, comforts, and gives us joy. Why are we surprised when His Word is chocked full of His promises and what His glory can be? How are we surprised if we have been in constant conversation with Him? As we start this week after Easter, let us not be surprised that God is with us at all times. Let’s instead be excited that everything He promised continues to come true and truer with each passing day and let us dig into His Word and into conversation with Him about each of these things that will assuredly come to pass.

Reference: Matthew 28:6 (New Living Testament)