Oil Change and Ecstatic Wonder

The other day, I took my car in for an oil change, after my return from K.C. and to prepare for the long drive east next week.I decided to sit and wait, since I had my buddy Sam with me.
While in the office, the reading material in a garage being either car stuff, or Cosmo...go figure....I noticed a little newspaper on the counter. It was the Ukrainian Catholic News......much better, thank you Lord.

I found an article in English, that blessed me , so I am going to quote a bit of it. It is written by Very Reverend John Breck. The title ?

Ecstatic Wonder: The Myrrhbearing Women. Now you know why it grabbed my attention.

"Myrrhbearing Women, having beheld the empty shroud and heard the angelic testimony, were filled with trembling and astonishment - tromos kai ekstasis, more precisely rendered 'ecstatic wonder'.

It was this intense emotional response that led them to flee the tomb and , for a while to say nothing to anyone, 'for they were afraid'.

These women had followed Jesus faithfully throughout the time of His earthly ministry, caring for His needs, providing food and lodging for Him and His disciples.

They remained faithful to Him throughout His passion, and they assisted in His burial. After the Sabbath, they returned to the tomb to complete the burial ritual.

Very early on the first day of the week, the women gathered aromatic spices and walked to the tomb. Finding the stone rolled away, they entered with trepidation.

There they beheld a young man and angelic figure, seated where the body of Jesus had been laid, where now there was only an empty shroud.Then filled with trembling and astonishment, with 'ecstatic wonder', they fled from the tomb, struck dumb by the vision that had just been granted to them.

This fear that came upon them was the experience of awe so deep and intense that they became 'beside themselves', removed from the usual sphere of human experience,and granted the degree of self-transcending wonder that the apostle Paul knew when He was 'caught up into the third heaven', into Paradise.

Such is the emotion that accompanies the experience of a theophany, a revelation of Divine Power and Majesty.This is the emotion that seized the women at the empty tomb.
They saw, they were amazed, and they left the tomb in a spirit of wonder and awe filled silence."

What struck me about this story is this. I have read the gospel accounts for many years, and never thought much about these women, except perhaps the one account where Jesus appeared to Mary, as the Gardener. These women were given a supernatural experience that left them in awe, wonder, and trembling with holy fear.

I can be so familiar with Jesus, as He meets me humbly in my every day life. I need to be reminded just Who He really is sometimes, this Mighty King of Glory full of Power and Majesty, who loves me and meets me in a garage while getting my Oil changed.

I want my emotions to respond to the Truth of Jesus, even in the little things. I desire a heart overflowing with worship and thanksgiving at the Nearness He grants to me every day. Thank You Lord , I love You so much!