Happy Easter!
Wait a minute, Gary. Easter was almost two weeks ago. What’s with the “Happy Easter” greeting? In the Christian Year calendar, Easter is not just a day. It is a season. Seven weeks of Easter, or Eastertide, as it is sometimes called. So why do we need seven weeks of Easter?
To answer that question, go back to Easter Sunday. It is a celebration of the resurrection of Jesus. In many ways, it is the conclusion of a grand narrative about God’s work in the world. All the pieces of God’s great plan for humanity have been assembled, and now we can know fully. The message is hopeful: Christ is risen. Christ is risen indeed. The music is grand, ending with the Hallelujah Chorus.
Easter explains everything. Or does it? Is resurrection something that happened long ago to Jesus? Is it something that we can relish and enjoy, celebrate and receive inspiration from? Or can resurrection be something that animates, enlivens, and even transforms our lives?
The seven weeks after Easter give us a chance to respond to those questions. When we limit our understanding of resurrection to an event that happened long ago in the life of Jesus, then resurrection can become some ideas, beliefs and doctrines to accept and acknowledge. But as I described in my last post, where I am standing over the grave of my friend Lacy on Holy Saturday, I want to know what resurrection offers to all the events and challenges of daily living.
Even the events of resurrection suggest that there is more going on here than the exclamation point on God’s grand narrative. The stories raise more questions than putting things to rest. How can there not be questions and wonderings when you are talking about a person who presents himself in bodily form, complete with wounds from the crucifixion…and yet, is not limited by physical barriers like doors and such? Or a person who is easily recognizable to his followers sometimes, but at other times, they can walk along the road talking with him for hours and not know who he is?
If we are talking about another whole level or kind of existence, yes, there will be just as many questions as answers. And the questions can lead us to not just knowing about or believing in resurrection. Instead, we find ways to live resurrection.
These days are not about getting a hold on resurrection and its place in our lives. They are about letting resurrection take a hold of me, letting it enter my heart and mind to do its work in my life.
In the days after Easter, in the middle of ordinary and everyday life, how does resurrection show up? How does resurrection make a difference?
Could resurrection leave us in an open, wondering, and reflective stance? Could resurrection become more than an event that happened to Jesus that we celebrate and affirm? Instead, could resurrection be something that is always happening? Could resurrection be a promise we trust, an experience we have? What would is look like to enter into resurrection in this way?
First of all, resurrection would be about more than a promise of eternal life. When God raised Jesus from the dead, God secured, finally, once and for all, the promise of eternal life for each of us. Because God raised Jesus from the dead, God will do the same for each of us when we die. Yes, all of those things are true. Resurrection does have something to say about eternal life. But there seems to be a whole lot more going on here.
Have you noticed that the promise of eternal life is not part of the stories of Easter? When the news of the empty tomb reaches the disciples and when Jesus suddenly appears before them, there is no celebration of what this means for eternal life. In all of the post-Easter appearances by Jesus, he does not make any connection between his resurrection and the promise of eternal life. Surely something more evocative, more meaningful is at work in this promise and experience of resurrection.
What if resurrection is more than something God did to Jesus to bring God’s great plan to a climax? What if resurrection is not something God did just to secure something for us, even something as wonderful as salvation and eternal life? What if resurrection is not something God did just because it is what God needed to do to prove who Jesus was? What if resurrection is something God did, because, quite simply, that is who God is and what God does?
Resurrection is not something God invites us to believe. Resurrection is something that God does in our lives and in the world. If this surprising, creative, and outrageous God can make resurrection happen, then, look out. There is no telling what this God will do.
Look out! This is a God who goes around calling “into existence the things that do not exist” (Romans 4:17, and an excellent description of resurrection).
Look, there is a nation who has lived with an evil called apartheid for so long that it becomes reality, just the way things are. Surprise! There comes into existence things that do not exist: freedom, equality, reconciliation.
Look, there is a couple who lives in the emptiness of a lifeless marriage. Surprise! There comes into existence something that did not exist: A strong, vibrant, and authentic love. Look, there is a man who has more than he could possibly want but goes through the motions of a meaningless life. Surprise! There comes into existence something that did not exist: The awareness of God’s presence in every face and every scene he encounters.
All of these are acts of resurrection from a God who goes around doing resurrection because it is just what this God does. All of these moments are examples of resurrection always happening and being an experience we have.
Finally, could it be that we are called to be just as surprising and creative and outrageous as this Resurrection-God? After all, it was simple, powerless people who acted in outrageous ways to bring the surprising end of apartheid and the reality of freedom, equality, and reconciliation. After all, it may be a simple, but surprising and outrageous, word from us that opens up the way for that couple to rediscover authentic love or for that man to discover the presence of God everywhere. Every corner you turn, every time the phone rings, every chance encounter with a friend, a stranger, or an enemy—all of them are moments for this kind of resurrection to happen.
Look at the world around you and all the people you encounter in this world. What do you see? Coworker, boss, or rival? Receptionist at the doctor’s office or cashier at the grocery store? The smile of a loved one or the stony glare of an enemy? Conservative or liberal? Muslim or Jew or Christian? Surprise!! Something comes into existence that did not exist! When you look into the faces of all these people, you see someone to who God has offered the gift of salvation and resurrection. You see someone with whom you can share this astounding gift. Maybe more importantly, you see someone who can, in some way small or significant, share this astounding gift with you. Yes, it is surprising! It is creative! It is outrageous! It is, quite simply, grace.
Resurrection. Is it something that happened to Jesus long ago, or is it something that can happen to us right now? Is it a promise of eternal life in the future, or is it the power and promise by which we move into life right now? The way we answer those questions, and we are answering them every moment of our lives, is the difference between being a people who believe in Easter and being an Easter-people.
I am seeing it in the people who drive through my tornado stricken neighborhood with offerings of food and water to those of us working in our yards. I saw it in the three young OBU women students who offered their help and stayed for 3 1/2 hours in our cleanup Friday morning . I see it in all of the electrical workers who have been working tirelessly for three days to restore power. I see it in all the people who have personally offered help to each the neighborhood and around town to those who have immense struggles ahead of them. Easter people.
Thank for this Jan. You can view all of this as just people doing a job, but it is also an expression of resurrection as well.