Warning: this will not be a typical "Easter" post. This year, when I encounter the empty tomb, I have no words. No profound thoughts. I feel as though I am a disciple who arrived to the tomb after Jesus had already left to appear to others - I know that he is risen, but the reality spills over me without sinking in, as if I were baked clay, unable to absorb the living water. I did celebrate with my whole being at the Easter Vigil (glorious time!) and on Resurrection Morning, and for a time I experienced that deep joy, but all too soon life's realities crashed down upon my joy.
I shout Alleluia with tears of joy and sorrow.
Call me a kill-joy, but I cannot pretend that the Resurrection, this side of the eschaton, erases pain. Indeed, I should not! Yes, we must celebrate; yes, we are called to be a joyful people, filled with gratitude and excitement as we live into the reality of the risen Christ -- but the blinding white of our celebration in this life is always, always, always streaked black by our sin, riddled red by our suffering. And for now, that is the way it must be.
"When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: 'Death is swallowed up in victory.' 'O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" (1 Cor 15:54).
Amanda, great Easter post. Jesus' triumph and vindication is a great joy, but we are still left in the incarnational situation he was in before and on the cross: trials, temptations, suffering, service, humility. His triumph is our hope but not yet our glorification . . .
ReplyDeleteAmen, Amen. Creation is groaning, covered with red--redeemed, waiting to be redeemed. Thanks, Amanda.
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