death and resurrection

“The Christian faith… is really about death and resurrection

It’s about how God continues to reach into the graves we dig for ourselves

And pulls us out, giving us new life, in ways both dramatic and small.”

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There they were in the garden

the tomb was empty

fear gripped them all

 

Jesus’ body was gone

Simply gone

nothing left but burial rags

 

belief was mixed with unbelief

bewildered most left

unable to bear the moment

 

but Mary stayed

and wept, and wondered

 

until a man appears

a gardener, from the looks of things

frantic words tumble from her mouth

 

if you know where the body is, tell me

I cannot abide

I cannot abide it being taken away

Unloved

 

and then a voice she knows

Mary

Mary

 

and her eyes are open!

Teacher!

 

She rushes toward him

arms open

no fist bump

not handshake for her

 

she wants to feel him in her arms

feel his heart beat

and the movement of his breath

 

but no

it is not to be

 

Jesus is risen, but all has changed

this is not a time for old but new

this is not a time to retreat into the familiar

but a time for what is new

 

Jesus was risen, not to return to the old ways

Not to wander down dusty roads with them

Not to hunger and thirst with them,

 

not to eat with them, joke with them

Jesus was not on his way back to her and the others. He was on his way to God, and taking the whole world with him

 

The fact is that with the resurrection nothing was going to be the same

 

they could hold on to nothing past

all that had died

all that had been laid to rest

 

it was time to move on

to leave behind all that lay behind

all the pain, the fear, the hate, the ugliness

 

but also the comfortable, the know

the old pattern

the old ways

 

They had to let go of the earthly Jesus to get the risen Jesus

To get the Spirit and be lifted up by that Spirit, into resurrection living

 

When we come face to face with the risen Christ

He does not leave us in our struggles

He does not leave us in our comfort, in our old patterns

 

Instead Jesus meets us where we are and says, in effect

Wait, there is more

Wait, you haven’t seen anything yet

 

And then, through the power of the Spirit,

lifts us up out of whatever darkness entombs us. 

Lifts us up, and frees us from whatever snares us. 

Lifts us up out of our old comfortable patterns,

 

and move us forward

to whatever is next

 

whether we are ready

or not