Today is Easter. Alleluia!
The celebration of the resurrection.
The festival of hope.
The promise of new beginnings.
The dance of faith
The song of joy.
The music of gladness.
The hymn of love.
Hallelujah!
The celebration of the resurrection.
The festival of hope.
The promise of new beginnings.
The dance of faith
The song of joy.
The music of gladness.
The hymn of love.
Hallelujah!
Mark 16:1-8 (Good News Translation)
The Resurrection
After the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices to go and anoint the body of Jesus.
2 Very early on Sunday morning, at sunrise, they went to the tomb.
3-4 On the way they said to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” (It was a very large stone.) Then they looked up and saw that the stone had already been rolled back.
5 So they entered the tomb, where they saw a young man sitting at the right, wearing a white robe—and they were alarmed.
6 “Don't be alarmed,” he said. “I know you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is not here—he has been raised! Look, here is the place where he was placed.
7 Now go and give this message to his disciples, including Peter: ‘He is going to Galilee ahead of you; there you will see him, just as he told you.’”
8 So they went out and ran from the tomb, distressed and terrified. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.
The Resurrection
After the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices to go and anoint the body of Jesus.
2 Very early on Sunday morning, at sunrise, they went to the tomb.
3-4 On the way they said to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” (It was a very large stone.) Then they looked up and saw that the stone had already been rolled back.
5 So they entered the tomb, where they saw a young man sitting at the right, wearing a white robe—and they were alarmed.
6 “Don't be alarmed,” he said. “I know you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is not here—he has been raised! Look, here is the place where he was placed.
7 Now go and give this message to his disciples, including Peter: ‘He is going to Galilee ahead of you; there you will see him, just as he told you.’”
8 So they went out and ran from the tomb, distressed and terrified. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.
Reflection
Being Easter Sunday, I’ve being thinking about the resurrection. Now I’ve got to say that I love Easter: it’s a joyous occasion- it’s well – it’s the most important day of the Christian calendar.
But we all have these tremendously divergent interpretations of the resurrection. So for the last few weeks – maybe longer, maybe years – I’ve been really trying to understand what other people are saying about Jesus, about Passion week, about the resurrection. I’ve listened to lectures, read books and papers- I kind of feel like I it’s either so mystical and spiritual and complicated that maybe I just don’t get it ………or that it’s so simple that I can’t believe it when faced with the simple facts.
There are lots of people on either and all sides. There is no one right true interpretation of the resurrection but I do feel like I’ve gotten closer to what makes sense to me today.
Now I’m not going to give you a play by play of the gospel for today – I want to focus on what it means for our lives and, I think that has to start with the cross.
I think that while not everyone believes or understands the resurrection, everyone understands the cross. The cross is where we spend a lot of our time. It’s our everyday lives over time, lives that are necessarily tinged with disappointment, sadness, illness and disease and death. It’s not the life we wish for our kids but it is life – it is what helps them and us grow and mature.
The cross where Jesus was stripped of all that gave him comfort and position – by that I mean Jesus was Jew, he belonged to the Temple, a rabbi, a healer, a prophet, he was a man with family and friends, he is taken out of Jerusalem, out of divine blessing , ousted from the city, and there stripped naked and nailed to the cross and left to die.
I was sent one of those pictures of Christ on the cross yesterday from a cousin wishing everyone Happy Easter – and there is this Jesus pale and lovely, angelic and nailed to the cross and I thought – is this what people see when they think of Jesus nailed to the cross; that somehow it was a pleasant, lovely event.
It wasn’t – you know that, I know that, no more than the gas chambers of Nazi Germany were happy places, or the trenches of WW1 were anything more than lonely, fearful places and wet besides, or any war or violence done to humanity in anyone’s name is somehow more than what it is – violence.
And the cross is important because it is at this point in time that Jesus himself cries out “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me.”
“May God, My God why have you forsaken me? How often have those words been your words? How often have we felt abandoned, lost, lonely, on the edge of despair- some of us more than others but no one gets to live life untouched by sadness and grief and even once is memorable.
It is at this moment when Jesus cries out, when we cry out that, when God is no longer out there, a superhero who could swoop down and save Jesus and save us – a that moment Jesus shows us the way.
It is only at that moment when God stops existing out there, outside of us – something and some being that will somehow satisfy us and fill our emptiness, those empty spaces which make us uneasy- and somehow give meaning to our lives. It is at this moment that the resurrection shows us the true face of God, and that face is the face of love.
If we look back to the Good Friday scene there is this strange verse that takes about the temple curtain being torn in two -ripped apart - have you ever wondered what the significance of this is?
This curtain separated the holy of holies from well everything, it separated God (Yahweh) from people - and no one -no one went into the holy of holies except for once a year to do some , I'm guessing here, cleaning maybe and the chief priest would then be under so much danger that they would tie a rope around his waist so he could be dragged out in the event of something unforeseen happening.
So here is the curtain being torn in two - letting God out, letting people in, the curtain which separated us from God no longer works !
This is resurrection!
This is the God we call “Abba”
This is what Paul tells us later on is love.
If I were to say to you that God is love, you would say to me so what else is new! But when I say Resurrection is about the revelation of that love it sounds a bit strange doesn't it? Yet it makes sense- if we focused more on the love that God is, maybe we would find that our experience of God is that much more.
We always want to say that God is out there, up in heaven, the Jews secluded God in the holy of holies, so glorious - and inaccessible was God. But if God is love well then we don't really talk about love as out there- secluded and put away do we? - love does not have existence - love is.
Love is like light- we don't see the light, the light enables us to see, we see what the light illuminates. Love does not exist in itself.
Love is not beautiful in itself, but it allows us to see and interact with the beautiful, the sublime, the wonderful in our midst. So you become wonderful to me, and you become beautiful and our time spent together becomes meaningful. Love is not meaningful in itself, only in relation to something else. So it gives meaning to people and events and places.
So with Jesus on the cross we have this whole new paradigm - a new way of understanding God. And with the understanding the resurrection is truly good news and new life.
It is a way of life, of loving life and loving people and loving who you are whatever is happening, whatever the circumstances. Christianity is a way of life. And the resurrection is THE event of Christianity.
The point at which something different is happening with people, with the mystery we call God and the relationship between the two. God is love is like shorthand for this new thing that is happening, taking place in the disciples lives and in our lives. God IS love so that when we love we are participating in this mystery, this greater love, this all encompassing love.
Jesus understood that God is love.
Paul understood that God is love.
And that love was given human form and content and life in the person of Jesus the Christ.
Alleluia.
Today is Easter, Resurrection Day
Let us all rise with Jesus today
Let us rise and be love as God is love.
Being Easter Sunday, I’ve being thinking about the resurrection. Now I’ve got to say that I love Easter: it’s a joyous occasion- it’s well – it’s the most important day of the Christian calendar.
But we all have these tremendously divergent interpretations of the resurrection. So for the last few weeks – maybe longer, maybe years – I’ve been really trying to understand what other people are saying about Jesus, about Passion week, about the resurrection. I’ve listened to lectures, read books and papers- I kind of feel like I it’s either so mystical and spiritual and complicated that maybe I just don’t get it ………or that it’s so simple that I can’t believe it when faced with the simple facts.
There are lots of people on either and all sides. There is no one right true interpretation of the resurrection but I do feel like I’ve gotten closer to what makes sense to me today.
Now I’m not going to give you a play by play of the gospel for today – I want to focus on what it means for our lives and, I think that has to start with the cross.
I think that while not everyone believes or understands the resurrection, everyone understands the cross. The cross is where we spend a lot of our time. It’s our everyday lives over time, lives that are necessarily tinged with disappointment, sadness, illness and disease and death. It’s not the life we wish for our kids but it is life – it is what helps them and us grow and mature.
The cross where Jesus was stripped of all that gave him comfort and position – by that I mean Jesus was Jew, he belonged to the Temple, a rabbi, a healer, a prophet, he was a man with family and friends, he is taken out of Jerusalem, out of divine blessing , ousted from the city, and there stripped naked and nailed to the cross and left to die.
I was sent one of those pictures of Christ on the cross yesterday from a cousin wishing everyone Happy Easter – and there is this Jesus pale and lovely, angelic and nailed to the cross and I thought – is this what people see when they think of Jesus nailed to the cross; that somehow it was a pleasant, lovely event.
It wasn’t – you know that, I know that, no more than the gas chambers of Nazi Germany were happy places, or the trenches of WW1 were anything more than lonely, fearful places and wet besides, or any war or violence done to humanity in anyone’s name is somehow more than what it is – violence.
And the cross is important because it is at this point in time that Jesus himself cries out “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me.”
“May God, My God why have you forsaken me? How often have those words been your words? How often have we felt abandoned, lost, lonely, on the edge of despair- some of us more than others but no one gets to live life untouched by sadness and grief and even once is memorable.
It is at this moment when Jesus cries out, when we cry out that, when God is no longer out there, a superhero who could swoop down and save Jesus and save us – a that moment Jesus shows us the way.
It is only at that moment when God stops existing out there, outside of us – something and some being that will somehow satisfy us and fill our emptiness, those empty spaces which make us uneasy- and somehow give meaning to our lives. It is at this moment that the resurrection shows us the true face of God, and that face is the face of love.
If we look back to the Good Friday scene there is this strange verse that takes about the temple curtain being torn in two -ripped apart - have you ever wondered what the significance of this is?
This curtain separated the holy of holies from well everything, it separated God (Yahweh) from people - and no one -no one went into the holy of holies except for once a year to do some , I'm guessing here, cleaning maybe and the chief priest would then be under so much danger that they would tie a rope around his waist so he could be dragged out in the event of something unforeseen happening.
So here is the curtain being torn in two - letting God out, letting people in, the curtain which separated us from God no longer works !
This is resurrection!
This is the God we call “Abba”
This is what Paul tells us later on is love.
If I were to say to you that God is love, you would say to me so what else is new! But when I say Resurrection is about the revelation of that love it sounds a bit strange doesn't it? Yet it makes sense- if we focused more on the love that God is, maybe we would find that our experience of God is that much more.
We always want to say that God is out there, up in heaven, the Jews secluded God in the holy of holies, so glorious - and inaccessible was God. But if God is love well then we don't really talk about love as out there- secluded and put away do we? - love does not have existence - love is.
Love is like light- we don't see the light, the light enables us to see, we see what the light illuminates. Love does not exist in itself.
Love is not beautiful in itself, but it allows us to see and interact with the beautiful, the sublime, the wonderful in our midst. So you become wonderful to me, and you become beautiful and our time spent together becomes meaningful. Love is not meaningful in itself, only in relation to something else. So it gives meaning to people and events and places.
So with Jesus on the cross we have this whole new paradigm - a new way of understanding God. And with the understanding the resurrection is truly good news and new life.
It is a way of life, of loving life and loving people and loving who you are whatever is happening, whatever the circumstances. Christianity is a way of life. And the resurrection is THE event of Christianity.
The point at which something different is happening with people, with the mystery we call God and the relationship between the two. God is love is like shorthand for this new thing that is happening, taking place in the disciples lives and in our lives. God IS love so that when we love we are participating in this mystery, this greater love, this all encompassing love.
Jesus understood that God is love.
Paul understood that God is love.
And that love was given human form and content and life in the person of Jesus the Christ.
Alleluia.
Today is Easter, Resurrection Day
Let us all rise with Jesus today
Let us rise and be love as God is love.
