Christ is risen! _ _!
“Death and taxes,” well… after the resurrection of Christ, I suppose taxes are the only inevitable thing remaining. Death doesn’t win!
The grave isn’t the last word. Thanks be to God!
It’s often said because of the resurrection, everything we assumed to be “just the way it is” isn’t anymore… right? What is it that changes! How does Jesus’ resurrection change things?
I’m not sure resurrection usually solves problems in the ways we might wish it did.
The resurrection venn diagram that is, “Gods imagination” with “our imagination” may have only a little overlap. I say this only because if we learn anything from the experiences of our ancestors seen throughout the pages of scripture, it’s that our mothers and fathers in the faith often developed a hope for how they would like to see God’s promise fulfilled, yet very often things didn’t turn out as they’d pictured.
The Messiah didn’t look like the faithful had assumed… the Kingdom of God didn’t didn’t liberate Israel from Roman tyranny in the way Israel longed to be be set free… just the opposite really… the Kingdom God, inaugurated in Jesus, actually threw open the doors of God’s family, welcoming not only the Romans but all the gentiles… everyone belongs. As the prophet Isaiah famously said, God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, nor are God’s ways our ways.
Its Easter! Today followers of the Jesus Way celebrate Christ leaving the tomb on his own steam. Christ leaves the place of the dead with hell’s keys in hand.
My hope is rooted in Jesus Christ. The incarnate one, who lived, died, and rose again. And when I look at Jesus I believe that I am discovering what God looks like; how God thinks, feels, relates, grieves, suffers, is holy, lives justly, loves, etc. Resurrection hope is what enables me to get out of bed every morning.
Yet resurrection hope is not a Divine mulligan. Resurrection hope is not pie in the sky denial suggesting that one day God will say the magic words and all wars and poverty will end. Resurrection hope is not an an escapist vision that says this world is not my home.
Resurrection hope will not turn back the clock on COVID19, it doesn’t erase the experience of the abused and traumatized, it doesn’t bring back people lynched out of racist bigotry, shoot the resurrection of Jesus doesn’t even relieve a person’s depression, fix their marriage, get them a job or pay next month’s rent. If the resurrection of Jesus didn’t take away his wounds, it may not take away ours either.
Resurrection hope is even greater, and more life affirming.
While, I’m pretty sure its a false hope to assume that resurrection hope means God will somehow fix climate change, or magically turn a bear market into a bull, or keep you healthy in a time of pandemic. Resurrection hope is God’s invitation to continue the work of Jesus by following the Spirit to collaborate with others in God’s work of redemption.
Resurrection hope, at least in terms of what we see in Jesus, has more to do with living with courageous love and faithful presence than living out of fear. Resurrection hope moves us toward the harshest realities of this world, or our own hearts, and neighborhoods – without denying what is real, or seeking to escape it. Resurrection hope is divine courage to face the unfaceable. What seems impossible to bear? …for you or your community? What might resurrection hope invite?
Resurrection hope is a profound dare.
Resurrection hope is a Jesus-shaped dare to each of us to look deep into the eyes of that which most terrifies – without denying the terror or escaping the fear (like Jesus in the garden) – and go to the darkest depths of hell and come back the damn keys.
Because Christ lives we can FACE tomorrow, (emphasis on face tomorrow).
Peace, dwight
