They Call It "Resurrection"-Part One

The reality of death has become a definite part of my life; my life has, so to speak, been extended by death, by looking death in the eye and accepting it, by accepting destruction as part of life and no longer wasting my energies on fear of death or the refusal to acknowledge its inevitability. It sounds paradoxical: by excluding death from our life, we cannot live a full life, and by admitting death into our life we can enlarge and enrich it. Source: An Interrupted Life: the Journal of a Young Jewish Woman, 1941-1943-Etty Hillesum

**I have spent a lifetime, at least since 1962 working overtime to build a connection between the message of Christianity and life as I know it.  I am only too aware of my own inadequacies in taking on this challenge.  I do it because the ‘once and a while’ that I do experience ‘getting it’, I look for ways to express what I think I ‘m seeing.  So I ask the reader not to agree, but to ‘cut me some slack’ in trying to relate what I’m saying to your own journey.  I welcome responses made in the spirit of the common human search for meaning.--Rick Deines

This is the first of two parts on 'Resurrection--2013’

“The babe in the manger is the man on the cross.”  That’s all you need to know.  Martin Luther did not sentimentalize the story of Jesus.  That is not because he did not care for beauty or happy endings.  He, as we enjoyed a good meal, tasty beverage, comfortable surroundings, natural beauty and inspirational music.  Don’t most of us prefer comfort to struggle?

Luther doesn’t sentimentalize the Good Friday-Easter story because that is not its meaning.  It is not a shelter from the truth.  It is a sad commentary that many today can reject Christianity because they think it is a weak community. The only weakness in the death and resurrection of Jesus is misunderstanding and misrepresenting its meaning. To this criticism,   many of us who claim the Christian story are vulnerable.

The great temptation is to cheapen the Christian view of life by trying to get to Life by avoiding all mention of death.  No Good Friday=No Easter.  No violence=No victory over fear.  As some have observed, putting one’s faith in any institution or corporation is a denial of death because ‘self-preservation’ is the goal of McDonalds, the New York Yankees, the Boy Scouts and any church.   It is the error of the guy in the story that keeps adding to his wealth thinking that will shield him from dying.  It doesn’t.  His error is not his greed or his accumulation.  It is his denial of death.

Take another look.   Following the Jesus’ story with open eyes simply does not permit escaping any of life’s bitter and sweet truths.   It is a gross distortion of the essence of Christianity to see Jesus’ gruesome death and the way the story plays out in the ‘Resurrection’ as a simple tale of good triumphing over bad.  Any story that simply trumpets good over evil misses something important.  It is never that easy or obvious.

I use the present tense ‘plays’  because the death and resurrection truth of Christianity is ongoing. Resurrection still happens.  It is not ‘once upon a time’ and we live those good times over and over again. That is the formula for the movie ‘Groundhog Day.’

The question is not, ‘did Jesus rise from the dead?’ but “did you (or do you) rise from the dead every chance you get?”  The primary question is not one of history or scientific proof, but rather of the pertinent life question, “ how do I daily rise from the death all around me and in my own life?”  Whether one likes this theology or not, the question of how one relates to the brokenness of life is as they say, something you always have with you.

Christianity is not faring well in this ‘post-modern’ world. Late last year I wanted to re-think and re-tell the Christmas story.  For me, the birth story is a perspective on life  that grounds the mundane and the simple in the universal wonder of the universe.  It is fair to say that when the ‘slaughter of the innocents’ and lower class surroundings are included, the Christmas story does not compute so well as a children’s story either.

The church could ask itself how far it is willing to go to make hospitality for children more important than its central message.  I know the ice is very thin at this point of the conversation.  Yet, consider......

The Holy Week story is a very difficult one,  wrapped in the reality of violent death as it is.  Another observation credited to Martin Luther is that the Bible is not a book for children.  He was aware of its tragedy.  Yes, there is more there, but you can’t get there from here without the slavery,  the desert,  the exile, the walk into the fire, the constant threat of extinction--all contexts that set the stage for our story.

The authentic life goes on  trial held by the rulers, secular and religious and the people. It ends in death a given in life.  Even though the man is killed, the baby also dies with him.  The significance of being a plain, ordinary person is lost, it seems forever.  

What we wait for is the re-appearance of the common human being, you and me.  And it does come.  But it is a wounded body, forever scarred, yet strangely victorious.  

Holy Week draws the battle lines between power and those with less power.  The Palm Sunday march is a defiant denial, a protest of the political and cultural norms. This includes religion that suppress the gifts and creativity of the lowly.  Its central thrust is tied to Mary’s song surrounding the birth of Jesus in Luke, the role of Pontius Pilate and the religious authorities. They are uncovered for what they are.  And it isn’t pretty.  This is not a tale for the naive young.  

The surprise now called ‘Easter’ and named the ‘Resurrection’ is not about making a hero out of Jesus.  Those pieces of cloth from the tomb or a U-Tube video showing a young Jewish man with or without a beard walking around surrounded by adoring throngs makes no difference whatsoever in the meaning of Jesus as the Christ and as the cornerstone of a very‘new‘  yet old religion.    

The Good Friday-Easter event invites each of us to see and experience ‘resurrection’ in our own lives, the lives of others, all around the world and throughout the ages.  This  ‘Word’ is universe wide and history long. It pervades every inch of existence. In the beginning, now, and forever.