Taken Away Easter?

Alas!  One of Marie’s friends on Facebook wrote, “They’ve taken away our Easter!”  I suspect she means the Easter of brass quartets and special anthems, the Easter of lilies and hyacinths and jelly beans.  But no–Easter comes anyway, for the Word of the Lord endures all things; even quarantines.  Sometimes despairing of ever returning to normal (?), I’m amazed–again and again– that God is still in charge, and once again changes the gloom of Crucifixion into an unexpected Resurrection!  I guess that Jesus DID know what he was about…  Easter readings take us through death and shortsightedness into life and divine knowledge, beyond Long Ago into the Always Now.

There seems to be several options for the First Lesson; United Methodists will be looking at Acts 10:34-43.  Read publicly what you will, but this should be introduced by a synopsis of the entire chapter, Peter’s vision of the “clean and unclean” especially.  Here’s where Creation had been missed due to Peter’s limited expectations, where the eyes of his soul were opened to see God right here.  Then, only then, could he preach eloquently of the Easter message to newcomers on the scene, Cornelius and his family/friends.

The Epistle is that written by Paul or one of his assistants to the Colossians, 3:1-4.  He’s expecting that the audience has already tasted of resurrection, “Since you have been raised with Christ…”  Here is the imagery of dying and rising, important for those of us who’ve shunned Holy Week’s roller-coaster:  the disciple’s life has been “hidden” (buried) in Christ ’til now.  “Made like him, like him we rise; Ours the cross, the grave, the skies.”  (Charles Wesley, 1739)

John’s Gospel, 20:1-18, is a warm, human account of not only the Resurrection, but of Mary Magdalene’s misplaced recognition.  Who expected that Jesus, last seen as a very dead corpse, would be up and walking around?  Quick to blame the government, the economy or the prevailing status quo, she wailed to the angels, “THEY have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.”  Had grave-robbers taken away Easter?  Persistent Jesus helped her see through her tears,  reclaimed an Eternity which was almost missed due to limited expectations.

Peter and Mary were persons who had traveled with Jesus long enough to know that God works in unexpected ways.   Yet they weren’t primed to see holiness staring them in the face!  For would-be disciples like you and me, this is good to know.  May those who’ve been buried in quarantine and its associated worries rise to life again with clearer vision and a restored hope!  Charles Wesley writes again, “And are we yet alive, and see each other’s face?  Glory and thanks to Jesus give, for his almighty grace!”

In the process of unfolding,     Horace Brown King

My wrestling with scripture assigned to the upcoming weekend can be watched at this spot on Facebook; or at horacebrownking.com