Easter Reflection

 

At the end of his Gospel, Mark leaves us with an empty tomb and witnesses who never give witness.  With so many accounts of the risen Jesus in later Gospels, it seems a rather abrupt and unsatisfying conclusion. So unsatisfying that mush later scribes added an additional ending.

But what if we look at Mark without the additional stories we were privy to later, and don’t feel their lack. The tomb actually isn’t empty, there is an angel: a being that is the voice of God. The women that left too afraid to tell anyone must have said something eventually or how would Mark know the story?

Three times in Mark’s gospel Jesus says that “On the third day He will rise again.” And Mark does tell us that this happened. The only written witness we have prior to Mark is in Paul’s letters. Paul tells us that Jesus was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.

Similar to Mark though, these are not stories or descriptions of the appearances. None of these statements about Jesus having risen report any words he said. They simply state that the risen Christ was seen. For Paul and Mark that is sufficient. Why might that be sufficient? It seems a wild claim does it not?

The reason it would be sufficient is that many Israelites and definitely Greek converts would be expecting the resurrection of the just. It was an idea that existed prior to the Christ event. It could be found in the Greek translation of Hebrew Scriptures. As time marched on and it seemed no others but Jesus were resurrected, more details of the Christ event were sought.

We in the Order of Jesus Christ Reconciler would love to hear the details of the progress of the seeds you planted. We asked you to plant these seeds to ritualize Jesus’ assertion that unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit. Yet the details of the plants are not what’s important here. What’s important is the spiritual impact this ritual invokes in you.

So perhaps, just perhaps, Mark understood that focusing on the details, or wanting a witness to explain what happened, might distract from the wonder of the miracle. What does spiritually experiencing the miracle of life, even the life of a plant inspire in you? How about the simple statement Christ is Risen?  He is risen indeed!

Reflection for the Third Sunday of Lent

 

Ecofeminist Ivonne Gebara sees the resurrection through the prayer life of oppressed women. These women struggle and suffer for daily bread and often go hungry. Their faith gives them the hope to struggle on. This is a resurrection of continual rebirth and transformation.  And I quote, “[Jesus ]is the symbol of the vulnerability of love, which in order to remain alive ends up being murdered, killed . . . and which then rises again in those who love him.”

John the evangelist often seems to present a Jesus who isn’t very vulnerable at all. In today’s Gospel John puts these words into Jesus’ mouth: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” It is later explained that Jesus is referring to his body as a temple. This strikes me as very curious for a number of reasons.

For one in both Mark and Matthew this statement is not something Jesus says, but is specifically said to be false witness against Jesus. Here is Mark’s version:

Some took the stand and testified falsely against him, alleging, “We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple made with hands and within three days I will build another not made with hands.’” While this is no doubt an allusion to the forming of the Church, I suspect what makes this testimony false is the claim that Jesus himself will do this. I remind you that in several epistles Paul explicitly states that God (The God of Abraham, the first person of the Trinity) raised up Christ Jesus.

This distinction is important to me. Jesus is said to have brought the dead back to life. Lazarus is the most well-known example. If one reads John as Jesus saying, “I’ll just raise myself from the dead.” It cheapens resurrection and eliminates any distinction between resurrection and revivification. It would almost lead to the conclusion that Lazarus was the first fruits of the resurrection of the dead.

Even worse though, such a reading can undermine the incarnation! The whole of creation is sanctified because Jesus is fully of creation. God has come down to our level. This is why we can have an intimate relationship with the creator of the entire universe. A universe created by in and through Trinitarian love. And for a time part of that Trinity was within a fully human mind heart and body, echoes of which are still retained by the Christ.

Jesus was fully human, despite His divine personage. I once again quote Gebara, Jesus comes “from this earth, this body, this flesh, from the evolutionary process that is present both yesterday and today in this Sacred Body within which love resides. It continues in him beyond that, and it is turned into passion for life, into mercy and justice.”

“Within which love resides.” Right here on Earth. This Love gives us the unreasonable hope to carry on. We planted seeds on Ash Wednesday to symbolically illustrate Jesus’s saying “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.” Not every seed that’s planted grows. We have no guarantee that ours will sprout. We can’t make it happen ourselves. My will is helpless in this situation. We are vulnerable. Yet without that vulnerability, there is no rebirth or transformation.