Easter Morning ~ Before the Empty Tomb of Jesus

IT IS THE DAY OF RESURRECTION and the story begins with the women of Sunday morning who have returned to the tomb to complete the embalming of Jesus. Those burial rituals were interrupted because the sun was setting on Friday, signaling the start of the work-forbidden Sabbath. But while everyone else ran away, these women friends of Jesus continued doing the things of love in preparing for their Sunday return. 

And on that Easter morning they met angels who told them Jesus was alive. The stone which was intended to seal in death had been rolled back - not to let Jesus escape but to show that he was not there.

Let's pay attention to that rolled back stone which the angel sat upon, as if to say, "There, it's done, the great victory." But we must not just admire Jesus in his rising, but name the rolled back stone, sharing Christ's championship. 

Roll away the stone of self pity that counts all the losses.
Roll away the stone of self-defeat.
Roll away the stone of our deadly choices.
Roll away the stone of negativity and pessimism.
Roll away the stone of aggression and self-glory.

Roll away the stone of all I claim to be impossible.
Roll away the stone of rebellion and inner resistance.
Roll away the stone of indifference and laziness.
Roll away the stone of regrets and the nursing of old wounds.
Roll away the stone of alienation and entitlement.

Roll away the stone of skepticism and the  doubting of your divine
         promises.
Roll away the stone of suspicion and defensiveness.
Roll away the stone of hard-heartedness, ignorance and
         stereotyping.
Roll away the stone of addiction.
Roll away the stone of blaming and lies.

Roll away the stone of lukewarmness in prayer.
Roll away the stone of anxiety and procrastination.
Roll away the stone of posturing and empty argument.
Roll away the stone of our well-armed hearts.
Roll away the stone of cold suspicion and compulsion.

Christ is Risen from the dead,

Trampling down death by death,

And upon those in the tomb,

Bestowing life!

The First Glorious Mystery ~ The Resurrection of Jesus

This image of the Resurrection ~ Ascension of Jesus was painted by Matthias Grunewald in 1512 as part of a much larger altarpiece for the Monastery of Saint Anthony at Isenheim. This monastery operated a hospital which cared for victims of the plague and other life threatening skin ailments.

In the center of the altarpiece the crucified Jesus is depicted covered with sores, lesions and thorns. His body is racked with pain and appears to be in the early stages of decay. Grunewald knew his painting would be viewed by people who were dying terrible deaths. His image conveyed to them that in Jesus Christ, God understands our human suffering, having shared in it fully. A friend visited the altarpiece, which remains in a chapel setting, and said, "The crucifix stunned me and took my breath away when I first saw it. I felt compelled to stay and look at it for hours and returned to it over the course of several days." 

The image of the Resurrection is painted on one of the side doors or wings. Grunewald has indeed combined the moments of Jesus Resurrection and Ascension. The enormous stone has been rolled back and Jesus is raised up above the ground in a great circle of variously colored light. He seems to dance above death, darkness and decay. Perhaps we're familiar with the song I Danced in the Morning.

 I danced in the morning

when the world was begun

and I danced in the moon

and the stars and the sun,

and I came down from heaven

and I danced on the earth,

at Bethlehem

I had my birth.

I danced on a Friday

when the sky turned black;

it's hard to dance

with the devil on your back.

They buried my body

and they thought I'd gone,

but I am the Dance,

and I still go on.

They cut me down

and I leapt up high

I am the life

that'll never, never die;

I'll live in you

if you 'll live in me -

I am the Lord

of the Dance, said he.

As the gospel relates, the soldiers of the Roman Empire who were guarding the tomb of Jesus, were knocked to the ground on Easter Morning. Here they appear to be reptilian. We don't see their faces but are taken with their armor and weapons, all of which seem to be rather stupid, useless and ugly. We might think of  military displays all around the world: choreographed soldiers on parade in long processions of  expensive state of the art  fighting machines, guarantors of victory in these days of perpetual war.

Our Father, Who art in heaven...

Some people are quick to raise questions that oppose religion: "Did Jesus really rise from the dead?" without thought of the bigger, more pressing questions surrounding the death of our own passions and the increase of lived-goodness within ourselves.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

After the Second World War a submarine pilot reflected on the 14,000 women, children and injured enemy soldiers who died when he targeted a civilian ship: "This is war. It was your turn, now it's ours." We become insane in war. The Resurrection of Jesus says: We can change!

Hail Mary, full of grace...

The stone is rolled away to show that Jesus is not there. The angel sat on the stone as if to say, The contest is over and death is the loser. I should want to jump up and cheer!

Hail Mary, full of grace...

The soldiers outside the tomb fell down. Our defenses are useless before Christ. Even imperial powers and arsenals fall. It's all down for the count in the light of Christ's Resurrection. Now we wait in joyful hope for the full and final realization of this victory.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Jesus is not gone from us, here for awhile and then history. Jesus isn't just a good memory and a nice example. But Christ is risen and wants to be alive in the hearts of all Christians.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Can a woman forget her nursing child, the Prophet Isaiah asks. Saint Juliana of Norwich calls Jesus, our Mother. This Mother doesn't forget us, not for a moment. But Christ has come back even from death to take us to a new kind of life and new joy.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

The first people to whom the angel announced the birth of Jesus, were shepherds in Bethlehem. And the first to be told by the angel of Jesus' Resurrection were the spice-bearing women of Easter morning. The Lord loves the humble heart.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

The disciples on the road to Emmaus on Easter evening were full of disillusionment. And Jesus started to walk with them. He walks with me too in my own despair  and sad projecting and shares the new life that is within him. Oh Jesus, open my eyes too (Luke 24: 13-35).

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Do not be amazed, the Easter angel said to the women. Do not be amazed that the Resurrected Jesus has overcome sorrow, anguish and every power we call darkness. Look for traces of this victory everyday and wait, with a happy heart, for the day when God's Kingdom in fully revealed and experienced.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

In his Easter rising Jesus has gone through death to fullness of life. Even his body is included. This religion of mine is all about life. I ask Jesus to grow-me-up to the full life God has envisioned for me.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Glory be to the Father...



Clematis ~ Mary's Bower

Monday In the Easter Octave

CHRISTIANITY (when its heart is pure) can be an exquisitely beautiful religion, perhaps especially in its Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Anglican expressions. And all of its beauty: its teachings, liturgy, music and poetry, the stories of its saints, its shrines and churches - all of this in one way or another issues from the Easter Feast: Jesus Risen from Death; now Lord of Life!

The new pope is refreshing this for us quickly: his washing the feet of twelve people in the juvenile detention center on Holy Thursday night. And among those twelve were two young  women, one of whom is Muslim. The whole no frills scene was wonderful in its simplicity. The message was very clear: No one is exempt, not even a pope, from the practical service of other people.

Now it is Monday in the Easter Octave, the first eight days of the long Easter Season. Each day's prayers speak in the present moment, an overflow of Sunday itself: "Today..." and "This is the day..." The women at the tomb are  fresh in our minds. Since Good Friday these women have been doing the things of practical love for Jesus. They have been preparing the spices they will need to embalm His body on Sunday, as He had to be buried quickly on Friday at sundown, the start of the no-work Sabbath.

But while they love Jesus, and are doing what they can, they are also resigned to death. "Who will roll away the stone for us?" they ask along the way. They expect to encounter death. These women are not to be criticized; they are each of us.

We're resigned to death. We learn about yet another massacre and we feel sad or angry for awhile, but then our elected leadership can't pass even the simplest and most obvious restrictions or laws that might limit the death and damage brought about by the next Newtown-type shooter. 

And there is talk of war with North Korea and Iran. For  now we watch the practice war on television. The rockets blast the mountains and the ocean where the birds, schools of fish and other animals live, the trees and plants and even the tiniest living things in the water and soil. We're so resigned to death, we don't give a thought to any of this.

But in the conversation with the bright angel who sits on the tomb's great sealing-stone, the headstone as it were, the women are told otherwise - not to be resigned to death. Here is one of the many hymns the Eastern Church sings about these Spice-Bearing women and the angel of Easter morning. But go back first and notice  in the icon that the angel is smiling while greeting the women and delivering the curse-breaking message:

Having heard from the angel

the glad tidings of the Resurrection,

and that the ancient curse was done away,

the women disciples of the Lord

cried exultingly unto the apostles:

"Death is no more,

and Christ our God is Risen,

granting to the world great mercy."

Jesus has established the principle that death is defeated. A  principle is real, not just imagining or theorizing. And death is much more than simply the stopping of heart and brain function before we're put in the ground. Death is also whatever prevents us from our realizing that we are  God's own dear children. Death is also whatever keeps us from evolving into real human persons. All of us!

In the icon of the  previous post, The Descent into Hades, we see a charred figure tied up in the darkest depths of the chasm. This is the lord of death, the prince of darkness, the master of the underworld, the menacer and preventer - you name it! Defeated.

And Jesus, in His most kind and gentle mercy, His bending, lifts us up, elevates and escorts us to the things of life. Father Gregory Krug (1908-1969) expressed this beautifully in his Easter icon shown here.

I can't think of anything that's more important than this. And we can live out this death-is-defeated principle  by our own practical upholding of life wherever we encounter it. Saint Francis picked up worms from the road and placed them in adjacent fields. Indeed, the Dali Lama says, "If you want to start becoming a non-violent person, stop killing insects." That's easy to do.

 

Death is no more,
and Christ our God is Risen,
granting to the world great mercy.