"Jesus is our guarantee of God's promise. What happened in his body is the pattern of what must happen in all of the cosmos. We are making up in time, in our body, what happened thirty-three years in the body of Jesus. We are optimistic because we look at him and see the final pattern. To be a Christian means to be an optimist because we know what happened on the third day. We know that it worked, that Jesus' leap of faith was not in vain. His trust was not in vain, and the Father raised hi up. He trusted enough to outstare the darkness, to outstare the void, to wait upon the resurrection of the third day, not to try to create his own but to wait upon the resurrection of God.
The Scriptures and early Church seldom said, Jesus "rose" from the dead. They aways say, "God raised him up!" Good Friday inevitably comes into every life. So does Holy Saturday. In those moments of absurdity and darkness we want to say it's unreal, but Easter Sunday will come. It is as certain as the dawn. No longer is it an act of faith to believe in immortality, no longer is it an act of faith that some theologian must prove to me, because I have seen the pattern of the world worked out again and again. The Paschal Mystery, the death that is embraced in love, does not lead to death but to life. Absurdity which is embraced and forgiven will not lead to meaninglessness but to freedom. So what was Jesus' plan to overcome evil? Attack it? No! Love it to death. What is given to God is always transformed. That is the eternal third day that we forever await." (Richard Rohr, The Great Themes of Scripture)
i am haunted by the goodness of g-d, haunted by the "easter sunday's" in my life, when the resurrection is borne out in the here and now. the resurrection is revealed on this temporal plane when love defeats harm, and brings the courage to choose love in the face of evil... this is never done on my own strength, but by the Indwelling Spirit. and in those moments of pain and absurdity, i can honestly say that in time, i have seen g-d transform what is given to g-d...i am haunted by memories of redemption...g-d's redemptive work in my life and heart, when by g-d's hand i am transformed from death to life, from brokenness to beauty, from fear to faith...and i know the power his resurrection in real time.
beautiful. thank you.
HAPPY RESURRECTION DAY, dear sister!
(you may now resume to COLOR on your "gray" site!)
Posted by: maryann | March 27, 2005 at 07:17 AM