Pastor's Reflection

 

 “Alleluia, Jesus is risen.”
“He is Risen Indeed. Alleluia!”
 
“So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.” Gospel of St. Mark 16:8

And so end’s Mark’s Gospel – at the edge of a precipice. The resurrection of Jesus from the dead has come, but … what language shall I borrow? How do you get a “handle” on what happened? What it means?

 

“Terror” “Amazement” “Afraid”

These are the words Mark uses to describe the effect Christ’s resurrection has on the very first witnesses – the women at the tomb. The actual Greek words in the original language are even more graphic. Terror” and “amazement” could also be translated as “astonished”, “startled and awestruck”, “confounded and perplexed”, “trembling, terrified, ecstatic”. Reality as we know it is twisted out of shape. The world is about to turn.

Resurrection – Christ is Risen – What does that mean for him? for you and me? How do you explain that to someone else? to your kids? It’s perplexing, astonishing, confounding. 2000 years later you and I are no further along than the women at the tomb. Amazement, awestruck, astounded-- what language shall I borrow?

The challenge I recently faced came from the other side of this coin. Death. How to explain “death” to a preschooler who had just lost a grandparent? How do you help a child who is only 4 year old make sense of death? What language, what explanations make sense of this overwhelming reality?

Looking into this, I learned that there are several directions not to take:

  1. Don’t say the person “went away”. The child may feel abandoned, or think he or she did something wrong and is no longer loved.
  2. Don’t say death is the same as “sleep”. Children are literal and could become afraid of going to sleep themselves. “Why doesn’t somebody wake Grandpa up?” When I was a young child my mother had us kneel at our beds and recite a bed time prayer: “Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die . . .” “Die?” I stopped. “Die? – Me no die” “No, me no say me die.”
  3. Don’t talk about death as the result of being sick – even when a fatal illness is the cause of death. Young children have difficulty distinguishing fatal illness from simple illness that can be treated and cured.

I found, instead, a helpful Preschool book on death and grieving that describes the different lifespans of animals and plants. It uses the framework that every life has a beginning and an end. A bird is born out of an egg. It grows and learns to fly. It builds a nest and forges for food. It grows older, slows down and its life comes to an end. A plant is born and begins as a seed. It grows and puts out more leaves. It produces flowers and fruits. It withers and shrinks and its life comes to an end.

Every life has a beginning and an end. Trees and flowers, birds, bees, grasshoppers, butterflies, frogs, dogs, cats, and horses, elephants, lions, tigers,… and people too. Every life has a story and every story has a beginning and an end. It is a good and useful book… as far as it goes.

The problem here is with the Easter Story. The Easter Story doesn’t have a beginning and an end. The Easter Story has two beginnings. Jesus was born in Bethlehem and he grew up to teach people about God, and heal the sick, gather disciples. He was crucified on the cross at Jerusalem and buried in the tomb. But that is not the ending. Astonishing, amazingly, perplexingly, confoundedly God raised Jesus from the dead – another Beginning.

Jesus’ Story doesn’t end. Jesus’ story has a second beginning, a new life – fully connected with his first life. Jesus lives – present tense. The story of Jesus Christ doesn’t have an ending; it has two beginnings. And Jesus’ life is not over even now. Alleluia, Jesus is risen. Jesus is alive.

We are an Easter people struggling to understand and tell our story - a story with two beginnings. Jesus lives. We cry out for the resurrection of our lives.

Because Jesus lives so too will grandpa and grandma and all those wonderful people in our lives who have died and whose stories came to an end. Astonishingly. Amazingly. Ecstatically. Joyously. You and I proclaim their stories have two beginnings. That’s what resurrection means – for Jesus – and for you and me.

God raised Jesus from the end of death to new life – a new beginning. Our story does not end at the grave, at the tomb, at death. Your life is wrapped up in the life and story of the man with two beginnings. Amazingly, where it goes from here – God only knows.

“Alleluia, Jesus is risen.”
 “He is Risen Indeed. Alleluia!”

In Christ,
– Rev. Nicholas J. Zook