So this morning I was thinking about the Easter story (not exactly surprising given it is Easter day) and my brain became full of thoughts that needed to come out. I have been in one of those periods of emptiness lately, so the thoughts were very welcome and I felt the need to share them here.
Before I thought dump on the page there are two fundamental things that need to be established about the way I am thinking. Firstly, although this blog is particularly about the Bible and the accounts of Easter, most of my thinking can be generally applied to life, or at least the way I think generally can apply to many areas of life, not just the religious ones. Secondly, the Biblical issue of fact or fiction, true or not is fairly irrelevant to me. In this particular case, whether the death and resurrection of Jesus is a historical event in history is not important to this specific set of thoughts. (At this point I feel the need to clarify for some of my readers that this does not mean that I do not believe that is did happen, but that I simply feel there are deeper truths to be found in the narrative that go beyond the questions of fact or fiction).
That long introduction was really saying that I feel that behind the narratives of the Easter story there are some amazing truths to be found in the fleeting and often overlooked moments and for me it boils down choices and transformations. I want to look at four main themes that come out of the narrative.
The first of these is disconnectedness to connectedness. One of my favourite moments in the Easter story is the moment that the temple curtain is torn in two. The curtain in the temple was to protect the Holy of Holy places within the temple walls, the place where God was contained and where no one but the high priest could go, once a year, with a rope around his leg in case he dropped dead and had to be dragged out!! Access to God was purchased with sacrifices and limited depending on your race, financial status etc. Jesus was not a fan of this practice as evidenced by the turning over of the money lenders tables. At the point that the temple curtain is torn in two there is no longer a barrier between us and God, but just as importantly as we are now allowed in, is that God is released, not held, not contained. This is so important to a deeper understanding of our relationship with something that cannot be contained or qualified.
Outside of the Christian context, connectedness to something no longer contained, universal and fluid is so important for so many, that connectedness can be found in nature, families, friends, experiences. Movement from disconnectedness to connectedness is something wonderful.
The second, possibly more obvious one is going from hate to love. But really it doesn't have to be that extreme or specific. Indifference to love, self doubt to love, pain to love, mistrust to openness. I read a blog post by Rev Dawn Hutchings, called "Maundy Thursday – When you don’t believe that Jesus was a sacrifice for sin!" In it she writes, "I believe that Jesus wanted more than anything else for his followers to be so open to the power of LOVE that is God so that they too would live their lives fully without fear." Love, true love, if chosen is capable of driving out fear, doubt, pain and indifference. Not an easy choice to be made, but each time we choose love we are one step closer to the next two things. Jesus demonstrated a life lived choosing love over anything else and whoever we are and whatever we believe that is a fantastic way to live.
Thirdly, blindness to recognition. Another of my favourite moments in the Easter story is found in the Gospel of John in the beautiful surroundings of the garden when Mary encounters the Risen Jesus, she does not recognise him. Through her tears, begging this man to tell her where his body has been taken and he simply calls her name, "Mary" and instantly there is recognition of this man that she has loved so deeply. This pattern is repeated several times with Jesus appearing to people who do not recognise him in body, but instead by his words and actions, breaking of bread, sharing of breakfast, the chance to touch and hold him. Sometimes it is the most unexpected things that bring moments of recognition and growth in our lives, and it is often not the things that you would expect. I believe that the God set free by the temple curtain can be part of each person and all the things around us. We go through life often blinded by situations and emotions and then suddenly a touch from someone, a word, an experience of nature, most anything can suddenly bring about these moments of recognition, of something deeper and more wonderful than we imagined.
And lastly the culmination, preservation to transformation. Most of the time it is more comfortable to keep things the same, exactly the way they have always been. Jesus broke every rule there is, even, as in this particular story, the fact that dead people stay dead! Which, up until then had been a fairly universal truth for people. But he challenged and broke down so many things that had been taken for granted. He ate with tax collectors and loved prostitutes, he challenged the religious leaders and their ways of thinking, he didn't simply teach, he lived his teaching,
Whatever you believe about Jesus, God or the Bible, there are universal truths that are as powerful today as they were then. Our lives are a constant movement of growth and change, connectedness, love, new recognition and transformation that can spill over into every aspect of our existence.
May this Easter for you mark a fresh time of transformative, connected, challenging, and life changing love.
Stay blessed
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