Easter

Resurrection matters.

I have always been great at diving into the suffering. Suffering is authentic and real. It’s universal. It can even be unifying. For me, being present in the midst of suffering can feel healing. Even knowing that I can’t fix this pain, there is something holy in looking in these moments of humanity and saying, “I can’t imagine how you must be feeling, but I’m here to listen or just be present.”

Solidarity in the midst of suffering has been one of my better skills in caring for others. I am not going to be the person trying to cheer someone up too quickly or glossing over the pain with pleasantries. And while this is a skill to be comfortable with things that are uncomfortable and to make space for difficulty, it can also make it difficult to notice joys or trust the hope around us.

Isn’t this exactly what happens for Mary in the garden? She goes directly up to the risen Lord and doesn’t see her teacher and friend, but some random gardener who is standing between her and her ability to grieve. Her imagination is limited to believing that she needs to spend time with a dead body, when in reality what she needs is resurrection. Resurrection allows us to live into the hope of what we really need and what restoration and resurrection can bring us.

Easter is when we celebrate this resurrection. Easter is celebrating a hope that is beyond our imagination. We live in a world that thinks it needs moderate shifts in power, policy or perspective, when maybe the whole thing needs to die and be reborn. Easter people live in the light of a creative God who isn’t limited by powers of death and suffering, but can overcome them, and this is worth celebrating!

The Easter season lasts longer than the lenten season, and while that season of meeting reality can be necessary, if we follow Jesus it must be followed by the power of resurrection.