GOOD FRIDAY & EASTER – TWO INTERWOVEN WAYS
OF GOD SAYING TO EACH OF US: “I LOVE YOU!”
John 20:1-18 4/17/22
Rev. Paul Wrightman
EVEN GRANTED THAT JESUS’ TOMB WAS REALLY EMPTY,
A COMPELLING QUESTION KEEPS COMING UP.
I’VE BEEN ASKED THIS QUESTION MANY TIMES,
AND THE QUESTION IS THIS:
HOW CAN SOMETHING THAT HAPPENED NEARLY
TWO THOUSAND YEARS AGO IMPACT MY LIFE TODAY? (REPEAT)
THIS QUESTION IS MOST OFTEN ASKED CONCERNING
WHAT TOOK PLACE ON GOOD FRIDAY AND EASTER SUNDAY.
WHEN ASKED ABOUT GOOD FRIDAY,
THIS QUESTION HAS TO DO WITH WHAT TOOK PLACE ON THE CROSS.
DID SOMETHING ACTUALLY OCCUR ON THAT FRIDAY WE CALL GOOD
WHICH BROUGHT ABOUT A REAL RECONCILIATION,
A REAL AT-ONE-MENT BETWEEN US AND GOD?
IF JESUS REALLY IS THE HUMAN FACE OF GOD,
THEN SOMETHING OF UNIVERSAL SIGNIFICANCE
HAPPENED ON THE CROSS,
NAMELY, AN EXPRESSION OF GOD’S HEALING LOVE
THAT BURST THE BONDS OF TIME.
SINCE IT WAS GOD’S LOVE, AND THEREFORE ETERNAL,
THIS LOVE WORKED ITS WAY BACKWARDS
TO THE VERY BEGINNINGS OF THE HUMAN RACE.
THIS EMBODIMENT, THIS INCARNATION OF GOD’S LOVE,
SINCE IT WAS GOD’S LOVE, AND THEREFORE ETERNAL,
ALSO WORKED ITS WAY FORWARDS,
ENCOMPASSING THE TWO MILLENIA SINCE THAT EVENT,
EMBRACING ALL HUMAN BEINGS SINCE THAT TIME,
INCLUDING US, AND ALL THE PEOPLE WHO WILL FOLLOW US.
IF JESUS REALLY IS THE HUMAN FACE OF GOD,
THEN GOD’S ETERNAL HEALING LOVE
BECAME SO FOCUSED ON THE CROSS
THAT IT BROKE THE BONDS OF TIME,
FILLING TIME FOR ALL TIME
WITH GOD’S RECONCILING, HEALING, COMPASSIONATE LOVE.
JESUS’ DEATH ON THE CROSS
IS GOD’S WAY OF TELLING EACH PERSON ON THIS PLANET –
PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE –
THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO
THAT WOULD MAKE ME LOVE YOU LESS. (REPEAT)
IN A SIMILAR WAY, THE QUESTION –
HOW CAN SOMETHING THAT HAPPENED
NEARLY TWO THOUSAND YEARS AGO IMPACT MY LIFE TODAY –
WHEN ASKED IN REGARD TO JESUS’ RESURRECTION ON EASTER,
CAN BE ANSWERED IN THE AFFIRMATIVE.
IF JESUS REALLY IS THE HUMAN FACE OF GOD,
THEN THE RESURRECTION CAN BE UNDERSTOOD
NOT ONLY AS SOMETHING THAT HAPPENED
ON THAT FIRST EASTER MORNING
NEARLY TWO THOUSAND YEARS AGO,
BUT AS SOMETHING THAT ALSO HAS IMPLICATIONS
BOTH BACKWARDS AND FORWARDS IN TIME –
NAMELY, THE FACT THAT GOD HAS ONCE-AND-FOR-ALL-TIME
BROKEN THE RULE OF DEATH IN THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS.
IN A VERY REAL SENSE, THE RESURRECTION
IS GOD’S AFFIRMATION OF WHAT TOOK PLACE ON THE CROSS.
THE RESURRECTION IS GOD’S PERSONAL “YES!”
TO THE RECONCILING LOVE WHICH JESUS EMBODIED
ON GOOD FRIDAY.
THE RESURRECTION IS THE SPILLING OVER, AS IT WERE,
OF GOD’S INVINCIBLE LOVE INTO THE REALM OF DEATH ITSELF.
GOD LOVES EACH OF US SO MUCH THAT GOD DECIDED, AS IT WERE,
TO OVER-RULE THE POWER OF DEATH
BY OVERCOMING DEATH WITH THE POWER OF LIFE-GIVING LOVE.
IF A LOVING GOD REALLY DID RAISE JESUS FROM THE DEAD,
AND DEATH CAN’T TOUCH HIM EVER AGAIN,
THIS MEANS THAT JESUS IS JUST AS ALIVE NOW
AS HE WAS WHEN HE WALKED THIS EARTH.
ANOTHER QUESTION I GET ASKED IS:
HOW CAN THE BIBLICAL ACCOUNT OF EASTER POSSIBLY BE TRUE?
WHAT EVIDENCE IS THERE THAT IT IS NOT MERELY
WISHFUL THINKING?
TO ANSWER THIS QUESTION I WOULD TURN TO A PARALLEL EXAMPLE.
UNTIL 1873 THE CITY OF TROY AS DESCRIBED IN HOMER’S ILIAD
WAS ALMOST UNIVERSALLY CONSIDERED TO BE
A MYTHICAL CITY HOSTING A MYTHICAL WAR.
HEINRICH SCHLIEMANN WAS ONE OF A VERY FEW WHO DISAGREED.
HE BELIEVED THAT A CLOSE READING OF THE TEXT
NOT ONLY POINTED TO A REAL WAR,
BUT TO THE REAL LOCATION OF A REAL CITY.
SO IN 1871, ARMED ONLY WITH A COPY OF THE ILIAD AND A SHOVEL,
HE SET OUT TO FIND THE REMAINS
OF THIS SUPPOSEDLY NON-EXISTENT CITY.
TWO YEARS LATER, BASED ON CLUES IN HOMER’S TEXT,
HE DID, INDEED, FIND THE REMAINS OF AN ANCIENT CITY.
AMONG THE ARTIFACTS UNEARTHED,
MANY DEFINITIVELY ESTABLISHED THAT FACT
THAT THIS WAS, INDEED, THE TROY WRITTEN ABOUT
IN THE ILIAD.
READING ABOUT HEINRICH SCHLIEMANN’S DISCOVERY
IS LIKE READING A GOOD DETECTIVE NOVEL.
ONE CLUE WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN ENOUGH,
BUT MANY CLUES, TAKEN TOGETHER, BEGIN TO ADD UP,
AND POINT TO A SPECIFIC CONCLUSION.
A QUESTION FOR US ON THIS EASTER SUNDAY IS:
ARE THERE CLUES IN THE BIBLICAL TEXT ITSELF
THAT POINT US IN THE DIRECTION OF
ACCEPTING EASTER AS SOMETHING THAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED?
I THINK THAT THERE ARE. LET ME EXPLORE A FEW OF THESE.
FIRST CLUE: THE RAWNESS AND EYEWITNESS DETAILS
OF THE RESURRECTION ACCOUNTS STAND OUT
AS SOMETHING UNIQUE IN ANCIENT LITERATURE.
SECOND CLUE: IT IS A COMMONPLACE THAT THERE ARE PLENTY
OF OTHER RESURRECTION STORIES IN THE ANCIENT WORLD.
BUT ALL THE REST OF THEM ARE VERY VAGUE AND VERY GENERAL,
AND TAKE PLACE IN THE SIGNIFICANT,
BUT NON-HISTORICAL WORLD OF MYTH.
AS YOU CAN SEE FOR YOURSELF, TODAY’S SCRIPTURE READING
IS NOT THE LANGUAGE OF MYTH,
BUT LANGUAGE STRETCHED TO ITS LIMITS
IN ITS ATTEMPT TO DESCRIBE AN INEXPLICABLE SIGHT
(THE GRAVE-CLOTHES STILL IN THEIR FOLDS, LIKE A MUMMY,
BUT NO BODY WITHIN)
AND A NUMINOUS ENCOUNTER BETWEEN MARY
AND THE RISEN JESUS.
THERE IS NOTHING ELSE LIKE THIS
IN ALL OF ANCIENT LITERATURE.
IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO ACCOUNT FOR THE ODDITY
OF THESE DETAILS UNLESS THEY WERE THE RAW,
UNADORNED ACCOUNTS OF WHAT PEOPLE
ACTUALLY SAW AND HEARD.
THIRD CLUE: REMEMBER THAT SCIENCE FICTION WAS NOT INVENTED
AS A FORM OF LITERATURE UNTIL THE 1800’S.
FOURTH CLUE: THE FACT THAT WOMEN ARE THE FIRST AND FOREMOST WITNESSES TO THE REALITY OF THE RESURRECTION
IS FANTASTICAL BEYOND BELIEF IF THE STORY IS A MADE-UP ONE.
GIVEN WOMEN’S THIRD-RATE STATUS
IN THE CULTURE AT THE TIME,
AND THE FACT THAT THEY WERE CONSIDERED TOO INFERIOR
TO SERVE AS WITNESSES IN COURT,
THE SURPRISE THAT ALL FOUR GOSPELS UNABASHEDLY
PLACE THE WOMEN WITNESSES IN FIRST PLACE
STRONGLY TESTIFIES TO THE ACCURACY OF THEIR TESTIMONY.
FIFTH CLUE: WHEN ST. PAUL WRITES ABOUT THE RESURRECTION
IN HIS FIRST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS,
HE MENTIONS THAT JESUS APPEARED
TO MORE THAN FIVE HUNDRED OF HIS FOLLOWERS
AT THE SAME TIME, MOST OF WHOM ARE STILL ALIVE. (1 Corinthians 15:6)
HE MENTIONS THIS SO THAT THOSE WHO ARE SCEPTICAL
CAN TALK TO ONE OR MORE OF THESE PEOPLE FOR THEMSELVES,
AND CHECK OUT THE TRUTH OF THEIR STORY.
SIXTH CLUE: MUCH TO MY SURPRISE,
I’VE DISCOVERED ANOTHER CLUE
TO BELIEVE IN THE RESURRECTION, AT LEAST PERSONALLY.
THIS CLUE HAS TO DO WITH THE WORK
THAT I’VE BEEN DOING CONCERNING THE OVERWHELMING
AMOUNT OF VIOLENCE IN THE BIBLE.
I’LL PUT IT THIS WAY:
FINALLY, I CHOOSE TO BELIEVE IN THE RESURRECTION
BECAUSE, AT LEAST FOR ME, NOTHING ELSE EVEN BEGINS
TO EXPLAIN THE FACT THAT THE RESURRECTION ACCOUNTS OF JESUS
ARE THE ONLY PLACE IN THE ENTIRE BIBLE THAT ARE TOTALLY FREE
FROM HUMAN VIOLENCE PROJECTED ONTO GOD.
TO MY WAY OF THINKING,
AN OVERWHELMINGLY VIOLENT HUMANITY
COULD NEVER HAVE INVENTED
A TOTALLY NONVIOLENT GENRE OF LITERATURE,
WHICH IS EXACTLY WHAT THE RESURRECTION ACCOUNTS ARE.
FOR ME, THE WRITERS OF THE GOSPELS
HAD TO BE DESCRIBING EVENTS AND APPEARANCES
THAT REALLY TOOK PLACE,
BECAUSE ON THEIR OWN THEY WOULD HAVE REVERTED
TO A VIOLENT UNDERSTANDING OF GOD,
AS EACH GOSPEL WRITER DOES, IN FACT, DO
IN VARIOUS PLACES IN THEIR TELLING OF THE GOSPEL.
BUT NONE REVERTS TO VIOLENCE
IN THE RESURRECTION ACCOUNTS,
WHICH WOULD HAVE BEEN THE IDEAL PLACE
FOR THEM TO CORRECT THE SUFFERING SERVANT MODEL
OF MESSIAH WHICH THEY DIDN’T LIKE,
WITH THE TRIUMPHALISM OF A VICTORIOUS WARRIOR-KING,
WHICH THEY DID LIKE, AND WHICH WE FIND
IN THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
TO MY WAY OF THINKING,
MATTHEW, AND FOR THAT MATTER,
THE OTHER GOSPEL WRITERS,
PROJECT THEIR OWN VIOLENCE ONTO JESUS AT TIMES.
NOT SO, HOWEVER, WITH THE RESURRECTION ACCOUNTS,
WHERE JESUS CONSISTENTLY SAYS THINGS LIKE
“DO NOT BE AFRAID,” “PEACE BE WITH YOU,”
“COME AND HAVE BREAKFAST,”
AND “I WILL ALWAYS BE WITH YOU.”
SOMETHING NEW WAS HAPPENING HERE.
THE GOSPEL WRITERS WERE DESCRIBING SOMETHING
TOTALLY UNPRECEDENTED:
NAMELY, A PERSON, THE PERSON OF JESUS,
WHO AFTER HIS OWN VIOLENT DEATH
EXHIBITED NO DESIRE TO GET EVEN,
NO DESIRE FOR REVENGE,
NO VIOLENCE WHATSOEVER.
THIS, I VENTURE, SIMPLY COULD NOT BE
THE PRODUCT OF HUMAN INVENTION,
BUT HAD TO BE A WHOLE NEW CHAPTER
IN THE HISTORY OF GOD’S RELATIONSHIP WITH HUMANKIND.
THE EARLIEST CHURCH “GOT IT,” SO TO SPEAK,
AND LIVED OUT OF THE REALITY OF THE RISEN JESUS
BEING THE WAY, THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE.
ANOTHER QUESTION I’M OFTEN ASKED IS:
“IF EASTER IS SO ALL-IMPORTANT,
THEN WHY IS IT THAT THE CRUCIFIX
AND NOT AN IMAGE OF THE RISEN JESUS
IS OVERWHELMINGLY THE MOST POPULAR
SYMBOL OF CHRISTIANITY?
IN OTHER WORDS, HOW DID THE CHURCH LOSE EASTER IN ITS ART?
IN THEIR GROUND-BREAKING BOOK
SAVING PARADISE: HOW CHRISTIANITY TRADED LOVE OF THE WORLD
FOR CRUCIFIXION AND EMPIRE,
RITA NAKASHIMA BROCK AND REBECCA ANN PARKER
DETAIL THEIR FASCINATING FIVE-YEAR INVESTIGATION
OF EARLY CHRISTIAN ART.
AS FEMINIST THEOLOGIANS, THEY WERE DETERMINED
TO TRACK DOWN THE FIRST OCCURRENCE
OF THE CRUCIFIXION IN ART,
AND ITS INHERENT MESSAGE OF BLOODY ATONEMENT –
THAT GOD REQUIRED THE DEATH OF JESUS
TO LET US OFF THE HOOK.
BROCK AND PARKER ASSUMED THAT THE IMAGE
OF CHRIST ON THE CROSS HAPPENENED VERY EARLY
IN THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY.
THE VISITED THE CATACOMBS OUTSIDE ROME,
TAKING FOR GRANTED THE FACT THAT THEY WOULD FIND THERE
NUMEROUS REPRESENTATIONS OF JESUS’ DEATH.
THEY FOUND INSTEAD MULTIPLE IMAGES
OF GOD RESCUING AND HEALING PEOPLE,
PEOPLE LIKE ABRAHAM AND ISAAC, JONAH, DANIEL, LAZARUS.
THEY FOUND NO PAINTING OF JESUS ON THE CROSS.
BY FAR THE MOST PREVALENT IMAGE OF JESUS
WAS JESUS AS A VERY-MUCH-STILL-ALIVE GOOD SHEPHERD.
PARKER AND BROCK SUMMARIZE THEIR TIME
IN THE ROMAN CATACOMBS AS FOLLOWS:
“WE COULD NOT FIND A DEAD JESUS, NOT EVEN ONE.
IT WAS JUST AS THE ANGEL HAD SAID
TO THE WOMEN LOOKING FOR JESUS AT HIS TOMB,
“WHY DO YOU LOOK FOR THE LIVING AMONG THE DEAD?”
(Luke 24:5) “HE IS NOT HERE.” (Mark 16:6)
THEY GO ON TO DESCRIBE THEIR ARTISTIC ADVENTURES
LOOKING FOR IMAGES OF CRUCIFIXION
IN EARLY CHRISTIAN CHURCHES ALL OVER EUROPE
AND FINDING – NOT ONE.
WHAT THEY DID FIND WAS SURPRISING.
FOR EXAMPLE, IN THE CHURCH OF ST. APOLLINARE NUOVO
IN RAVENNA, ITALY, A CHURCH BUILT IN THE 500’S,
THEY CAME ACROSS THIRTEEN PANELS, SCENES FROM HOLY WEEK.
“AT PANEL TEN,” BROCK AND PARKER WRITE,
“WE ENCOUNTERED SIMON OF CYRENE CARRYING THE CROSS
FOR JESUS TO GOLGOTHA.
WE EXPECTED TO SEE THE CRUCIFIXION ON PANEL ELEVEN.
INSTEAD, WE WERE CONFRONTED BY AN ANGEL
WHO SAT BEFORE A TOMB. . .
THE REMAINING PANELS SHOWED THE RISEN CHRIST
VISITING HIS FOLLOWERS IN THE STORIES OF DOUBTING THOMAS
AND THE ROAD TO EMMAUS.” (End Quote)
WHAT THEY FOUND – OR, MORE ACCURATELY, DID NOT FIND
AT ST. APOLLINARE IN RAVENNA PROVED TO BE A PATTERN.
IN ALL EARLY CHRISTIAN PORTRAYALS OF JESUS,
THERE WAS AN EMPHASIS ON THE RISEN CHRIST;
WITH NO DEPICTIONS OF THE CRUCIFIXION.
THEY OFTEN DISCOVERED THE RISEN JESUS
RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF PARADISE –
NOT PARADISE LOST, BUT PARADISE FOUND.
AND EVEN MORE ASTONISHING, THIS PARADISE
WAS NOT THE PARADISE OF HEAVEN,
THE PARADISE OF A FUTURE LIFE,
BUT THE PRESENT PARADISE OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD ON EARTH.
WE HAVE MOVING SCENES OF DISPARATE PEOPLE AND ANIMALS
DRINKING OUT OF THE SAME STREAM –
WITH THE RISEN CHRIST IN THEIR MIDST.
THE OVERWHELMING EVIDENCE OF EARLY CHRISTIAN ART
PUSHED BROCK AND PARKER TO BEGIN THEIR BOOK
WITH THE AMAZING STATEMENT THAT
“IT TOOK JESUS A THOUSAND YEARS TO DIE.
IMAGES OF HIS CORPSE DID NOT APPEAR IN CHURCHES
UNTIL THE TENTH CENTURY.”
WHAT HAPPENED?
WHAT HAPPENED IS THAT SO-CALLED “CHRISTIAN” HISTORY
WAS BECOMING DARKER AND DARKER,
MORE AND MORE VIOLENT, WITH A PROGRESSIVE EMPHASIS
ON DEATH OVER LIFE.
ANSWELM’S DOCTRINE OF BLOODY ATONEMENT –
CHRIST HAD TO DIE FOR OUR SINS –
SOON BECAME THE STANDARD OPERATING THEOLOGY
OF THE CHRISTIAN WEST.
HOW BEST TO PORTRAY IN ART
THIS NEW THEOLOGY THAT CHRIST HAD TO DIE FOR OUR SINS?
YOU GUESSED IT – PAINT THE CRUCIFIXION,
INTODUCE THE CRUCIFIX BOTH ON ALTARS IN CHURCHES
AND AS JEWELRY FOR PEOPLE TO WEAR AROUND THEIR NECKS.
BY THE 1100’S THE CRUCIFIXION HAD BECOME
THE MOST POPULAR SUBJECT IN CHRISTIAN ART,
AND HAS REMAINED SO EVER SINCE.
CONNECTING THE DOTS, ONE CAN SEE A CAUSAL RELATIONSHIP
BETWEEN THE CHURCH’S EMBRACE OF THE VIOLENT DOCTRINE
OF BLOODY ATONEMENT AND THE CHURCH’S OWN
INCREASING EMBRACE OF VIOLENCE –
THINK OF THE CRUSADES AND THE INQUISITION HERE.
THIS EMPHASIS ON JESUS’ VIOLENT DEATH SOON ECLIPSED
THE EARLY CHURCH’S EMPHASIS ON JESUS’ RESURRECTION.
AND AS THE IMPORTANCE OF THE RESURRECTION RECEDES,
SO DOES THE CHURCH’S COMMITMENT TO ACTUALLY LIVE OUT
JESUS’ TEACHINGS IN HIS VISION OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD.
WHY BOTHER, WHEN ALL YOU HAVE TO DO
IS TO BELIEVE THE RIGHT THINGS ABOUT JESUS
AS DEFINED BY THE IMPERIAL CHURCH?
SECOND-HAND FAITH LEADS TO SECOND-HAND RELIGION,
AND SECOND-HAND RELIGION HAS LITTLE POWER TO TRANSFORM
EITHER US OR OUR WORLD.
MANY RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS TODAY,
VERY MUCH INCLUDING ROMAN CATHOLICS
AND MAINLINE PROTESTANTS,
ARE EMPHASIZING MEETING CHRIST IN THE PRESENT,
AND ALLOWING OUR LIVES TO BE TRANSFORMED BY HIM
IN THE HERE-AND-NOW.
THIS IS BASICALLY A RETURN TO EARLY CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY,
WITH ITS EMPHASIS ON JESUS THE GOOD SHEPHERD,
WHO WANTS TO BLESS US IN THIS LIFE,
AND NOT SIMPLY IN THE HEREAFTER.
IF WE KNOW THE RISEN JESUS NOW,
WE CAN BE LIKE WINSTON CHURCHILL.
WINSTON CHURCHILL PLANNED HIS OWN FUNERAL,
WHICH TOOK PLACE IN ST. PAUL’S CATHEDRAL IN LONDON.
HE INCLUDED MANY OF THE GREAT HYMNS OF THE CHURCH
AND USED THE ELOQUENT ANGLICAN LITURGY.
AT CHURCHILL’S DIRECTION, A BUGLER,
POSITIONED HIGH IN THE DOME OF ST. PAUL’S,
INTONED, AFTER THE BENEDICTION, THE SOUND OF “TAPS,”
THE UNIVERSAL SIGNAL THAT SAYS THE DAY IS OVER.
BUT THEN CAME A DRAMATIC TURN.
AS CHURCHILL ALSO INSTRUCTED, AFTER “TAPS” WAS FINISHED,
ANOTHER BUGLER, PLACED ON THE OTHER SIDE
OF THE GREAT DOME, PLAYED THE NOTES OF “REVILLE” –
IT’S TIME TO GET UP.
WINSTON CHURCHILL HAD EMBRACED JESUS’ RESURRECTION
IN HIS OWN LIFE SO POWERFULLY
THAT HE WAS ABLE TO END HIS FUNERAL
NOT WITH THE SORROWFUL SOUND OF “TAPS,”
BUT WITH THE JOYFUL SOUND OF “REVILLE.”
CHIST IS RISEN. CHRIST IS RISEN, INDEED!”
AMEN AND AMEN.