The resurrection morning !

In the narration of the resurrection morning in Luke;1-12, there is a reference to three women, Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, (v10) who were the first to go the tomb of Jesus. They saw the stone covering the tomb rolled away and the tomb was empty. While they were perplexed about it (v4) 'two men suddenly stood before them in dazzling apparel'. While the women were terrified and stood bowing their head towards the ground, the men said to them, 'Why do you seek the living One among the dead'!(v.5). They then spoke to them about Jesus, who had to die and rise again on the third day.

The women came and reported it to the eleven and the rest (v9). What would have surprised the women then and all of us now is what is written in v.11,'And these words appeared to them as nonsense and they would not believe them'.

These are two contemporary questions that we face on the resurrection morning : Why seek Jesus among the dead and the disciples did not believe.

I wonder how seeking Jesus among the dead plays out in our personal lives. It was not the eleven disciples whom Jesus appointed 'to be with Him, and that He might send them out to preach and to have authority to cast out demons' (Mark3:13-15), who were at the tomb on the appointed day of His resurrection. The women who were distant followers of Jesus, were the ones at the tomb. The proximate followers of Jesus viewed the resurrection news as 'nonsense'. The distant followers of Jesus became the messengers of the the truth and joy of resurrection. If we live looking for Jesus in conventional places, we might be disappointed. For us who belong to congregations of believers, our natural inclination is to seek Jesus and His presence in these settings. I am sure that Jesus can be met in these places although some would suggest that our familiarity with God and the ritualistic traditions obliterate the sight and presence of God. So Jesus can be absent from amidst His proximate followers. 

The distant followers carry the gospel story alive and vibrant. Jesus found a potential distant follower in Zaccheus (Luk.19:1-10). He then became a witness among the tax gatherers. There is no further mention about him in the gospel narratives. In my personal life, it was not the congregations that I belonged to, from whom I found the way to seek after Jesus, but some personal friends, L.T. Jeyachandran, Frank Garlick, Sheela Gupta, Ray Windsor, A.K.Tharien, Hans Burke, Katharine and Peter Makeower, Arthur Pont, etc. One exception was Rev. Peter Miller of St Andrew's Church, Egmore, Chennai, who reached out to the congregation with a pastoral heart and personal upbuilding plan for families who sought for it. His formation in the Iona community in Scotland made him different from the usual ministers.The others I referred to were not from the hierarchy of the church congregations I belonged to.

This raises a serious question about the current relevance of the church hierarchy who are seen as the proximate followers of Jesus of Nazareth. Are they so engaged in the rituals of the religious traditions that they are closeted in their deliberations like the eleven disciples of that time, far away from the empty tomb of Jesus! It looks like that the distant followers of Jesus carry a freshness of life and mission because they have been through a resurrection encounter.  

The familiarity with Jesus can also make the proximate followers of Jesus not believe the whole truth about Jesus, because the sense of mystery about Jesus gets diminished amidst the dialogue on the theology of God and the denominational doctrines. The disciples were familiar with Jesus for over three years with the teachings, parables, and miracles of Jesus. The whole truth about Him involved his suffering, crucifixion and resurrection.  Even after receiving a first hand narration about the  resurrection of Jesus from three women, the disciples regarded it as 'nonsense'. The disciples had known so much of Jesus that they stopped with what they already knew or experienced. If we are true to our calling to be on a pilgrim Journey after Jesus, we are aware that there is more about Him which is still unknown to us. That is why He is God and not just an exalted prophet! The women at the tomb, who were distant followers of Jesus believed enough to become messengers to the proximate followers of Jesus. This is a contrast to what we normally expect. The resurrection event carries a message even for the proximate followers of Jesus.

The disturbing aspect of this resurrection scene is that Peter hearing the news of the resurrection from the women who went to the tomb, 'went away to his home marvelling at what had happened' (v12). It is striking that Peter did not come back to the other disciples, after he had been to the tomb, but went  home. He either did not believe fully or got disheartened by the crucifixion event that the resurrection story did not create an inner arousal worthy of celebration. At a time when the jewish community needed an authentic first hand exposition of the resurrection, Peter was found wanting to be an ambassador of resurrection news to people who were perplexed. To me, it is another reminder of the spiritual hierarchy failing the faithful! 

I still do not get a sense that the risen Jesus is the theme of the good news or acts of kindness of the church in India during this COVID19 season. Now that more than one lakh people were taken away from us, I wonder how the bereaved would cope! There would be men and women without their spouses, children without parents, parents without children, children without grandparents...! Is the Church, the healing community actively bringing comfort and provisions at this desperate time!

Just as the distant followers of Jesus became the good news bearers of resurrection, I wonder whether we could be in that role to those who are unemployed, displaced, distressed and bereaved!

The boy in the miracle of feeding the five thousand that Jesus performed,  gave away his five loaves and two fish to Jesus who needed them to feed the five thousand. 

I stay open on this Easter morning to discover what is that God is needing of me!

The flower in this blog is from our garden. Every day there are new flowers. There is an abundance of them in our garden. God's language of care is abundance. Let us take this to others who too would need acts of care!

M.C.Mathew  (text and photo)