Christ is risen. He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
That’s the Easter acclamation widely heard in Christian churches around the world on Easter Morning.
None of the Gospels describe the Resurrection itself. All begin with an empty tomb.
The Resurrection happens offstage, so to speak, shrouded in mystery. It was in emptiness that God created. It is in the emptiness of the tomb that God worked new creation. It’s in the emptiness of our lives life, where all seems desolate, that God has the greatest potential to work new life. Like in the Carley Simon song: “There’s more room in a broken heart.”
Life is a continual ‘letting go.’ In the first part of life we eagerly let go. We let go of crawling so we can walk. We let go of training wheels so we can ride free. Children let go of security to embrace new exciting possibilities in a wider world. In our early years we can’t wait to let go, so we can get on with our lives.
That’s healthy. That’s good.
In the latter part of our lives letting go often involves pain and mourning. We let go of dreams. We let go of parents and friends. And we face letting go of life itself.
But in between, we hang on. We desperately hang on. We cling to the illusion that, if only we manage well, we can create our own happiness. If only we make enough, have enough: do enough, be enough, then all will be completely satisfactory. But enough is rarely enough.
Living often requires letting go of the past, letting go of the now, so new life can proceed.
In John’s gospel, Jesus says to Mary Magdalene, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” Jesus is not saying, “Don’t touch me.” Later, he will invite Thomas to do that very thing. Jesus is not rejecting Mary or rebuking her affection.
Jesus rather is saying that she (and we) we cannot live in the past. Resurrection life is new life. It is not restorative. It is transformative. In my own life, that’s a giant Alleluia!
There are three commands to ‘go’ in the Resurrection account of Matthew. First, the angel tells the two Marys,“Go.” “Go quickly and tell his disciples.” When Jesus appears to the brothers, Jesus says, “Go.” “Go and tell my brothers in Galilee!” And finally, when the disciples come to Galilee, once again Jesus says, “Go.” “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
So, let’s get on with it. Each day is new life — its own resurrection.
